I chose three different Brewery’s. The different breweries I chose were the John F. Hendrick Brewery, the James Boyd Brewery, and the John Taylor & Sons brewery. I thought that this topic was very interesting because during the pre-prohibition period, Albany was listed for almost 80 different breweries, which was a lot for that time period. Many breweries at that time did not last very long, most lasting only a couple years. The brewery I found most interesting was the Hendrick Brewing Company because John F. Hendrick created the first large German Bier brewery, which stayed open for over 50 years. While Hendrick Brewery was the first German Bier brewery, James Boyd opened his brewery, which was considered to be the the first modern brewery in the city of Albany, in 1796. Just between 1800 and 1825 12 new breweries were opened. The third brewery that I am very interested in is the John Taylor & Sons brewery. This was the first brewery that saw opportunity in using Albany’s access to the Hudson River. When the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, John Taylor, who was a very good business man, began exporting his beer south to the port of New York after raw materials for beer making would be brought east to Albany. Once the beer was brought to the port of New York, it could then be brought to any where in the world. All three of these breweries were in the hands of very smart business men, and all were chosen for outlasting many other breweries that were built in Albany during that time period. I also think that the audience for breweries can be very large as well. All people aver the age of 21 can relate to beer. There are so many types of beer, from porters to ciders, and they all have a distinct taste. Many people are interested in beer, and there’s a beer out there for everyone, whether you like light or dark beers.
http://findingyourpast.blogspot.com/2013/11/brief-history-of-german-brewers-in.html
http://albanyaleproject.com/history/rise.html
http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/311#.VsNKIhr2YdU