ECBA — The Keg

ECBA was founded in 1970 making it the oldest breweriana organization. One of the primary functions of ECBA was establishing and maintaining contact among the membership. This function was considered so important that the job of newsletter editor was given to founding member Will Anderson #2.

In 1975, the editor’s job was handed off to Steve Seidel, another founding member, and the first booklet style newsletter- was in a folded page 8.5 X 5.5 inches format. In 1976, to demonstrate ECBA commitment to brewery history, the slogan “through breweriana the history of the brewing industry will be preserved” has appeared on the cover of every issue beginning in 1976. From 1976 until the spring of 1979, Augie Helms took over as editor of the ECBA newsletter. In the summer of 1979, the editorship was passed to Russ VanNorstrand. Russ made some incremental improvements in graphics and design. Beginning in the summer issue of 1983, the newsletter was expanded to a full 8.5 X 11 inches magazine-sized format, with 20 pages including the cover. In the summer of 1984, John Snyder took over as editor. With expanding membership, additional member contributions and unending stories of brewery closings the magazines expanded to a peak 32 pages. John Snyder continued as editor until the fall of 1990. In 1990 a single additional highlight color had been added to the cover and graphics improvements. In the winter of 1991, Darrell Reider was editor who introduced several innovations to the newsletter beginning with his first and most popular “Bragger’s Corner” and has appeared in every issue since 1991.

At the 1991 ECBA convention, the membership voted to change the name of the newsletter to The Keg. In the fall of 1995, Dale VanWieren was elected as the seventh editor of The Keg. The first issue of The Keg to feature full color on the cover and inside centerspread was the Fall 1997. John Snyder became editor of The Keg with the issue of fall 2001. The spring of 2003, The Keg was the first all-digital issue with a new cover design and logo. In 2005, Larry Handy became editor of The Keg. Hank Frentzen, owner of Colorfile, Inc., The Keg’s new printer, brought a wealth of design ideas to The Keg. The summer 2008 issue increased to 28 pages and was the first with full color throughout and first issue with the name of the member on the cover. In 2010, The Keg returned to 24 pages.

With ECBA merging with the ABA in 2020 and 50 years of The Keg coming to an end with Larry Handy’s 17 years of overseeing the publication of The Keg, ECBA members can be proud of the written record presented to our membership. An index of all The Keg articles has been completed by Cam Johnson #840 which took him 6 months to assemble.The index will provide a way for members to search all 50 years of The Keg for articles. The scanning of all 50 years of The Keg was performed by Len Chylack.