Beer Awesomeness in 1908

A diamond of an old menu appears here from the classic German-American restaurant, Janssen Hofbrau Haus.* Operated in New York from 1898 until the 1960s it was founded by August Janssen, a real estate mogul and restaurateur (1867-1939). The house slogan was “Janssen Wants To See You!”, no doubt a double-entendre for his many employees.

New York once had a tradition of German eating, from the substantial influx of German-speakers that began in the mid-1800s. Famously they concentrated in the Yorkville area on the Upper East Side. A classic product of German Yorkville was Lou Gehrig, for example. Donald Trump’s paternal line descends from New York-based German incomers in the 1800s. For that matter, Jacob Astor was a German immigrant mogul, albeit of an earlier generation.

A significant sub-set of this German crowd was Jews, the upper crust portion memorably portrayed by Stephen Birmingham in an absorbing social history, Our Crowd.

The menu of Janssen’s Hofbrau covered many bases in German and American eating but primarily rendered the metropolitan and hotel cuisine of contemporary Germany and Austro-Hungary. Whether hot dishes or cold, fish-based or game, eggs, delicatessen, grills, there was an enormous choice. Only the famed Luchow of New York had a comparable range.

With the onset of WW I the Hofbrau Haus remained open despite the sentiment that ran high against German-Americans following the Belgian invasion and the Lusitania disaster.  Overt displays of the German ethos were held to a minimum in New York to avoid the charge of siding with”Kaiser Bill”, but Hofbrau Haus never closed.

A high-end, international reputation helped it survive the period of anti-German sentiment. The same thing occurred during the next war. By then the restaurant had relocated to Lexington and 44th street in the still-standing Greybar Building.

(Perhaps Hofbrau Haus had some connection to the famed German beer hall of the name although I’ve not been able to substantiate one).

Even in 2015 New York hasn’t quite forgotten its German history. There are German restaurants and pubs scattered in Manhattan. One or two are still in Yorkville and also Staten Island, Queens, and New Jersey. A Goethe Institute continues its good work in Manhattan albeit, at Irving Place, far south of Yorkville.

The original Munich Hofbrauhaus now has a small outpost mid-town, as does Paulaner which brews onsite in the Bowery. Still, it is a safe bet that no German restaurant in New York today, and probably few outside Germany anywhere, can equal the breadth of Janssen’s menu.

The menu is decorated with an ornate Germanic design and portrays scenes from the equally Teutonic decor of Janssen Hofbrau Haus. The restaurant’s artistic and cultural goals are well expressed in Baroque narrative in the handsome and ornate menu.

The authenticity extended to the small but well-curated and explicated beer list, set out on page 9. The best saved for last, we might say.

There were four beers described by name, all imports from Germanic territories, all draft, and amazingly, each from a brewery still in operation. As the menu explains, the restaurant took significant pains to ensure a quality “seidel”, noting that 36 barrels were kept in constant operation with temperature carefully controlled.

How beer was shipped then from Central Europe to America is not something easily fathomed but I’d guess the trip took a lot longer than now. These draft beers surely were not pasteurized, so how they arrived in a drinkable, let alone ideal, state is hard to understand.

The boss beer bar of pre-WW I may have arranged a way still to ensure a top glass every time. Its critical clientele would have expected no less. In any case, the beer list clearly was of repute.

Domestic beers were available too at Hofbrau Haus but not dignified by name  – presumably these local productions were not felt worthy to bracket with great Central European originals. One wonders if cultural pride and the lure of the import made people drink long-travelled beer that was actually inferior to the best New York brewing kettles. We will never know, but in a good-size city one can do the test today and decide for oneself.

Each of the four beers was accompanied by a taste note which, if one ignores the puffery on health and doctors’ opinions, wouldn’t be out of place on BeerAdvocate or a current beer blog.

Beer is the description of each, shorn of the puffery:

Burger Brau Pilsener [this is the same beer as Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic]

Light, bitter, slightly veiled. This is the lightest [meaning in colour] of all beers and contains the smallest amount of alcohol [4.4% ABV then and now, not so shabby actually].

Münchner Hofbrau [this is the modern Dunkel, or dark lager of Hofbrauhaus in Munich].

Dark, sweet, creamy. The finest brew in the world.

Nurnberger Tucher Brau

The burgundy of all beers; very dark, creamy and full of character.

Wurzburger Burger Brau

A little lighter in the color than the Munchner,not quite so sweet, and therefore a good medium between Pilsner and Munchner.

It’s easy to check reviews of these beers on a modern rating service. For the last two breweries, beers differently named correspond closely to colour and taste on the Janssen’s menu. Pilsner Urquell is not “veiled” (lightly cloudy) as available anywhere today unless you get a Keller version in the Pilsen cellars, so the beer sent to New York in the early 1900s sounds pretty authentic.

Let’s raise a New York cheer – not a Bronx cheer, a real one – for what was an important beer and dining haunt in the Gilded Age and long after. And it’s more proof that great beer was always taken seriously by some people in some places – it was always part of gastronomy, a conclusion reinforced for us recently with the success of our Waldorf Hotel 1944 Beer Tasting Recreation held recently at Dora Keogh Irish Pub in Toronto.

*Note added August 21, 2015: Please see the comments below of noted ephemera and menu-collector Henry Voigt who states that the menu in fact dates from 1934, despite bearing a copyright notice of 1908. On page 7 of the menu we read, “Ten years ago…the doors of the Hofbrau Haus were first opened to the public”. As it opened in 1898, this, plus the curator’s notice Henry Voigt mentioned, convinced me initially this menu is a 1908 original. In fact this appears not the case. Many thanks to Henry Voigt for his expertise. Still, one way or another, these fine beers were long available at Janssen’s, probably from close to inception of the restaurant and until the 1930s at least.