PROHIBITION, probably the greatest do-good fiasco in history, had a sad impact on a flourishing Pittsfield industry. That was the Berkshire Brewing Association which had a big, spread-out plant at the corner of Columbus Avenue and North John Street. When Prohibition went into effect in 1919, the brewery employed more than 100 men, and averaged 325 barrels of beer a day.
Besides the 100 employees, the firm used 10 trucks and 25 horses, before auto trucks came along, and its products were sold throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, eastern New York State and south to
the Carolinas. Between 1910 and 1920, the firm paid the federal government some $1 million in taxes. Special brews were, Lenox Half Stock Ale, Greylock Ale, Mannheimer Lager and India Pale Ale.
In 1866, the firm was founded by Jacob Gimlich and John White, but not until 1868 did the plant go into operation. In 1892, the second generation of owners took over, David Gimlich and George White. They incorporated, sold stock (the big brew house had been built in 1890) and the firm enjoyed a monopoly as the only brewery within 50 miles of Pittsfield.
After Prohibition, most of the buildings were torn down, the equipment dismantled and sold. The Siegel Furniture Co. occupied the old bottling works building, now the Warehouse Furniture Outlet, 352 Columbus Ave., owned by Irving Siegel. And this building may be torn down, too, under the Pittsfield Redevelopment Authority program.
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