DescriptionFour B&W negatives of Ballantine Ale and Beer sign on Woodward Hotel. Ballantine Beer was brewed in Newark, NJ in 1840 by P. Ballantine & Sons Brewing Co. By the 1940s and 1950s, they were the 3rd largest brewing company in the US. However, by the mid-1960s they entered a period of decline which they never recovered from. By 1972 they were purchased by Falstaff Brewing Corp. Falstaff was prucahsed in 1985 by Pabst Brewing Co.