Today is the day that John Mitchell died, since his actual date of birth is unknown (1929-June 16, 2019). He was born in Singapore, but raised in England, before emigrating to Canada when he was 24, in 1953. With Frank Appleton, he founded the Horseshoe Bay Brewery, one of Canada’s first microbreweries, in 1982. It didn’t last long, but just two years later he co-founded Canada’s first brewpub, Spinnakers,
And here is an obituary of Mitchell, from the CBC:
Born in Singapore in 1929, Mitchell was raised in England before moving to Canada when he was 24.
His journey into craft beer began in 1982 when he founded Horseshoe Bay Brewing, regarded as Canada’s first microbrewery, in West Vancouver. He then opened Spinnakers, the country’s oldest brewpub, in Victoria in 1984.
In 1996, he was part of the team that established Howe Sound Brewing in Squamish, B.C.
That’s where John Ohler started working with him. The two became best friends.
“He didn’t go into business to make money. He went into business to brew great beer. He really wanted to bring back … real ale, and that had been lost at the time,” Ohler said.
“He opened the brewery so that he could restore draught beer back to its days of glory.”
Mitchell was a strong-minded yet private person, Ohler said, and he was opinionated about beer — it had to be a certain temperature, specific carbonation, and brewed with whole hops instead of hop pellets.
He was generally drawn to English-style ales, he added.
Mitchell laid the foundation that allowed the craft beer industry to grow into what it is today, Ohler said. He pushed to change laws to allow for entrepreneurial “fairness” in the industry, he added.
In 2016, Mitchell and Ohler started a foundation to provide scholarships to students in the Brewing and Brewery Operations Diploma Program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Mitchell was diagnosed with pneumonia about two weeks ago and was admitted to hospital, Ohler said.
He died with his wife, Jenny, and daughter, Louise, by his side.
And here’s another account, from North Shore News:
The “Grandfather of Canadian Craft Beer” was born in Singapore in 1929 and raised in England, before immigrating to Canada in 1953. Inspired by his love for the rich, flavourful ales of the U.K.—and their complete absence in Canada—Mitchell pioneered the country’s first craft brewery in Horseshoe Bay in 1982. That meant years of lobbying all levels of government to allow craft breweries the right to legally exist, thus setting the stage for the coming craft beer revolution.
Mitchell was one of the founding partners—and the original brewer—of Spinnakers Brewpub in Victoria, Canada’s oldest continuously operating craft brewery (which celebrated its 35th birthday last week). Today, you can still find hand-pulled pints of Mitchell’s ESB on the beer list, named in his honour. Mitchell was also instrumental in the founding of Howe Sound Brewing, and its Troller Bay Ale pays tribute to his original brewpub.
John Mitchell serving a real ale from a beer engine at Spinnakers circa 1984
As a craft beer pioneer, Mitchell “started an economic and cultural revolution that went on to challenge the dominance of the major beer brands and changed the way people think about and consume beer,” according to the John Mitchell Foundation, a non-profit charity named in honour of Mitchell and dedicated to advancing the pursuit of brewing excellence. Founded in 2016, the foundation was created to provide endowments and scholarships for students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s brewing diploma program in Langley.
Today on social media, Mitchell was remembered by the craft beer community for his impact not only on the craft beer industry, but on Canadian culture.
Spinnakers is located on the north shore of the Middle Harbour on Kimta Road overlooking and on lovely Songhees Walkway. Spinnakers was established to fill a gap in the Canadian beer industry. Back in the early 1980s, the market was dominated by the “Big 3″: Labatt, Molson and Carling O’Keefe. But, one of Spinnakers’ founding partners, John Mitchell, was about to create waves in the brewing world.
Laws that prohibited any individual or company from being involved in the manufacturing or retailing of beverage alcohol in British Columbia became a matter for review when, in June, 1982, Mitchell opened a small brewery on the property of Sewell’s Marina in West Vancouver to brew and supply real ales to his Troller Pub, located down the street.
Although this first foray into commercial brewing did not last, Mitchell was inspired and eager to persue his inspiration. A September 1982 trip to the UK in search of better brewing equipment also yielded a suitcase full of beers, a couple bottles each of 14 different UK brands. These were shared one October evening with a number of beer aficionados in a pub, the Pickled Onion, located in a Dunbar residence on the west side of Vancouver. The host, a wine and spirits agent provided accompaniments and others brought along a few beers of their own to share. Working our way through the beers, discussing the merits of each and speculating on recipes, the group had a grand evening as we also tried another five or six North American bottled beers and finally settled into the draft canisters of home brew brought by a couple of the participants. This was the evening that Spinnakers was conceived out of a realization that we could have access to such an amazing array of flavours. With the best beers of the evening having been provided by the home brewers, it was evident that the technology was in the room and the task at hand was to find a location and set about the process of building Canada’s first in-house brewpub of the modern era.
