and successor
Fredericksburg Brewing Co. (1889-1918)
and
The Fredericksburg BreweryThe history of the Fredericksburg Brewery from its founding in 1869 to 1881 is covered in a history of Santa Clara County, that follows. The period from 1881 to its reorganization as the Fredericksburg Brewing Company in 1889 is also covered, although briefly. The following is from the History of Santa Clara County, California, by J.P. Munro-Fraser. Alley, Bowen, & Co., 1881.
The period of 1881 to 1888 saw continued growth and expansion, with Fredericksburg agencies and bottling depots established over many western states. The brewery was a lager beer producer from its inception, and brewed at least six styles of lager beer. A Sept. 1883 newspaper ad stated that the Brewery was offering a "...Genuine Salvator, Pilsner, and Bavaria Lager Beer." In addition, a 1894 Directory listing stated that they were "Brewers and Bottlers of Extra Pale, Pilsner, Pschorr, and Culmbacher beer." As early as 1878, the brewery established an agency in San Francisco at 621 Brannan St., but it's not clear who did the bottling. In 1880 the agency relocated to 539 California St. The brewery also established a bottling depot in Los Angeles, in 1886. It's proprietor was E. C. Schnabel, son of Ernest Schnabel, the brewery's co-owner and manager. Also in 1886, the brewery used both the Postel Brothers (Arnold & Rudolph), and the Lang Brothers (Otto, Leonard & August) as local bottlers. The following year, the Lang Bros. were the sole bottlers of Fredericksburg beer in San Francisco. This began a long term, business relationship, and the establishment of the Fredericksburg Bottling Co. |
architect's drawing of Fredericksburg Brewery,
ca.1888
The following is a vivid, first-hand account of a brewery tour found in Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World, published by the Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland, Cal., 1888.
Prior to 1890 the bottling shop had to be (as stated above) "distinct from the brewery." The bottling works handled the bottling of beer for export to foreign countries, and for local consumption. Beer destined for other west coast markets was sent in kegs to local agents who distributed the beer that they bottled, or had bottled by a separate plant.
Embossed beer bottles usually gave the name of the bottling works so that they would get the bottles back to be re-used, but the name was also to be found on the label. In San Jose, the primary bottler of Fredericksburg beer was Charles Maurer's San Jose Bottling Co., and then later, C. Maurer & Sons.
The use of bottler/agents continued until national Prohibition put a
stop to everything. Some of the other west coast bottlers were: the
Oakland Bottling Co. in Oakland, Cal. (above); J. R. Luttrell
& Son, San Diego, Cal.; H. Loose in Lovelock, Nev.; C. E. Roos
in Seattle, Wash.; Hoefer & Mevius in Redding, Cal.; H.
C. Heidtmann in Reno, Nevada; Kalamath Falls, Ore. (below); and
C. Schnerr & Co. in Sacramento, Cal. (below).
Upon completion of the 1888 brewery expansion, the brewery was
adorned with impressive spires and crenellated turrets. It looked
more like a German Rhine castle than the brewery envisioned in the
architect's plans (above). These distinctive architectural elements
became the brewery's trade mark, and appeared on their labels,
letterhead, and all other promotional material. The style was also
adopted by the Lang Bros. when they built their bottling works in
San Francisco, which would suggest that the Fredericksburg brewery
was a principal in the bottling plant. Fredericksburg Brewing Co.
In 1890, controlling interest in the Fredericksburg Brewery was purchased by San Francisco Breweries, Ltd. This British syndicate was formed to acquire and amalgamate ten breweries in and around San Francisco. The combine consisted of the Fredericksburg and Pacific breweries of San Jose; the Hofburg Brewery of West Berkeley; the Oakland Brewery, and Brooklyn Brewery, both of Oakland; the John Wieland Brewing Co., the United States Brewery, Chicago Brewery, So. San Francisco Brewery, and Willows Brewery - all of San Francisco.
By 1899, four of the breweries had been liquidated. Of the six
remaining, the April 1906, San Francisco fire and earthquake
destroyed three. The Syndicate lasted until Prohibition with only
the Fredericksburg Brewing Co., John Wieland Brewing Co., and the
Brooklyn Brewery.
