The Brew 102 Label
The Brew 102 brewery, on the right, heading east out of downtown
Every city in America (that can call itself a city) produced at one time or another a purely local brew marketed directly to the city of origin that tasted like rust, gave you a head-ache and was as cheap as your girlfriend. We’re talking before the beer industry became feminized with micro-brews and before the advent of Budweiser as the Official Beer Of Stoopid. Yes, we’re talking about the beer maybe your father or grandfather drank and when you snuck a sip from the fluted glass it sat all foamy and pretty in you said to yourself, “That’s what I’m drinking when I’m old enough.” And then you got old enough.
Here in Los Angeles it was Brew 102, brewed by Maier Brewing. It had been the Philadelphia Brewery, founded in 1875 and it became one of the nation’s best-known bottlers of working-class brew. (Historic note-The site was home to El Aliso, the ancient sycamore tree that was the heart of the Gabrielino village of Yang-Na — the original Los Angeles village. Should have kept the tree and forgot the brewery)
What shit beer did your town proudly produce?
