Ballantine IPA

I am aware of labeling requirements whereby the brewery would package to be compliant to state x requirements but just send those same cans to other states. This is the first time I saw a state specific crown/labeling. Would Ballantine have sent a can with the PA tax crown to another state (e.g., NJ)?

Cheers!

 

No, since it says TAX PAID and I assume they'd have to verify the number of lids they used with the PA tax collectors. Otherwise if sold in NJ the beer would have been double taxed.

Not the same situation as the DEPOSIT lids - where the nickle/dime is only collected where required AND at the retail level at the time of sale.

Not home right now- will check my old USBA's BEER ALMANACS later. Think its covered.

Liquor bottles used to have paper seals over the cap - weren't they tax stamps?

I know pre-Pro brewers would get in trouble if they were caught re-using Federal Tax Stamps on kegs. In that case they literally bought the stamps from the Feds, just like postage stamps.

 

No fair asking me questions that I would typically pose to you.

I had to conduct a web search here and yes, apparently there were strips that were placed on liquor bottles and they were called "tax stamps":



Was this solely a Federal Tax thing? Was there anything similar at the state level? For example PA taxes both spirits and wine via the Johnstown Flood Tax of 1936:

https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2017/04/12/pas-18-hidden-tax-supposed-temporary-1936/100343742/

Did PA ever utilize a stamp to 'validate' this tax was paid?

Cheers!

 

@JackHorzempa

Here's a page from the 1951 BREWERS ALMANAC section on how states collected their taxes on beer. As you'll note, many states used "Taxpaid crowns and lids/stamps on draught beer" or, in other cases, just "Stamps" (no idea how that worked for packaged beer).
Some articles note that in PA, brewers ordered the crowns from the State Dept. of Revenue, but that bottled beer could be brought in without the crowns and stamps could be put on the necks within 24 hours at the wholesalers.

Randomly pulled out the 1969 ed., and by then many of those states (inc. PA) were listed as "MONTHLY REPORTS" but WV, VA & SC were still using crowns/lids.

 

And Wyoming is still 2 cents per gallon. Unbelievable.

 

@JackHorzempa

Seems like that was a common way for brewers to "buy" the paper stamps from the state tax authorities but once they went to the taxpaid crowns and lids (likely 'cause they were too heavy and bulky for "office" work) other states used other methods, either having brewers prepay the tax for the crowns/lids and then authorizing the lid/can manufacturers to sell them to the brewers or actually having the crown/lid manufacturers pay the state the tax (!).

 

Yeah, lowest in the US. Altho' CO, WI, PA and MO are all single digits, too. Gee, wonder why those states?

 

My grand pop was a Ballantine guy, it was the official beer of the Phillies in the 60s. One beer I’ve never had, I was way too young to sneak one of his. When the Ballantine ipa was around seems like I could never catch it fresh.

 

Yup. They were prominently displayed at Connie Mack Stadium:



I also never took a sip of Ballantine. My father was a Piels Real Draft guy (and then much later in life Rolling Rock).

Cheers!

 

Great pic, remember McCovey hitting one over the clock, Willie Mays in his prime. I was always amazed your in North Philly, it’s a concrete jungle ...until you step out from the tunnels, the green always amazed me. That and the smell of stale beers and peanuts from decades of use.

 

What a damn shame. This is one of the few times I'm actually envious of folk back east and twice my age. If we let quality, indigenous styles and names go by the wayside, maybe we do deserve where we're at.

I'm guessing the closest thing(s) might be brewed across the pond?

 

To Ballantine India Pale Ale? The previous versions (Ballantine, Falstaff, Pabst) or the short-lived revived Pabst/Cold Spring one? There wasn't much about any of them, in the post-Repeal 20th century at least, that was particularly "British" (other than some of the labeling/promotional wording, the latter of which there was never a lot - the IPA was always a "minor" portion of the brewers' portfolios).

