In the wake of the U.S. coming into WWII, the well-known Cleveland firm remembers horse-drawn deliveries. By Becky Boban
Jan. 8, 1942, yielded an endearing scene Downtown, as Standard Brewing Co.’s pink roan Belgian horses, Doc and Don, clipped by way of Cleveland ice to make deliveries. Elmer Day steered their rattling harnesses, Dan Laux beside him.
Founded by a saloonkeeper, a banker and a brewer, Standard Brewing Co. grew well-known for its legendary Erin Brew, a darkish lager perfected by Czech-immigrant Jaroslav Pavlik.
Initially housed in a transformed flour mill on Train Avenue, Standard Brewing Co. almost doubled its manufacturing from 40,000 to 75,000 barrels between 1906 and 1913, peaking at 550,000 barrels in 1950. During Prohibition, Standard Brewing Co. pivoted to promoting ice cream and gentle drinks, primarily ginger ale. But “formula ten-O-two” — as Jimmy Dudley would come to broadcast throughout Cleveland baseball video games — returned swiftly in 1933.
By 1945, 15% of the corporate’s brewed product was consumed by the U.S. navy, per the warfare effort. It wasn’t the one commodity Standard Brewing Co. and the general public had been requested to concede.
After Pearl Harbor, there was no entry to rubber plantations in Japan-occupied areas just like the Dutch East Indies. So by January 1942, the Federal Office of Price Administration issued a strict ration of tires. Drivers may personal not more than 5 tires and had been barred from buying new ones. Civilians had been inspired to carpool at a preserving 35 mph “victory speed.”
Like Budweiser’s Clydesdales, Standard Brewing Co.’s Belgians had been used for commercial after vans changed horse-drawn beer wagons by 1912. But when rubber constraints restricted vans, firm supervisor George Creadon determined to get artistic.
In a lighthearted The Plain Dealer article, the mild giants, weighing nearly 2,000 kilos apiece, cheerfully obliged, rousing from their “white-collar jobs” to serve the blue-collar metropolis.
