November 1939 Modern Brewer
A Visit to William Penn’s Brewery
Over 150 brewers, brewmasters and members of their families made an automobile pilgrimage on Sunday, November 6, 1939 to William Penn’s Manor on the Delaware River in Tullytown, as guests of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission. Penn’s home constructed for him in 1683 was a group of buildings which included the brewery that he established to promote the habits of moderation which distinguished the thrifty settlers and made Penn’s beer famous all over the colonies.
When the buildings of Penn’s Manor fell into decay and disappeared the old brewery remained and it was still standing as late as 1885. The Pennsylvania Historical Commission has rebuilt the entire group with faithful attention to detail, and members and friends of Philadelphia District Master Brewers were invited to a preview.
(Picture. Top Left shows building which houses the Brewery and Bakery. Top Right United Brewers Industrial Foundation Secretary, Hugh Harley and MBAA 1st Vice President, Phil Berkes inspecting the malt House from the steeping floor. Bottom Left. View of drying kiln. Bottom Right members of Philadelphia District examine Penn’s brewing kettles. The mash tub is shown in the foreground.)
On Saturday evening Philadelphia District held its regular meeting at the Penn Athletic Club. Allan Beach, Managing Editor of Modern Brewer, addressed the meeting and suggested various ways individual brewers should apply public relations to the solution of their problems. He was followed by Hugh Harley, Secretary of the United Brewers Industrial Foundation who explained the work of the Foundation.
Brewers Day at the Worlds Fair
He showed the label designed for use on the George Washington Colonial Beer served at Brewers’ Day dinner at the Worlds Fair in the October issue carried a report of the Convention of the UBIF which showed pictures of the Brewing Industry Day at the Worlds Fair held in the Hall of Music October 5, 1939.
Pics of brew house at Pennsbury Manor.
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Wagner, Rich. "Bringing Colonial Brewing and Malting to Life." Zymurgy. Summer, 1989.
Wagner, Rich. "Brewing the Seventeenth Century Way." Zymurgy. Spring, 1992.
Wagner, Rich. "The Inadvertent Cooper." Da Schnitzelbank. Vol. 1, No. 3, April 1996.
Wagner, Rich. "The Making of a Colonial Brewer." Mid-Atlantic Brewing News. Dec. 2003/ Jan. 2004.