Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Powered by Genesis

Beer Birthday: Ron Pattinson

October 19, 2024 By Jay Brooks

barclay-perkins
Today is the 68th birthday of Ron Pattinson, a brewing historian who writes online at Shut Up About Barclay Perkins. Ron lives in Amsterdam but is obsessed with the British brewery Barclay Perkins, which is what the title of his blog refers to. I have finally had the pleasure of meeting Ron in person, when we were both guests of Carlsberg for a press trip to Copenhagen a couple of years ago, and then again two years ago again in Denmark, when he was there with his lovely wife. A few more years ago, Lew Bryson had a chance to go drinking with Ron, too. Join me in wishing Ron a very happy birthday.

SAM_5646
Me and Ron at a bar in Copenhagen.

copenhagen
In that same bar, with (clockwise from lower left) Martyn Cornell, Jeff Alworth, Evan Rail, me, Stephen Beaumont, Pete Brown, Stan Hieronymus and Ron.

SAM_5804
Ron, talking with Jeff Bell and Mark Dredge.

SAM_5995
Leaving Copenhagen; Pete Brown, Ron, Jeff Bell, Stephen Beaumont and Stan Hieronymus.

ron-pattinson-lew
Ron while drinking with Lew Bryson.

ron-pattinson-dann
At Pretty Things 1901: Jim Barnes, Dann Paquette (Pretty Things), Jay Sullivan (Cambridge Brewing) and Ron Pattinson.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Just For Fun Tagged With: The Netherlands, UK

Historic Beer Birthday: Gerard Adriaan Heineken

September 28, 2024 By Jay Brooks

Today is the birthday of Gerard Adriaan Heineken (September 28, 1841-March 18, 1893). In 1864, he founded the Heineken brewing dynasty that’s still family-owned today.

This is part of the Wikipedia page for Heineken:

On 15 February 1864, Gerard Adriaan Heineken (1841–1893) convinced his wealthy mother to buy De Hooiberg (The Haystack) brewery in Amsterdam, a popular working-class brand founded in 1592. In 1873 after hiring a Dr. Elion (student of Louis Pasteur) to develop Heineken a yeast for Bavarian bottom fermentation, the HBM (Heineken’s Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij) was established, and the first Heineken brand beer was brewed. In 1875 Heineken won the Medaille D’Or at the International Maritime Exposition in Paris, then began to be shipped there regularly, after which Heineken sales topped 64,000 hectolitres (1.7 million U.S. gallons), making them the biggest beer exporter to France.

Here are some “interesting facts” about the early days of Heineken from the website First Versions:

  • In 1869 Gerard Heineken decided to switch from traditional top fermentation to the Bavarian method of bottom fermentation, a totally different technique that produces a clearer, purer beer, which keeps longer.
  • On January 11, 1873, Heineken’s Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij NV (HBM) was established, and Gerard Heineken was appointed President.
  • A second brewery was opened in Rotterdam in 1874.
  • In 1886 Dr. Hartog Elion, a pupil of the French chemist Louis Pasteur, developed the “A-yeast” in the Heineken laboratory. This yeast is still the key ingredient of Heineken beer.
The Heineken Brewery in 1867.

And this is from the Heineken N.V. Wikipedia page:

The Heineken company was founded in 1864 when the 22-year-old Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought a brewery known as De Hooiberg (the haystack) in Amsterdam. In 1869 Heineken switched to the use of bottom-fermenting yeast. In 1873 the brewery’s name changed to Heineken’s Bierbrouwerij Maatschappij (HBM), and opened a second brewery in Rotterdam in 1874. In 1886 Dr. H. Elion, a pupil of the French chemist Louis Pasteur, developed the “Heineken A-yeast” in the Heineken laboratory. This yeast is still the key ingredient of Heineken beer.

And this longer biography is a Google translation of Oneindig Noord-Holland:

Gerard was born in Amsterdam in 1841 as the son of Cornelis Heineken and Anna Geertruida van der Paauw. He grew up with his brother and two sisters at a time when various contagious diseases were haunting the city. Many fled from run-down and impoverished Amsterdam. Gerard’s half-sister died in 1851 and his brother Adriaan, who was only eight years old, died two months later.

Gerard was a child of his time: he had a great interest in art, the history of the city and new technological developments. In 1863 Gerard had his eye on the somewhat dilapidated De Hooiberg brewery on the Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal in Amsterdam. Gerard’s move to take over the brewery was, to say the least, remarkable. The consumption of beer, still the national folk drink in the 17th century, had only declined. Preference was often given to wine, coffee, cocoa or tea and for the workers, gin and brandy were sufficient, which also had a better shelf life than beer. In addition, the quality of beer had recently deteriorated, so that the brewing industry enjoyed little prestige.

What probably appealed to Gerard was the technical aspect of brewing. It was a time when many new techniques were being developed and with that much progress was possible. In England, partly due to the steam engine, the beer industry had grown to such an extent that it was comparable to the textile industry or mining. In addition, beer was considered a blessing for public health in the Netherlands. If people wanted to move forward and regain their former prosperity, they had to drink the gin and the beer. Beer was therefore an ideal product to invest in if you had money and enough guts.

