The art of brewing beer has long been a staple of American culture thanks in part to our European colonization and immigration. Going back to colonial times, brewing suds was a common practice within any community and the title of "Homebrewer" would be akin to calling someone a "Job Worker" - it's just what you did. The concept of commercial brewing was nonexistent and for good reason. For one, beer was stored in wood casks and did not travel very well at all. If you had a (good) beer in the 18th century you could guarantee it was brewed right around the corner, often coming from your local inn or, in many cases, your own home. As the 19th century dawned beer production began to ramp up in the US. Distribution of this liquid gold, however, still remained to be a local endeavor. In 1810, there were 140 commercial breweries in the US; by 1850 that number would just about double. But this growth merely reflected the growing and expanding nation rather than beer consumption per capita as this rate didn't change very much.
It wasn't until the decades following the Civil War that America would experience its first craft beer boom. Beer was quickly becoming the drink of choice for the blue color working class and there were several contributing factors to its surge in popularity. Foremost among them was the brewing know-how brought over from the Irish, English and German immigrants who'd come across the Atlantic for a fresh start. The practice of 'lagering' in the US was nowhere to be found until German brewers introduced this method in the mid 1800s and lagers began to replace ales as the dominant style at that time (English Pale Ale or Bitters were the styles up till then). Louis Pasteur's new technique of heating liquids to remove pathogens also allowed beer to last longer on the shelves and allowed it to 'keep' during travel. More efficient modes transportation were on the rise which caused the spread of distribution to previously unreachable geographies. The large and growing network of railroads - which arguably won the Civil War for the Union - now connected East and West as the final "golden spike" was hammered down in 1869, connecting the two halves and completing the Transcontinental Railroad. Ice cutting was also becoming a large scale commercial industry which allowed brewers to refrigerate packaged beer in large storerooms and serve it cold. And lastly, the growing labor force which supported all of this industrialization now earned higher wages, allowing them to spend more of it on beer.
In 1882, the New York publisher Geo. H. Adams & Sons printed a book entitled Illustrated Industries and Geographies of America. It was intended to give the public a detailed look at the inventions and technologies that helped drive American industrialization. Particularly noteworthy was America's growing beer industry and the commercial breweries of the time were highly regarded for their technological application and business savvy. The three breweries below (along with their original prints) are rustic examples of when the brewing industry entered the new era of "modern" technology and set America on a path through prohibition and towards its current (and second) craft beer revolution.
Hell Gate Brewery
Queens, New York
The Hell Gate Brewery was established by George Ehret in 1866 at the age of 31. He immigrated to the New York from Germany in 1854 following the example of his father who'd come before him. He got a job and worked for a time in the Anton Hupfel Brewery but it wasn't long before he became a fully capable brewer and set off on his own.
He decided to start from scratch and build his own brewery. He chose a spot in Queens "on the lower part of the block, between Ninety-second and Ninety-third streets and Second and Third avenues" in a rural area known as "Hell Gate". The name was given to a section of the East River river supposedly because of it's treacherous passage of shallow rocks but the original name came from a Dutch explorer who termed it "Hellegat" which means "clear opening". But due to the many shipwrecks that the passage induced it's Anglicanized version stuck.
Hell Gate Brewery opened up for business just after the Civil War ended during a time when annual consumption had reached 5,115,140 barrels - a pittance when compared to today with just over 203 million barrels in 2011 alone. The brewery did very well for itself in this time of increased consumption and its increased production only proved it's popularity. Production and distribution increased year over year heading into their 4th year but a fire swept through a most of the brewery in 1870 and destroyed much of the facility. Many of the facilities and records were destroyed but over the next decade the brewery updated and expanded, doubling its production by 1880.
George Ehret's Hell Gate Brewery was once the nation's largest brewery and a point of pride for New Yorkers and German immigrants alike. When Ehret died in 1927 he was worth an astounding $40 million dollars (nearly $550 million in 2017 dollars). But with the onset of Prohibition in 1918 breweries were hit hard. After fighting a losing battle Ehret's sons decided to sell the Queens facility in 1935 which officially ended the storied history of Hell Gate Brewery. His sons started made two other attempts to establish a family brand but sold the facility not long after opening it and in 1951 the Ehret family finally ended it's chapter in America's brewing history.
Frank Jones' Ale Brewery
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Frank Jones was born and raised in New Hampshire and over the course of his life would become perhaps one of the most well known businessmen in the state. In 1848 he started his career by working for his brother in his stove store at the age of 16. And by the time he was 19 he became part owner. Then, as would become a common practice in Jones' business career, it wasn't long before he owned it all.
The Frank Jones' Brewery first took shape when Jones went into business with an Englishman who'd come to Portsmouth, NH with a mind to open up an ale brewery. English Ale was the popular style of the time and also the most efficient style to brew. They began in partnership but, once again, it wasn't long before Jones had bought out his partner, John Swindell, and owned the entire brewery. His brand continued to grow throughout the Civil War and afterwards, competing against local as well as regionally larger breweries in New York and Boston. Jones had many businesses under his control by this time and continued to expand them whenever possible. In 1875, Jones bought another ale brewery in Boston and in 1883 was listed as the largest producer of beer in the country at 150,000 barrels.
