One of the great joys of being the Master Brewers Heritage Chair is being on the receiving end of the generosity of alert, heritage-minded individuals. Usually, these are folks who find themselves in possession of some beer industry historical artifact that they believe would be of some value or interest to Master Brewers. They actually take the time out of their busy schedules to contact us and gladly share their heritage gems.
You might remember the Louis Pasteur biography that was published by Master Brewers for its 33rd Convention in Philadelphia, 1936. A woman “bought a copy at a flea market” and forgot about it. Years later, she was cleaning while preparing for a move. She found it, but instead of pitching it, she wondered if Master Brewers would want it. She sent it to me.
You might remember the ceramic mug from our 2nd MBAA Convention in 1890. A reader sent me some digital images of it and “wondered as to its rarity.”
You might remember when the good folks at Yuengling explored a back room and discovered hand-painted placards promoting MBAA National Conventions from the 1930s. They shared images of those pl
acards with me.
We find ourselves on the receiving end of heritage generosity again. Master Brewers was contacted by Scott Mertie. Scott is a Nashville-based brewer, a brewing historian, a memorabilia collector, and an author. He writes:
I saw under your historical archives on your website that you have a picture of an MBAA diploma. I have attached another picture for William Gerst Jr. of Nashville, TN, who received his diploma in 1904. His father, William Gerst was the 2nd president of the MBAA (1889 – 1891) and the namesake for the William Gerst Brewing Co in Nashville. I spoke on this subject at the MBAA conference in Nashville in 2007. Feel free to post on your website.
Thank you,
Scott
Undoubtedly, this is indeed another valuable heritage coup. It also has heritage ties to my own District Midwest (formerly District Cincinnati). The William Gerst Sr. that Scott refers to was indeed the second president of Master Brewers. He was also the president of District Cincinnati the very year that Master Brewers was originally chartered in Chicago in 1887.
We certainly thank Scott for taking the time to write us and to his share of the image of the diploma. We will post that diploma on our website, as well.
