Bevo (beverage)

Last updated
Bevo sign BevoSign.jpg
Bevo sign

Bevo was a non-alcoholic malt beverage, or near beer, brewed in the United States by the Anheuser-Busch company beginning in the early 20th century. Bevo enjoyed its greatest success during the time of Prohibition, when beer, wine and distilled liquors were made illegal for thirteen years.

Contents

Prohibition

The Anheuser-Busch company started brewing Bevo when alcoholic beverages were prohibited in 1916 [1] by the United States armed forces. Production rose greatly with national prohibition in 1919, and Bevo was by far the most popular of the many "cereal beverages" or "near beers" of the time. At the peak of its popularity in the early 1920s, more than five million cases of Bevo were sold annually.

Renard with a mug of Bevo, depicted in terra cotta on the interior walls of the Bevo building, St. Louis ReynardBevoAmatern.jpg
Renard with a mug of Bevo, depicted in terra cotta on the interior walls of the Bevo building, St. Louis

Labels on the bottles billed it as "Bevo the Beverage". The name "Bevo" was coined from the word "beverage" and the Slavic language word for beer, pivo, and was pronounced "Bee-vo".

Decline

In the late 1920s, bootleg beer and liquor, both smuggled and "homebrew", cut into Bevo's marketshare. With sales flattening to 100,000 cases by 1929, Anheuser-Busch stopped production.

The Bevo Mill, St. Louis, in 2008 BevoMillOutAndAbout.jpg
The Bevo Mill, St. Louis, in 2008

The Bevo building, with the Renard character prominently displayed at the corners, still operates as a bottling facility at their main brewery in St. Louis, Missouri. The landmark Bevo Mill, constructed by August Anheuser Busch, Sr. in 1917, was closed in 2009, but reopened in October 2009 under new owners. [2]

Advertising

Some Bevo advertising featured the character "Renard the Fox" (based on the protagonist of a medieval French folk tale), and promotional mugs with this character were manufactured. In 1930, Anheuser-Busch built a series of boat-bodied cars in its St. Louis shops called the "Bevo Boats" which were used for promotion. Seven are believed to have been built on Pierce-Arrow 8-cylinder chassis while one surviving example was based upon 1930 Cadillac 353 V8.

Billboard advertising Bevo in Trenton, New Jersey, 1917 BevoTrenton.jpeg
Billboard advertising Bevo in Trenton, New Jersey, 1917

A contemporary advertisement read "Cooling and invigorating, Bevo the Beverage. Order by the case from your grocer, druggist, or dealer." The paper label on the back of the bottle read "The All-Year-Round Soft Drink. Appetizing - Healthful - Nutritious - Refreshing. Milk or water may contain bacteria. BEVO never does."

Bevo became part of the popular culture of the time, and is mentioned in various popular songs and vaudeville skits of the era. This led to secondary slang uses of the word; for example, in American military slang a young and inexperienced officer was called a "Bevo". The University of Texas named its mascot "Bevo", a name which has stuck to this day.

Irving Berlin included a paean to the drink, "You Can't Stay Up on Bevo", in his 1917 army revue, Yip Yip Yaphank . In addition, in his song "The Near Future", which includes the ubiquitous lyric "How Dry I Am", Bevo is featured prominently. As the Prohibition Era was starting, "On the Streets of Cairo" by Jesse G. M. Gluck & Geo. P. Hulten assured people that in Cairo, "you won't have to drink pale Bevo, Booze there has a kick." [3]

In 1919, Tim Moore, a vaudeville comedian who had just arrived in Detroit to fulfill a theatrical booking, wrote this line to a Chicago newspaper editor, "Dry Detroit, Mich.; Dear Pal Tony: Just a few lines to let you know we arrived safely in the home of Ford's Tin Lizzies, "Bevo" and other temperate beers." [4]

Bevo is mentioned in Ernest Hemingway's short story "The Killers" (1927), John O'Hara's short story "The Bucket of Blood" (1962), [5] Sinclair Lewis's novel Babbitt (1922), and Thornton Wilder's novel Theophilus North (1973).

