Opener, Bottle
Object number2017.94.11
Date1930-1957
MediumMetal; Paint
Credit LineGift of Robert Thomas
DescriptionBlue metal bottle opener. Flat with rounded rectangular head with rounded rectangular opening with notches along top and bottom. Wide neck slopes to narrower handle with rounded end; end has hole through it. Each side has imprinted yellow painted beer advertisements.DimensionsLength x Width x Depth: 4 × 1.625 × 0.125 in. (10.2 × 4.1 × 0.3 cm)InscriptionsOne side has imprinted yellow painted text on handle "FORT PITT / Special BEER" and above opening "SOMETHING SPECIAL".
Other side has imprinted yellow painted text on handle "Old Shay / DE LUXE BEER" and above opening "FOR PARTICULAR PEOPLE".
Historical NotesFort Pitt beer and Old Shay beer bottle opener. Part of a collection of Fort Pitt Brewing Company artifacts that was collected by donor Robert Thomas to document the time his family ran the company (1930s through the 1950s). The donor’s great uncle, Michael Berardino, became president of Fort Pitt Brewing Company two years after one of the original owners and founder, Samuel Grenet, died suddenly in 1935. Grenet had started the business in 1906 with Herman Hechelman. They built a brewery in the suburb of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, survived Prohibition and were set to be the number one brewery in the state when Grenet passed. Berardino began an aggressive sales campaign to turn the company around after lagging sales the year before. The company also bought the Victor Brewing Company of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, but continued to produce their signature Old Shay beer. In the early 1950s due to local strikes and an increase in national brand popularity, Fort Pitt struggled. After Berardino died in 1957, the company stopped brewing at the Sharpsburg plant and expanded into other products and became the newly incorporated Fort Pitt Industries. The rights to the brand were sold to Gunther Brewing of Baltimore. In 2010, the Fort Pitt name was purchased by Mark Dudash who began producing Fort Pitt Ale.
Related institution
Fort Pitt Brewing Company
(1906 - 1957)
Related person
Michael Berardino
(died 1957)
Collector
Robert M. Thomas
On View
Not on view
1930-1957
c. 2000
Hartsook
1920-1993