Throw in the fact that UK IPAs in the same period tended to be lower in ABV and IBUs - the older (1933 - 1996) Ballantine IPAs were pretty "American" - US-grown hops, corn grits adjunct - yeah, an imported yeast strain but one that had been maintained ("pedigreed" was the word they used) since Repeal, etc.

During it's ~20 year absence when people I knew asked me for a substitute I always mentioned that Sierra Nevada Celebration and Bigfoot were the most easily found US beers that "reminded" me of BIPA. My "house" IPA after Ballantine disappeared eventually became Victory HopDevil.

 

So they were more like American ales since the craft revolution began (starting with Sierra Nevada)? I meant the "original". They said they wanted something that wouldn't seem out of place in today's market, and some folk who were around for the older versions noticed a large difference.

Also, do you know if Ballantine and Lord Chesterfield use(d) adjuncts?

 

Well, both Fritz Maytag at Anchor and Ken Grossman at SN have mentioned their admiration and being influenced by Ballantine IPA - although both used Cacade hops in their early hoppy/IPA-ish ales, Liberty, SNPA and Celebration, which were not available commercially during the Ballantine brewery's existence.

Pabst's masterbrewer at the time, Greg Deuhs, who revived the ale tried to recreate the recipe of the Newark version (which did not survive, at least that anyone can find) based on memories and later versions but, as with any recreated beer, he was limited to currently available hops, malt and yeast, and even had the famous Ballantine hop oil recreated in the UK.

So, he used modern ingredients to try to recreate the "taste" rather than attempt to duplicate the original recipe.

Maybe some modern drinkers found Pabst's 2014-2017 Ballantine IPA "English" but I sure didn't - nor did I find it somehow "outside" the broad variety of craft IPA styles.

Yup, there weren't many US all-malt ales in the Repeal>pre-craft era - the Ballantine ales, whether brewed by Ballantine, Falstaff or Pabst (up to 1996 or so) used corn, mostly "grits" when specified, as does Lord Chesterfield Ale. Currently, the version of Ballantine XXX Ale brewed for Pabst by MillerCoors likely uses corn syrup like most of their beers. Deuhs BIPA was all-malt, IIRC.

 

The thing I'll miss the most about the recent revival was that subtle woody quality they got from running the beer through oak staves in the hop back. It really provided a nice cohesiveness between the upfront hoppiness and very bitter finish.

 

JK, FWIW I am of the opinion that Greg was just using ‘artistic license’ here. If he wanted to create a beer that was ‘closer’ to the Ballantine IPA of 1933 - 1996 he could have formulated a recipe akin to the collaboratively brewed beer of Smuttynose Cluster’s Last Stand. One of the collaborators of this beer was Mitch Steele (of Stone Brewing at that time) and the recipe is published in Mitch’s IPA book. This recipe is based upon a recipe that Bill Pierce developed (a good friend of mine). Below is that recipe:

Malt Bill

Pale Malt 71.3%

Flaked Maize 14.7%

Light Munich Malt 10.9%

Crystal Malt 60 °L 3.1%

Kettle Hop Schedule

Cluster Hops – 60 minute of boil

Brewers Gold – 25 minutes of boil

East Kent Goldings – 3 minutes of boil

Dry Hopping

East Kent Goldings for dry hopping (but there was mention of “originally dry hopped with a distilled extract of Bullion)

I conducted a side-by-side taste test of Smuttynose Clusters Last Stand and the ‘new’ Ballantine IPA in a past BA thread:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...and-vs-pabsts-ballantine.217032/#post-2853438

There was a notable pine/resin hop flavor/aroma in the ‘new’ Ballantine IPA which I presume was from the use of modern day American aroma hops. I personally enjoyed this aspect but I suspect that the Ballantine IPA of 1933 – 1996 would not have tasted like pine? The Cluster's Last Stand sure did not have a piney quality.

Cheers!

