Ballantine Brewery

Ballantine was an American brewery. It was best known for Ballantine Ale, a pale ale that is one of the oldest brands of beer in the United States. At its peak, Ballantine was the 4th largest brewer in the United States.

History

Ballantine era

Ballantine plant in Newark, New Jersey circa 1880-1900

The company was founded in 1840 in Newark, New Jersey, by Peter Ballantine (1791–1883), who emigrated from Scotland. The company was originally incorporated as the Patterson & Ballantine Brewing Company. Ballantine rented an old brewing site which had dated back to 1805. Around 1850, Ballantine bought out his partner and purchased land near the Passaic River to brew his ale. His three sons joined the business and in 1857 the company was renamed P. Ballantine and Sons. The name would be used for the next 115 years, until the company closed its brewery in May 1972. By 1879, it had become sixth largest brewery in the US, almost twice as large as Anheuser-Busch. Ballantine added a second brewery location, also in Newark, in order to brew lager beer to fill out the company product line. Peter Ballantine died in 1883 and his eldest son had died just a few months earlier. His second oldest son then controlled the company until his own death from cancer in 1895. The last son died in 1905 and the company was taken over by George Griswold Frelinghuysen, the company’s vice-president, who was married to Peter Ballantine’s granddaughter.

Frelinghuysen era

George Griswold Frelinghuysen was the son of Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen and Matilda Elizabeth Griswold. He graduated from Rutgers College in 1870, received his Bachelor of Laws from Columbia University Law School in 1872, and was admitted to the New Jersey and New York bars in 1872 and 1876 respectively. George married Sara Linen Ballantine on April 26, 1881.^[1] Sara was the granddaughter of Peter Ballantine, the company founder. George and Sara had two children together: Peter Hood Ballantine Frelinghuysen I (1882–?) who married Adaline Havemeyer (1884–?); and Matilda Elizabeth Frelinghuysen (1887–?). He started his career as a patent lawyer, eventually working for and becoming President of Ballantine at the death of Robert Francis Ballantine (1836–1905), who was the last surviving son of founder Peter Ballantine. George died in 1935 and the George Griswold Frelinghuysen Arboretum is named for him.

Badenhausen era

In 1933 the Ballantine company was acquired by two brothers, Carl and Otto Badenhausen. The Badenhausens grew the brand through its most successful period of the 1940s and 1950s, primarily through clever advertising. Ballantine Beer was the first television sponsor of the New York Yankees. It was during this period that the brand was elevated to the number three beer in the U.S. It was also during this period that the company grew into one of the largest privately held corporations in the United States. Ballantine Beer enjoyed a high level of success into the early 1960s, however by the mid-sixties the brand began losing popularity. In 1965 Carl Badenhausen sold the company but remained at the helm until his retirement in 1969.

Decline

In the 1960s the company went into decline. The breweries were closed and the brands acquired by the Falstaff Brewing Corporation under whose stewardship the beers remained faithful for a time to their original flavor profile. By the late 1980s, though, Ballantine Ales were produced by a number of different outsourced companies.

The brand today

Since 2005, the Ballantine Ale brand has been owned and marketed by the Pabst Brewing Company, which in turn outsources the brewing to the Miller Brewing Company. The original formula is no longer used to produce the brand, though many tasters seem to agree that it retains at least some hint of its original character. The most notable changes are a markedly lower bitterness and a much less assertive aromatic character (the latter presumably due the apparent discontinuance long ago of the practice of using distilled hop oil).

Because Ballantine has in recent years been widely sold in 40-ounce bottles, it is often lumped together with Olde English 800 and other malt liquors in the public mind.^[2]

In August 2014, a version of Ballantine IPA was revived by Pabst Brewing Company. Reports indicate that the original recipe has been long lost; however, some pains have been taken to attempt to recreate the palate and distinctive aroma of the original product.^[3]

Specialty products

Promotion for the Ale and Beer.

Through the years Ballantine offered a range of products in addition to its flagship Ale and Lager; other specialties included a Porter; a Brown Stout; a dark lager; and a Bock beer. Also in regular production was a now legendary and very highly regarded world-class India Pale Ale (an intensely bitter and aromatic brew which, like the Brown Stout, was aged 1 year in wood prior to bottling).

Also of note was a special Burton Ale (which was aged from 10–20 years in wood prior to bottling). The Burton Ale was never a commercially sold product, rather, it was a special strong brew in the barleywine style which was given as a gift at Christmas to Ballantine distributors and VIPs. Surviving unopened bottles are still bought, sold and traded to this day among collectors, more than 60 years after being brewed. Because of the long aging and generous hopping as well as an ABV content comparable to barleywines, the beer had remarkable keeping qualities. Still, it could be argued that since the beer was already long aged prior to bottling, it was probably already at its peak when finally bottled. Reports of modern day tastings indicate that properly handled vintage bottles of this unique beer can still yield a complex (though somewhat faded) taste experience.

