60 May-June 2007 Bottles and Extras David Nicholson’s Liquid Bread® About the well known circa 1890-1915 cobalt-blue export-shape bottle, beginning with a short summary of the history of “liquid bread” - beer.

Copyright © 2006 by Cecil Munsey With research assistance from archaeologists: Carol Serr, San Diego, Calif. & Bill Lockhart, N.M.

Antiquity? from millet, maize and cassava. In thought of and brewed both as a food North America, persimmon was used. product (“liquid bread”) and as a beverage. “With hekt (beer) the Ka (spirit) is kept Corn was the preferred grain among As Roman control over Europe faded and in balance with the liver and blood… most indigenous South American Europe entered the Dark Ages, Christian Hekt is the liquid of happy blood and peoples, though sweet potatoes were monasteries became the primary centers of body. –– Ancient Egyptian physician used in Brazil, and agaves in Mexico. knowledge and learning. Advancements in was predominantly used in Japan; agriculture, science and technology made We don’t know when, where or by whom even sake is sometimes considered a the monasteries places of advancements in the first beer (or “liquid bread” as it is often type of beer. In other parts of Asia, as well. called) was brewed. Although an exact date sorghum was used, while wheat was After the fall of Rome, brewing for the discovery of that first brew is not commonly used to brew beer in .” continued for some years as a household task known, some historians believe it occurred –David M. Kiefer (Chemistry during the early years of the Dark Ages. 10,000 years or more ago in Mesopotamia Chronicles) Then the traditions of brewing were carried (modern-day Iraq), when a jar containing on and thrived under the Catholic Church bread became soaked with water and the After being malted, the grain was during the latter years of the Dark Ages. resulting “slop” began to ferment. Someone dampened with water and allowed to Beer was a very important product for then most likely had the curiosity to sample germinate. Natural enzymes converted Europe’s medieval monasteries. Nearly the resulting liquid and found it not only some of the starches into fermentable sugars every monastery in medieval Europe tasty but that it imparted a slightly euphoric and the resulting malt was heated to dry it. contained a brewery that served not only the feeling akin to that experienced by drinking Frequently, the dried malt was formed into monks but also pilgrims and the their fruit and honey wines. small, lightly baked loaves. When a batch surrounding villages (perhaps as an Whenever that first beer may have been of fresh beer was to be brewed, these beer inducement for attending mass). The monks sipped, Sumerian cuneiform tablets and breads would be crumbled, mixed with brewed beer – which is little more than Egyptian hieroglyphics dating back more cereals, and soaked in water. This mash “liquid bread” – primarily as a source of than 5,000 years allude to beer’s production. was allowed to ferment. After fermentation, sustenance during their religious fasting And it is known that Egyptian pharaohs a liquid containing between 6 and 12% periods. provided their laborers with “…a daily alcohol was filtered from the mash. (The One large monastery in Switzerland had ration of four loaves of bread and two jugs Sumerians and Egyptians made at least two- three breweries, each adjacent to a bakery. of beer.” dozen different types of . Ancient texts Brewing and baking, in fact, were closely reveal the lyrical names given to the beers” related activities in ancient and medieval “I have reached this grave out of my own “joy-bringer,” “heavenly,” and “beautiful- times. The monasteries did much to possession, without taking anything good.”) advance cleanliness as a necessity for away from anyone. Every man who preparing good beer and to generally worked for me was paid. They did it for “I lived from beer of black wheat, and improve the brewing process. beer and bread.” –– Engraving on drank from beer of white wheat.” –– Ancient Egyptian tomb Engraving on Ancient Egyptian tomb Middle Ages When brewing began to take hold in While no one can say for certain who For thousands of years, brewing was Europe during the 11th century, hops was made the first beer, we do know that many originally seen as the domain of women. used in brewing because it improved the ancient civilizations, including the As an example, Egyptian men were strictly flavor of beer. Before hops beer there was Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, prohibited from brewing beer, and the gruit beer and many different herbs were Hebrews, Chinese, Africans, Incas, Teutons female brewer-priestesses enjoyed a very used in the historic brewing of gruit. There and Saxons, had discovered the secret of exalted status in Egyptian society. are three that were most commonly used: brewing. Also, in ancient Egypt beer played an Sweet Gale (Bog Myrtle), Yarrow (Achillea The preparation of beer in ancient times important part in marriages. If a young man millefolium) and Wild or Marsh Rosemary was similar to brewing procedures used offered a lady a sip of beer, they were (ledum palustre) – they made gruit beer taste today. considered engaged to be married. variable and not very pleasant. “First a grain was malted. Different By the 13th century, beer making was an grains were used by different cultures Dark Ages important commercial enterprise and to brew beer. In Africa, beers were made Throughout history beer has been component of trade in , Austria and Bottles and Extras May-June 2007 61

