When the neon eagle finally came down from its perch atop the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Newark in early January, the chapter of New Jersey history in which we were the commercial brewing capital of the world came to its inevitable end. But what a chapter it was.
It starts in the 17th century with a brewery burned to the ground in a dispute, only for 60 breweries to rise from those issues two centuries later.
In this story, the Passaic River is not a Superfund site, but a pristine water source perfect for brewing and marketed in the way the folks at Coors did in their Tap the Rockies campaign.
The Anheuser-Busch brewery in Newark is seen in 2006.
The Anheuser-Busch brewery in Newark is seen in 2006.
There is beer delivered via fire hose during Prohibition, a giant bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon erected, an eagle at Anheuser-Busch to welcome travelers to Jersey — and then, slowly, then all at once, it was gone.
The closure of Anheuser-Busch may be the final stake in the coffin for commercial brewing here, but it provides an occasion to look back at what brewing meant to our region, particularly Newark.
“The history of beer is about so much more than just beer,” said Neil Maher, chair of the federated history department at New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers-Newark. “Hopefully just as people remember the long and vibrant history of the city of Newark, they’ll remember that beer was a part of that and shaped it and made Newark an interesting, diverse and economically vibrant place.”
Beer capital of the world
A Dutch immigrant named Aert Tewnissen Van Patten built North Jersey’s first brewery in 1641 in Hoboken to supply early settlers. Only two years after he leased the land, though, the brewery was burned to the ground, reportedly by members of the Lenni Lenape tribe, said Christopher Morris’ book, «North Jersey Beer.»
An inauspicious start, for sure, but an influx of European immigrants and ample natural resources, namely wheat, hops and water, buoyed the industry, Maher said.
“New Jersey was seventh among states in beer production, producing 2.5 million barrels of beer a year,” Maher said. “This was because of the huge German immigrant population in the city of Newark. They worked in the breweries, but they also drank a lot of beers.”
Scottish immigrant Peter Ballantine opened Ballantine Brewing Co. in Newark in 1840. It became the largest of the early brewers and later a sponsor of the New York Yankees. G. Krueger Brewing Co. opened in Newark in 1858; its glass bottles were typically used in restaurants and bars and then returned to the brewery to be refilled, a primeval growler.
Those two were followed by the Feigenspan (known for its labels saying “P.O.N.,” for «Pride of Newark»), Wiedenmayer and Hensler breweries, which completed the “big five” of Newark breweries. Paterson also had a few heavy hitters in Hinchliffe and Paterson Consolidated Brewing Co.
Ballantine Beer, which began in Newark in 1840, salutes Paterson as the city commemorates its 175th anniversary with a parade down Market Street in September 1967.
Ballantine Beer, which began in Newark in 1840, salutes Paterson as the city commemorates its 175th anniversary with a parade down Market Street in September 1967.
Ballantine enjoyed a sterling reputation throughout its run — in fact, a friend recently unearthed an old Ballantine bar sign, and I was shocked at how many people during a New Year’s Eve party had stories about this homegrown beer. An 1861 book on Newark businessmen says of Ballantine:
“Their productions have long held their present leading position in the market, being conceded by the chemists, by expert brewers, and by consumers in general, to have few equals, and no superiors, either in this country or elsewhere.”
By 1879, there were 58 commercial brewhouses in the state, with hubs in Newark and New Brunswick because of their proximity to the Passaic and Raritan rivers, respectively. Though the Passaic had the perfect water composition for brewing, it wasn’t long before the river was so polluted from that and other industries that brewers had to start digging wells 800 feet deep to get water, Maher said.