Photo of my father and grandfather enjoying a beer on New Year's Day, 1945, in Oakland, California. My dad was on leave from WWII and getting engaged to my mom at the time. They'd be married in May of that year. Can anyone ID the beer they're drinking?
@PapaGoose03 @jesskidden are two of our youngsters that could help but seriously while the photo is relatively neat for the era, even zooming in doesn’t give me a clue. From the label I’d say German beer but not putting any money on it.
Thanks for the compliment, @Shanex . Unfortunately the resolution of that pic is not great enough to give enough clarity to those labels in order to get any hints. The shape and general graphics don't give me any hint. And with those guys in the pic being in Oakland increases the odds that it may be an old regional west coast beer that I've never seen. Sorry that I couldn't help.
Well, given the era and location and oval label, my first impulse was Rainier Club. Checked out ads from the period, and it seems to correspond. Rainier Brewing Co. is not to be confused with the later Rainier Brewing Co. of Seattle, operated by the Sicks brewing empire of the western United States and Canada and in '45 would have gone by the name Sicks Seattle Brewing & Malting Co. (it's a confusing history). IIRC they leased the "Rainier" brand name for the WA (and other PNW states?) market. Pretty sure Rainier of SF (w/ brewery also in LA) at the time was among the largest brewers on the West Coast in the pre-WWII period. The SF brewery itself was later purchased by Hamm in the early 50s with Sick's buying the brand name at the same time. Hamm operated the brewery into the 1970s and it was a well-known SF landmark due it "glass of beer" sign.
