A personal note from Paul
The above photo shows the bottle caps (crowns) I collected as the different beers were being bottled at the Hornell Brewing Co., 1-13 Franklin St., Hornell, NY during 1959, 1960, and 1961.
For many years the Brewery was owned and operated by Messrs. Kilbert, Day, and Kingston. Their initials named one of the products – KDK Cream Ale. All brewing was in Hornell. Sales offices and warehouses were in Hornell, Elmira, Salamanca, and Buffalo. In around 1956 the brewery was purchased by Metropolis Brewery of Trenton, NJ. Metropolis also sold beer in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan and had contracts to supply A&P and Grand Union stores. Olbrau, Tudor, and Pilser’s were Metropolis house brands for those accounts. Metropolis was also known for Champale, a malt-based sparkling beverage produced in New Jersey.
In this picture above, the original Hornell brands are Hornell Beer, KDK, Bock, and Old Ranger. The rest came from Metropolis. Descriptions are given descending from the top as follows:
Blue Ohio pre-paid tax crown. Each crown cost the brewery 1-1/2 cents. This is printed on the crown.
Red Michigan tax crown. Cost not printed on crown.
Hornell Beer crown – gold and black letters on silver
KDK Cream Ale – white letters on red background
Olbrau Ale – green
Olbrau Premium – green
Bock beer – red ram’s head, produced each spring
Tudor beer – white with blue lettering
Old Ranger beer
Bock beer – blue drawing of a ram’s head – a Metropolis brand
Pilser’s
Malta (Malta La Isla) – a near-beer made for the Puerto Rican market. Near-beer is pasteurized before fermentation converts the starches into alcohol. The taste is sweet, a bit like thin molasses, and rumored to be often cut with rum.
Yellow Pennsylvania tax crown. Cost not printed on crown.
Malta Lily – same as Malta, above, except this was for the New York City market.
Paul Eno, Jr.
July 14, 2008
