This tin serving tray from the 1910 era prior to prohibition is interesting, as there is not much of a claim, other than to simply state “Yakima Beer was Better”. Many pre-prohibition era serving trays have claims about their quality, distinctive brewery, taste, etc. The Yakima, WA based North Yakima Brewing Company brewery simply stated “All Beer is Good, but Yakima Beer is Better”. I love the logo of the brewery in the dead center of the tray, and the colors are interesting as well. I have not seen this style coloring on many trays of this era, and the use of the company logo means this tray was not a stock scene, and therefore would have cost the brewery much more money to produce it.
The Schlodtfeldt Bros. owned a brewery in Ellensburg as well as in Roslyn, before they owned the Yakima, Washington based brewery. Started in 1904 after the family bought the Switzer Opera House building, the company started brewing beer soon after. They expected the brewery to put out about 20,000 barrels a year when they started. Unfortunately with prohibition, the company folded in 1919 approximately. They tried to do a fruit based business after they could no longer sell beer, but that appears to not have started or if it did, it was short lived.