This small study of local upstate New York brewing started last fall on a small secondary road in the Town of Schodack New York in Rensselaer County. Graw Road to be exact which is barely a one lane road in the southern part of the town near the Columbia County border. I was digging at an old burned out barn foundation once located on that road. The barn which was burned as part of a South Schodack Fire Dept. drill in 1975 still has foundation stones and I believe dates back to the early 20th Century. I discovered an old piece of bottle glass , somewhat charred but still in legible condition. The glass a mild aqua color had an raised emblem of what appears to be an eagle in flight. I also discovered near by part of the bottle neck. Same color. Kept it in the bag and as time permitted over the winter I attempted to discover the origin and or use of the bottle fragment. After some Google and a search through antique bottle books at our local public library along with a trip to a dealer in the Central New York area to view a complete bottle I believe I can say with 95% certainty that this bottle was from The Stoll Brewing Company of Troy New York. Let me run down some history for you.
1. Stoll was founded by a Jacob Stoll in1855 and it was in operation until 1920 at the time Prohibition was enacted. They made a soda called Stollo for a time but closed circa 1923.
2. The Stoll name goes way back in America , the first mention seems to be when a Stoll landed in New Amsterdam in the 1650's.
3. This brewery was typical of America in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Numerous small breweries doted the landscape. In the New York capital region alone back then one might find Stanton which served a bock seasonal bock beer and a half & half. Wagner Bros beer and a Mahoney's Creme Ale.and in Albany Dobler just to name some.
4. At least into the early 20th century they got their hops from central New York. Delivered on the Erie Canal waterway. Cooperstown was a major hops growing region untill a crop disease wiped out much of the production around the turn of the 20th century. I have found hops growing wild in the Canastota and Skaneateles region of central New York which may very well be from that era of cash crop farming.
5. Beer was brewed in local areas mainly because most beer does not age well. Fresh beer was best when it came from a local brewer.
6. Now the question arises , what kind of beer did the Stoll family brew. For this I have a first person source. Peter Stoll who was an English teacher in my home town of Schodack NY at Maple Hill High School from circa 1968 to 1975. He was a great grand nephew of the brewing family. I and a couple of high school friends knew Peter on a semi friendly basis and even knew him somewhat socially in the summer of 1970. If my memory serves me correctly he told us that they brewed a classic German Pilsner. It had more of a hop taste because extra hops were added in formulation as a preservative. Remember refrigeration was mainly from ice in that time period.
7. Upstate NY had a fairly large number of German and Slovak immigrants and breweries often served their cultural tastes. Schenectady NY had a taste for instance for a more Polish or Slovic beer with companies like General Electric hiring these groups.
8. The brewery was located at 42 Spring Street in Troy which according to my GPS is now Spring Road. I have traveled there in early March. It is now a tree lined area with no sign of foundations.or building.
9. The bottle has an eagle on it flying over a beer barrel. The barrel has an S embossed on it. The words The Stoll Brewing Company is embossed over the eagle and Troy NY under the barrel.
10. Stoll like the majority of breweries never came back from Prohibition. Their brew master had died in the late twenties and the exact formulation has no doubt been lost to time. Even recently the formulation for brewing Schlitz beer which was once the most popular beer in America in sales was lost and had to be reformulated after only a few yrs of non-production.
Generally speaking , mainly the larger brewers came back Anheiser Bush being a prime example.
11. Of course we have come full circle in a real sense. Now in America we once again have many small micro breweries. Serving a diverse taste of the public. From The Brooklyn Brewery to The Pump House Brewery in Albany a distinct and diverse beer or ale is being created. We have returned.
So my thanks to Peter Stoll wherever he is. R.P. Kunicki for his Brooklyn Hops growing knowledge. Canastota NY county historian.
1. Stoll was founded by a Jacob Stoll in1855 and it was in operation until 1920 at the time Prohibition was enacted. They made a soda called Stollo for a time but closed circa 1923.
2. The Stoll name goes way back in America , the first mention seems to be when a Stoll landed in New Amsterdam in the 1650's.
3. This brewery was typical of America in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Numerous small breweries doted the landscape. In the New York capital region alone back then one might find Stanton which served a bock seasonal bock beer and a half & half. Wagner Bros beer and a Mahoney's Creme Ale.and in Albany Dobler just to name some.
4. At least into the early 20th century they got their hops from central New York. Delivered on the Erie Canal waterway. Cooperstown was a major hops growing region untill a crop disease wiped out much of the production around the turn of the 20th century. I have found hops growing wild in the Canastota and Skaneateles region of central New York which may very well be from that era of cash crop farming.
5. Beer was brewed in local areas mainly because most beer does not age well. Fresh beer was best when it came from a local brewer.
6. Now the question arises , what kind of beer did the Stoll family brew. For this I have a first person source. Peter Stoll who was an English teacher in my home town of Schodack NY at Maple Hill High School from circa 1968 to 1975. He was a great grand nephew of the brewing family. I and a couple of high school friends knew Peter on a semi friendly basis and even knew him somewhat socially in the summer of 1970. If my memory serves me correctly he told us that they brewed a classic German Pilsner. It had more of a hop taste because extra hops were added in formulation as a preservative. Remember refrigeration was mainly from ice in that time period.
7. Upstate NY had a fairly large number of German and Slovak immigrants and breweries often served their cultural tastes. Schenectady NY had a taste for instance for a more Polish or Slovic beer with companies like General Electric hiring these groups.
8. The brewery was located at 42 Spring Street in Troy which according to my GPS is now Spring Road. I have traveled there in early March. It is now a tree lined area with no sign of foundations.or building.
9. The bottle has an eagle on it flying over a beer barrel. The barrel has an S embossed on it. The words The Stoll Brewing Company is embossed over the eagle and Troy NY under the barrel.
10. Stoll like the majority of breweries never came back from Prohibition. Their brew master had died in the late twenties and the exact formulation has no doubt been lost to time. Even recently the formulation for brewing Schlitz beer which was once the most popular beer in America in sales was lost and had to be reformulated after only a few yrs of non-production.
Generally speaking , mainly the larger brewers came back Anheiser Bush being a prime example.
11. Of course we have come full circle in a real sense. Now in America we once again have many small micro breweries. Serving a diverse taste of the public. From The Brooklyn Brewery to The Pump House Brewery in Albany a distinct and diverse beer or ale is being created. We have returned.
So my thanks to Peter Stoll wherever he is. R.P. Kunicki for his Brooklyn Hops growing knowledge. Canastota NY county historian.
