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Video: Remembering When Brooklyn Was The Beer Brewing Capital Of The World
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 28, 2013
Modified Jan 28, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 28, 2013
Modified Jan 28, 2013
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Around the turn of the twentieth century, there were more breweries in Brooklyn than anywhere else in America, and quite possibly the world. At its peak, three of the biggest breweries in the country operated out of Brooklyn, and filmmaker John Weber tells the Daily News the borough "went from having roughly 50 breweries at the turn of the century to zero in 1977." Weber's documentary, which he's trying to finish with help from Kickstarter, covers "the oral history of the beer brewing industry in Brooklyn NY from its very beginning in the 1800s, right up to the present day craft brewers." Here's a taste—feel free to bypass the blathering and skip to the 1:10 mark, when the trailer starts:
The fifty minute film, called Brewed in Brooklyn, features vintage footage and excerpts of classic Brooklyn beer commercials, as well as interviews with historians, brewers and beer geeks. In his conversation with the News, Weber recalls how beer "was completely intertwined with the borough in so many ways. Schaefer had a sign on the scoreboard behind Carl Furillo in Ebbets Field. Rheingold sponsored a beauty contest that millions of people voted on every year." For example, here's a classic Rheingold TV ad from back in the day:
Now that the borough is experiencing a brewing renaissance of sorts, with more and more microbrewers following in Brooklyn Brewery's wake, the timing for Weber's project seems right. Brewed in Brooklyn is already in the can (sorry), but Weber and his collaborators are trying to raise money for post-production. They have until March 10th to raise their goal of $20,000.
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brewed in brooklyn
brooklyn
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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