The US beer industry was on the verge of great change in 1879, about to undergo a massive ramping-up, due in part to the rise of industrial mechanization and the advent of the railroad. The following list indicates which breweries were selling the most beer that year. Of special note is the No. 12 showing of St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, which sold approximately 2.5 million gallons in 1879. Within 10 year’s time, A-B would introduce its flagship beer, Budweiser, and reshape America’s beer landscape. (Breweries shown in bold are still operational today.)
George Ehret (New York)…180,152 barrels sold
Philip Best, later known as Pabst (Milwaukee)…167,974
Bergner & Engel (Philadelphia)…124,860
Joseph Schlitz (Milwaukee)…110,832
Conrad Seipp (Chicago)…108,347
P. Ballantine & Sons (Newark)…106,091
Jacob Ruppert (New York)…105,713
Christian Morlein (Cincinatti)…93,337
H. Clausen & Son (New York)…89,992
William J. Lemp (St. Louis)…88,714
Flanagan & Wallace (New York)…84,825
Anheuser-Busch (St. Lous)…83,160
Peter Doelger (New York)…80,000
Beadleston & Woerz (New York)…78,093
Boston Beer Co. (Boston)…77,232
Albany Brewing Co. (Albany)…71,568
Clausen & Price (New York)…69,271
Downer & Bemis (Chicago)…66,878
George Ringler (New York)…65,658
Windisch-Mulhauser (Cincinatti)…62,157
And if you don’t think the rise of Bohemian lager forever changed the shape of the American brewing industry, consider the following facts and figures:
In 1879, approximately 2,520 breweries were operating in the United States. The total beer production of those breweries equaled 10,848,194 barrels (for the revenue year ending May 1, 1879). These days, Anheuser-Busch alone makes more than eight-times that total amount.
In 1879, George Ehret’s Hell Gate Brewery was the country’s largest single producer of beer, making about 1.5 percent of America’s beer. Today, the largest single brewer (again, Anheuser-Busch) produces more than 40 percent of the nation’s beer.
Source: Salem, F.W., Beer, its History and its Economic Value as a National Beverage, Hartford: F.W. Salem & Co., 1880.
