Here is a beauty, an electric clock featuring the infamous ABC beer brand from the American Brewing Company which was based in St. Louis, MO both pre-prohibition and post-prohibition era’s. This particular clock comes in both a red and gold colored background, and are identical in styles except for the color scheme. At one time the ABC brand was world known, having been sold in Japan, Mexico, South America, the Philippines, Canada, and of course throughout the United States by the American Brewing Co. Their business rivaled Anheuser-Busch in sales at that time. However, with the start of prohibition, the ABC brand was never the same, and they trailed AB by many fold in sales. In the 1930’s the brand was resurrected once prohibition was ended, however, by then they were a distant brewer in sales. During this era Al Capone’s team came to St Louis and ruined the breweries equipment one night, simply to show his strength in the industry while he owned the Manhattan Brewery in his hometown of Chicago. I assume he was funneling money through the brewery to help hide ill obtained money through his illegal activities. Perhaps while in prison he had his own ABC clock keeping time for him as a reminder of his brewing interest while biding his time away in lockdown? Wouldn’t that be ironic!
The American Brewing Company was in business from the late 1800’s having been founded by Hugo Koehler after he sold his Sect Wine Company business in St. Louis to start his own brewery. Mr. Koehler was very successful as his family was eventually involved with breweries in MO, IL and IA. However, prohibition ended these enterprises for the Koehler family in 1920 when the law went into effect. At the end of prohibition the ABC brand was resurrected again and had a short but successful run from 1933-1939, during which time this clock was produced. The clock was made by the Ray-Flex corporation which was based in Chicago, Illinois. I collect ABC beer items, so if you have any for sale, please let me know! Thanks for reading.