England. Hops were first widely used both of the vat. In the 15th century, German for flavor and as a preservative. Hops made brewers developed a process in which “What event is more awfully important beer a more tasty , with a flavor closer fermentation occurred at the bottom of to an English Colony than the erection to that of contemporary beer. It is possible the vat. Beer made by the bottom of its first brewhouse?” –– Rev. Sidney that hops, the dried flowers of a vine-like fermentation method was usually aged to Smith (1771-1844) plant, were added to the brew mix even give it a milder taste and clearer appearance. before the birth of Christ, but the record is It was named “lager” – a derivative of the Pre-Revolutionary America enjoyed one not clear. By the 9th century at least, hops German word largen, which means, “to of the highest beer consumption rates in were probably a common part of the store.” Lager beers soon reigned supreme American history, because beer played no fermenting mixture, although the earliest in continental Europe (and later in North small part in the evolution of America from definite reference dates to 12th century America). But the British remained partial a widely dispersed group of small Germany. By the 13th century, mention to traditional, heavier-flavored top- settlements dependent upon England for of their use is widespread in German fermented brews such as ale, stout, and survival into a network of self-reliant and reports. Use spread south into France and, porter. independent colonies. As the population more slowly, into England during the 15th increased, so did the need for “liquid bread” century. “Englishmen are like their own beer” (beer) as a key source of nutrition and Later in the Middle Ages, relatively Frothy on top, dregs on the bottom, the refreshment – the colonists continued to large, independent breweries began to middle excellent.” –– Voltaire avoid water at all costs. Americans still spring up in bigger towns. (The Bayerische drank great quantities of English beer Staatsbrauerei Weihenstehan, still in Beer in Early Colonial America during colonial times. However, as buying operation today in Freising, Germany, dates When the Pilgrims set forth for America imported beer became increasingly cost- to about 1040.) in 1620, they planned to settle somewhere prohibitive for most Americans, the demand near the Hudson River but because of for locally brewed beer grew stronger. This Renaissance uncertain navigation and autumn storms, meant the need for new breweries, which It is suggested that religion played a key they made their first landfall at Cape Cod. required equipment and raw materials to role in the rise of hops as a dominant Rather than proceeding farther down the produce their beer. America’s burgeoning ingredient of beer beginning in the 16th coast, they decided to remain at nearby brewing industry in turn fostered the growth century along with the Protestant Movement Plymouth Rock, “…our victuals being much of local agriculture and industry and further against the Catholic Church: spent, especially our Beere.” economic growth. “One of the key reasons the Protestants Not long after the Puritans, who came rejected the Catholic Church was next, settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony “In wine there is wisdom. In beer is because of the un-Christlike, self- in 1630, and enacted laws regulating the strength. In water bacteria.”–Anon. indulgent, occasionally hedonistic price to be charged for beer in taverns or lifestyle of the Catholic clergy. The inns and requiring brewers to be licensed After Independence highly inebriating and aphrodisiacal by the court. By the time of the Revolution, brewing gruit ales were seen as one cause of this Brewing arrived early to Britain’s was a thriving business in the American malady. Hops, on the other hand, American colonies. The first settlers colonies, especially in New England and the (allegedly) diminish sex drive and cause in Virginia complained repeatedly about Middle Atlantic colonies. These areas, in the drinker to become drowsy.” – being forced to drink the local water that fact, had a prosperous trade in malt Michael Jackson they considered unsanitary and disease- beverages with the southern colonies. Many inducing. of the founding fathers had ties to brewing. As Protestantism swept through Europe, Samuel Adams’ family fortune was based so did the use of hops in the production “If be wanted to make into malt, on making malt, George Washington had a of beer. The “Reinheitsgebot” – the we must be content and think it no fault, brew house at Mount Vernon, and Thomas Bavarian beer purity law – was enacted in for we can make liquor to sweeten our Jefferson made beer at Monticello. 