America’s famous lager brewers seemed to fit a profile that could pass for a job description. They typically immigrated from Germany during the mid 1840’s, landed directly in New York, began lager brewing immediately, and for decades personally guided their brewery’s development. As elsewhere, the great brewers of New York met these historical criteria with nearly 100% accuracy, but there was, of course, an exception.

John F. Trommer had two things in common with New York’s other famous brewers. He was born in Germany, and for him brewing wasn’t a job, it was love. Nearly everything else was different.

On entry to the US he settled in Portland, Maine where he took employment with a small, old ale brewery. Later, seeking a more prominent position, he moved to Boston. After working in several of the city’s breweries Trommer was ready to strike out on his own, and it was New York that called. When Trommer arrived in 1897 the city’s well known brewers were well entrenched. Notwith-standing, he was determined as any to seize a piece of the market. His study of available properties led him to Brooklyn where, in a section known as Bushwick, other brewers were gathered in what effectively was a brewing community. Among them, located at 1632 Bushwick Avenue and Conway Street, was the firm of Stehlin & Breitkopf. Established only two years earlier, it presented the type of opportunity Trommer sought.

For a brief period beer was sold under the name of Breitkopf & Trommer, but that was only until the new owner decided on the unlikely beer name of "J.F. Trommer’s Evergreen Brewery." Within a year there were signs of modest yet encouraging success. Then, in 1898, as conditions appeared most promising, John F. Trommer passed away. Son George assumed ownership and under his management the next two decades brought steady growth and a reputation of quality.

As World War One ended all America was filled with joy - all except the brewers. For them it must have seemed as if the Grim Reaper merely turned his attention to an attack on their livelihood. Prohibition handed breweries their darkest moments, for most the shutdown was permanent, but once again Trommer’s was an exception. George, like so many others, shifted production to near-beer, but he did it with a unique twist. He employed a long established beer selling strategy coupled to an all-American taste combination.

Before prohibition the leading brewers grabbed huge market shares through a system of "tied" houses. These were bars a brewery owned or controlled, thereby ensuring only their beer was sold. George figured he could use a similar strategy with near beer. In 1920 he began loaning money to people opening hotdog stands with the provision each stand promote and sell Trommer’s "White Label" near beer exclusively. His idea was instantly successful and eventually Trommer’s supplied more than 950 hotdog vendors, each paying interest while selling White Label.

When Congress repealed prohibition in 1933 Trommer’s was one of the few to emerge stronger than it entered. The same year full strength brewing returned George added a new facility in Orange, New Jersey and while others typically folded in the 1940’s, Trommer’s sales remained steady.

All appeared well, but at times familiarity breeds complacency and familiarity was Trommers weakness. Over reliance on the New York market, which built the brewery, also brought its end. In 1949 Trommer’s suffered effects of a labor action that struck several of the city’s breweries and threw a deadly one-two punch that shutdown the plant, and followed up with skyrocketing costs.

As Trommer’s entered 1950 George Trommer faced the inevitable and began liquidating the company’s assets. In his last act as head of Trommer’s he sold the Orange plant to Rheingold and the original Brooklyn brewery to Piel’s. That sale wrote Trommer’s final chapter and the once beloved label joined New York’s other deceased beers on the dusty bookshelf of history.

This article first appeared in the American Breweirana Journal, Issue 87, July-August 1997, by Gregg Smith.