Here is a great lithograph from the United States Brewing Company out of Chicago, Illinois featuring President George Washington and his staff enjoying some Cabinet Export Bottled Beer. This particular lithograph claims that this was the “First in the Country”, which I don’t know what that claim exactly means today? Cabinet beer was a brand brewed by many breweries around the U.S. during the pre-prohibition years, and from what I can tell, may have been a type of beer created by skimming off a section of the barrel, similar to the season bock beers of yesteryear were in the spring season. Perhaps the United States Brewing Company did indeed produce the very first Cabinet style of beer in the U.S.? Only time will tell if this is indeed the case. Either way, political scenes were very popular in advertising in the 1900 era, and this particular brewery took advantage of a very popular president both then and even still today by incorporating him into their ad.
Not much is known to me about the United States Brewing Company other than the brewery was in business for a long time, starting in 1889 and remaining in business until 1927. That tells me the brewery was in business producing some type of near beer or perhaps soda or ice during the dark days of prohibition which started in 1920. In the end, whatever products they produced did not allow them to remain a viable business since they folded before Prohibition was repealed in 1933.