Food City Brewing Company

[Clarkston1]

Found a pic of the Food City Brewing Company. Looks like an ad for Old Plymouth Ale on the fence. Can't make out the name of the brand on the building.
Not much to look at but at least it appears like it was a real brewery.

Update: Added 4 Panel Old Gold for posterity.

RIP Paul.

[Mike S]

Cool Pic. Im pretty sure the sign on the building says the same thing, plymouth ale and has a turkey to the right of it. i tried to enhance it and got it so it was sort of readable but really blurry. maybe someone here who is much better with adobe can post a enhanced picture.
mike

[RustyRaindog]

There is also a Plymouth Ale sign on the fence next to the do not enter sign.

[cansnatcher]

What brands came out of that brewery-- just the Old Gold?

[BrianS]

great pics of old Michigan breweries

[Clarkston1]

The only beer can to carry the Food City Brewing Company name is the Old Gold label. Speculation is though that this brand was actually canned by the Manhattan Brewing Company at least according to Kevins book and some old BCCA composite books I have. Not sure how or where this information originated.

[Beamer]

Great photos, nice post.

[ozarkridgerunner]

It seems certain the Food City brand was brewed and packed at Battle Creek.



I suspect the Old Vienna and Old Manhattan brands that list Food City were actually brewed and packed at Manhattan since the same labels exist by Manhattan.




While no can examples of the above brands exist, as Clarkston1 mentioned, the Old Gold brand by Manhattan and/or Food City is only known to exist in cans (similar to All Star in that respect). Manhattan brewery records I have indicate they canned Old Gold in early 1938. Based on the dates in the Likek book that would place Likek 605 that mentions only Food City as being canned at Manhattan. It is also clear that the earlier 4 panel version (604) was packed by Manhattan as it says so right on the side panel. Also, judging by the cool pics of the brewery, it seems highly unlikely that Food City had a canning line. This was likely the reason that the 2 breweries entered into some sort of partnership that ended when Food City discontinued operations in 1942. The fact that the Old Manhattan lists Food City (Old Manhattan was one of the Manhattan flagship brands) also indicates at one time there may have been some legal reason why Manhattan could not be listed as the brewery of origin for these brands sold in the Michigan market - so perhaps Manhattan was able to bend the law and circumvent that by showing Food City on brands that were brewed and packed at Manhattan.It is also interesting that Manhattan considered Old Gold an "off-brand".

[Rockbob]

It was only a matter of time till Paul chimed in here. Great stuff!!!

[cansnatcher]

Great info, thanks. What does the term "off-brand" mean?

[Clarkston1]

This picture courtesy of Michigan Breweriana on-line. The layout and font style a match for the signs on the fence and brewery. Anybody have a picture of an original beer bottle with label attached from the brewery. I've never seen one.

[ozarkridgerunner]

Great pic of the Old Plymouth Ale. For the sake of full disclosure and owing credit where credit is due, I got the pic of the Food City from taverntrove. com

Cansnatcher here is a good definition of off-brand: "Of or being a product sold inexpensively under a relatively unfamiliar brand name and often considered inferior to better known brands."

[Beamer]

Thanks for the definition as I was not sure either.

[ozarkridgerunner]

Jon Remund (AKA clarkston1) found these great Food City articles:

http://www.manhattanbrewing.com/foodcity.pdf

The 2-7-37 article confirms that Food City Old Vienna was brewed and bottled at the plant. I don't recognize any of the names of anyone mentioned in the articles, but it seems likely that Manhattan bought some of that preferred and common stock mentioned. A Manhattan ownership position makes sense because a 1942 Manhattan audit report I have indicates they advanced cash to Food City Brewing Company. Seems to me Manhattan would not advance cash to a company for which they did not have an ownership position. Also, the 2-7-37 article mentions "company is now operating under a new management which has had years of experience in the manufacture of beer and ales" - that sounds like Manhattan. Maybe there was a hostile take-over :)

I have a couple August 1938 letters from a Manhattan sales representative that complain about the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. One laments that they have no canned or bottled beer they can legally sell in the state. Maybe that’s one of the reasons Manhattan canned the no Mandatory Old Gold - perhaps it was easier to get commission approval or simply go around them :) That Old Manhattan that lists Food City now really stands out as an odd-ball. I have a hard time thinking that was brewed and bottled in Battle Creek. It’s also odd that the all the labels in this post that mention "Food City Brewing" as a corporation, not a company - whereas the Old Gold cans with Food City all use "Company". I would have never thought much about it where it not for the 6-17-36 article that mentions the completion of Incorporation by the brewery.

[Clarkston1]

Found a pic of the Food City Brewing Company. Looks like an ad for Old Plymouth Ale on the fence. Can't make out the name of the brand on the building.
Not much to look at but at least it appears like it was a real brewery.

Also included a pic of what I believe is the Honer Brewing Company.

[Clarkston1]

Found a pic of the Food City Brewing Company. Looks like an ad for Old Plymouth Ale on the fence. Can't make out the name of the brand on the building.
Not much to look at but at least it appears like it was a real brewery.

Also included a pic of what I believe is the Honer Brewing Company.

This is a picture of the Honor’s Brewery, also in Battle Creek.

[Clarkston1]

Foodcity.jpg (37.09 KiB) Viewed 596 times

EDIT - Updated this thread, previous pictures were stored on photobucket and were deleted.

Found a pic of the Food City Brewing Company. Looks like an ad for Old Plymouth Ale on the fence. Can't make out the name of the brand on the building.
Not much to look at but at least it appears like it was a real brewery.

Also included a pic of what I believe is the Honer Brewing Company.

[Bob L]

Glad you resurrected this thread. The Food City info is interesting, but I really just enjoyed reading Paul King's writings and hearing his voice as I read them. RIP, Paul.