Rieger & Gretz
Artist: S. Vernon
Lithographer: Wolf & Co.
Copyright Date: 1908 (painting only)
Size: 14-1/2" x 19-1/2"

This poster was probably meant to serve a dual purpose. First and foremost, few red-blooded American men of the day could have helped but take a prolonged look at tyhe very fair and very lovely lady that is the poster's focal point -- and hopefully they'd also notice that she was drinking a Rieger and Gretz Lager. In addition, by protraying an elegant lady enjoying a bottle of beer, the brewery was most likely hoping other women might get the same idea; for then, as now, the brewing industry wished to enlighten more women about the pleasures of beer. Rieger and Gretz was founed in 1881, at the intersection of Germantown Avenue and Oxford Street in Philadelphia. Unlike most of its counterparts in "The City of Brotherly Love," Rieger and Gretz did reopen after Prohibition ended, in 1933. However, the Riegers' invoilvement had been terminated, and the brewery spent the last twenty-eight years of its life as the William Gretz Brewing Company. Beset by intense competition, both from other Philadelphia brewers and the national giants, Gretz closed down in 1961.

--Will Anderson, The Beer Poster Book, 1976.