Beer History & Advertising
Drinking Schlitz beer, 1906.
Anheuser Busch Brewing Association.
Long before Europeans set foot on American soil, Native American tribes were brewing beer, often made from maize, birch sap, and water.
An early tavern during the colonial period, by John L. Krimmel, 1820.
The earliest record of brewing by non-Native peoples dates to 1587, when Virginia colonists began brewing ale using corn. Thirty years later, in 1607, the Virginia colony received its first shipment of beer from England. Two years later, early colonists believed they could begin brewing on a large scale. They began placing “Help Wanted” advertisements in London newspapers, seeking brewers for the Virginia Colony. However, the first brewery established in the New World was founded on the southern tip of New Amsterdam (Manhattan), New York, by Adrian Block & Hans Christiansen in 1812.
Budweiser Beer, 1892.
Though there may not have been commercial breweries at the time, taverns were already operating, with the earliest known existing in Boston, Massachusetts. A Puritan tavern opened in 1634 when Samuel Cole set up the “first house for common entertainment.” As more people came to America, the number of breweries, taverns, and saloons increased.
Brewing traditions in England and the Netherlands ensured that colonial drinking was dominated by beer rather than wine. Until the mid-1800s, British-style ales dominated American brewing. However, this changed when German immigrants introduced lager styles, which were more profitable to manufacture and ship at scale.
For most breweries and saloons, Prohibition in the early 20th Century caused nearly all of them to close. Those who didn’t close began to manufacture soft drinks or medicinal alcohol. After Prohibition was repealed, a consolidated number of large-scale breweries dominated the industry.
Since beer was first sold, advertising has been part of the industry, from newsprint ads to magazines, radio, and television. Today, more than 2,100 breweries manufacture beer in the United States, and the nation consumes about 20 gallons of beer per capita each year.
Most new breweries in the US are small breweries and brewpubs, which, as members of the Brewers Association, are called “craft breweries” to distinguish them from larger, older breweries.
D.G. Yuengling & Son, commonly called Yuengling (pronounced “ying-ling”), is the oldest and largest American-owned brewery operating in the United States. Established in 1829, its headquarters is in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
