Proto Craft Beer in America
The Culinary Institute of America, the famed teaching and vocational school based in Hyde Park, New York maintains an archive of vintage menus.
Let’s consider the 1930s beer list of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel (now being converted to condominiums). The notation states the menu date is unknown, but various indices point to 1934-1935.
Czech Budweis beer labelled “Nazdar”, mentioned on the beer list, was imported in that period. Confirmation is available from a judicial source no less, Anheuser-Busch v. Du Bois Brewing heard in 1947:
18. With the founding of the Czechoslovak Republic at the conclusion of World War I, the name of the City of Budweis was changed to Budejovice.
19. For a short time after Repeal, during the years of 1934 and 1935, imported beer from Budejovice was sold in small quantities in this country along the Eastern seaboard under the name “Nazdar”.
20. Subsequently, the importers changed the label to “Imported Budweiser” and small amounts of imported beer so labeled, which plaintiff contended violated the 1911 contracts, were sold in this country during the years 1936-1938.
The Waldorf-Astoria was of course a premier hotel and internationally known. Sited in New York, a vibrant brewing region into the 1950s, one would expect local heros of brewing to be represented, and many were.
Trommer was notable, in particular. It made the last important New York all-malt lager before craft. With (hence) a “European” character it was a natural for the Waldorf’s list.
Other old-time local/regional names of repute included Schaefer, Piel’s, and Rheingold.
Horton Brewing was a new, or post-Repeal, entrant. It bought an old plant, originally a branch of Yuengling in Pennsylvania (still going strong), to produce a pilsener. In 1997 the New York Times answered a reader’s question on Horton:
No Microbrewery This
Q. I have a clear 12-ounce bottle I found years ago in my backyard in Brooklyn Heights. On the bottom it says ”Horton Pilsener Brewing Co. 460 W. 128th St., New York.” Can you tell me about this brewery?
A. The brewery was built by the Yuengling Brewing Company in 1876, in the village that was then known as Manhattanville — a dense, industrial enclave in the deep valley between Morningside and Hamilton Heights near the Hudson River. Nearby were the D. F. Tiemann pigment factory (from which Tiemann Place takes its name), a worsted mill and the first buildings of Manhattan College. The giant red-brick brewery included a swimming pool and opulent parlors for entertaining dignitaries, who included King Edward VII of England.
More buildings and equipment were added after the brewery was purchased by the Bernheimer & Schwartz Brewing Company in 1903, and a 1911 advertisement for the beer depicts a brewing complex stretching from 127th to 129th Streets along Amsterdam Avenue. Prohibition closed up the brewery in 1920, and the sprawling parcel was purchased by the Horton Pilsener Brewing Company, which resumed production after Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Though the plant closed long ago many of its buildings remain in commercial use. DANIEL B. SCHNEIDER
The distinction of “beer”, formerly meaning lager in America, from “ale” dated from before Prohibition. The usage continued in brewing practice until craft took root ca. 1980.
Hence the Waldorf’s domestic beers were carefully chosen, covering notable pre-Prohibition names and worthy newcomers.
Its import selection covered the key beer lands and represented ale, lager, and stout. They came from Ireland, Germany, Britain, Holland, and Czechoslovakia. Canada was represented in a manner of speaking, as I shall explain.
The Czech Budweis would have been a rarity in prewar New York, and Dutch Heineken. The latter was re-introduced to Americans with a bang just after Prohibition by enterprising Dutchman Leo Van Munching.
Britain’s Allsopp Pale Ale, a renowned Victorian-era beer, still had some cachet in export markets, and caught the Waldorf’s post-Pro eye. Two labels of Bass Pale Ale were offered, i.e., the same beer from different bottlers.
One was Burke, an Irish-origin bottling and distribution agency in Long Island that also brewed its own brands. Bass would soon take all bottling in-house, so here we see another late echo of pre-Prohibition practice.
New Jersey’s venerable, and venerated, Ballantine India Pale Ale was not listed, but probably was still to appear after Prohibition. Ballantine XXX Ale, the brewery flagship, was present, indeed for the draft ale selection.
Kent Ale was an I.P.A. made by Krueger Brewing in Newark, the regular ale was listed as well.
The list comprised some 45 beers. The range and number were unusual in America then, indeed until the 1950s. Breadth of coverage was significant because the Waldorf was not an ethnic establishment a la Janssen Hofbrau Haus,* or a showcase for a foreign country’s beers as say the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
Canada was present in a sense via its Carling Red Cap ale. The brand was newly available in the U.S. after Repeal, however it was brewed under license in Cleveland. See details in this website devoted to Carling U.S. history, whence this image was drawn:
It is no surprise given the above picture that the Wine and Food Society of New York held elaborate beer tastings at the same Waldorf ca.1940, as I discussed earlier. All the elements were present for this development.
The detail the hotel applied to its selections reflected its European and gastronomic orientation. A hotel known for its kitchen and wine cellar put beer on the same plane, long before beer became a subject of serious interest (apart its business features) in America.
No less evidently, the market here was not 1930s hipster and probably not the broad middle class. The artsy crowd, apart a few monied types, was in Greenwich Village or Brooklyn trying to survive the Depression – the others were in leafy suburban enclaves or soon-to-appear Levittowns, growing the American Dream.
As all the Waldorf’s services, its beer offerings were pitched to an upmarket echelon, which included an international clientele.
Note re images: The extracts from the Waldorf-Astoria’s wine and spirits list, and Carling label, were sourced from the links identified and given in the text. The Allsopp’s ad is from the Coaster-Beerdekel collection on Pinterest, here. All intellectual property in the sources used belongs solely to the lawful owners, as applicable. Images used for educational and historical purposes. All feedback welcomed.
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*See my earlier post on this great Manhattan establishment.
The first ads for the post-Repeal Ballantine’s India Pale Ale, along with their Brown Stout, both of which were “Aged in the Wood One Year”, appeared in mid-Nov., through December, 1934 in NYC, Boston and other papers, so, yes, the menu likely predates their release. Supposedly brewing did not start up in Newark at the renovated brewery after the Badenhausen purchase until December 1933, so the one year aging would also suggest a late 1934 release.
Some Horton ads in the immediate post-Repeal era noted the Yuengling ownership (which only lasted for about the last quarter of the 19th century) but also, perplexing claimed “…experience dating back to the Yuengling Brewhouse of 1770!” <That's their exclamation mark, but I'd also add "!" to that claim, as well.