1516 prohibiting the brewing of beer with lips, of pumpkins and parsnips and Until well into the 19th century, most any ingredients other than barley, hops, walnut tree chips.” –– Popular song malt beverages consumed in the United yeast and water. Although no longer from the 17th century, Colonial America States were ales, porters, or stouts brewed enforced, many German brewers still hold in the British top-fermented tradition. By to this principle. Religion is not the only When the Dutch settled along the mid-century, however, increased suggested cause of the “hop revolution.” Hudson River in the 1620s, they were also immigration from Germany brought Experts also agree that merchants of hopped quick to establish beer-making facilities. A bottom-fermenting yeasts that produced beer also aided the cause to gain an 1660 map of New Amsterdam shows at least lager beer. Among brewers with German economic advantage against gruit six brew houses in the town, which had only origins who became highly successful in the merchants. By the 18th century, the (hops) about 1,500 inhabitants. At least a couple were Jacob Ruppert and the revolution was complete and hops had of the breweries also contained distilleries. brothers Frederick and Maximilian Schaefer effectively replaced gruit as the primary herb In Pennsylvania, William Penn established in New York City; , Joseph in beer. a brewery at his manor house near Schlitz, and in ; Brewers used a top-fermentation process Philadelphia in 1683, shortly after the and in in which the yeast would rise to the top colony was established. St. Louis; and in Colorado. 62 May-June 2007 Bottles and Extras

By the Civil War, German-inspired lager Conrad – carried the beer recipes from output exceeded that of ale and porter. Budweis around the world and in the late “ can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of 1800s there were several breweries beer a day, no matter how rich you are.” Anheuser-Busch producing beers called . Miller –– Colonel Adolphus Busch In the mid-1800s, Eberhard Anheuser and Schlitz both [Figure 1] was a successful manufacturer produced Budweisers Malt-Nutrine of soap and candles in but, as the name Anheuser-Busch was involved in varied St. Louis, Missouri. In became so strongly pharmaceutical activities in the late 1859, he financed a associated with 1800s and early 1900s. One loan to a struggling Anheuser-Busch, they of the most famous of its neighborhood brewery stopped it. In the U.S. pharmaceutical products was called The Bavarian the last other Malt-Nutrine in a stubby Brewery, which was Budweiser producer brown bottle [Figure 5, started by George was DuBois Brewing right]. It was “liquid Figure 1 Schneider in 1852. of Pittsburg, Pa., which bread” – a form of beer When the brewery faltered in 1860, stopped making the that had as its principal Anheuser and a partner, William O’Dench, brand only in the late ingredients barley malt bought the interests of minority creditors 1970s. and hops. The original rather than see the brewery go under. They Busch and product contained 1.9% reorganized the company and resumed Conrad introduced of alcohol and 14.5% production under the name E. Anheuser & “Budweiser Lager solids. Company. Bier” in St. Louis, According to its In 1857, eighteen-year old Adolphus brewed by E. Anheuser maker: Busch [Figure 2], the second youngest of Figure 3 Co.’s Brewing “Malt-Nutrine was highly esteemed by 22 children, immigrated Association, and the medical profession and its to the United States from bottled and distributed by Carl Conrad. The popularity resulted mainly from the fact Germany to join his three first bottles were paper labeled [Figure 3]. that doctors prescribed it for patients brothers in St. Louis. The Anheuser company was renamed in need of building up their health, such Although his brother had Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in as new mothers, convalescents, the started the John B. Busch 1879 [Figure 4], and Adolphus became anemic and aged.” – Anheuser Busch Brewing Company in president the following year, a position he Washington, Missouri, was to hold for 33 years. Anheuser-Busch was so confident of Figure 2 Adolphus opted to enter Malt-Nutrine’s success that it established a into a partnership with Ernst Wattenberg separate sales department for the wholesale to sell brewing supplies. It was through that drug field. Numerous business that Adolphus met his wife, whose collectibles resulted in father would be his future partner. Adolphus the years that this Busch and Lily Anheuser married in 1861. product was produced In 1865, the two beer companies merged, and sold (1890- with Adolphus as equal partner with 1942). Around the Eberhard Anheuser. turn of the 20th In 1876, Busch and his friend Carl century a match Conrad, a liquor importer, developed a safe was produced “Bohemian-style” lager, inspired after a trip [Figure 6, right]; in to the Bohemia region of Europe (Czech 1905 a Vienna Art Figure 4 Republic). Brewers in that region generally plate was issued to advertise the product named a beer after their town with the suffix During the Civil War, Adolphus Busch [Figures 7-8]; in 1915 a “Name this