Dry Hopping
in the US in the
pre-craft era
1934 - Haberle-Congress Brewing's (Syracuse, NY) BLACK BASS ALE which would become BLACK RIVER ALE by 1936 for obvious reasons
In West Virginia, Fesenmeier Brewing Co., the state's longest-lived post-Repeal brewery, unusually had an ale for their flagship.
West Virginia Special Sparkling Pale Ale.
(Above) The Genesee Brewing Company brewed a number of dry- hopped ales in the 1930's, including Light Ale and 12 Horse Ale here, as well as the apparently short-lived Burton-union brewed Old Stratford Ale .
(above) 1947 ad from Montana's Kalispell Malting and Brewing Co.
Genesee's crosstown rival American brewed the dry-hopped Tam o'Shanter Ale
Ad from 1976 when Rheingold re-introduced McSorley's Cream Ale in bottles. Michael Jackson's description dates from the early 1980's, after C. Schmidt's & Sons of Philadelphia had acquired the brand from it's neighbor, Ortlieb.
Two dry-hopped ale from upstate New York, brewed by the Gerhard Lang Brewing Co., Buffalo, NY
Zett's brewery in Syracuse NY only lasted a year after Repeal, the brewery was then briefly owned by Genesee before closing in 1937.
Two unusual examples of dry-hopped, long-aged US lager beers in the US, from the short-lived Lockport (1933-42) and (below) the ale specialists the Louis F. Neuweiler Brewing Co.
(See examples of two other dry-hopped lagers below -
Hoff-Brau and Souvenir.)
Erroneously claimed by Yuengling* to be the US's longest-lived brand of ale, the bottom-fermented
Lord Chesterfield Ale
is dry-hopped according to some Yuengling promotional material.
*Below - Dec. 1934 ad announcing the release of Lord Chesterfield Ale, described by the brewery as a "Canadian type Ale".
HOCHBERG BEER is subjected to a
special process called “Dry Hopping”.
Dry Hopping imparts to HOCHBERG that
extra aroma and bouquet which
connoisseurs of fine beverages
immediately recognize when taking
their first sip of HOCHBERG.
We believe HOCHBERG BEER
to be the only “Dry Hopped” Beer
brewed in America.
Originally a brand of Allentown's Neuweiler Brewing Co., this label and ad text from 1973, when Ortlieb's of Philadelphia announced their revival of the beer.
P. Ballantine & Sons dominated the ever-shrinking ale market in the US from Repeal to it's demise in 1972. The brewery famously distilled its own hop oils to add to their ales, but also employed dry hopping.
PABST'S ALES
BLUE RIBBON ALE
PABST OLD TANKARD ALE
AMERICAN BREWER (magazine)
Dec. 1941
Post-Repeal, Carling Red Cap Ale was brewed in the US into the 1980s - at one time, it was among the largest selling ales in the US and one of the few available coast-to-coast.
Brewed by Canadian Breweries' (later Carling-O-Keefe) US subsidiary, the Brewing Corporation of America (later Carling Brewing Co. and Carling-National) and, after the latter was sold in the late 1970s, by G. Heileman Brewing Co. Apparently no US ads ever claimed it was dry-hopped and it is possible the US recipe and process differed from that of the one used in its home market.
Credits:
Neuweiler - Taster's Guide to Beer, Wierner, 1976
McSorley's, Pocket Guide to Beer, Jackson, 1982
