Brewing+In+Philadelphia--Colonial+Era+Through+Prohibition

= Brewing in Philadelphia: Colonial Era Through Prohibition =


 * //Table of Contents//**
 * 1.0 Colonial Brewing ||
 * < 2.0 Revolution Era Brewing ||
 * < 3.0 German Immigration and Lager Beer ||
 * < 4.0 The Civil War and the Rise of Brewerytown ||
 * < 5.0 Prohibition, the Volstead Act and the Collapse of an Industry ||


 * //Colonial Brewing//**

Even in their infancy, the American Colonies were not without a brewery. In 1683, the year in which William Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania, he ordered a brewery built at Pennsbury, a town near Bristol, PA. That same year, William Frampton erected the first brewery in Philadelphia [1]. This brewery operated on Philadelphia’s Front Street between Walnut and Spruce Streets, in close proximity to the Dock Street Creek. In a society which generally did not afford women many rights, Mary Lisle took control of her father’s Philadelphia brewery in 1734. The Edinburgh Brewhouse would continue to operate until 1751. Many women also owned and operated their own taverns [2].


 * //Revolution Era Brewing//**

Not just a great patriot, George Washington also had excellent taste, entering a beer recipe in his notebook in 1737. Washington would eventually use the beer he and his countrymen held so dear to make a bold political statement with his 1789 “’Buy American” initiative [1]. Newly independent, this campaign was one of the many ways in which the United States of America affirmed their sovereignty. The Buy American initiative amounted to a boycott of English porter. In many ways, the flavorful dark ale was symbolic of England. Among England’s larger industries, English porter brewing fueled not only the English people, but its economy as well. A brewing stronghold, Philadelphia was one of the cities to fill the porter void and sustain the gullets of the Americans in their assertion of independence. Fueled by this event, population growth and other sources of demand, Philadelphia’s brewing capacity steadily grew, producing more beer than any other seaport by 1793 [1].

The adoption of cutting edge technology has often been considered the hallmark of the leader in an industry. In the early seventeenth century, steam power was the state of the art. Indicative of its dominance in brewing, Philadelphia was home to the first steam engine in an American brewery. Built by Thomas Holloway, this engine was installed in Frances Perot’s Brewery [1].


 * //German Immigration and Lager Beer//**

Although their capacity was dwarfed by the English porter powerhouses, Philadelphia’s breweries had become magnificent in their own right by 1819, when Ludwig Gall marveled that Philadelphia had “enormous breweries, the likes of which in all Europe only England can boast [3].”

Although countless varieties of both exist, beer is divided into two main categories: lagers and ales. The yeast species used to ferment ales consume sugars from the top of wort, while lager yeasts ferment from the bottom. Furthermore, lagering yeasts require significant temperature control. To ferment properly, lager yeasts require temperatures between 45 and 55°F, necessitating refrigeration during much of the year. By contrast, ale yeasts can operate around room temperature, between 68 and 72°F [4]. A German innovation, lager brewing was unheard of in the United States until John Wagner, commonly considered the first lager brewer in America, brought it with him to Philadelphia in 1840. Smuggling yeast from Bavaria, Wagner carried the seed that would sprout into a whole industry [2][5]. Although he had no way of knowing it, Wagner was preparing a slice of home for his countrymen in America; in 1848, a revolution in Germany lead to the influx of 1.3 million thirsty immigrants through the port of Philadelphia, many settling in the area [6]. These immigrants not only created a surge in demand, but also provided the homegrown German knowledge and manpower to make their own supply as well as an abundant export.


 * //The Civil War Era and The Rise of Brewerytown//**

During the Civil War, Union soldiers were introduced to and significantly enjoyed lager beers. Soldiers returning home created a surge in demand for this style of beer in Philadelphia and cities throughout the country [3]. This demand was such that it drove production to levels that rivaled those of the London porter brewers.

