Beer menu at the Trophy Bar (House of Steins) in Detroit, circa 1950

Given the breadth and quality of beers listed, I am surprised that Michelob was not on the menu.

Cheers!

 

What's the difference between a beer being "L'GE" and "Club"?

 

My kind of bar. Currently in my House fridge
Hamm’s
Altes
Michelob Lager
Labatt Big Deal Golden Ale

 

I could easily imagine trying to work my way through that menu board. It would've been glorious! (Of course, $11 was a lot of money back then...)

 

Just a guess, but volume size based on the prices.

L'GE probably Large. Never heard "club" before. @jesskidden ?

 

Pretty cool to see champagne velvet on there. Upland bought the rights and brew it now. It's a good pre-prohibition lager/lawnmower.

I am confused though about Berghoff listed as Indiana. I'm assuming that is famous berghoff bar in Chicago. Maybe it was contract brewed in Indiana at the time? Had the same question about Carling but it looks like it was brewed in Ohio at some point.

 

It was brewed for the restaurant in Indiana pre-Huber taking over -- possibly Falstaff?

Once again, @jesskidden . I know he knows.

 

It's interesting that Blatz is 'featured' on tap, yet the bartender is pouring Blatz from the bottle.

If the pic is from 1950, inflation was apparently flat back then - I was paying 25¢ for Bud, Blatz, etc. in the mid-60s.

 

They have a good amount of info on the website. The Berghoff brewery was in Fort Wayne. They didn't open the Chicago restaurant until later. Huber contract brewed for the restaurant and now Steven's Point contract brews it.

 

I was going to make the same comment but I suppose having the beer and stein above the bar made for a 'better' photograph.

It's all about marketing!

Cheers!

 

Good on you for having some Michelob! The Trophy Bar was lacking in this regard.

I read a post in a BA thread which seemed to indicate that Michelob will be discontinued sometime this year. If this is indeed the case, enjoy those beers while you can.

Cheers!

 

I think some brewers (and, apparently, bars) used the term "club" for 7 or 8 oz. bottles. You know, 'cause "nip", "pony" and "split" weren't enough names for the little bottles.

Yeah, the original US Carling facility (originally known as the Brewing Corporation of America) was in Cleveland.

Yeah, after the Berghoff family sold the brewery to Falstaff, the beer brand bounced around quite a bit, before landing in Monroe with Huber. Walter in Pueblo, Colorado (related by family to the WI Walter IIRC), Leisy in Ohio,Tennesee Brewing Co., in Memphis and even Pearl in Texas (maybe after Falstaff/General bought Pearl in the late 1970s?) all canned Berghoff Beer.

I can't recall now - but I don't think Huber brewed bottled/canned Berghoff, just draught, until after he bought back the brewery from those ex-Pabst execs, who sold the Augsburger brand to Stroh before selling Fred Huber back the brewery, with Berghoff as partner. I'd have to check a bit deeper.

Interesting to see Duquesne. Never think of that brand as being in Michigan but it makes sense.
They were pretty big in the 50s, largest brewer in PA, I think at the time.

Hey, I've got one of those Carling Red Cap Ale oval signs (far left and far right).

 

It's Stevens Point now, not Minhas? I may have to look for it again.

 

The Breweriana on that wall is probably worth a small fortune today.

 

That's a pretty awesome picture!

What I wouldn't give for some of those decorations...

 

This is way cool! The wife's family is from Sweden. Going to make it a goal to find some Three Towns stuff now.

Cheers!

 

That bartender has some dirty fingernails……

I did enjoy a Blatz when I was in Milwaukee at and old bar. Pretty tasty bottle of beer. Sat around with the owner for a bit. One of the oldest bowling alleys in America was in the basement. Think I paid $3 a bottle.


Enjoy

 

I love any excuse to use the inflation calculator! 25 cents back then was equal to $3.16 now. Seems pretty close!

 

Working folks rarely have clean hands.......

 

They even had typos in the 50s. But on a serious note, great photo, OP. Thanks for sharing.

 

I wonder what Danish "Imperial Stout"? And why more expensive than Carlsberg?

 

Uh, "Imperial" bruhski. The crown didn't get rich by giving discounts.......

 

whoops, edit time is over. I meant to write "less expensive"

 

Yeah, wondered that, too. My guess would be it was a 6-8 oz. bottle and was likely this stout, which I've seen advertised (no bottle size noted, unfortunately) in the post-War era in the US:

Of course, the price list doesn't list it as a "Club" bottle...

Wondered the same thing about Guinness Stout being half the price of most other European imports, then remembered the pic's "1950" date (when Guinness was brewing in Long Island City, NY) - and as the Detroit Free Press headline had noted in 1949:

But, again, the price list says "Ireland"...

I was kinda surprised at Champale being the most expensive US beer but checked my records and, yeah, even in NJ in the '60s, the official state list price of $6.50/cs made it more expensive than specialty - and better respected - beers like Ballantine India Pale Ale (Aged in the Wood for 1 Year), Prior Double Dark and all-malt Trommer's White Label.

 

No internet to look up them furrin words.

 

Back in the day, "club" was a 7 or 8oz pour and "large" was a 12oz pour. At least it was in Connecticut.

 

Yeah, over the years I've found lots of old ads with mispelled beer brands. I've got a collection of about a dozen Valentine's Ale ads somewhere in my files.

But the world wide web didn't always prevent errors. Still my favorite, post-internet, beer ad for misspelled beer brands. From a Bayonne NJ liquor store's website (probably around 10-15 years ago now):


I've always assumed this ad might have been done over the phone, thus explaining Hearts, Bass L, Magic Cat and Whole Garden.

 

At least they remembered the trademarks.

 

Yeah, but who owns those, though?

Those sound-alike (or, in the above case, "kinda alike") brands don't always have the greatest legal history. Sure, there are the century old Budweiser lawsuits:

But the same didn't happen in the case of Korr's Steam-Brewed* Beer (coincidence or not? - The distributor who contracted the beer named it because they used the "Korr" of the hops ).



* I guess Fritz Maytag figured he'd let Adolph Coors' legal team handle it.

 

Whoa! Anyone have more info on this place? Would love to try to figure out how to get a decent quality print of this for Trophy Brewing!

 

Thanks. It looks like that beer is still brewed in some form:
https://www.carlsbergdanmark.dk/produkter/wiibroe/wiibroe-porter/?Ckey=4839

 

I did a brief search of the internet to see what I could find, but came up empty. All I can say is that the bar no longer exists.

 

Great photo! Some nice glassware on the side. I don't recall Blatz ever coming in clear bottles--that has always been a Miller High Life thing.

 

And if you go further back in time, there are the embossed bottles:

 

Can you recall back to 1950? I can't.

 

Michelob was draft only then. A lot of bars had only one tap then, so having Blatz was probably that bar's choice -- better priced for the regulars. Correction, my failing eyes eventually spotted a Pfeiffer tap. Two draft lines there.

 

Great picture! Thanks!

 

Probably a fairly high class joint for the time. (We don't see the draft beer prices, which might have been less.) Prices there don't seem too cheap. In Portland, OR, in the late 60s an 11 oz draft was 25c in a typical tavern. In the late 70s near Pottsville, PA, at an old bar, I had an 8 oz draft Yuengling-brewed Mount Carbon Porter for 25c. Prices up 50 to 100% over 30 years. Beer excise taxes haven't kept up with inflation, giving the beer drinker a price break.

 

Here’s the 1941 menu from MGM Studio (check the bottom. Gotta keep those actors feeling good!):