Gerard had a nose for entrepreneurship and managed to bring the beer back to the man. The switch to the so-called Beijerse or bottom-fermented beer was the first major success. Expansion soon became necessary and three years later the first stone was laid for a new factory on Stadhouderskade.

To keep up, Gerard made sure that the most modern techniques were used in the brewery. He was the first to buy a very expensive ice cream machine, which solved the cooling problems in one fell swoop. Yet the brewery is not only doing well. The international market and Paris in particular remains difficult to conquer. There was strong competition from Germany but also from our own city, where Amsterdam’s Amstel beer provided exciting times. Nevertheless, Gerard always managed to come back as the largest Dutch beer brewery.

While 1893 seemed to be a quiet year, disaster struck on March 18 for Gerard. He collapsed during a meeting, after which he died almost immediately: a heart attack. His son Henry Pierre Heineken (1886-1971) would eventually take over, but lacked business acumen and interest and did more harm than good. Fortunately, his son, the well-known Freddy Heineken (1923-2002), seemed to have inherited more of his grandfather’s talent for trade and leadership. Freddy did everything he could to get the company back into the hands of the Heinekens and would then be able to turn Gerard’s beer brand into a global brand.

Filed Under: Birthdays, Breweries, Just For Fun Tagged With: Heineken, History, The Netherlands

Beer Birthday: Theo Flissebaalje

August 31, 2024 By Jay Brooks

netherlands
Today is the 75th birthday of Theo Flissebaalje. Theo’s from the Netherlands, and co-founded StiBON, and he’s also active in the beer consumer organization PINT. He’s also on the international judging circuit. I first met him judging in Tokyo, Japan, but have also judged with him in Europe and America, as well. Join me in wishing Theo a very happy birthday.

DSCN3004
Theo judging in Tokyo in

SAM_3622
Through a window in Antwerp during lunch for the Brussels Beer Challenge in 2015, that’s Theo on the far right.

DSCN2939
Agostino Arioli, from Birrificio Italiano, with Theo, also in Japan in 2013.

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: The Netherlands

Historic Beer Birthday: Emile A.H. Seipgens

August 16, 2024 By Jay Brooks

netherlands
Today is the birthday of Emile Anton Hubert Seipgens (August 16, 1837-June 25, 1896). Seipgens was born in Roermond, the Netherlands. He was the son of a brewer, and after school and some failed jobs, joined his father at the brewery in 1856. By 1859, he was running the brewery along with his brother. But apparently he wasn’t happy there, and in 1874 decided to pursue his dream of becoming a writer. Throughout his life, he wrote poetry, novels, plays and much more.

Seipgens

Here’s a translated biography of his literary career, from Literary Zutphen:

Emile (Anton Hubert) Seipgens, born August 16, 1837 in Roermond, from 1876 until 1883 teacher of German at the Rijks HBS in Zutphen. He founded a literary reading companion for his disciples and was a member of the “Circle of scientific maintenance. He lived Nieuwstad A128-2. Seipgens was an outspoken Limburg author. His work – theater, novels and novellas village – is invariably located in Limburg, and sometimes – his songs – even written in Limburg dialect. Some of his best known and most read titles he wrote in his Zutphense period: The chaplain Bardelo (1880), from Limburg. Novellas and Sketches (1881). In this period made ​​Seipgens, who was first trained to be a priest, then was brewer, then teacher, to eventually become a writer, definitively separated from the Catholic Church. He started on the assembly line to write stories, which he published in magazines such as The Guide , Netherlands and Elsevier . One of those stories, Rooien Hannes , had worked to folk drama and staged by the Netherlands Tooneel great success. Later titles are: In and around the small town (1887), along Maas and Trench (1890), The Killer Star (1892), Jean, ‘t Stumpke, Hawioe-Ho (1893), The Zûpers of Bliënbèèk (1894) and A wild Rosary (1894). In 1892 Seipgens secretary of the Society of Dutch Literature in Leiden, and in that place he died 1896. Posthumously published yet his novel on June 25, Daniel (1897) and the beam A Immortellenkrans (1897). Seipgens, which is one of the earliest naturalists of the Netherlands became completely into oblivion, until the late 70s of the last century actually was a small revival. Which among other things led to reprint the novel The chaplain Bardelo and stories in and around the small town , and to the publication of his biography, written by Peter Nissen: Emile Anton Hubert Seipgens (1837-1896). Of brewer’s son to literary (1987), and the placing of a memorial stone at Seipgens birthplace. But this revival was short-lived. If Emile Seipgens remembered voortleeft, it will have to be on the legend of the rovershoofdman Johann Bückler based ‘operabouffe’ Schinderhannes (1864), which to this day in Roermond is staged!

Seipgens1

And here’s another account from “The Humour of Holland,” published in 1894.

