Images(5)

Bottle, Beer

Object number2017.94.37

Manufacturer Glenshaw Glass Company (1895 - 2004)

Manufacturer Fort Pitt Brewing Company (1906 - 1957)

Date1930-1957

OriginPittsburgh, PA

OriginGlenshaw, PA

MediumGlass; Paper; Ink; Adhesive

Credit LineGift of Robert Thomas

DescriptionBrown glass beer bottle. Squat cylindrical body with short undulating tapered neck leading to circular mouth. Two seams. Paper label adhered to body has gold border with red background and gold scrollwork. At center of label is gold banner framing white oval field with beer brand name at center and Fort Pitt Block House logo at top.DimensionsHeight x Diameter: 7 × 2.75 in. (17.8 × 7 cm)
MarksRaised text on underside "1386 / G [inside square] / 53".

Paper label on body has black, red, and gold text "CONTENTS 12 FLUID OUNCES / CHOICEST MALT FINEST HOPS / Fort Pitt / Special / BEER / FORT PITT BREWING CO., PITTSBURGH 15, PA."

Bottom left corner of label has black printed International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers union label.
Historical NotesFort Pitt Special Beer bottle. 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 person Michael Berardino (died 1957)

Collector Robert M. Thomas

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