Rheingold Beer

Antique Rheingold beer tray

Miss Rheingold 1949

Rheingold Beer, introduced in 1883, is a New York beer that held 35 percent of the state's beer market from 1950 to 1960.^{[citation needed]} The company was sold by the founding Liebmann family in 1963. According to the New York Times, "Rheingold Beer was once a top New York brew guzzled regularly by a loyal cadre of workingmen who would just as soon have eaten nails as drink another beer maker's suds." ^[1] Its VP-Technical Joseph Owades claims credit for Rheingold developing the first light beer.

Rheingold shut down operations in 1976, when they were unable to compete with the large national breweries. Corporate consolidation and the rise of national breweries led to the demise of dozens of regional breweries. The Orange, New Jersey brewery was the last facility to close.

The label was revived in 1998 by Terry Liebmann and partner Mike Mitaro.^{[citation needed]}

Miss Rheingold Girls 1940 - 1965

At the center of its media campaign was the "Miss Rheingold" pageant. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, "the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House." ^[2] The first Miss Rheingold was Spanish-born Jinx Falkenburg.^[3] When Nat King Cole became the first major black entertainer to host a television show, advertisers stayed away—but not Rheingold; Rheingold was the New York regional sponsor for Cole's show.^[4] As early as 1965, Rheingold aired television ads featuring African American, Puerto Rican and Asian actors, to appeal to its racially diverse customer base.^[5] The company's headquarters was in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Rheingold was the official beer of the New York Mets, and its advertisements featured John Wayne, Jackie Robinson, and the Marx Brothers.^[6] 1940 Falkenburg, Jinx; 1941 Ownbey, Ruth; 1942 Drake, Nancy; 1943 Gover, Sonia; 1944 House, Jane; 1945 Boyd, Pat; 1946 Daigle, Rita; 1947 Fallon, Michaele; 1948 Quinlan, Pat; 1949 McElroy, Pat; 1950 Burrage, Pat; 1951 Gammon, Elise; 1952 Hogan, Anne; 1953 Austin, Mary; 1954 Garrett, Adrienne; 1955 Woodruff, Nancy; 1956 Merritt, Hillie; 1957 McNally, Margie; 1958 Darrow, Madelyn; 1959 Bain, Robbin; 1960 Banks, Emily; 1961 Mick, Janet; 1962 Kersh, Kathy; 1963 Rissell, Loretta; 1964 Yarnall, Celeste; 1965 Vaughn, Sharon

History

The company shut down four years after the construction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center was completed. During the cleanup of the WTC site following the collapse of the towers on September 11, 2001, numerous Rheingold beer cans were found in the rubble, having been hidden in the beams of the building decades earlier by construction workers who had drunk the beers on the job.^[7]

During the interim period, it appears that the name was most likely licensed to the Miller brewing company^{[citation needed]} for an inexpensive beer sold primarily in the northeastern part of the United States.

According to an October 18, 1999 New York Observer article, Mitaro's Rheingold Brewing Company LLC bought the brand in 1998. Liebmann is a relative of Rheingold's founding family.^{[citation needed]} When Rheingold re-launched, they revived the Miss Rheingold pageant. The new Miss Rheingold contestants no longer wore ball gowns and white gloves--"They had tattoos. They were pierced. They were badasses." In 2003, the Village Voice noted Rheingold for "the best marketing campaign co-opting hipster drinking habits." ^[8] In 2004, Rheingold stirred controversy in New York City with a series of ads which mock New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on smoking in bars and enforcement of city laws which prohibit dancing in bars which do not have a "cabaret license." Bloomberg responded by drinking Coors in public.^[9][10]

In 2005, Drinks Americas of Wilton Ct., whose iconic brands include Trump Vodka and Dr. Dre Cognac, purchased Rheingold Brewing.^[11] Drinks Americas has reformulated the Rheingold product for follow through distribution throughout the US. The date of the release is currently unknown.

Rheingold beer will return to the New York Metropolitan market. Drinks Americas will be selling Rheingold Beer in August 2010.