Decades later, Bevo was mentioned in the song "Ya Got Trouble" in the musical The Music Man as a reference to an objectionable aspect of the culture of young people during the time in which the musical was set (although The Music Man was set in 1912, four years prior to Bevo's introduction).

In 2009 the beverage was mentioned briefly in the 1927 set webcomic Lackadaisy by Tracy Butler.

See also

Related Research Articles

Budweiser is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filtered beer, available on draft and in bottles and cans, made with up to 30% rice in addition to hops and barley malt.

Ice beer is a beer that has undergone some degree of freezing during production. These beers generally have a higher alcohol content, and lower price relative to it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Low-alcohol beer</span> Type of beverage

Low-alcohol beer is beer with little or no alcohol content that aims to reproduce the taste of beer while eliminating or reducing the inebriating effect, carbohydrates, and calories of regular alcoholic brews. Low-alcohol beers can come in different beer styles such as lagers, stouts, and ales. Low-alcohol beer is also known as light beer, non-alcoholic beer, small beer, small ale, or near-beer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anheuser-Busch</span> American brewing company

Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC, is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple global brands, notably Budweiser, Michelob, Stella Artois, and Beck's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company</span> Defunct American brewing company (1849–1999)

Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was once the largest producer of beer in the United States. Its namesake beer, Schlitz, was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and was advertised with the slogan "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer". Schlitz first became the largest beer producer in the US in 1902 and enjoyed that status at several points during the first half of the 20th century, exchanging the title with Anheuser-Busch multiple times during the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rolling Rock</span> American lager

Rolling Rock is a 4.4% abv American lager launched in 1939 by the Latrobe Brewing Company. Although founded as a local beer in Western Pennsylvania, it was marketed aggressively and eventually became a national product. The brand was sold to Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, Missouri, in mid-2006, which transferred brewing operations to New Jersey while continuing to label the new beer prominently with the name of Latrobe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steel Reserve</span> American lager brand

Steel Reserve, also known as 211, is an American lager brand owned and produced by Steel Brewing Company, which is owned by Miller, a subsidiary of Molson Coors. The drink comes in "Black" and "Silver" varieties, also known as "Triple Export Malt Liquor" and "High Gravity Lager", respectively. It has a high alcohol content. It was introduced in 1994.

Beer in India has been prepared from rice or millet for thousands of years. In the 18th century, the British introduced European beer to India. Beer is not as popular as stronger alcoholic beverages like desi daru and Indian-made foreign liquor, such as Indian whiskey. The most popular beers in India are strong beers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in the United States</span> Overview of the beer culture in the United States of America

Beer in the United States is manufactured in breweries which range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries. The United States produced 196 million barrels (23.0 GL) of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly 28 US gallons (110 L) of beer per capita annually. In 2011, the United States was ranked fifteenth in the world in per capita consumption, while total consumption was second only to China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Pauli Girl</span> Beer brand

St. Pauli Girl is a brand of beer brewed and bottled for export only by the St. Pauli Brauerei, which is located within the Beck's brewery in Bremen, Germany an owned by AB InBev. In the U.S. it is brewed for the domestic market by St. Louis, Missouri-based Anheuser-Busch.

The United States Brewers' Association was a trade organization that existed from 1862 to 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcohol laws of Missouri</span> Overview of alcohol laws in the US state of Missouri

The alcohol laws of Missouri are among the most permissive in the United States. Missouri is known throughout the Midwest for its largely laissez-faire approach to alcohol regulation, in sharp contrast to the very strict alcohol laws of some of its neighbors, like Kansas and Oklahoma.