Beginning its development prior to the Civil War, Brewerytown became the industrial complex that would provide the lager beer that people desired. Situated along the Schuykill River, Brewerytown was in close proximity to the ice vaults which were vital to maintaining the proper fermentation temperatures during the summer months [7]. Ice cut from the Schuykill during the winter was stored in these vaults and offered a natural system of refrigeration. This geographic advantage would eventually become meaningless as refrigeration technologies were developed. Nonetheless, the Brewerytown complex continued to grow. However, it also became possible for breweries to exist elsewhere in the city without being at a disadvantage. Otto Wolf is commonly considered the mastermind behind Brewerytown, completing some 150 projects between 1883 and 1905 [7]. These projects included bottom up brewery constructions as well as renovations and additions.

As breweries and Brewerytown grew, so did the rest of industry in Philadelphia, much of it tied to the building of new breweries. Breweries are essentially large chemical plants and building one required countless boilers, refrigeration compressors, metal and wooden tanks, fermenters, storage vats, pumps, valves, pipes, hoses and fixtures, all which could be found in a nearby Philadelphia factory [7]. Furthermore, some of the staples which people more closely associate with beer, kegs and bottles, were made right in Brewerytown.


 * //Prohibition, the Volstead Act and the Collapse of an Industry//**

Ratified on January 16, 1919 the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America made illegal “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States [8].” Furthermore, this Amendment provided that “Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” This legislation was the subsequent Volstead Act which essentially gave legislators and law enforcement free reign in their efforts to rid the land of alcohol. To those who may have taken Prohibition lightly, the Volstead Act’s coarse wording alone was likely enough to make them think twice about taking that next drink [9]. It was these two pieces of legislature that singlehandedly brought down the world class industry that had been built in Philadelphia.

From the very beginning of Prohibition, brewers opposed its autocracy, with reason. The immediate shut down of the industry would mean the closing of between thirty-five and forty plants and the unemployment of at least 1000 men [10]. These figures do not include the auxiliary industries which supported the Philadelphia breweries which were no doubt impacted as well.

It was not before long that brewers were scheming for a way to prolong their craft in Philadelphia and elsewhere throughout the country. One such effort was a very light (low alcohol) beer which they hoped would allude the Prohibition definition of “intoxicating.” The illustrious language of the day illustrates how strongly brewers and patrons alike sought to preserve their precious beverage. “Prohibitionists continued to see Niagara Falls of pure water pouring in a triumphant cataract over the grave of the liquor industry” wrote one journalist [11]. It was with this “non-intoxicating” beer that Gustavus W. Bergner, of the Bergner & Engel Brewing Company hoped to “have a fighting chance to save something from the wreckage.” However, even this effort was deemed unlawful by the government. It was only considered lawful for breweries to convert their production to products such as “the manufacture of ice, cold storage, making of yeast for baking, rolling barley and grinding grains for mill feed [12].” These manufacturing efforts were considered essential to supporting the war effort (WWI) as well as the domestic population. The potential impacts of Prohibition on a financial scale were summarized, rather sarcastically, in 1919 in a Brewers’ Journal Editorial:

“The cost of National Prohibition to the American people, aside from their loss of liberty at home and prestige abroad, will be only about $450,000,000 for new taxes per year, and at least $20,000,000 for the employment of spies, informers and stool-pigeons, while the contemptible person and peanut politicians who sneaked the brutal scheme into the law of the land will receive due punishment, when their time comes, at the ballot box, and in the great popular movement which destiny has in store for the defilers of the Constitution of the United States .”

Given the publication from which this statement came, a certain bias must be assumed. Nonetheless, Prohibition was eventually repealed and one must take these criticisms as true to some extent. In the same issue of the Brewers’ Journal, a rather striking statement of anti-Prohibition sentiment was documented when 200,000 soldiers returning from Europe flew a “We Want Beer” banner.

These “near beer” efforts as well as clandestine retailing of full strength beer attempted to prolong the life of Philadelphia’s brewing industry [13]. Nonetheless, these efforts would eventually be smothered by law enforcement through prosecution of violating brewers, prosecution of tavern owners [14], “padlocking of breweries” [15], and confiscation of alcoholic beverages [16].

