A SHORT HISTORY OF HAVERHILL BREWING

'Beer, 'the great Benjamin Franklin once wrote, 'is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.' Wise words from a Founding Father who enjoyed a glass or two. Fermented beverages have been part of the American experience since the first Europeans landed on this continent, from Virginia colonists brewing ale 1587 to the Pilgrims being unceremoniously chucked ashore at Plymouth in 1620. What does that have to do with beer, you ask? Well, it seems that the crew of the Mayflower feared that if the colonists were aboard much longer, there wouldn't be enough beer left for the return to England - so over the side the Pilgrims went!

The first recorded brewery in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was established in 1637 by a Captain Sedgwick, three years after Samuel Cole was licensed to run Boston's first tavern. But much like homebrewers today, there had always been private brewsters cooking up ale for themselves or their friends, so we can presume that the good Captain wasn't the only Massachusetts man stirring up a pot of brew.

It was not until 1902 that Haverhill at last acquired its own brewery: the Essex Brewing Company, located on Railroad Street in Bradford (which had become part of Haverhill in 1897). Founded by George and William Smith, it was a small business, advertising 'Ale, Porter and Lager Beer.' According to Haverhill Gazette writer Jim Lenane, remembering in 1988, 'Old-timers told of seeing drays, or wagons, holding beer barrels and kegs being hauled by three andfour horse teams along Railroad Street into Bradford Square and across the bridge into Haverhill's downtown, where a great deal of the plant's product was consumed. ' The Smiths' beer was apparently never bottled, being delivered directly to saloons and wholesalers, and so virtually nothing remains in the way of memorabilia; in fact, a search of online auction and beer enthusiast sites failed to unearth even a single mention of the Essex Brewing Company.

In 1919, the Volstead (Prohibition) Act became the law of the land. An interesting sidelight was that this marked the third attempt in Massachusetts to outlaw liquor, similar legislation having been passed in 1852 and 1869. This time, however, the law stuck and the Essex Brewing Company was forced to close its doors. The plant remained shuttered until 1935, when Alsatian brewer 'Big John' Ebersold - a veteran of the Fisher Brewing Company in Hartford - reopened the site as the Essex Brewery. With a crew of fifteen, a fleet of delivery trucks and refurbished equipment salvaged from the original plant, the new establishment was launched on a wave of good will and extravagant publicity. Haverhill residents were urged to 'See how the famous old Essex ale and lager is made and why it will be the most popular brew in Essex county and eventually place Haverhill foremost in the minds of the rest of the world as it did in days of old.'

A big buildup and a lot of hope, but all for nothing. Though insisting that 'Nothing Better Can Be Brewed'and exhorting customers to 'Insist On Your Local Product,' Essex was simply not able to make enough of a profit, a fate common to many post-Prohibition breweries as a trend of consolidations and buy-outs spread across the country. In 1934, one year after the repeal of Prohibition, there were 756 breweries in the United States; six years later, the number had fallen to 611 as successful brewers like Falstaff and Piels grew larger and acquired smaller operations. John Ebersold was also facing competition from his neighbors in Lawrence, where the Cold Spring, Diamond Spring and Goldenrod breweries competed with him for a share of the beer market. By 1937, the Essex Brewery was closed again. In 1942, its land and buildings were auctioned off to the Hoyt and Worthen Tanning Corporation for six thousand dollars, and the brewery itself was used for storage space until it was tom down in 1968.

But a change was just around the comer. In 1969, a man named Fritz Maytag took over the Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, creating specialty beers designed for drinkers dissatisfied with mainstream brews. In 1977, the New Albion Brewery opened in Sonoma, launching the 'microbrewery' wave. By 1994, California boasted eighty-four microbreweries and brewpubs (a brewery that served both beer and food), and by 1995 approximately five hundred breweries were in operation across the country.

Now, just over one hundred years later, the Haverhill Brewing Company is opening up at 100 Washington Street, located in the fondly-remembered Tap Restaurant. It joins over thirty Massachusetts breweries, and Haverhill can once again lay claim to its brewing legacy. So raise a glass to their success - and while you're at it, drink to the memory of the Smiths, Big John and the Essex Brewery.

C2003. Christopher-Michael DiGrazia