SABMiller was one of the top five global brewing companies, and had a range of over 150 beers, including international beers such as Pilsner Urquell, and Miller Genuine Draft, and local ones such as Gambrinus and Castle Milk Stout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drinking establishment</span> Business

A drinking establishment is a business whose primary function is the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. Some establishments may also serve food, or have entertainment, but their main purpose is to serve alcoholic beverages. There are different types of drinking establishment ranging from seedy bars or nightclubs, sometimes termed "dive bars", to 5,000 seat beer halls and elegant places of entertainment for the elite. A public house, informally known as a "pub", is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises in countries and regions of British influence. Although the terms are increasingly used to refer to the same thing, there is a difference between pubs, bars, inns, taverns and lounges where alcohol is served commercially. A tavern or pot-house is, loosely, a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and, more than likely, also be served food, though not licensed to put up guests. The word derives from the Latin taberna and the Greek ταβέρνα/taverna.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is a Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium and is the largest brewer in the world. Additionally, AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters in São Paulo, London, St. Louis, Mexico City, Bremen, Johannesburg, and others. It has approximately 630 beer brands in 150 countries.

Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bavarian Brewing Company</span> United States historic place

Bavarian Brewing Company was a brewery established in Covington, Kentucky, in 1866 by Julius Deglow, but became known as the Bavarian Brewery around 1870. The brewery was originally located on Pike Street, but expanded to 12th Street within a decade. After John Meyer acquired the brewery in 1881, he sold an interest to William Riedlin in 1882. The company operated under the proprietorship of Meyer & Riedlin starting in 1884, before becoming incorporated as the Bavarian Brewery Co. in 1889 by William Riedlin. The company was family owned until it was acquired by International Breweries, Inc.(IBI) in 1959. However, it operated as the Bavarian Division of IBI and continued to produce its flagship beer, Bavarian's, until the facility closed in 1966. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and renovated as a multipurpose complex for food, beverage and entertainment uses in 1996. It operated as the Brew Works at the Party Source and Jillian's, but closed in 2006. The former structure containing the Brew and Mill Houses, built in 1911, was repurposed into office space becoming part of the Kenton County Government Center, opening in 2019. This office complex has a Bavarian Brewery Exhibit and it is accompanied by a Bavarian Brewery website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida Brewing Company building</span> Historic brewery building

The Florida Brewing Company building is a historic brewery building that once housed Ybor City Brewing Company, which became Florida Brewing Company. It has been restored and converted into a law office. It is the tallest building in Tampa's Ybor City Historic District.

The production of beer in New Jersey has been in a state of recovery since Prohibition (1919-1933) and the Great Depression (1929-1945). Currently, the state has 123 licensed breweries: a large production brewery owned by an international beverage company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and 122 independent microbreweries and 19 brewpubs. The growth of the microbreweries and brewpubs since the 1990s has been aided by the loosening of the state's licensing restrictions and strict alcohol control laws, many of which were a legacy of Prohibition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eswatini Beverages Ltd</span> Beverage and brewing company in Matsapha, Eswatini

Eswatini Beverages Ltd (EBL) is a AB InBev subsidiary. It was a subsidiary of SABMiller until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev. It is a beverage and brewing company in Matsapha, Eswatini. The company was formed in 1995 by the merger of Eswatini Breweries, Ngwane Breweries, and Eswatini Bottlers. EBL produces and markets soft drinks, beer, and other alcoholic drinks.

References

  1. Axelrod, Karen and Bruce Brumberg. "Anheuser-Busch Factory Tour in St. Louis, MO" Archived 2022-05-06 at the Wayback Machine . Watch it Made in the U.S.A.: Your Guide to Factory Tours, Avalon Travel Publishing, Fourth Edition, ISBN   1-59880-000-0, accessed May 18, 2010
  2. The Bevo Mill History Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Copyright 1919 Will Rossiter, Chicago
  4. The Chicago Defender, p. 8, May 3, 1919
  5. O'Hara, John (August 25, 1962). "The Bucket of Blood". The New Yorker. p. 31. Retrieved October 13, 2018.