Images(5)

Bottle, Beer

Object number2017.94.40

Manufacturer Fort Pitt Brewing Company (1906 - 1957)

Manufacturer Owens-Illinois Glass Company (1929 - 1965)

Date1930-1957

OriginJeannette, PA

MediumGlass; Paper; Ink; Adhesive

Credit LineGift of Robert Thomas

DescriptionBrown glass beer bottle. Cylindrical body with long tapered neck leading to circular mouth. Two seams. Metallic paper label adhered to neck is gold and brown striped with gold-bordered white oval at center featuring red and black printed text. Metallic paper label adhered to body has gold and brown striped background with central white circular field with gold border and gold banner at top and bottom with black text; white field has an image of a horse-drawn carriage with man and woman occupants and white horse above red and black beer brand name. Underside is stippled and has raised maker marks.DimensionsHeight x Diameter: 9.5 × 2.438 in. (24.1 × 6.2 cm)
MarksRaised text on underside "3 [logo] 51 / 19 / Duraglas / GX 2130"; logo is an "I" inside an "O" surmounted by a diamond.

Front and back of bottle at bottom edge have raised text "19".

Paper label on neck has red and black printed text "Old Shay / Lager / BEER".

Paper label on body has black, silver, and red printed text "De Luxe / CONTENTS 12 FLUID OZS. / Old Shay / Lager / BEER / FORT PITT BREWING CO. / JEANNETTE, PA."

Historical NotesOld Shay Lager 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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