navigation search this article is about the brewer . for the whisky see ballantine s. for other uses see ballantine disambiguation . p. ballantine and sons brewing company industry alcoholic beverage founded 1840 in newark new jersey founder peter ballantine headquarters los angeles california products beer owner pabst brewing company website http www.ballantinebeer.com p. ballantine and sons brewing company was an american brewery founded in 1840 making ballantine one of the oldest brands of beer in the united states . at its peak it was the 3rd largest brewer in the us . 1 the brand is currently owned and operated by pabst brewing company . throughout history it is best known for its ballantine xxx ale ; however in august 2014 ballantine ipa relaunched and has been received with very favorable reviews . this is pabst s foray into the craft beer market . 2 on november 13 2014 pabst announced that it had completed its sale to blue ribbon intermediate holdings llc . blue ribbon is a partnership between american beer entrepreneur eugene kashper and tsg consumer partners a san francisco based private equity firm . 3 prior reports suggested the price agreed upon was around 700 million . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 ballantine era 1.2 frelinghuysen era 1.3 badenhausen era 1.4 the decline 1.5 the revival 2 logo 2.1 xxx 3 products 4 ballantine as a sponsor and in popular culture 4.1 in literature 4.2 in art 4.3 in the military 4.4 in politics 4.5 in music 4.6 in sports 4.7 in radio 4.8 in television 4.9 since the relaunch 5 presidents 6 references 7 external links history edit ballantine era edit ballantine brewery in newark new jersey 1906 . the company was founded in 1840 in newark new jersey by peter ballantine 1791 1883 who emigrated from scotland . 1 the company was originally incorporated as the patterson & ballantine brewing company . ballantine rented an old brewing site which had dated back to 1805 . around 1850 ballantine bought out his partner and purchased land near the passaic river to brew his ale . his three sons joined the business and in 1857 the company was renamed p. ballantine and sons . the name would be used for the next 115 years until the company closed its brewery in may 1972 . by 1879 it had become sixth largest brewery in the us almost twice as large as anheuser busch . ballantine added a second brewery location also in newark in order to brew lager beer to fill out the company product line . peter ballantine died in 1883 and his eldest son had died just a few months earlier . his second oldest son then controlled the company until his own death from cancer in 1895 . the last son died in 1905 and the company was taken over by george griswold frelinghuysen the company s vice president who was married to peter ballantine s granddaughter . frelinghuysen era edit george griswold frelinghuysen was the son of frederick theodore frelinghuysen and matilda elizabeth griswold . he graduated from rutgers college in 1870 received his bachelor of law from columbia university law school in 1872 and was admitted to the new jersey and new york bars in 1872 and 1876 respectively . george married sara linen ballantine on april 26 1881 . 5 sara was the granddaughter of peter ballantine the company founder . george and sara had two children together peter hood ballantine frelinghuysen i 1882 who married adaline havemeyer 1884 ; and matilda elizabeth frelinghuysen 1887 . he started his career as a patent lawyer eventually working for and becoming president of ballantine at the death of robert francis ballantine 1836 1905 who was the last surviving son of founder peter ballantine . george died in 1935 and the george griswold frelinghuysen arboretum is named for him . the 18th amendment was passed in 1920 beginning the prohibition . the company was forced to consolidate and they manufactured malt syrup to stay in business . the ballantine family continued to own the brewing company all throughout the prohibition . but by the time the 21st amendment was passed in 1933 the family was ready to sell the company . 1 badenhausen era edit an article announcing the return of ballantine ale just after the prohibition was lifted . in 1933 after the prohibition was lifted the ballantine company was acquired by two brothers carl and otto badenhausen . the badenhausens grew the brand through its most successful period of the 1940s and 1950s primarily through clever advertising . ballantine beer was the first television sponsor of the new york yankees . it was during this period that the brand was elevated to the number three beer in the u.s. it was also during this period that the company grew into one of the largest privately held corporations in the united states . ballantine beer enjoyed a high level of success into the early 1960s however by the mid sixties the brand began losing popularity . in 1965 carl badenhausen sold the company but remained at the helm until his retirement in 1969 . the decline edit in the mid 1960s the company went into decline . they were losing marketshare to lighter lagers with less alcohol content . in the early 1970s despite advertising efforts to revive the company they had to sell to the falstaff brewing corporation in 1972 . 