A major fire broke out at the Fredericksburg Brewery in 1902 and the
great, six-story turreted tower of the malt house crashed into
Cinnabar Street. The brewery was rebuilt by the time of the 1906
earthquake and survived with only minor damage.
It's not clear which happened first, but in May of 1912, the Fredericksburg Brewing Co. announced that their beer was now "bottled by the brewery" - not at the brewery, but by the brewery, which would indicate that they were now the proprietors of the Fredericksburg Bottling Company.
Also in May of 1912, August Lang & Co. released their own "Red Lion
Beer" from the
Aug. Lang Brewing Assn. at Baker & Geary Sts. Lang may have sold
to S. F. Breweries, Ltd. to fund the refit his newly acquired
brewery. The bottling works continued operating as the
Fredericksburg Bottling Co. until late 1918.
Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. (1933-1951)
In 1916, Huth & Virges of Tacoma's
Pacific
Brewing & Malting built a brewery in San Francisco, after being
shut-down by Washington's state-wide Prohibition. The SF brewery,
located at 675 Treat Ave. and operated under the name Tacoma Brewing &
Malting, but was also doing business as Pacific Brewing & Malting.
Encouraged by positive talks with the Rainier Brewing Co., Colpe
gave the following story to the San Francisco Chronicle
on
18 Feb., 1933:
The new brewery's president wasn't entirely successful in his
negotiations with Rainier. While he had secured use of
the Fredericksburg brand with the purchase of the brewery, he
failed to regain rights to use the Tacoma brand.
However, in November of 1936 it was announced that PB&M had
purchased an historic San Francisco brand, famous for
eighty-five years. The plans to reopen the old John Wieland Brewery
(est. 1852) had been abandoned which presented the opportunity
for the purchase of the iconic brand.
PB&M
also
produced Old Heidelbrau, Old Joe's Lager and Steam Beer, Cortez Lager, Boilermaker Ale, and Ritz
Lager and SteamBeer
(for the Garden City Brewing Company - a contract brewer). They
also did contract brewing for a number of distributors and a
food market chain.
Wieland's Brewery
Fredericksburg was Pacific Brewing & Malting's flagship brand
when in Nov. 1936 the Wieland's brand was introduced to the
line-up. By Oct. of '41, sales of Wieland's Lager and
Wieland's Ale had out paced
Frederickesburg and the brand was dropped. Even as early as 1939 they
began referring to their plant as the Wieland's Brewery, in
favor of the old Fredericksburg Brewery.
Due to the popularity of their Wieland's brand, in March
of 1952, Pacific Brewing & Malting began doing business as the Wieland's Brewing Co.
Then two months later, in March of '52, the company introduced their "100 Year
Beer" - erroneously claiming that the company was established in 1852.
Actually, John Wieland established his Philadelphia Brewery in 1855,
not that anyone really cared.
Ultimately, the Wieland's Brewing Company was to be a short lived venture. In
November of '52, after a mere eight months, it was announced
that the brewery had been
purchased by the Griesedieck
family of St. Louis, making it their western branch of the Falstaff
Brewing Corp.
The Falstaff Brewery operated for 20 years, closing in 1973. The
plant was
demolished in 1980.
FOOTNOTES: ¹ Similar bottles to the one shown
above were used by the Claussen-Sweeney
Brewing Co. and the
Bay View Brewery, but with green glass. This
confirms what has long been suspected by collectors - that these
bottles were made by the Siemens-Glaswerks of Dresden, Germany,
the largest bottle manufacturer in Europe at the time (ca.1887).
The
Fredericksburg Bottling Co. quart, in
green, is also believed to have been made in this Dresden glass
factory, but at a later date.
² The Prest-O-Lite key is the square hole in the at the end of
the cap lifter which was used as a wrench to open the valve on
carbide tanks mounted on the running boards of early autos.
Headlights were illuminated by carbide gas from about 1900 to 1915. |
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R.O.G. Fredericksburg Beer sign
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