Edward H. Brinkman (Brinkmann), who apparently jettisoned the Germanic “n” at the end of his name during World War One, spent most of his working life employed by the Union Distilling Company, rising from bookkeeper’s assistant to president of the Cincinnati distillery and liquor house. Demonstrating unique staying power, Brinkman’s imprimatur continued to appear on whiskey even during the years of National Prohibition.
Born in August 1871 in Cincinnati, Brinkman was the son of German immigrants. His father Christian Frederick Brinkmann had emigrated to the United States in 1855 from Germany at age 19 and settled in Cincinnati, a very Germanic city where he worked as a tailor. Ten years later he met and married another German immigrant, Anna Warneke. Edward was born six years later. Educated in Cincinnati schools, known for their quality throughout Ohio, the boy apparently demonstrated a flair for mathematics.
Before reaching 21 Brinkman was hired as assistant bookkeeper at the Union Distilling Company, a Cincinnati liquor house that had been founded about 1884,
headed by president George Gerke, another German immigrant. Beginning at the lowest rung in the company hierarchy, young Brinkman apparently proved to be an able bookkeeper, working closely with George Dieterle. the compay secretary and treasurer, and gaining his confidence.
In 1895, Brinkman became a member of the Dieterle family, marrying Augusta Dieterle, George’s sister. Both 24 years old, the couple would go on to have one child, Anna Hilda. The marriage signaled Brinkman’s steady move up the promotion ladder. In a 1894 directory he was listed as a “clerk” at Union Distillery. By the early 1900s, Brinkman had been raised to vice president. In 1914 the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce reported a shake-up in the distillery hierarchy. Edward Brinkman, former bookkeeper, now was recorded as president of Union Distilling.
The company clearly had found a foothold in the booming and crowded Cincinnati liquor trade, adopting the slogan, “None Better.” Company brands approached thirty. They included: “Anchor,” “Azax,” “Biltmore,” "Bob Pepper,” “Bucktail,” "Bull Run,” “Camelia,” "Dave Crockett,” "Davy Crockett,” “Dexter,” "Diamond Mills Rye,” "King Rex,” “Lenox,” "Lone Star,” “Mayflower,” "Middle Brook,” "Old Club House,” "Old Eagle,” "Old Glory,” "Old Gold Metal,” "Old Silver Medal,” "Old Yacht Club,” "Smoky Hollow,” "Southern Bouquet,” “Tippecanoe,” “Union,” “Universal,” and “Zeno.”
Under Brinkman’s leadership Union Distilling trademarked 15 of those brands. Beginning slowly in 1905, following Congressional strengthening of trademark laws, he registered Tippecanoe and Zeno. Despite the cost of hiring lawyers and artists to prepare government applications, the company followed in 1906 to add ten more brand names to the registered list. Following years saw Biltmore trademarked in 1907, Anchor in 1908 and Azax in 1909.
On its letterhead, Union Distilling featured three brands, Old Glory, its flagship label, along with Lenox and Tippecanoe. As shown below, Old Glory, while carrying the Union Distilling imprint was given two labels that different in details. At left is one in which the Stars and Stripes are evident and it is twilight. At right the flag is not evident and a sun has been added.
During this period of Brinkman’s ascendancy, Union Distilling was growing steadily. In an open letter to customers dated November 1, 1910, the company announced that it had purchased “…The entire stock of bonded whiskies and other liquors, the brands, copyrights and trade name of the Diamond Distilleries Company, of this city.” The letterhead listed six brands, Old Glory, Lenox, and Tippecanoe, adding the Diamond labels, King Rex, Middlebrook and Diamond Mills Rye. The letter also references Union Distilling “rebuilding” a distillery — and presumably warehouses —and promising that the company soon would begin full operations.
My assumption is that Brinkman and his colleagues had purchased an interest in and refurbished a plant that after several prior identities became known as the Latonia Distillery, built shortly after the end of the Civil War. It was located four miles south of Cincinnati, at the juncture of the Louisville Short Line & Kentucky Central Railroads near Latonia Station. Insurance underwriter records of 1892 indicate that the distillery was brick with a metal or slate roof. The property included a cattle shed, a “whopping” 23 bonded warehouses and one free warehouse, all of constructed of brick with metal or slate roofs. The warehouses were listed according to the various aliases used by liquor houses owning their alcoholic contents. Union Distilling claimed two warehouses, designated “I” and “W.” Those structures apparently allowed the company to declare the entire distillery as its own, as shown below.
In 1903 the Cincinnati papers announced that Edgemont Springs Distilling Co. was being absorbed into Brinkman’s Union Distillling. Its founder Christopher Sandheger had sold out [See my post on Sandheger, Nov 6, 2013.] According to the press notice, the value of Union Distilling had been increased from $300,000 to $750,000. As a result of the acquisition, it was reported, Union Distilling had moved more firmly into production of whiskey as well as marketing it. It was issuing back-of-the-bar bottles to saloon customers.
At that point Brinkman and Union Distilling renamed its slice of the Latonia facility as “The Edgemont Springs Distillery Company.” Government documents record that “Edw. H. Brinkman” representing Edgemont, added and subtracted whiskey from Latonia warehouses twice in 1901, again in 1903 and 1904. By the next decade Brinkman had reverted to using Union Distilling as the entity involved in the transactions. His last activity was recorded in 1920 as National Prohibition was taking hold.
The 14 years of “dry” were not to be the end of Ed Brinkman as a Cincinnati “Bourbon Baron.” Despite National Prohibition, for a time he was allowed to hold and sell liquor that had been distilled earlier. His role was providing liquor to the few privileged dealers licensed by the government to market “medicinal” whiskey. Shown below is a 1931 bottle of “Schenley’s Aged Medicinal Whiskey” at 100 proof, “bottled in bond” and touted as “recommended by physicians and surgeons.” The label on the back credits Brinkman for the whiskey produced in 1917 and bottled in 1931 by Schenley.
Brinkman had other suitors for his whiskey stocks. Shown below is a pint bottle of “Silver Grove” straight bourbon from the Geo. T. Stagg Co. of Frankfort, Kentucky. [See my post on Stagg, April 30, 2016]. The rear label credits Brinkman as the distiller and identifies the distillery as Ohio #2 (apparently Latonia). When those liquor supplies were exhausted Brinkman turned his attention to producing industrial alcohol.
In 1938 at the age of 67, Edward Brinkman died and was buried in Cincinnati’s Spring Grove Cemetery. As he aged the Cincinnati native could look back on a lomg career and note his humble beginning as an assistant bookkeeper and his step-by-step ascendancy to the top of a prominent and respected liquor company. Ironically, his rapid rise had coincided with the fall of the industry.
Note: This post has been written from a comparatively meager number of sources. It also lacks a photo or description of this “whiskey man.” I am hopeful that a descendant will help fill in the gaps about Edward Brinkman and Union Distilling, and correct any errors in the narrative.
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