Tuesday, June 4, 2019

The Star and Crescent Sample Room

I recently came across this ad from the 1886 Oshkosh City Directory for William H. Englebright's Star and Crescent Sample Room.

I wonder if old Bill noticed the misspelling of Crescent.

Englebright's saloon was at the corner of Main and Algoma (where the sundial is at Opera House Square). The red arrow in the photo below points to the saloon's door facing Algoma Blvd.

Photo courtesy of Dan Radig.

Englebright was born in England and served Bass Ale on draught at his bar. He was one of the few Oshkosh saloon keepers of this period still pushing ale. Most others had succumbed to the flood of lager.

Bass Ale was an altogether different beer at that time. It was around 6% ABV with a hopping rate more like an IPA. Here's a sketch of the old beer, circa 1908.



If you'd like to dig deeper on Englebright, you can find more on him HERE. Cheers!

No comments:

Post a Comment