I buried the grape vines the other day. Gave the lawn one last mow. The Red Sox have been gone from my TV for about five weeks now. Winter is coming. Thank God that there is the hunt for beer and brewing history to fill the dark cold nights. Craig forwarded me this one image a few months ago and it has sat in my inbox waiting for the right time. He spotted it at a display on the US Constitution – a newspaper ran the text of the Constitution and Faulkner’s ad on the front page.
It’s from the September 27, 1787 issue of the Hudson Weekly Gazette and it neatly fills a gap. We’ve traced the career of William D. Faulkner from Brooklyn in the late 1760s to Albany in the early 1790s. We had known that there was a lull in his career after the disruptions of the American Revolution so it’s exciting to see that by just four years after the peace he was settling into the mid-valley town of Hudson, NY. Just as the Hessian Fly was decimating grain crops. The ad states that his previous brewery was destroyed by fire. That would be one of the two Rutgers’ Maiden Lane breweries that he left Brooklyn for in 1770, the brewery of Anthony Rutgers. Or, was it the Cow-Hill brewery in Harlem Craig mentioned when he sent the image, referenced in our book. That would give Faulkner a five brewery colonial career. The man was on the go.
And he likes himself. He “ever commanded the first a market and home and abroad” confirming again he was an exporting brewer when they were supposed not to exist. The inter-coastal and inter-colonial trade in beer is waiting to be explored as is the ranges of beer which were brewed. Look at the ad again. It includes a price list:
Stock Ale at 5 Dollars, per Barrel.
Mild Do. at 3 Do. per Do.
Ship and Table Beer at 12s. per Do.
Double Spruce at 16s. per Do.
Single Do. 11s. per Do.
Remember that “Do.” is ditto and that “s” is shilling. Currency in the years after the end of the Revolution remained in flux: dollars and shillings in the same ad. Same in Upper Canada. And there is also the assertion that his best ale will be warranted to keep good to any part of the East or West Indies or any foreign Market while name dropping Taunton and Liverpool Ale along with Dorchester and Bristol Beer. A pretty confident and skilled brewer. Good to see “Stock Ale” on offer, just as we see it in the Vassar brewing logs from nearby Poughkeepsie of the mid-1830s. Philadelphia’s Perot in the early 1820s uses the term “long keeping” instead.
Just like these other brewers, Faulkner was speaking to his market. You would not name this range of styles or the other famous English beers if your customer did not know what they were, didn’t have a need for Stock Ale. As time passes and the new Republic gets some decades under its belt, these lists of styles on offer become shorter. Perhaps to match the simpler nature of the struggling society moving away from the coastal economy, driving inland.
Faulkner’s Hudson brewery ties back into Albany in the modern period in an interesting way. Faulkner was the founder of the brewery that was to become C. H. Evans which is, of course, now operating in Albany. Usually the founder is noted as “Benjamin Faulkins,” but it’s impossible to find any information on anyone named “Faulkins” from the period. The first reference to Faulkins as the founder of brewing in Hudson is in Stephen B. Miller’s Historical Sketches of Hudson (1862). Miller notes that Faulkins’ ad in the Hudson Gazette stated: “that he had been regularly brought up to this philosophical branch of business in England, and he did not doubt his brewery might become of great utility to Hudson, by giving his ale the name of Hudson Ale.” Sound familiar? Everyone since Miller has noted Faulkins, from newspaper accounts, to One Hundred Years of Brewing, to American Breweries II. American Breweries II notes it as being run by Faulkins until 1835, but David Coope was operating it by the latter half of the 1790s which would coincide with Faulkner taking his roving brewing show on the road to Albany.
Wow! And I mean that in a way that is “wow” to about 12 people on the planet, Gerry. Gotta think about this. I am sure I had an obit for Faulkner from 1791 or so and, in any event, he is a brewer in 1768 in NYC. Which means he was born at the latest at 1748. He could not practically speaking be operating the brewery in Hudson in 1835 without being noted.
I recall a certain conversation we had about thermometer ads in early 19th century New York where we had a similar response that would’ve resonated with about the same number of people — although I think that might’ve been “cool.”
Clearly Faulkner wasn’t running things in Hudson until 1835 as David Coope was in charge there from at least 1795, and George Robinson was in charge from 1823 until 1856. He probably finished his time in Hudson in 1789/90.
I think twelve is pushing it in both cases.
We’re counting in the silent majority.
Here it is. Albany Gazette from 19 November 1792. Not quite an obit but Gibbs has replaced Faulkner in the facility at Arbor Hill.
Yup, I know that Gibbs took over from Faulkner in Albany in 1792, but that notice just indicates that he was now running it, not what happened to Faulkner. The Hudson Brewery was clearly taken over by someone else prior to Faulkner coming to Albany. Given that he operated in Albany for only two years, we might assume a similarly short stint in Hudson (although we know he didn’t die in that case). I can’t find evidence of Coope running it before 1795, but he could have.
I will have to check the 1790s ads but both the move to Hudson notice and the move to Albany notice mention that “the last place burned” in an oddly similar way. I am not sure on the idea of continuity at Hudson given the operation was destroyed.
I think that’s just a case of using the same copy, and, perhaps, his time in Hudson was long enough to create a reputation to brag about. I’ve found lots of references to breweries being taken over by others after fires – particularly in the case where the building itself was made of stone or brick.
I think fire was so common that it was just an expected set back. Maybe an impetus to move on, but not necessarily a game ended.
Yes, burning was a thing. Our downtown burned regularly until a “no wood” bylaw came in around 1835. Soon a building will be done that incorporates a late 1830s brick fire safe wall, the first in Ontario. I got to play a role in ensuring it was saved as part of the larger development… by doing a digitized Georgian era newspaper search.
Alan, Can you elaborate on this no wood by-law at Kingston, was this a John Counter initiative? Which fire was it that proved catalytic to this new by-law in 1835? I’m dabbling with a book about the region’s commercial bakers and this info is intriguing.
Is there an address listed anywhere for Faulkners brewery in Hudson? In 1802 Coope was operating on Water Street.
Hello Alan, Craig, and Company,
Having moved last year to the top of Prospect (once “Windmill,” then “Academy,” and now “Mt. Ray” for the developer who went bankrupt) Hill in Hudson, I have been curious to know about the Evans operation’s water source. From the 1840s, the Hudson Aqueduct Company supplied water to the city from the Powers Spring, which was located out by the fairgrounds. I believe I have seen references to springs at the base of Prospect Hill, and I wonder if said springs weren’t the reason for Faulkner siting the brewery there originally. (here at the top of the hill, there is a seam in the macadam in front of my house that weeps spring water all year long). Any thoughts? Thanks!