Despite their best efforts, brewers in Philadelphia and nationally were forced to succumb to the overbearing force that was Prohibition. A section of the city steeped in brewing traditions, Brewerytown was doomed to become nothing more than a catacomb of a once world class complex. The demise of Brewerytown is eloquently foreshadowed in the following piece from Philadelphia’s Evening Bulletin [17]:

One of the tragedies of prohibition is being enacted in Philadelphia. 'Brewerytown,' as distinctive in its atmosphere and its odors of sauerkraut and corned-beef and cabbage as Paris with its Latin Quarter, is passing into nothing but a memory. The factories there where beer was made will no longer brew the amber-ascent fluid. The many breweries are allowed by the Eighteenth Amendment to manufacture beer of one-half of one per cent alcoholic content by volume. But there is no great demand for the beverage. And the breweries at Brewerytown are finding that it does not pay to brew near-beer, so more than 1,000 brewery workmen have already been laid off, and more than 150 more will be laid off before the end of the week. The breweries which make up Brewerytown are controlled by the following firms: American B.C., Arnholt & Schaefer B.C., J. & P. Baltz B.C., Louis Bergdoll B.C., Bergner & Engel B.C., F.A. Poth & Sons and Robert Smith Ale B.C.

The buildings will stand as monuments of an era gone. The goblets containing the brew with a genuine "collar" painted on the sides of the buildings, must be obliterated in accordance with the Federal regulations. Recipes for making beer must be committed to memory, since it is illegal to have in one's possession or to sell any compound, tablet, substances, formula, direction or recipe advertised, designed or intended for use in the unlawful manufacture of intoxicating liquor. Most of the brewmasters in the local breweries are graduates of colleges abroad. To become a brewmaster one must study organic chemistry quite thoroughly, and the brewmasters are specialists in their line. But one doesn't have to be an expert chemist in order to brew 'Bevo,' or near beer.

This prophecy was soon to be realized as Philadelphia’s breweries were forced out of business by Prohibition, few resurging from the ashes when Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933.

=References=

**Primary**
8. //The Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27//. Available from: []. 9. //Act of October 28, 1919 [Volstead Act]//. Available from: []. 10. // Modification of Orders is Sought by Brewers //, in //Public Ledger//. 1918: Philadelphia, PA. 11. // New Light Beer, Non-Intoxicating, Hint by Brewers //, in //Evening Bulletin//. 1919: Philadelphia, PA. 12. // Near Beer Also Will Not Flow on December 1 //, in //Public Ledger//. 1918: Philadelphia, PA. 13. // Beer With "Kick" Sold in City Bars //, in // Public Ledger //. 1919. 14. // Scores of Arrests Hinge on Beer Suit //, in //Evening Bulletin//. 1919. 15. // Washington Shuts Big Brewery Here //, in //Philadelphia Inquirer//. 1923. 16. // Barrels of High-Power Beer Seized by Agents in 3 Brewery Yards //, in //Public Ledger//. 1922. 17. // 'Brewerytown,' a Philadelphia Institution, Will Be No More ////.// Evening Bulletin, 1920.

Secondary
1. Wieren, D.P.V., //American Breweries II//. 1995, West Point, PA: Eastern Coast Breweriana Association. 2. Mittelman, A., //Brewing Battles: A History of American Beer//. 2007, New York, NY: Algora Publishing. 3. McGaw, J.A., ed. //Early American Technology: Making & Doing Things from the Colonial Era to 1850//. 1994, The University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, NC. 4. Palmer, J.J., //How to Brew//. 2006, Boulder, Colorado: Brewers Publishers. 5. Smith, G. //Lager in America: A Different Look//. [cited 2009 March 15]; Available from: []. 6. Stolarik, M.M., //Forgotten Doors: The Other Ports of Entry to the United States//. 1988, Philadelphia, PA: Balch Institute Press. 7. Wagner, R., //Brewerytown, Philadelphia - The Grand Daddy of 'Em All!//, in //Mid-Atlantic Brewing News//. 2001.