Bay View Brewing Company
(1883-1919)

In 1883, Andrew Hemrich and partner John Kopp established a "steam beer" brewing operation that would eventually become the Rainier Brewery. Their firm operated under the name of "Kopp & Hemrich", and was located south of downtown Seattle. The brewery was at the base of Beacon Hill, on the corner of 9th Avenue and Hanford Street, and near a spring of pure water. 

Andrew met John Kopp in Bozeman, MT were he had been employed by a small brewery. Kopp had been working in his brother-in-law's bakery.

The "bay view" referred to their vantage of Elliott Bay, which would eventually be obscured by new building on filled tide lands. When the plant began operation, the waters of Duwamish delta still lapped the slopes of Beacon Hill, and the narrow-gauge Grant Street Railway rode above the tide flats on a trestle along the future route of Airport Way.
 
Their first year of business showed an output of 2,658 barrels, part of which now included lager beer. In 1884 Andrew's father, John left Alma, WI and joined the firm. The following year Andrew's brother-in-law, Frederick Kirschner and sister, Emma arrived in Seattle. John, Sr. and Frederick then purchased Kopp's share.

In 1885, the name was changed to the "Bay View Brewing Company" (a.k.a. Hemrich & Co.), with Andrew president, Frederick as secretary, and John, Sr. as treasurer. Note the misspelling of Hemrich in the 1885 ad (above) for Bay View Lager.

Major improvements were undertaken, and in 1887 the new plant was built (see photo below), and the production of lager beer was greatly increased. The Bay View Brewery was the first to bottle lager beer on the Puget Sound.

They now had the capacity to export their lager outside the local area. Andrew Hemrich was a provisional trustee in the newly reorganized Victoria Brewing & Ice Co. in Victoria, B. C. His brother, Alvin, took a position with the brewery in 1891 and stayed until a new plant was built in 1893. With steamer traffic flowing steadily between Victoria and Seattle, Andrew secured the services of an agent in Victoria, B.C. to bottle and distribute their "Export Beer" and "Pale Lager." In 1891 they contracted with Close & Johnson, who had a bottling works and cold storage plant on Esquilmalt road to act as sole agents for their beer. The label shown (below) may have been one that was used on the green bottle (right). The arrangement with Close & Johnson was terminated when Andrew took his Bay View Brewery in a new direction.

On 11 January of 1893, Bay View joined with the breweries of Albert Braun and Claussen-Sweeney to form a new association - the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company. The brand name chosen for the association's new beer was "Rainier." The Bay View plant continued to operate, and in 1906 added a new bottling shop and additional refrigeration.

Brewing ceased in August of 1913, with all production shifted to the Georgetown, Sweeney plant, but the bottling works continued operating. Then state-wide Prohibition was voted in, to take effect on Jan. 1, 1916, and the company made plans to shift operations to San Francisco.   

They made the move to California in the belief that national Prohibition would not be approved, but they were wrong. Prohibition was to become the law of the land on Jan. 1, 1920. The Hemrich family knew that there was no hope of re-opening the Bay View plant any time soon, plus they still owned the huge Georgetown plant and a new plant in San Francisco. So, they decided to cut their losses and sell the Bay View Brewery.

With little value as a brewery they hoped to find a buyer who could put the plant to other uses. They found such a buyer in Robert Bruce Montague and partner, Manley Harshman, and in Nov. of 1918 the plant was sold. With milling experience gained in the Far East, the two new owners re-equipped the plant for the milling of flour and feed grain. In February, 1919, the plant went online as the Bayview Milling Company. Harshman was soon bought out, leaving Montague as sole proprietor. Unfortunately, Montague died in 1927, but his widow continued to run the enterprise.

The Bayview Milling Co. operated until 18 June, 1933, when Emil Sick took out a lease on the plant from Montague's widow and re-opened the old Bay View Brewery as the Century Brewing Association.
It would later be known as the Rainier Brewery.
 

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