picture” “er.” Beers produced in the town of Pizen, briefly served at the rank of colonel in the contest was held for doctors. The 12 ½” x for example, were called pizners, or Union Army. In addition to running the 7 ½” sign shows a doctor walking briskly pilsners. Busch and Conrad had visited Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company, he was towards a lighted house. His shadow is a another town, only 65 miles south of Pizen, president of the South Side Bank, The stork, suggesting the delivery of a baby is also known for its breweries – Bomische Manufacturers’ Railroad Company, and in order [Figure 9]. The back of the card Budweis, which became Ceske Budejovice the St. Louis Refrigeration Company. He has the following text: in 1918. Beer has been brewed in Ceske was a director also in many banking “This Little Picture, which we hope Budejovice since King Premys II Otakar institutions in the Merchant’s Bridge you will find suitable for hanging in your founded it as Budiwoyz in 1245. The Company and the Terminal Railroad office or reception room, is one of a German name of the town is Budweis. The Company. He founded the Adolphus Busch series that we will from time to time send name “Budweiser” is a locative, meaning Glass Company of St. Louis and Belleville, the medical profession of the United “of Budweis.” Ill., and the Streator Bottle and Glass States. You will observe that the picture Many people – including Busch and Company of Streator, Ill. has no name. ‘Coming Events Cast Bottles and Extras May-June 2007 63

used to contain David Nicholson’s in Boston as evidenced by an envelope Liquid Bread®. This bottle came from S. Pierce & Co. The envelope was in both “turn-mold” bottles with no cancelled “BOSTON MASS 1893” and vertical seam marks and “two-piece features a lithograph of a fully labeled mold” bottles with horizontal turning cobalt-blue bottle of David Nicholson’s ring marks [Figure 10]. Figure 11 Liquid Bread [Figure 13]. Another shows the embossment on the bottom distributor listed on the reverse of the of the bottle that identifies trade card was in New York City. the Adolphus Busch Glass And, of course, there was David Manufacturing Company – Nicholson himself in St. Louis. Belleville, Ill. (A.B.M. Co – A trade card from around 1900 Belleville, Ill.). [Figure 14] pictures David Recent and improved research Nicholson’s Liquid Bread and has added to the little known indicates that: history of David Nicholson’s “…it came in cobalt blue Figure 7, above; Figure 8, below. Liquid Bread. Collectors have export style beer bottles – a known the unmarked cobalt distinctly blue example is blue bottle for many years. shown in the right hand of We now know for sure that it the nurse (or nun?) who is was used for the malt beverage pouring the contents into a made, under contract by glass for consumption by the Anheuser-Busch, for Dr. injured potentate with his Nicholson. Like Malt-Nutrine, arm apparently in a sling. Liquid Bread was a “Pure Liquid Bread was a name for Extract of malt and a delicious, malt beverages which were effervescing table beverage.” It purported to have health is collector/historian consensus restoring qualities, though it that they were one and the same was likely just plain old product. The best available beer.” history of the product suggests –Bill Lockhart: http:// that Anheuser-Busch sold www.blm.gov/historic_bottles/ generic Malt-Nutrine to St. Louis beer.htm physician, Dr. The reverse of the tradecard [Figure David Nicholson, 15] touts liquid bread by David Nicholson (who was listed at as: 13 & 15 North 6th “A Pure Extract of Malt…ripened by Street in 1905) time and extracted from the finest for use as his selected materials within reach of Figure 9 trademarked purchase. Figure 11 proprietary It is a wholesome and delicious Their Shadows Before’ has been product, “David Nicholson’s Liquid effervescing table beverage. suggested as a title, what would you Bread”®. Anheuser-Busch bottled In addition it is a remedial agent, of wide suggest? To the doctor who first gives Nicholson’s malt beverage using a deep applicability and of sterling merit. the most appropriate title we will pay cobalt blue export-style beer bottle that was It is especially rich in Dianthus, a two hundred and fifty dollars ($250) in manufactured, according to the substance which is of the utmost service gold. Prize will be awarded Sept. 1915. embossment (“A.B.G.M. Co.”) on in converting the starch of the food into Answers will be duly acknowledged and the bottle’s bottom, by the sugar and dextrin, and thus rendering the name of winner of the contest as well Adolphus Busch Glass it easily assimilable; it is therefore as the title selected will be mailed to each Manufacturing Company (1885 to invaluable to Dyspeptics. contestant. Address, Dr. Stork, Malt- 1928) of Belleville, Illinois. It is also an unsurpassed tonic; a Nutrine Department, Anheuser-Busch, Figure 12 on the right features promoter of appetite, a source of St. Louis, Mo.” a rare specimen of the bottle muscular strength, an augmenter of with a complete label, from nervous energy and a fat-producing David Nicholson’s Liquid Bread® which a great deal of hydrocarbon. The preceding historical account lays the information, presented here, To nursing mothers, to children groundwork for the container featured in was gleamed. naturally feeble and with vitality this article. The bottle has been a favorite Dr. Nicholson had a impaired by disease, to many troubled of beer bottle collectors for 100 years. The number of distributors for his with nervous exhalation and insomnia, circa-1890-1915 cobalt-blue export-shape Anheuser-Busch-bottled to convalescents suffering from pint (approximately 12-ounce) beer bottle “Liquid Bread.” There was one malnutrition, to those threatened with 64 May-June 2007 Bottles and Extras