1 this was a pivotal event in ballantine s history the end of p. ballantine and sons brewing company . the brand the company and all their assets were acquired by falstaff . the era of autonomy starting in 1840 was over . this differs from when the company sold in 1933 to the badenhausen brothers . when the badenhausen brothers bought the company they bought p. ballantine and sons and they ran it . the same autonomous corporation . in 1972 they got acquired which is a different type of sale . this is when they closed the original brewery in newark started brewing elsewhere and did not strictly adhere to ballantine s recipes . but the general consensus is that under the stewardship of falstaff the beers remained faithful for a time to their original flavor profile . 6 but falstaff was doing poorly financially and eventually sold to pabst in 1985 . 7 this meant more breweries being closed and more restructuring . somewhere along the line and it is unknown exactly when the original recipes were lost . pabst continued to brew some of the ballantine portfolio throughout the late 1980s and 1990s they stopped brewing the ipa in 1996 and gradually all of the beers were discontinued with the exception of the flagship ballantine xxx ale . throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s pabst continued to brew ballantine s signature ale but the recipe changed several times again . despite all the ownership changes and recipe changes many tasters seem to agree that it retains at least some hint of its original character . the most notable changes are a markedly lower bitterness lower alcohol content less hops and in general a much less assertive aromatic character . one big contributing factor is the discontinuance of using distilled hop oil until 2014 when pabst brewing company relaunched a new version of ballantine ipa . the revival edit ballantine ipa s new logo relaunched august 2014 . in august 2014 a version of ballantine ipa was revived by pabst brewing company . reports indicate that the original recipe has been long lost ; however some pains have been taken to attempt to recreate the palate and distinctive aroma of the original product . 8 the recipe was reverse engineered by pabst brewmaster greg deuhs . because he had no recipe he relied on analytic reports from as far back as the 1930s that tracked the ale s attributes alcohol bitterness gravity level . he also researched what ingredients were likely used historical accounts of the beer and beer lovers remembrances . 9 in an interview in september 2014 brewmaster greg deuhs discussed the possibility of bringing back other beers in the ballantine portfolio just on the ballantine side we re looking at the brown stout they also made a bock as well as the burton ale which was highly regarded . i would like to bring out the burton ale as the true barleywine style ale that it was . ... right now our hands are full with the ballantine relaunch but yes we are starting to stoke the fire on what we can bring back . 2 on november 13 2014 pabst announced that it had completed its sale to blue ribbon intermediate holdings llc . blue ribbon is a partnership between american beer entrepreneur eugene kashper and tsg consumer partners a san francisco based private equity firm . 3 prior reports suggested the price agreed upon was around 700 million . 4 because ballantine xxx ale has in recent years been widely sold in 40 ounce bottles it is often lumped together with olde english 800 and other malt liquors in the public mind . 10 this is in direct contradiction with pabst s vision for the brand today . pabst revived ballantine india pale ale to enter the craft beer market . 2 it is unclear at this time if pabst will take steps to align ballantine xxx ale more with the brand of the relaunched ballantine ipa . in july 2015 during an interview with john holl kashper hinted at the possibility of building a small brewery in newark nj where the company was originally founded . 11 on november 16 2015 pabst announced that it would be reviving ballantine burton ale for the 2015 holiday season . this new version was reverse engineered by pabst brewmaster greg deuhs as was ballantine ipa from 2014 . this barleywine style ale has 11.3 % abv 75 ibus and a starting gravity of 26.5 plato . it is no longer aged 10 20 years in oak barrels but to help recreate the flavor of the original pabst ages this reboot for several months in barrels lined with american oak . the major difference is that this rendition will be sold to the general public while the original was only given as gifts to high ranking executives at the company friends of the company and vips such as president harry s. truman . pabst says this is a seasonal brew and have made no comment as to any further plans with ballantine burton ale after the 2015 holiday season . 12 13 14 logo edit one of the first logos ever created . the ballantine logo is three interlocking rings a design known as the borromean rings . according to legend peter ballantine was inspired to use the symbol when he noticed the overlapping condensation rings left by beer glasses on a table ; however this logo was not created until 1879 . 15 in some advertising campaigns in the mid 1900s peter ballantine was referred to as three ring pete ; however it is unknown if this was his nickname when he was alive . the rings represent purity body and flavor . 10 16 new york yankees announcer mel allen called it the three ring sign . 17 xxx edit in recent years xxx has come to be associated with the pornography industry . but the origins of this term symbol go much further back in history long before the internet or the video camera had been invented . the letter x on a beer vessel has traditionally been a mark of beer strength with the more x s the higher the alcohol content . some sources suggest that the origin of this practice dates back to the 1600s in england when barrels of beer were being sold . these sources suggest that if a barrel of beer was sold at 10 shillings