Jones also entered politics early on in his career and was elected as Mayor of Portsmouth and a New Hampshire Congressman. In 1880 Jones ran for Governor of New Hampshire but lost to his competitor who just so happened to be a supporter of prohibition.
After his political career ended, Jones focused on his brewery exclusively. The 1880s were a time of major growth for the industry but a major economic depression in 1892 caused massive consolidation in the industry and many breweries were forced to sell. British investors were more than happy to buy them and conglomerate them into a single brand. Ironically, Anheuser-Busch was among those breweries who refused to sell out but have come full circle today by utilizing the same strategy. Jones sold the brewery at the start of this consolidation wave but remained on the board and in control of operations. Jones died in 1902 but the brewery kept on going until Prohibition ultimately proved too much of a challenge causing it to close in 1917.
David Jones Brewery
New Rochelle, New York
The David Jones Brewery of New Rochelle, NY was one of the older commercial establishments in the US with a start date somewhere in the beginning of the 19th century. Jones' brand was widely popular but it is his association with an obscure episode in New York brewing history that stands out in particular. It's a story involving corruption, drug use and slander - all aimed at New York's brewing industry.
It began in 1835 when the New York State Senate was alerted to an article published in Albany claiming that certain "noxious drugs" were being used in recipes of many New York breweries. The Senate was mildly alarmed and contacted the publisher of the article for proof of his claims. The publisher, unrecorded and lost to history, refused to offer any such proof and the Senate decided it was not worth opening an investigation into the state of State brewing practices.
The word was out, however, and the local breweries were not taking kindly to these salacious charges. The Senate received requests from local brewers who wanted their side to be heard so they could exonerate themselves for the record and, more importantly, in the court of public opinion. A questionnaire was sent out to these brewers asking about the use of any harmful chemicals in their brewing - specifically if they had ever used a drug known as "coculus indicus". Twenty eight brewers and several of their "workmen" were obliged to provide testimony, all of which denied the present use of any ingredients that would be considered "noxious or unwholesome". To hammer home their point they gladly listed out the only ingredients they used: malt, hops, water, honey, molasses, sugar and/or fine salt. They of course forgot to mention brewer's yeast but can be forgiven the oversight due to their limited understanding of the organism's responsibilities.
The Senate determined that this outpouring of innocence from the brewing community must certainly mean they were guiltless of the charges. In their final report they concluded that the original claim must be false and that no brewer in the United States would have the desire to brew with coculus indicus in the first place. The only reason to use such an ingredient, they said, was to enhance the bitterness and richness of the beer over that of that of the malt and hops. They claimed that this situation only existed in Great Britain due to the high import tariff on malt which caused many to look for a supplemental source of the malty richness. However, no such tariff existed in the United States and the Senate concluded there would be no desire to use anything but pure malt for this purpose in the first place. Of course, this unethical ingredient had other effects beyond enhancing taste.
Cocculus Indicus is a berry that comes from a climbing plant known as Anamirta cocculus which is indigenous to Southeast Asia and parts of India. The berry contains a poison known as picrotoxin which has stimulant properties. In the mid 1800s in England it was commonly known that a concoction containing this berry, known as hard multum, was included in the brewing process. When consumed this picrotoxin-infused beer would cause "giddiness" beyond the effect of just alcohol alone. Charles Dickens once referred to brewers engaging in this practice as being "of low degree,... who do not understand the wholesome policy of selling wholesome beverage." Today, picrotoxin is outlawed by many horse racing associations as a performance enhancing drug. The use of "coculus indicus" for brewing was eventually outlawed in England by mid 19th century and came with a hefty fine if caught putting it into beer.
The ironic twist is that several of the NY brewer's that gave testimony to the Senate openly admitted to using coculus indicus as part of their beer at some point in the past. However, they said the experiment failed as it gave the beer a bad taste and swore that they had never used it since. Apparently the NY State Senate took them at their word and exonerated the brewing community of any and all charges of using unwholesome drugs in their beer.
As late as 1876, the suspicion of such unsavory brewing practices still persisted in the US however and it was briefly addressed by the Chicago Tribune newspaper. It gave some reassurance to its readers that this practice no longer existed and that the only uses of this drug still employed were for "poisoning fish, or for destroying vermin on cattle." Whether it was the fact that this drug was in beer or for poisoning fish that would eventually make it to your table, clearly the need was there for a regulatory body to make some rules. The FDA was officially formed in 1906 via the signing of the Food and Drug Act by President Roosevelt making beer, once again, safe to consume in large quantities.
Bibliography
Stack, Martin. “A Concise History of America’s Brewing Industry”. EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. July 4, 2003. URL http://eh.net/encyclopedia/a-concise-history-of-americas-brewing-industry/
E. Harris Ruddock (1874). Text Book of Modern Medicine and Surgery on Homœopathic Principles. London: Homœopathic Publishing Company. p. 833. OCLC 14853471.
Henry Morley, LL.D. (1891). "Appendix (1841-1848): Management of the Food". Early Papers and Some Memories. London: Geo. Routledge & Sons, LTD. p. 373. OCL 10078708.
Chicago Tribue, July 15 1876. Chicago Tribue Archives. Cocculus Indicus In Beer URL http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1876/07/15/page/9/article/cocculus-indicus-in-beer
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