Here we have some brewery posters from the Boston Public Library Flickr group. Above is from Rueter & Alley, producers of Irish ales and porters. The plant stood on New Heath street beside the Boston Providence (now Amtrak) railroad tracks at what is now the edge of Jamaica Plain. One small brick building still stands - the rest of the brewery is now parking lot.
Across Heath street from Rueter & Alley was the Burton Brewery, brewers of Burton Ale, Bull’s Head and Special Porter. During Prohibition, this building became the home of Moxie, that unique-tasting tonic that once outsold Coca-Cola. The site is now park of the Bromley-Heath public housing development.
The Boston Beer Company was located at D and West Second streets in South Boston. I can't find out much about this brewery, other than it was chartered in 1828, making it significantly older than many other 19th Century Boston brewers.
Bay State Brewery, also known as Jones, Johnson & Co., was located at H and East Second street in South Boston, and produced an India Pale ale, Present Use ale (whatever that means) and a Porter. In 1905, the brewery was sold to the Felton family, who were major distillers of rum.
Another South Boston brewery, Suffolk Brewing was located at G and East Eighth streets.
For more information about Boston's lost breweries, read this article from the Jamaica Plain Historical Society
I love these old posters. JP is cool because we still have so much evidence of its brewing roots.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic! I agree, I love these posters as well. Funny to think how a major marketing strategy in those days was to print posters with an illustration of your brewery, as opposed to the product itself.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'd do to be able to sample some of those original recipes...
Oddly enough, I've been doing a bit of research on old Boston breweries and somehow missed this post even though I'm also a regular reader of this and your other blogs. I'm thinking about doing a bike tour of old and new Boston breweries, starting at Harpoon and finishing up at Doyle's. I think we should try to get another one of the old breweries still undeveloped on Heath Street back up and running...
ReplyDeleteI lived near the brewery on d street. Brings back memories .
ReplyDeleteHave you come across any information about Roxbury Brewery that was located at 31 Heath St in Jamaica Plain? Or the building in general? I am currently working on the renovation of this building and am looking for historical info (with not much luck).
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