Figure 13

pulmonary trouble, and to those already affected with wasting diseases, such as cancer and consumption, it will be found indispensable. In every other respect it fully equals if it does not surpass the various similar preparations of Malt now before the public; but in especially two characteristics: the remarkably small quantity of Alcohol in its composition (less than 3 per cent) [6 proof] and its extreme palatability, the ‘Liquid Bread’ Figure 14 Figure 15 far excels them all. It is grateful to invalids with the most delicate of yeast and the deleterious effect of bacteria, References stomachs, and taken with relish by ladies coupled with Emile Hansen’s pioneering Books: of the most fastidious palates.” work, in 1883, on isolating pure strains of Anderson, Sonja & Will. Andersons’ yeast, opened the door to brewing beer of Turn-of-the-Century Brewery Directory. Carmel, New York. Privately Published by David Nicholson’s enterprise can be consistent quality. Pasteurization of bottled the Authors, 1969. tracked historically to 1916 at which time beers permitted them to be stored longer and One Hundred Years of Brewing – A it was sold to the Theo. Noel Company of shipped farther. complete History of the Progress made in , Illinois. A long era of consolidation and the Art, Science and Industry of Brewing concentration began, broken only by the in the World, particularly during the “Fill with mingled cream and amber, I years of Prohibition: 1920-1933. By 1950, Nineteenth Century (A Supplement to The will drain that glass again. Such with production at a little under 80 million Western Brewer, 1903.) Chicago and New York: H. S. Rich & Co., Publishers, 1903. hilarious visions clamber through the barrels, the number of breweries in the Jackson, Michael. Ultimate Beer. New chambers of my brain. Quaintest U. S. had fallen to about 400. Five large York: DK Publishing, Inc. 1998. thoughts–queerest fancies, come to life companies controlled about a quarter of the Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide and fade away. What care I how times nation’s sales, led by Anheuser-Busch with to the COLLECTIBLES OF COCA-COLA. advances? I am drinking liquid bread an annual capacity of 5.5 million barrels New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1972. today.” –Edgar Allan Poe from its single brewery and followed by Munsey, Cecil. The Illustrated Guide Schlitz, Pabst, Falstaff, and P. Ballentine. to COLLECTING BOTTLES. New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1970. The Modern Era of Brewing Three goliath firms – Anheuser-Busch, Noel, Theophilus. Autobiography and The modern era of brewing evolved by Miller Brewing, and Adolph Coors – now Reminiscences of Theophilus Noel. the end of the 19th century with the advent share about 80% of the U. S. market. Chicago: Theo. Noel Company Printer, of commercial refrigeration, automatic Anheuser-Busch alone with 12 breweries 1914. bottling, pasteurization and improved across the country holds nearly a 50% Van Wieren, Dale P. American distribution. Brewers like Adolphus Busch market share – one of their largest side Breweries II. West Point, PA: Eastern Coast and others were able to market and sell their businesses is Metal Container Corporation Brewiana Association, 1995. beers nationally by the turn of the century, that makes more than 26 billion aluminum Internet: giving rise to America’s great brewing cans per year. They also produce aluminum http://www.geocities.com/xxi1933/ dynasties. cans for Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola. history.html The invention of mechanical (Aluminum cans for beer, by the way, were http://www.beveragenet.net/bd/1999/0699/ refrigeration equipment allowed beer to be first produced in 1935 by The American Can 699beer.asp made during the hottest weather and stored Company of Richmond, Virginia for the http://www.blm.gov/historic_bottles/ without spoiling. Breweries were among Krueger Brewing of Newark, New Jersey.) beer.htm http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/tcaw/ the first plants to install industrial ice- It is good to note that with the advent of 10.i12/html/12chemchro making equipment in the 1870s and 1880s, a multitude of microbreweries in recent http://www.liquidbread.com/whay- and many brewers set up a lucrative side years the beer industry maintains a healthy oxyn.html business selling ice to the public. Louis diversity. http://www.blm.gov/historic_bottles/ Pasteur’s (1822-1895) studies of the nature beer.htm