Confidence Ledger · Albany Ale

Myths and mistakes we've corrected

"Albany Ale peaked in the 1850s and then faded"

The city-wide numbers say otherwise. Albany made roughly 80,000–100,000 barrels around 1849–54, and 357,934 barrels in the year to April 30, 1884, about three-quarters of it ale. Solid¹ What Albany lost after the 1860s was national fame and the export trade, not volume. Lager overtook ale only in the years before Prohibition: by 1916 the split was about 120,000 barrels of ale to 214,000 of lager. Solid²

"John Taylor was lieutenant governor"

No. The brewer John Taylor (1790–1863) was mayor of Albany in 1848–49. The lieutenant governor was John Tayler (1742–1829), a different man and no brewer. Solid³ Claims that Taylor was "elected mayor three times" come from a single collector's site and are contradicted by the county history. Disputed

"The Tappan libel case"

The famous 1830s scandal is Taylor v. Delavan, tried in April 1840. The temperance crusader Edward Delavan claimed Albany maltsters used pond water full of dead animals. The brewers sued for $300,000 and recovered nothing. Solid⁴

"Taylor's brewery made 200,000 barrels a year"

That's the capacity of the 1851 plant, from the 1868 History of American Manufactures. Since the whole city made about 100,000 barrels in the early 1850s, it can't have been typical output. The often-quoted 1880s figure of about 80,000 barrels a year actually belongs to Amsdell Brothers, not Taylor. Solid

"Buttermilk Falls got its name from brewery waste"

A favorite story, but the name is in print by 1830, decades before the first lager brewery on the Beaver Kill. The Lincoln Park National Register nomination says it came from the water's "frothy nature," and an 1884 guidebook describes the falls in "foaming fury." The waste explanation traces back only to a 1993 newspaper article. Solid

"The surviving Hinckel building at 201 Park Avenue is the malthouse"

The 1892 fire-insurance map settles it: 201 Park was the brewery itself, with brewhouse, kettles, mash tubs, cold storage and a refrigerating machine. Hinckel's malt house stood separately on Central Avenue. Solid

"The Bung Factory dates from the 1850s"

Stephen Kampf, the "S. Kampf," first appears in Albany directories in 1876, making malt shovels and bungs, and was at the Jefferson Street building by 1885. The building itself may be older. The full story. Solid

Other small corrections

The 1880s "80,000 barrels plus 160,000 bushels of malt" figure belongs to Amsdell Brothers, not Taylor. Solid
John Taylor began brewing on 12 October 1822, not around 1824. Solid
The 1862 directory's "19 breweries" includes three root-beer and spruce-beer makers; the real count of ale and lager breweries is 16. Solid
Hedrick first appears in the directories in 1861, and began brewing on Central Ave in 1856. It was not founded in 1852. Solid
"Albany Cream Ale" was advertised by Taylor by 1836, long before lager, so it wasn't a reply to lager. Solid
Evert Pels was hired on 5 June 1642, not 1643, and sailed that year. Solid
Maria van Cortlandt's brewery dates from spring 1665, not 1662. Solid
The 1646 brewing ban was to protect the patroon's licensed brewery. Solid
Munsell's "superintendent of the brewery, 1630" isn't supported by the patroon's papers. Disputed
"Kirchner" was Amsdell's 1912 renaming (Amsdell-Kirchner), not a separate brewery. Solid
"Knickerbocker" is the Knickerbocker Apartments in the old Amsdell building, not a brewery merger. Solid
Albany Ale was shipped to Newfoundland, not Labrador. No evidence has been found that it reached England. Solid
Amsdell's Jay Street brewery dates from 1854. The 1844 date belongs to William Amsdell's earlier brewery in McKownville. Single source

Disputed

The Gansevoort brew-kettle bet (1660)

The story comes from historian Gerry Lorentz. Our research searched both translations of the Fort Orange court minutes and found no such case, and that court ruled in 1660 that "a wager is not accepted in payment." It did find a December 1660 suit against Claes Bever over a brew-kettle he supposedly sold. The full story.