In popular culture

The theme song of Rheingold Beer, applied lyrics to Emil Waldteufel's "Estudiantina Valse" (The Students' Waltz), op. 191, No. 4; it was sung nostalgically by Sophia, Blanche and Dorothy on an episode of The Golden Girls. She commented to her daughter, Dorothy, "Your father was always singing that damn jingle."

Les Paul recorded a very popular radio commercial for Rheingold in 1951.^[12]

In the film The Godfather, a Rheingold delivery truck can be seen in the background while Sonny beats up his brother-in-law Carlo.

In the film Silver Bullet, Arnie Westrum is first seen singing a drunken rendition of the Rheingold beer song.

The title of the novel Ice-Cold in Alex refers to Captain Anson longing for a Rheingold in Alexandria.

The history of the Rheingold Girl contest is recounted in Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed (Harper 2008).

In Life on Mars Gene Hunt is seen drinking a Rheingold beer, Green bottle, during one of the scenes

In the Hi Def Jam episode of King of Queens, Doug and his friends are all seen drinking Rheingold while playing poker.

In the movie Just Looking,which takes place in 1955, Rheingold beer and advertisements are shown throughout.

In the movie Sophie's Choice, Nathan Landau played by Kevin Kline throws a beer to Stingo played by Peter MacNicol

The November, 1954, issue of Mad (#17), has a parody of Miss Rheingold, drawn by Basil Wolverton, where the readers are asked to "Choose Miss Potgold of 1955."

In the Summer 2011 edition of San Francisco Opera's "The Ring of the Nibelung" (a cycle of four related operas by German composer Richard Wagner). the character Wotan who represents the God of Gods, sips from a can of Rheingold Beer, an homage to Das Rheingold, one of the ring operas, and also a direct reference to the gold in the rhine river, of which the Ring of Nibelung is fashioned.

Footnotes

1. ^ Patricia Winters Lauro (February 12, 2003). "Rheingold Hopes to Rekindle the Romance Between the Beer and New York City". New York Times, reprinted by NYU. http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/news/news/2003/february/0212nyt.html. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
2. ^ Ellen Neuborne (June 1, 2003). "Beauty Is In The Eye of The Beer Holder". Business 2.0. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2003/06/01/343386/index.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
3. ^ Will Anderson (1998). "Who'll Be New York's Favorite Girl? The Miss Rheingold Contest". Beerhistory.com, excerpt From Beer to Eternity. http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/missrheingold.shtml. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
4. ^ "The Nat King Cole Show". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. 2005. http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/natkingcole/natkingcole.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
5. ^ Carl H. Miller (2002). "Beer Commercials: A Brief History". Beerhistory.com. http://www.beerhistory.com/library/holdings/beer_commercials.shtml. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
6. ^ "For an Old Beer, A New Life". New York Times. March 31, 1998. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401EFDC113BF932A05750C0A96E958260. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
7. ^ Smith, Dennis (2003). Report From Ground Zero. Penguin Group. p. 287. ISBN 0-670-03116-X. 
8. ^ Carla Spartos (2003). "best of New York 2003". Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/bestof/2003/detail.php?id=3537. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
9. ^ "NYC mayor blasts Rheingold for planned ads". Modern Brewery Age. April 26, 2004. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3469/is_17_55/ai_n6033134. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
10. ^ Colin Moynihan (April 19, 2004). "After Brewer Unveils Ads, Mugs Aren't All That's Frosty". New York Times, reprinted by NYU. http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/news/news.cfm?doc_id=2028. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 
11. ^ "Drinks Americas to buy Rheingold brand" (Press release). 2005-06-27. http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/134619290.html. Retrieved 2008-07-18. 
12. ^ Gil Hembree (2002). "Les Paul: Birth of a Guitar Icon (section titled "Commercial Appeal")". Vintage Guitar. Archived from the original on 2006-12-31. http://web.archive.org/web/20061231151437/http://www.vintageguitar.com/artists/details.asp?ID=146. Retrieved 2007-01-14. 

External links

• "The Originators of Rheingold Beer," by Rolf Hofmann
• [1] A classic Rheingold advertisement, featuring dancing beers - clip 31 at 00:09:030 in the archive.
• Rheingold's "Little Old New York" at the 1964/1965 NY World's Fair - Featured at nywf64.com
• [2] Interview with Kate Duyn, Miss Rheingold 2003.