Journalist Looking For Restaurants That Have Beer Brewed Especially For Them

Would you pay for pictures of a restaurant that has its own mini brewery?

You're asking about restaurants that have a house-label beer produced for them by an outside brewery, right? Not restaurants that brew their own?

Out here in the San Francisco Bay Area, one example that comes to mind is the Elephant Bar chain, which has a draft called Big E Beer. This has been produced by at least two breweries over the years--when I first encountered it, by Schell in Minnesota; more recently by Stoddard's in Sunnyvale, CA.

Maxfield's, in the Sheraton Palace in San Francisco, has or had something called Pied Piper Ale, produced by Coast Range.

I don't know if either one of these is actually a custom-designed product for the restaurant, or simply a house-labelled version of one of the brewer's regular line.

Alan Follett

The Berghof in Chicago used to have its own private-label beer brewed from a Wisconsin brewery (and damn my crappy memory lately for forgetting which). With all the "we're open! we're closed! we're open!" trauma of the last year or so, I have no idea if that's still the case.

-Steve

Actually, Berghoff started off as a brewery (in Fort Wayne, IN- the brewery that was the last Falstaff facility and brewed Ballantine XXX and India Pale Ales in the 1980's) and opened the restaurant later. Not sure when the "split" happened- no doubt, Repeal tied house prohibitions had some affect IIRC. Huber eventually wound up with the label in recent years and uses the brand as a substitute "super premium" to replace Augsburger (which was sold off to Stroh during the period that Huber wasn't in Huber family hands).

Along the same lines as Berghoff, there was a restaurant in Boston called Jacob Wirth's that was known in the pre-micro age for having a couple house beers (the Dark was well-respected) and, of course, there's McSorley's (haven't been there in years- when I went it was still often a sleepy little bar- but I sure hope the beer is better than the crap Pabst/City puts in the bottles).

Greetings,

Thanks for the following.

I fondly remember Ballantine's IPA when it was brewed in Cranston, RI - almost lost interest when they moved from the pitch-lined fermenters and began brewing in Fort Wayne.

and opened the restaurant later. Not sure when the "split" happened- no doubt, Repeal tied house prohibitions had some affect IIRC. Huber eventually wound up with the label in recent years and uses the brand as a substitute "super premium" to replace Augsburger (which was sold off to Stroh during the period that Huber wasn't in Huber family hands).

I did a beer dinner at J/W back a few years ago. Food was good the beer was fair.

Pepe and "Black Bart" are still behind the bar and afternoons are still peaceful. The beers (light & dark) now come from what is left of the F.X. Matt brewery in Utica, NY.

Check out the next issue of BeerBasics.com for the results of my research.

Cheers!

Peter LaFrance

But, Fort Wayne ALSO had wooden fermentation tanks (see

) altho' their's were wax lined. The bigger problem with Ballantine IPA, was a change it formula (lower alcohol & lower abu) but I can't recall if that happened at Fort Wayne or before the move. I do remember that the final batch out of Milwaukee (around 1996) was a mere shadow of it's former self.

"What's left" of Matts? While sales are probably down, or at least flat, for them over the past coupla decades and they certainly haven't experienced the success that the once similar size regional like Yuengling has experienced, I thought they were doing "OK"- with a widely distributed craft-line in Saranac, the local Matts and Utica Club beers and still some contract brewing (Brooklyn, a some others- Do they still own/market the New Amsterdam label)? At this point, you gotta figure that ANY old regional is doing OK, if they're still brewing at all.

Just came across a link to the website of McSorley's on a beer site and clicked on their "Ale" page (copied, edited) below. I realize that the business itself has changed hand quite a few times, but this rundown sure seems incomplete and misleading.

"> ON TAP ONLINE: THE HISTORY OF McSORLEY'S ALE

For much of Fidelio's pre-Pro history, it was known as "Herman Koehler"- they changed the name of the brewery to it's main product's name in 1916-7.

Hmmm...I like that name- there've been a number of US "Stock Ales" and, of course, many "Cream Ales" but this is the first "Stock Cream Ale" I can recall, and it explains why Rheingold's bottled version was called a "Cream Ale" (altho' it was closer to a US golden ale than the sweet, low-hopped cream ales of the era (think Genesee).

The 1940's brought with it a world war and a new brewer

Rheingold also marketed "Rheingold Ale" and "Rheingold Scotch Ale" in cans, bottles and keg, one of which one might assume was the same recipe as McSorley's. On some McSorley's tap handles from the era, the beer is called "Rheingold McSorley's Ale" but, IIRC, it was a draft-only product until the 1970's.

Actually, while Schmidt's of Phila. bought most of the Rheingold labels, McSorley's went to Ortlieb's. Schmidt's got McSorley's a few years later, when they bought the Ortlieb brands and hired the Ortlieb brewer. Also, there is conflicting information on whether the ale was top fermented at this point. Jackson says no, even tho' Schmidt's used open redwood fermenters at the time for it's ales (Tiger Head and 20th Century), other sources say it was: " McSorley's was the closest thing to the old Tiger Head Brand that

.

Actually, Heileman bought the Schmidt's labels and got McSorley's in the late 80's. Their labels were eventually bought by Stroh.

And, of course, Pabst soon closed all it's breweries and, in bottled McSorley's case at least, the beer is contract brewed by City Brewing in the old Heileman plant in La Crosse, WI.

The write-up above ignores the "dark" beer (I can't recall- is it called "Dark Ale" at the bar, or just "Dark"?), ignores the era when the beer was a draught only product (until Rheingold re-introduced it in bottles in the late 70's and Ortlieb put it in cans a few years later) AND, most importantly, ignores some other rumored brewers of the draught beer(s)- The Lion and Matts. I seem to remember a bartender in the late 70's saying that the Dark was from "some brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA" but he may have also been the guy who told another person that the empty display bottle of Ballantine IPA on the shelf was from "...the 1920's", so his info can be seen as being suspect.