John Kress Brewing Co

Business Type: Brewery (NY 346 d,f)

Years of Operation: 1863 to 1904

Location: 207 -224 East 54th Street, Manhattan

Description: This Brewery was started by John Kress, a German brewer who came to American in 1850. Upon arriving in New York City Kress partnered with Christian Schaefer and the two opened a brewery in 1853 called “Kress & Schaefer” (The brewery would not not be named “John Kress Brewing Co.” until 1884). Besides producing lager beer Kress was also known for brewing Weiner beer. One Hundred Years of Brewing (H.S. Rich & Co. 1903) has an interesting quote on page 256: “(Kress) resided for some time in Vienna, until he had mastered all the details of brewing celebrated Weiner beer. Returning to New York he was, it is said, the first to manufacture this beverage in America. In 1876 his establishment took several prizes at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia”. In 1904 the brewery would change ownership and names becoming “Jetter Brewing Co.”

This variation of the John Kress Brewing Co. Bottle has the brewery name with a large embossed bird standing on a beer keg.
This aqua colored variation appears to be the most common John Kress Brewing Co. bottle it has a trademark with “Lager Beer” spelled out on a ribbon wrapped around a beer keg with a bird perched on top.
This variation seems identical to the Kress bottle above but was clear in color (from sun exposure)
Standard John Kress blob top bottle, same as the variation above but amber in color
This is one variation of the John Kress porcelain bottle cap enclosure