Denton's "best Ale is made of Wheat Malt" (1670)

The line couldn't be found in three editions of Denton's text. Its source is unverified.

Amsdell's address

City directories give 135–145 Jay St. at Lancaster; some modern listings say 175 Jay St. Still to be checked on the ground.

When Hinckel's Cataract Brewery began

Trade sources say 1852, with partner J. A. Schinnerer. The family memoir says Frederick Hinckel "began brewing malt liquors in a small way in 1857."

The 1853 "233,000"

A Troy Daily Times item of 17 Dec 1853 is cited for 233,000. It might be barrels of beer, bushels of malt, or capacity. Nobody in this project has yet seen the original page.

What Albany Ale actually was

Alan McLeod sees a heavily hopped strong pale ale with Dutch roots. Craig Gravina sees a lightly hopped XX mild brewed strong for export. Historian Maureen Ogle treats "Albany Ale" as a regional label, like "Milwaukee lager," not a fixed style.

When the Gansevoort brewery ended

Dates of 1801, 1805 and demolition in 1807 all appear. The safe wording is "closed around 1801–1805, torn down about 1807."

Amsdell's end

Most sources say it became Citizens' Brewing in 1916 and closed in 1920; Gravina says it "failed in 1907."

Resting on a single source

Fidler & Taylor's 250 barrels a day (1824). A capacity boast. Sustained all year, it would exceed the whole city's 1829 output. Single source
Amsdell's near-100,000 barrels in the 1870s, down to 30,000 by 1905. Single source
The 1840s strength analysis. Lewis Beck's 1843 figures, 7.38% alcohol in casks and 10.67% in bottles, come from one sample. The "9–13% ABV" often quoted assumes they were by weight, but Beck's own proof figures suggest they were by volume, so about 7½% from the cask and 10½% bottled. Disputed
Granger & Story at Broadway & 4th Ave, 1874–1893. Single source

Inference: our reasoning, not a sourced fact

"Cataract" and the Beaver Kill falls

Hinckel's Cataract Brewery almost certainly takes its name from the Beaver Kill's waterfall nearby, later called Buttermilk Falls, but no source says so outright.

Hudson ice and Albany lager

No source found yet ties a particular Albany brewery to river ice, though the timing and nearness make it very likely.

Why the lager houses survived Prohibition

Lager plants already had cold storage, carbonation and bottling, which made near-beer and soda practical. The ale houses were mostly gone before 1920 anyway.

Unproven but widely told

Who killed Legs Diamond

William Kennedy wrote that Dan O'Connell ordered the killing and Albany police carried it out. It's never been proven.

Bars forced to pour Hedrick's

The charge goes back to Thomas Dewey's statewide radio speech of 24 October 1938: Hedrick's was the only draft beer in 200 of Albany's 259 bars, tavern keepers had signed affidavits about harassment by police and liquor inspectors, and one Cohoes tavern keeper's affidavit was on file at the State Liquor Authority. It's remembered consistently from then through the 1960s, including Marv Cermak's "It's Hedrick's or the door." But it was a campaign charge; no court ever ruled on it, and the SLA file hasn't been found. Single source⁵

Corrected attributions

The "five kegs" story and "Uncle Joe Kennah" come from John Oliver, son of a Hedrick distributor, not from Marv Cermak, as earlier versions of this research said. "Regional Brewing Co." was probably a name Piels used after buying Hedrick in 1965, not a front for O'Connell ownership. Solid

Taylor's brewery building today

The idea that the riverfront Albany Hardware & Iron (U-Haul) building is Taylor's old brewery is unverified.

Oral history

The Bung Factory

That 188 Jefferson St. was the stables for the bung wagons, that the house behind on Elm St. was the Kampf family's, and the 1970s story of a box of bungs taken from the factory floor all come from people who knew the building. Gwen recalls a build date of 1849 or 1851; print sources say only "1850s."

Pat's Hedrick memory

Gwen's stepfather remembers that Albany bar owners had to carry the machine's beer. That matches the printed accounts. The one catch is timing: Hedrick stopped brewing in 1965, when he was about 19.

This ledger grows as research lands. The research agents are checking several of these right now.