Consumers Shorts
Description: In 1893, Consumers’ Brewing Company set up shop in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1898, the decision was made to change the name to Harvard Brewing Company, and this newly branded business successfully expanded its product line, production capabilities, and market reach over the next two decades. Prohibition went into effect in 1920 and the brewery’s plans to succeed by selling colas, ginger ale, and near-beer (<0.5% alcohol beer) weren’t working. With failure looming, Harvard executives added the beer back into their near-beer . Profits came back, and so did federal agents, culminating in August of 1925 when a truck filled with 100 barrels of illegal Harvard beer was hijacked in Lowell.
Description: In 1893, Consumers’ Brewing Company set up shop in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1898, the decision was made to change the name to Harvard Brewing Company, and this newly branded business successfully expanded its product line, production capabilities, and market reach over the next two decades. Prohibition went into effect in 1920 and the brewery’s plans to succeed by selling colas, ginger ale, and near-beer (<0.5% alcohol beer) weren’t working. With failure looming, Harvard executives added the beer back into their near-beer . Profits came back, and so did federal agents, culminating in August of 1925 when a truck filled with 100 barrels of illegal Harvard beer was hijacked in Lowell.
Description: In January of 1898, a stockholders meeting was held where New York interests who recently gained control of a majority in shares were represented. One of the decisions made at the meeting was to change the brewery's name to the Harvard Brewing Company in order to distinguish the concern from other Consumers' Brewing Companies in Chicopee, Massachusetts and in New York state. Another change was in personnel, with the addition to the office leadership of Ward B. Holloway who previously worked for the Rochester Brewing Company. Later in the year, Holloway took over the position of secretary and general manager from John Coffey while within a few years, John Joyce was dropped down to vice president.
