Images(5)

Bottle, Beer

Object number2017.94.38

Manufacturer Fort Pitt Brewing Company (1906 - 1957)

Manufacturer Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation

Date1930-1957

OriginJeannette, 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 off-white border; label depicts a horse-drawn carriage with man and woman occupants and white horse in front of brown and yellow background. Label has black printed beer brand name, maker information, and union labels.DimensionsHeight x Diameter: 7 × 2.813 in. (17.8 × 7.1 cm)
MarksRaised text on underside around perimeter "47 / 5 [anchor symbol with entwined "H"] 45 / 3576".

Paper label on body has black printed text "CONTENTS 12 [FL]UID OZ. / Old Shay / GOLDEN / ALE / INTERNAL REVENUE TAX PAI[D] / [International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers union label] / FORT PITT BREWING CO., / PITTSBURGH, PA. (JEANNETTE, PA. PLANT) / [Allied Printing Trades Council union label]".

Historical NotesOld Shay Golden Ale 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

Related institution Allied Printing

Subjects

Terms

On View

Not on view