US BEER LABEL DATING

Government Warning: (1) According to the Surgeon General women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy -etc. This statement dates a label as 1989+.

Multiple Breweries listed: You can often zero in on a time period based on the cities listed and the opening/closing dates of the corresponding breweries. Opening/closing dates for the Anheuser-Busch, breweries illustrate:

An A-B label, or any collectable for that matter, which lists only St. Louis, Newark and Los Angeles, may be estimated as circa 1954-59, since neither Miami or Tampa are mentioned. Likewise, ten cities ending in Fairfield would date an item as circa 1976-83

Internal Price Code markings date a label as 1973+, but not all 1973+ labels carry IPC markings.

ZIP Codes date a label as 1965+, but not all 1965+ labels carry zip codes.

Foil Paper Labels began to be popular in the late 1940's.

Dates:Some labels are perforated, stamped or printed with the date of production.

IRTP Labels: The Internal Revenue Tax Paid statement was required on labels from the end of prohibition,1933, until March of 1950. Removal was generally sharp, however, a few IRTP labels used as late as 1953 have been found. Thus, IRTP labels are c1933-50.

U-type permit numbers were required on beer labels from the end of prohibition, 1933, to September 1935. However, notification to remove permit numbers was slow and brewers were allowed to use up existing label inventories. Many permit numbers were dropped during 1936, however exceptions as late as 1941 can be found. U-type permit labels are generally considered c1933-36. Occasionally you run across a label with a U-type permit without the IRTP statement; an obvious error that the federal label examiner would be quick to jump on. Labels which show a U-type permit number but not the brewery of origin can usually be traced by the permit number. For example, Dad's Beer, Bottled for 905 Liquor Stores, St. Louis, MO, Permit MO. U-920 can be traced to the Peerless Brewing Co. of Washington, MO through the permit no.

Jody Farra & Phil Myers book The Post Prohibition Brewery Guide 1933-1983 lists the permit numbers that the Treasury Department has on file, but the file is incomplete. Its fun to add to these lists from old beer labels. Here is an example for the state of Missouri,

Numbers U-900 to U-913 were listed in Jody and Phil's book. The others were added from old label finds. I really get a buzz when I identify a new permit number. I'm getting older!

Prohibition Labels: The feds referred to the near beer produced during prohibition as Cereal Beverages. Cereal Beverages could not use the word Beer on the label and had to carry the less than 1/2 of 1% alcohol content statement. L-type permit numbers appeared on Cereal Beverages starting around 1928. I'm not sure when they stopped; it may also have been around 1936, however its a moot point as most brewers dropped cereal beverages in favor of the real thing as soon as prohibition ended. Its safe to generalize prohibition labels with L-type permits as c1928-33 and prohibition labels without L-type permits as c1920-1928. Just remember there are exceptions. A few brewers continued to produce cereal beverages afler prohibition. Jacob Schrnidt of St. Paul and M. K. Goetz of St. Joseph, MO offer examples of L-type permit labels in the 1933-35 period and both continued to produce less than 1/2 of 1% alcohol beverages (w/o L-permits) well after 1935. See more below.

Pre-Pro Labels: Obviously, these date prior to 1920. Labels which carry the Guaranteed by the Pure Food and Drugs Act offune3o, 1906 statement seem to be c1906-12. Labels that list the size and/or alcohol content are generally 1912+ and sometimes later as the start date for this information seems to vary state to state. Pre 1900 labels can usually be identified by their distinctive lithography style. See more below.

Copyright © 1991 Bob Kay

World War I, Prohibition and Repeal led to some quite interesting changes in US beer labeling. It's fun to study these changes and learn how to read and date your labels. New information is presented since this subject was first discussed in the Collectors Comer of BL1.

Prohibition Labels: First lets study the onset of prohibition. The declaration of war with Germany(1917) and the final push for prohibition came almost simultaneously. All US distilleries were closed down in August 1917 by the wartime Food Control Law and in December1917 the alcoholic content of beer was limited to 2.75%w by presidential decree - another wartime conservation measure. The 18th Amendment which decreed national prohibition was ratified during January 1919 to take effect one year later, and the Volstead Act which established methods of enforcing prohibition passed later in 1919. At first a few brewers were licensed to produce higher alcohol beers for medicinal purposes but the dry forces moved quickly to stop this with the Willis-Campbell bill which passed November 1921.

As early as l9l6-l7 the merits of cereal beverages(1/2of 1% v) were being touted as the reality of national prohibition began to sink in. After all, 25 states were already dry so the national market for beer was quickly shrinking.

During December 1917 the alcoholic content ofbeerwaslimitedto2.75% as aWorld War I conservation measure; c1918-1920.

Fancy Descriptions such as Full Pre-War Strength were prohibited by Beer Labeling regulationspassed March1935. Curiously, this statement on a 1934-35 label referred to pre-1918 WorIdWarIbeer'.