 

Or just bending to commercial realities and Pabst's long history (dating back to its purchase by Kalmanovitz's S&P Corp. in the 1980s) of, well, let's call it "thriftiness".

Well, there's just not a lot of info at all about the IPA of 1934* -1972 as far just the hops go. (* "Aged in the Wood One Year" and new ownership which did not start brewing until Dec. 1933, so the IPA didn't hit the shelves for awhile after Repeal - first ads dated Nov. 1934.)

Many just assume that California- and/or Oregon-grown Brewer's Gold hops, eventually used in the flagship XXX Ale were also used in the IPA, but, even if so, not likely the first years of the post-Repeal era, since BG's weren't yet commercially grown in the US in the early 1930s. Others say that BG's sister hop, Bullions were used (in particular, for the distilled hop oil).

After the beer became a Falstaff brewed product in 1972 (first at Narragansett in RI, and then Ft. Wayne) various sources claim their version of BIPA originally used Bullions, and later a blend of Brewers' Gold and American Yakimas. Falstaff's own info for the GABF's 1982 and 1983 entries (so during Ft. Wayne period) listed "Cascades and Bullion hops". Have never found a reference to the ale's hopping during it's period being brewed at Pabst's Milwaukee brewery in the 1990s, after Ft. Wayne shutdown.

The point being (and I believe it's true of most decades-old US brands, contrary to brewers' promotional/marketing claims) the IPA was likely constantly tweaked and changed during it's existence after Repeal, especially given the fact that it moved from brewery to brewery, was a small-production "specialty" and somewhat expensive beer to brew (compared to the companies' other products) and the brewmasters were likely under economic pressure from above. Lowering abv and aging time certainly reflects that.

 

Well, it was not just economics and availability here. For example Greg Deuhs was personally not a fan of Cluster hops for his beer: Cluster “didn’t give the flavor we wanted”. Maybe Cluster hops were not a preferred hop for Greg but I am pretty sure this hop was indeed used to brew the Ballantine IPA during the 1933 - 1996 timeframe. I am very happy with Cluster hops when brewing my CAP (and other beer styles).

So, let's further discuss which hops Greg did decide to use in brewing the 'new' Ballantine IPA: In the end, he used a blend of old classics and newer varieties. “We ended up with Magnum as the main bittering hop. Then we dosed a combination of Columbus, Brewer’s Gold, Fuggles, and then we did use some Cascade.”

Since you are well versed in brewing history you are aware that a number of the above hops would not have been available to brew the post-repeal Ballantine IPA. I view the decision to brew with both "a blend of old classics and newer varieties" to be a case of 'artistic license'. In contrast when Mitch Steele and Smuttynose decided to brew their version of an 'old' Ballantine IPA (Clusters Last Stand) they did not shy away from using Cluster hops (like Greg decided to do) and for their flavor/aroma additions they chose hops which would have been available to brew a post-repeal Ballantine IPA: Brewers Gold and East Kent Goldings.

Needless to say but Greg Deuhs and Mitch Steele/Smuttynose took differing tacts in formulating their recipes.

Cheers!

 

Interesting tidbit: that sign was from the Yankees

You'd think a more regional outfit like Schmidt's or Rolling Rock or some other PA based brewery would've jumped on that sorta like Narragansett did with the Red Sox.

 

Well, according to the below linked article the Yankees -> Phillies scoreboard thing is fake news:

“It Never Happened

Yes the Phillies did install a new scoreboard in 1956, and yes it did look a lot like the one the Yankees had at the time, and yes it had a Ballantine ad on it, but NO it did not come from the Yankees and it was never trucked down to the city of brotherly love. The Yankees did not get a new scoreboard in ’56. The Phillies got their scoreboard, new, in 1956 from All American Scoreboards, the same Pardeevile WI based company that the Yankees did in 1950.”

https://placesnomore.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/twoscoreboards/

Cheers!