Logo

The Ballantine logo is three interlocking rings, in a design known as Borromean rings. New York Yankees announcer Mel Allen called it "the Three-Ring Sign."^[4] In the logo used in advertising, the rings were labeled "Purity, Body, Flavor".^[5][6] According to one legend, Peter Ballantine was inspired to use the pattern after seeing condensation rings left by beer glasses on a tabletop.^[7]

Bottles of Ballantine's can be seen in photos of American World War II aviators debriefing on Iwo Jima after a raid against Tokyo.^[8]

Ballantine as a sponsor and in popular culture

• Mel Brooks adapted the 2000 Year Old Man character to create the 2500 Year Old Brewmaster for Ballantine Beer in the 1960s. Interviewed by Dick Cavett in a series of ads, the Brewmaster (in a German accent, as opposed to the 2000 Year Old Man's Jewish voice) said he was inside the original Trojan horse and "could've used a six-pack of fresh air."^[9]

• The syndicated western/detective television show Shotgun Slade had Ballantine Beer as it's title sponsor

• Ballantine IPA was the Official Beer of the 2015 Pork Roll Festival in Trenton, New Jersey.

In literature

• Writer/journalist Hunter S. Thompson mentions drinking Ballantine Ale in his novel Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.
• Ballantine's Beer is referred to as "expensive imported beer" in Sara Sheridan's "Brighton Belle", a mystery set on the South Coast in England in the 1950s.
• The great American writer Ernest Hemingway endorsed Ballantine Ale in a print advertisement.^[10]

In music

• Ballantine Ale is mentioned in the song "High Plains Drifter" by the Beastie Boys. In particular, they refer to the rebus puzzles that were printed on the underside of the cap during the Falstaff era.
• Rapper GZA/The Genius of hip hop supergroup Wu-Tang Clan mentions Ballantine Ale numerous times on many different group and solo albums, as have other clan members. GZA/The Genius most notably mentions the classic ale on the Enter the Wu-Tang album track "7th Chamber".
• The Notorious B.I.G. also mentioned Ballantine Ale on "Long Kiss Goodnight" of his sophomore album "Life After Death. "Distribute to, kids who, take heart like Valentine Drink Ballentine, all the time Slugs hit your chest tap you spine, flatline"
• In the album art for Led Zeppelin's fourth album, the symbol chosen by drummer John Bonham to represent himself has three intersecting rings similar to the Ballantine logo.

In sports

• The brewery had a long sponsorship arrangement with the New York Yankees on television and radio, spanning the 1940s to the 1960s. Team announcers, most notably the legendary Mel Allen, labeled Yankee home runs, "Ballantine Blasts." The advertising jingle went "Hey, get your cold beer! Hey, get your Ballantine!...Just look for the three-ring sign/And ask the man for Ballantine." After which Allen would advise, "You'll be so glad you did."^[4] Ballantine was responsible for making Phil Rizzuto a Yankee broadcaster after his release. Years after he was famously let go by the Yankees, Allen told author Curt Smith that Ballantine had ordered his firing as a cost-cutting move.
• New York Yankees broadcasts featured commercials with the jingle, "Baseball and Ballantine/ Baseball and Ballantine/ What a combination/ All across the nation/ Ballantine, Ballantine beer."
• Ballantine also sponsored the Philadelphia Phillies on radio and TV for many years in the 1950s and 1960s. The scoreboard in right center field at Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium (previously known as Shibe Park) sported a 60-foot-long (18 m) Ballantine Ale sign.
• In 1963 and 1964, Ballantine sponsored a drum and bugle corps based in Newark, New Jersey named the "Ballantine Brewers".^[11]

In Radio

Three Ring Time, with Milton Berle, in the early 1940s.

In television

• Ballantine was the preferred beer of Martin Crane on the television show Frasier. He drinks the pale ale in almost every episode, usually from the can.
• In the Mad Men season 6 episode, "The Better Half", Ted Chaough compares Fleishchmann's margarine to Chivas Regal (because it's a relatively expensive brand of margarine), while Don Draper compares it to Ballantine Beer (because he compares margarine to butter).
• Mel Brooks adapted his character of The 2000 Year Old Man to create the 2500 Year Old Brewmaster for his sponsor Ballantine Beer in the 1960s. Interviewed by Dick Cavett in a series of ads, the Brewmaster (in a German accent, as opposed to the 2000 Year Old Man's Jewish voice) said he was inside the original Trojan horse and "could've used a six-pack of fresh air." Some more of these are featured in recent interviews and specials.

Presidents

• Peter Ballantine (1791–1883) from 1840 through 1883
• Robert Francis Ballantine (1836–1905) possibly from 1883 through 1905
• George Griswold Frelinghuysen (1851–1936) from 1905 through ?
• Charles Bradley from ? to 1929
• Carl Badenhausen (1894–1981) from 1933 to May 21, 1964
• John E. Farrell from May 21, 1964^[12] to January 9, 1967
• Richard Griebel from January 9, 1967^[13] to February 17, 1969
• Jack Waldron from February 17, 1969^[14] to June 24, 1969
• Stephen D. Haymes from June 24, 1969^[15] through ?

References

External links

• Falstaff: Ballantine
• Painted Bronze by Jasper Johns
• Ballantine Beer's Borromean Rings