Anheuser-Busch introduced Bevo, its new nonalcoholic beverage, in 1916 and elsewhere the flood of cereal beverages (near beer) wer introduced during the 1917-18 period. These included such brand names as Pablo from Pabst, Famo from Schlitz, Chrismo from Christian Moerlein, LUX-O from Stroh's, Tivoline from Tivoli-Union, Mannah from Coors and so on. These gradually replaced the real brew as the various states succumbed to prohibition and the national brewers tried to prepare for the inevitable.

Labels showing the wartime alcohol level of 2.75% are not common. Off hand, the Jacob Ruppert examples are the only ones I can think of. Ruppert pushed hard to get the 2.75% w alcohol level defined as nonalcoholic but the dry forces would have none of it and the level of 0.5% v prevailed. Also, the effort to produce beer for medicinal purposes was almost stopped before it got started. The Schlitz label pictured in the Collectors Corner of BL5 is the only example that comes to mind. In 1924 an effort was made to sell Malt Tonic's with 2% alcohol and 12% solids. These were intended to be sold in drug stores with doctors prescriptions. After a few months the dry's were successful in getting the solids content raised to 18% which resulted in a syrupy product too heavy to drink as a beverage. Throughout the prohibition era a variety of malt tonic and cereal beverage products were tried but these generally met only limited success. Examples of prohibition Malt Tonic labels with a variety of alcohol and solid contents can be found. Those with the H-type permit number denote a higher alcohol content, Cereal beverage labels were notable in that the word beer was prohibited on the label and the alcohol content was shown as not more than 1/2 ofl%v. Sometime around 1928 Federal L-typepermit numbers (L#) began to appear on cereal beverage labels.

Early Repeal Labels: Now lets study the onset ofrepeal and the effect on beer labeling. As a result of the Cullen-Harrison Act, 3,2% w (or 4% v) beer could be sold starting April 7, 1933 in the twenty states that had repealed prohibition. The remaining states fell into line fairly quickly with Kansas being the last in 1937. However, the return of beer couldn't have come at a worse time. The country was in the middle of the great depression and the resources to restart a business which had been mostly dormant for 13 years were not easy to come by. Of course, the success of the bootleggers gave the impression that brewing would be instantly profitable, and everybody and his brother wanted in on the instant riches. However, the harsh realities of prohibitions effect on the brewing industry coupled with the depression were all too obvious when by June 1933 only 31 breweries were back in business. However, the lure of brewing was overpowering and twelve months later the number had risen to a whopping 756! By December, 1933 the 21st Amendment was ratified and all federal restrictions on the alcohol limit of beer were removed. This led to a temporary horsepower race with alcohol contents. while it was generally agreed that a beer with about 4.5% alcohol was most palatable. Demand for beer with a kick led to higher and higher alcohol contents and of course all kinds of advertising claims to accompany them. However, it didn't take long before complaints about flavor and so on led to a general retreat in alcohol levels to the more palatable 4.5%ish levels. Repeal labels had to show the Internal Revenue Tax Paid (irtp) statement and the U-type federal permit number (U#). By March 1.1935 new beer labeling regulations were passed which eliminated fancy descriptions appearing on labels such as extra strength, high test, high proof, full old time alcohol strength, prewar strength, bonded, certified, and so on. About the same time the requirement to show permit numbers on labels was rescinded, although implementation dragged out for some time after that.

I have often puzzled over early repeal labels that claimed prewar strength.Since the last war started in 1917 and US involvement lasted only 18 months, it seemed a little late to be referring to that war. However, these claims are clearly referring to beer like it was before the December 1917 restrictions on the alcoholic content of beer. I guess subconsciously, they would like to think that the wartime restrictions plus the 13 years of prohibition from 1920 to 1933 didn't really happen. I'm sure the claim was understood by the old time brewers, but to the beer buying public, I wonder? In any event the new beer labeling restrictions of March 1935 put a quick end to a wide range of fancy claims that were outgrowth's of unrestricted repeal beer.

Prohibition label dating:

c1916-28 w/o L#, ½ of 1%, the word beer prohibited

c1928-33 with L# ,½ of 1%, the word beer prohibited

c1918-20 Wartime Beer, nmt 2.75% w, non-intoxicating

c1920-21 Prohibition Beer, For medicinal purposes only

Repeal label dating:

Apr33 to Dec 33, irtp, U#, not more than 3.2% w (4% v) only!

Jan 34 to Mar35, irtp, U#, No alcohol limits, Fancy descriptions allowed.

Mar 35 toDec 36, irtp, U#, no alcohol limits, No fancy descriptions

Jan 37 to Mar50, irtp, No U#, No alcohol limits, No fancy descriptions

Many thanks to Bill Carlisle and Carl Miller who provided reference material for parts of this section.