Schaeffer is America's oldest "Lager Beer". The Schaeffer on the left is a “1964 World’s Fair” can. 

 

Talk about “great Graphics”. If the Tomahawk Ale or the two Jaguars in the middle don’t do it for you, check for a pulse!

 

Hedrick (Albany-State Capital)had family with powerful political connections. Bars and restaurants not selling their product faced frequent 

inspections and were repeatedly cited for health and sanitation violations. Those selling Hedrick, not only didn't face these inspections, they were allowed to operate 24 hours a day and received automatic license renewals. Hedrick closed in 1965. 

 

                                                                                  The Iroquois Brewing Company of Buffalo was a

                                                                                  partner in the IBI (International Breweries Inc.)

                                                                                  of Detroit Michigan when the first zip top cans

                                                                                  were produced in 1962. The International Beer

                                                                                  and Ale, the Iroquois Ale, and the Tomahawk Ale

                                                                                  were all produced during this period. In 1965

                                                                                  Iroquois Brewing broke away from IBI and the 

                                                                                  Iroquois Beer, Draft Ale, and Draft pictured here

                                                                                  were then produced. Iroquois Brewing closed in

                                                                                  July 1971.

​

Timeline for Brewing in Rochester after Prohibition

     Five Breweries Restarted after Prohibition: American, Cataract, Genesee, Rochester, and Standard

       1940 -  Cataract Brewing Closed

       1950 - American Brewing (Apollo) Closed

       1956 - Rochester Brewing (Topper Beer/Ale) and Standard Brewing merged

       1957 - Old Standard Brewing Facility Closed

       1970 - Standard Rochester Brewing Bankrupt. Products: Standard Beer/Ale,

                    Ox-Cart, Toppler Beer/Ale, Jaguar Genesee Brewing first issued Fyfe

                    and Drum (a low calorie beer) in 1963. In 1984 Genesee purchased the

                    Fred Koch Brewery in Dunkirk, NY. The Wehle family sold their

                    Genesee Brewery in 2000 to a group of  investors who renamed the

                    Brewery "High Falls". A couple name changes have appeared since then

                    but the Brewery is still in Rochester.                                                                                                        "Tip a Topper"

 

         

       The Ox Cart is the Book 2 can. How it survived is a story worth repeating: two young buddies bought a case of what they could afford. They spent the weekend driving around, having fun, and enjoying the Ox Cart Beer. Each saved a can in remembrance of their wild weekend. Each time they telephoned, the cans became more cherished to them as they reminisced.  As the phone calls grew further and further apart, the Ox Carts’ importance diminished over time. One of them realized that old beer cans had value and sold his can. He notified his old buddy and now both cans are in collections. Wish these cans could talk! A third soso can has been pictured on the Rusty Bunch website.  

 

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

When you become the largest brewer in America's largest city you know there's a story waiting to be told. Here's to the rise and fall of Rheingold.

In 1940 Jinx Falkenburg, an extremely beautiful model was personally chosen by Philip Liebmann as Miss Rheingold. Her successors would be chosen via a popular ballot from posters of six beautiful girls displayed everywhere Rheingold was sold. This numbered 35,000 locations. Ballots and ballot Boxes accompanied the posters. Ruth Ownbey was the first winner elected by the public in 1941.  The brewery claimed that only the Presidential Election tallied more votes than their Miss Rheingold contests, but that was held only every fourth year. Whatever the facts truly were, soon after the annual contests began, Rheingold Beer went from sixth to first in sales in the New York City area. Marketing genius combining beauty, fun, intrigue and Rheingold patronage. In 1947 Rheingold acquired the John Eichler Brewery in the Bronx. Beer Drinkers in New York City were very loyal to their local brand and National brewers, who had success elsewhere, found it difficult to expand into the NYC market. Union strikes in 1948 and again in 1949 opened the door for the Nationals. What hurt the New York breweries even more was their home grown yeast strains died off during the strikes and their beers would never taste the same. By 1951 four (Edelbrew, Greater New York, Old Dutch, Trommers) NYC breweries closed. Rheingold purchased Trommers Orange, NJ facility. Rheingold made an attempt to go National in 1954 when they purchased California's two Acme Brewing Company's plants. The Los Angeles plant was converted to brewing Rheingold while the San Francisco plant continued to brew Acme's products. Success did not follow Rheingold to California and in 1957 Rheingold sold the L.A. facility to the Hamm's Brewing Company of St. Paul, Minnesota. Failing to find a buyer, Rheingold closed the San Francisco plant in 1959.

 

After an expansion of their main plant in Brooklyn, the John Eichlar plant in the Bronx was closed in 1961. Also in 1961 major League baseball expanded by placing sponsored Mets games on TV and Radio. The Liebmann family diversified their investments. Expanding further they also bottled Dr. Pepper, Hires, and seven Up. In 1964 Pepsi bought out the Brewing and the Soft Drink business from the Liebmann family. Pepsi named the brewing business "the Rheingold Corp." which included the Trommer's plant in Orange, New Jersey. In 1969 the Rheingold Corp. purchased the Dawson Brewery in the New Bedford, Mass. where after some modernizations, they brewed Gablingers and Knickerbocker Beer. In 1973 the Brooklyn plant with 70% of the Rheingold's sales was proving too costly to operate within the city and was scheduled to close. The Orange, New Jersey and New Bedford, Mass facilities with the other 30% of the business were making small profits and were to remain open for the time being. Pepsi, not wanting to be the "Bad Guy" and wising to preserve their good reputation in NYC's soft drink market desperately searched for a buyer. Enter "Chock Full of Nuts" Coffee. For one dollar (yes one thin dollar) the coffee company purchased all three Rheingold Breweries. And I thought the Indians sold Manhattan cheap!. To seal the deal, Pepsi also assumed 20 million dollar of long term debt. With sales sagging, Chock Full of Nuts closed the Brooklyn plant in early 1976, sold the Orange New Jersey plant to Schmidt's of Philadelphia in October 1977 and closed the New Bedford, Mass. facility in 1977 as well.

 

I wonder if Rheingold would of held a Miss Rheingold contest in Los Angeles - how it might have altered history.

              Rheingold...... "The Dry Beer"

 

                   Blondes                                                 Brunettes                                              Redheads

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​