Alexander Fries’ story is marked by incongruities. Respected worldwide as an eminent Bavarian scientist, Fries, shown here, in 1883 was hailed into a New York court for violating a liquor trademark and later subject of a Congressional investigation into fraudulent whiskey. Declared a Knight of the Grand Cross, a Spanish order that carried benefits bestowed by the Roman Catholic Pope, Fries was Jewish. A lifelong bachelor deeply devoted to his siblings and their offspring, Fries could not prevent family conflict over his legacy.
Fries was born in 1821 in Furth, Bavaria, into a family of
scholars. His father, Moritz Fries, shown here, was a celebrated mathematician and professor who saw that Alexander, who showed early signs of unusual intelligence, received a good education. The youth attended lectures at the University of Erlangen and earned a reputation for his genius in chemistry, as well as his ability as a linguist.
After an early career working and studying in France, Fries’ ability caught the notice of Spanish authorities who offered him the opportunity to bring his intellect to bear on an agricultural development a large area of the country adjacent to the Sierra Morenas mountains. His assignment there encompassed 12 years and was widely hailed as “a crowning work.”
As a result, King Carlos III of Spain bestowed on the German scientist an award he had created in gratitude to the Virgin Mary for giving him a male heir. Called the Order of the Knighthood of the Grand Cross, recipients were limited to sixty. Pope Clement XIV recognized the order in a papal proclamation and bestowed religious benefices on its recipients. The sectarian nature of the award, seen here, completely ignored the fact that Fries was Jewish.
During this period other members of the Fries family had emigrated to the United State settling in Cincinnati, a city with a large German population. Alexander joined them there in 1855, working with Lemuel Springer, the husband of his sister, Antoine, on an ill-fated effort to make a cheap oil for lamps from bituminous slate and mineral wax. When that failed, Fries turned his genius to the creation of supplying flavorings to the food and whiskey industries, both important in Cincinnati.
Employing two brothers, Gustave and Charles, Fries started a small factory on Avery Alley between Mill and Stone Streets. As business volume swelled he quickly outgrew those quarters and built a multi-story building at East Second Street. He called the company Alex. Fries & Brothers. The demand for flavoring oils, a relatively new product, proved to be huge. In time the business Fries founded would become three separate flavor companies, two of which are still extant, part of a $6 billion dollar American industry.
Perhaps the most problematic area of flavorings for Fries were those aimed at the whiskey and the allied bitters markets. The U.S. boasted thousands of federally licensed “rectifiers,” allowed to blend whiskeys to achieve desired color, aroma, smoothness and taste. Rectifiers, often liquor wholesalers, also were allowed to add “neutral spirits,” that is, plain grain alcohol to the mix. Considerably less expensive to create than distilled and aged whiskey, it made for cheaper booze. With the proper flavorings, in fact, no distilling at all was required.
The Fries organization was ready to oblige. For example by 1893 its catalogue listed seven varieties of flavors for bourbon: Essence No. E, Essence No. 2, Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky, Paris, and Sour Mash. The same catalogue similarly listed rye flavorings including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Monongahela, and Robertson County. Fries vigorously advertised his “award winning” liquor flavors.
Bitters, the highly alcoholic herbal beverage often sold as a tonic or remedy, also could be flavor fabricated. As shown by the bottles above, Fries marketed his own brand of stomach bitters. The company also was selling essences, oils and extracts that combined to produce, it was claimed, “a good imitation of various well-known brands of bitters.” Perhaps the best known national brand was Hofstetters Stomach Bitters, made in Pittsburgh. Well aware of the effect such products might have on company profits, the Hofstetters hauled Fries into Federal District Court for Southern New York.
Hofstetter’s motion for a preliminary injunction described potential injury: “They sell…to compounders and jobbers with instructions…of compounding the bitters and selling them as the genuine article.” The compounders, the brief contended, sold the bitters to retail dealers who bought second-hand bottles with Hofstetter labels, filled them with Fries essences and “palm them off upon the public as genuine bitters….” The judge disagreed with issuing an injunction noting that Fries not only had the right to make and sell the extract but also had “the legal right to make and sell a preparation which they call Hostetter’s Bitters” so long as they were not using that company’s bottles or labels.
Others, however, were not convinced that a concoction made with pure alcohol and flavorings was genuine bitters or whiskey. When the House Committee on the Judiciary conducted an 1893 Congressional investigation into the Whiskey Trust, the issue of non-distillery-made liquor was raised. The Fries Company flavorings came under particular scrutiny. Although some congressmen and witnesses expressed skepticism about their legitimacy, no action was taken.
Although Alexander Fries never married, he was very close to his family. The 1870 census found him at 45 years old living in Cincinnati as the head of a household that included his father, Moritz, 79; brother Gustave; a sister, Ada Springer, keeping house; Ada’s three sons and a daughter, and two female domestic servants from Germany. Albert’s profession was given as “chemist” as were three other family members, indicating that they all were working at the Fries manufactory.
So long as Alex lived, Fries family cohesion was maintained and the Cincinnati flavors business flourished. With his death in 1907, unity fractured. Alex. Fries & Brother Chemical Works came under the management of Gustave Fries, shown below left, and Alex’s nephew, Dr. Alfred Springer, right.
Although Alex’s brother Charles had been responsible for opening New York offices for the company, his sons, Harold and Albert Fries, broke from their uncle’s company to create their own flavoring firm, one they called Fries & Fries. A series of court battles ensued between the two entities over patent rights.
Moreover, In 1900, after the death of Gustave, his children, Robert, George, and Eugene, sold their father’s interest in Alex Fries and Brothers, and opened their own business in January of 1915. This company sold flavors to the cigarette industry, including a licorice essence, Today two Cincinnati companies operate flavoring businesses that can be traced back to Alexander Fries’ original venture.
Note: Brought to the story of Alex Fries by an article in the Ohio Swirl based on an earlier piece by Dan Woeller, my further research revealed a immigrant Bavarian genius deserving of being called a “whiskey man.” This post is the result.
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