Pretty interesting location. The truck lists a Manhattan, NY, address. Before prohibition, Pabst did use local bottlers. I saw an online site showing a bottle of Pabst from a Buffalo, NY, bottler. I wonder if these kegs were destined for the local bottler? Given the likely weight of filled kegs, it's more likely that these were empties being returned to Milwaukee. It just might have been staged as a promotion by that distributor.
Like the other large "shipping" brewers, Pabst set up a network of company-owned "Branches" - their NYC branch being one of their largest. At the time, independent bottlers and dealers in draught beer in smaller cities which wholesaled (and, often retailed) their beers were referred to by the brewers as Agencies/Agents.
Omg, I did know that 'Polish Prince' title, but I'll admit to being old enough that the memory isn't the same as what it used to be (without some prodding).
Late 19th century half-page Pabst ad proclaimed "WE ARE A LOCAL INSTITUTION" and "WE ARE THE ONLY WESTERN BREWERY WHO BOTTLES BEER FOR THE NEW YORK MARKET UNDER THEIR OWN ROOF." Pabst also operated the Pabst Harlem Cafe in NYC, said to be the largest restaurant in the world at the time as well as the Pabst Loop restaurant on Coney Island.
Yeah, I even have an original case of empty Three Stooges beer bottles (with caps) as a collectable item. (Plus three full bottles with an earlier label version for consumption when I feel curious enough to drink them.)
On a related note, Adolphus Busch was a proponent of bottling beer (e.g., Budweiser) in house (St. Louis initially) and distributing those beers nationwide. They had the moniker of: There were multiple reasons for wanting to bottle their beers. One was when they shipped kegged (barrels) of beer out west there were reports that nefarious saloon owners would ‘top off’ the barrels as they were consumed with water and thereby damage the reputation of their Budweiser beers. Another reason was that at the brewery they installed pasteurization equipment (circa 1870’s) in order to pasteurize their bottled beer which improved the shelf-life of their bottled products. Cheers!
A related story. A long time ago I traveled down to Florida (Cocoa Beach) to visit a good friend for a long weekend. When I opened his refrigerator to get something I saw a six-pack of: I commented on this and his response was: "I know that you are a fan of The Three Stooges so I bought it for you". Not exactly my favorite sort of beer (a mainstream AAL type beer) but in fairness it was a drinkable beer (nothing specifically 'off' about the beer). I am pretty sure my buddy just threw the empty bottles in the trash. Cheers!
I recall that it was a 'just okay' AAL beer. I'll predict that the three extras that I have won't be quite as good.
I am unfamiliar with breweriana, are bottles that still contain beer more valuable to collectors? Cheers!
Probably not, and that's why I drank the beers in the case that I have. I bought these three beers separately from the case just because they have a slightly different label (older?), and I didn't drink them just in case full bottles might have extra value. I've never tried to get a value for them. They are probably more attractive to Three Stooge collectors more than general beer bottle collectors.