Seipgens-bio

Seipgens2

Filed Under: Birthdays Tagged With: History, Literature, The Netherlands

Beer In Ads #3584: Glamorous Oranjeboom

December 20, 2020 By Jay Brooks

Sunday’s ad is for Super Oranjeboom Bier, from 1962. From the late 1800s until the 1970s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster was created for Oranjeboom Bierbrouwerij, which was founded in 1671 in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands. The brewery was moved to Breda, in the southern part of the country, in 1990, and went through a series of new owners before the brewery was subsequently sold to Interbrew (now AB-InBev) in 1995, who closed it in 2004. United Dutch Breweries continues to brew and sell the brand outside the Benelux countries, I believe. I don’t know who created this poster and I also don’t know what makes the beer super.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, The Netherlands

Beer In Ads #3583: Oranjeboom Calendar

December 19, 2020 By Jay Brooks

Saturday’s ad is for Oranjeboom Beer, from either the 1950s or 60s. From the late 1800s until the 1970s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster was created for Oranjeboom Bierbrouwerij, which was founded in 1671 in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands. The brewery was moved to Breda, in the southern part of the country, in 1990, and went through a series of new owners before the brewery was subsequently sold to Interbrew (now AB-InBev) in 1995, who closed it in 2004. United Dutch Breweries continues to brew and sell the brand outside the Benelux countries, I believe. This poster was created by American pin-up artist Gil Elvgren, who was one of the more well-known commercial illustrators of his day. This pin-up of his was used for an Oranjeboom promotional calendar, although because the calendar portion was removed I don’t know what year it’s from.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, The Netherlands

Beer In Ads #3582: Oranjeboom 1968 Calendar

December 18, 2020 By Jay Brooks

Friday’s ad is for Oranjeboom Beer, from 1968. From the late 1800s until the 1970s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster was created for Oranjeboom Bierbrouwerij, which was founded in 1671 in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands. The brewery was moved to Breda, in the southern part of the country, in 1990, and went through a series of new owners before the brewery was subsequently sold to Interbrew (now AB-InBev) in 1995, who closed it in 2004. United Dutch Breweries continues to brew and sell the brand outside the Benelux countries, I believe. This poster was created by American pin-up artist Gil Elvgren, who was one of the more well-known commercial illustrators of his day. This pin-up of his was used for Oranjeboom’s 1968 promotional calendar.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, The Netherlands

Beer In Ads #3581: Gil Elvgren For Oranjeboom

December 18, 2020 By Jay Brooks

Thursday’s ad is for Oranjeboom Beer, from 1950. From the late 1800s until the 1970s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster was created for Oranjeboom Bierbrouwerij, which was founded in 1671 in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands. The brewery was moved to Breda, in the southern part of the country, in 1990, and went through a series of new owners before the brewery was subsequently sold to Interbrew (now AB-InBev) in 1995, who closed it in 2004. United Dutch Breweries continues to brew and sell the brand outside the Benelux countries, I believe. This poster was created by American pin-up artist Gil Elvgren, who was one of the more well-known commercial illustrators of his day.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, The Netherlands

Beer In Ads #3580: Super Oranjeboom Bier

December 16, 2020 By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is for Super Oranjeboom Bier, from 1962. From the late 1800s until the 1970s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster was created for Oranjeboom Bierbrouwerij, which was founded in 1671 in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands. The brewery was moved to Breda, in the southern part of the country, in 1990, and went through a series of new owners before the brewery was subsequently sold to Interbrew (now AB-InBev) in 1995, who closed it in 2004. United Dutch Breweries continues to brew and sell the brand outside the Benelux countries, I believe. I’m not sure who created this poster.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, The Netherlands

Beer In Ads #3579: Oranjeboom Queen’s Beer

December 15, 2020 By Jay Brooks

Tuesday’s ad is for Oranjeboom Queen’s Beer, from the 1950s. From the late 1800s until the 1970s, poster art really came into its own, and in Europe a lot of really cool posters, many of them for breweries, were produced. This poster was created for Oranjeboom Bierbrouwerij, which was founded in 1671 in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands. The brewery was moved to Breda, in the southern part of the country, in 1990, and went through a series of new owners before the brewery was subsequently sold to Interbrew (now AB-InBev) in 1995, who closed it in 2004. United Dutch Breweries continues to brew and sell the brand outside the Benelux countries, I believe. I’m not sure who created this poster. Apparently, Queen’s Beer was a secondary brand of the Oranjeboom brewery.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, The Netherlands

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Recent Comments

  • The Session #147: Downing pints when the world's about to end - Daft Eejit Brewing on The Sessions
  • Amanda Alderete on Beer Birthday: Jack McAuliffe
  • Aspies Forum on Beer In Ads #4932: Eichler’s Bock Beer Since Civil War Days
  • Return of the Session – Beer Search Party on The Sessions
  • John Harris on Beer Birthday: Fal Allen

Recent Posts

  • Historic Beer Birthday: Rudolph J. Schaefer Jr. July 9, 2025
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Joe Owades July 9, 2025
  • Beer In Ads #5019: Trinkt Bock Beer July 8, 2025
  • Beer Birthday: Sebbie Buhler July 8, 2025
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen July 8, 2025

BBB Archives

Feedback

Head Quarter
This site is hosted and maintained by H25Q.dev. Any questions or comments for the webmaster can be directed here.