Foreword: On August 24 of this year, this website featured a post entitled “Ed Brinkman: From Bookkeeper to Boss and Beyond.” The item, recounting the history of Union Distilling of Cincinnati, unfortunately had no photos of Brinkman or other key figures. Fortunately Mike Ashwell, a Cincinnati resident married to a descendant of one of the principals, saw the article and has supplied photos and information that help complete story. Rather than being added to the earlier post, I believe Mike’s contribution deserves its own “stand alone” attention,” as shown below.
Edward H. Brinkman 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. Shown here is his picture as a young “up and comer.”
Mike also has included a photo of the June 18, 1910, laying of the cornerstone for the Union Distilling Company in Cincinnati. Seen there, the man with the generous mustache to the right of the figure with a mallet is the then President of the United States, William Howard Taft, a Cincinnati native and friend to the distilling industry. Standing to his immediate left, face obscured, is believed to be Brinkman, then bookkeeper of the distillery. The bald man to Brinkman’s right is George Dieterle, secretary-treasurer of the company and Brinkman’s brother-in-law, The individual holding a trowel to the immediate right of the man with a mallet is believed to be George Gerke, president of Union Distilling.
The man holding the mallet also deserves notice. He is Dominic McGowan, the head of a distinguished distilling family and the inventor of a “continuous” whiskey making process. An immigrant from Northern Ireland, McGowan was famous in the whiskey trade for his innovations and the many distilleries he helped establish in the United States and abroad, among them the Union Distilling plant. [See a post on the McGowans, May 5, 2021.]
The next image is a letterhead for Union Distilling that includes a representation of the plant as it appeared when fully operating. Note that the letterhead lists the company as “distillers, compounders, and blenders.” Although many liquor companies were happy to describe themselves as “distillers” most were actually “compounders and blenders.” Union Distilling and its management were being unusually honest about its products.
Mike also included the photo of George Dieterle, below, the ancestor of his wife and Brinkman’s brother-in-law. Dieterle had a distinguished career in Cincinnati. Beginning as an officer of Union Distilling, he went on to become president of the Federal Products Company, a manufacturer of industrial alcohol, as well as chairman of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. During World War One, Dieterle served as a member of the War Coal Economy Commission and the War Commission on Municipal Expenditures. Of him it was written: “Few men have given longer service or more active aid to community advancement than George Dieterle….”
A closing to this extraordinary set of images features Ed Brinkman about 1898 with his comely wife, Augusta Dieterle Brinkman, and daughter, Hilde, in a family photo of great tenderness and charm. Hilde later married (Victor "Holt" Tatum). They had no children, and thus no direct descendants exist."
Note: My great thanks to Mike Ashwell for sending the above material that help complete the earlier post on Ed Brinkman and Union Distilling. As an addendum to this website, it deserves special attention for enriching the original story.
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