newman's

The Wm. S. Newman Brewing Co.

Albany, NY

1981-1987

The first craft beer brewery in the East

Brewers of Albany Amber Beer & Ale, Newman's Pale Ale, Newman's Winter Ale,

Tricentennial Pale Ale, Newman's Beer and other beers.

Newman would later contract brew this beer at C. Schmidt's & Sons of Philadelphia. The abrupt closure of that brewery (most of its brands purchased by Heileman) in 1987 apparently placed a negative financial burden on Newman's, from which it never recovered. In debt for $500k, the brewery declared bankruptcy.

Finally (below - circa late 1987) Albany Amber Beer would be brewed at the nearby F. X. Matt Brewing Co., in Utica. Matt was the brewer of one of the earliest examples of "contact-brewed craft beer" Mathew Reich's Olde New York Brewing Co's New Amsterdam Amber Beer, and later numerous other contract-craft beers.

Label from contract-brewed Albany Amber from the short-lived Hibernia Brewing Ltd.,, Eau Clair, WI, (formerly Walter Brewing Co.)

Newman's entry in the 1983 Brewery Digest:

Whole hops delivery 1981

Retail price of a brewery-filled 4 litre "cubitainer" (below).

A 1985 article noted that the price at the brewery for a new gallon container was $7, with a refill was $5.

While over twice the cost of the macro brands, the other craft breweries' beer typically sold for close to a $1/bottle, so that Newman's price for 135 oz. of beer was about half of a $5-6 sixpack (72 oz.) of other craft beers.

Newman's beers were brewed using Canadian 6-row barley malt. Initially hopped using English Goldings and German Hallertau, the recipes were changed to Cascades, Fuggles and Clusters from the Yakima Valley, due to unavailablity of the imported hops.

Plastic"cubitainer" that Newman's used as "growlers". 2.5 gallon pictured at left being filled, they also came in the smaller 1 gallon (and, later, 4 liter) size (below) and were sold in cardboard boxes at Albany area retailers or at the brewery. (BELOW LEFT) Rear label found on some cubitainers.

Newman's beer bottle labels, sixpack holders and some of their other promo material featured a stylized photo Albany's statehouse.

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