The process started with a review of Provincial liquor laws and a visit to Victoria’s City Hall where we quickly learned that a brewery / pub combination was not an allowed land use anywhere within the city limits. Subsequent conversations with Victoria’s Mayor and a few Councilors revealed a perspective that whilst the idea of a neighbourhood public house with an in-house brewery might be interesting, given that there were no examples to look at we were facing a very real fear of the unknown, that is, it may be a nice idea, but not in my backyard, thank you. One councilor summed it up nicely by telling us to find a neighbourhood that did not exist so that there would be no pushback and that those who lived next to the proposed brewpub would be doing so out of their own volition.
With this in mind, the current location at the foot of Catherine Street, on the edge of Lime Bay, overlooking Victoria’s harbour was singled out as a preferred potential location. Adjacent lands were derelict industrial, the remnants of a long closed shingle mill, an oil tank farm and underutilized rail yards. Long considered the wrong side of the bridge, Vic West had long been ignored by officials at the City. Suggestions of the current location resulted in the City Planning Department calling for a new community plan for Vic West before consideration could be given to any proposal. Having a background in private practise involving community planning work proved useful as we were able to return 6 weeks later with a vision as to how the surrounding areas might unfold over the next 20 years and how a neighbouthood brewpub might fit into the community.
Presentations to the Vic West Community Association resulted in the association conducting a neighbouhood poll indicating a very high level of support. This led to the development of a set of drawings and applications to create a zoning bylaw specific to the needs of a craft brewery and brewpub.
At the same time, a process was commenced with the Provincial government’s department of Liquor Control and Licensing which led to the creation of a set of Guidelines for Licensing Brewpubs in British Columbia. It turned out that previously authorized Horseshoe Bay operation was allowed to proceed because it was not expected to succeed. The advent of another pending application caused the General Manager to require the development of more formal guidelines for licensing as well as a need to amend the Liquor Control and Licensing Act to provide an on-going exclusion to Tied House Provisions which were embedded in the Act to ensure a legal separation between manufacturers and liquor licensees.
At the level of the Federal Government it was also necessary to seek an amendment to the federal Excise Act which stated that the only means of communication between the manufacturer of commodities subject to Excise duties was by highway. The Troller Pub / Horshoe Bay Brewing scenario complied with the Federal Excise Act as the beer was kegged at the brewery and then trucked down the street to the pub. Spinnakers, as a result of an Federal Excise Act amendment, contained within a February 1984 Federal Budget, was the first in-house liquor manufacturing facility to take advantage of the new provisions, ultimately paving the way for brewpubs, wineries and more recently, craft distilleries with attached licensed premises to exist.
From idea to opening day, over a period of 18 months, the Spinnakers team managed to put together what became Canada’s first in-house brewpub of the modern era. We think it was worth the effort. We trust that you will appreciate the results of our efforts.
Today is the birthday of Constant Vanden Stock (June 13, 1914-April 19, 2008). While he was best known for his exploits in football/soccer, he also ran his family’s business, Belle-Vue Brewery. That brewery was founded by his father, Philémon Vandenstock, in 1913. Constant’s father was captured by the Nazis in World War 2, and was sent to a concentration camp, but died one week after being released in 1945. After the war, Constant re-opened the brewery and continued to run it until the business was effectively acquired by Interbrew, now AB-InBev, in 1988.
Constant Vanden Stock was the president and a player of Belgian football club R.S.C. Anderlecht. The stadium of this club is named after him. Constant Vanden Stock also served as coach of the Belgium national football team from 1958 to 1968. He is the father of another club president, Roger Vanden Stock. He is also behind the bribery of referee Emilio Guruceta Muro to throw the UEFA cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest in 1984. Vanden Stock managed the family brewery Belle-Vue, famous for its Kriek and Lambic, until he sold it to beer giant Interbrew, now InBev.
This tribute to Vanden Stock is from the 10th anniversary of his death in 2008, published by the RSCA in Belgium in 2018.
Son of brewer Philémon Vanden Stock and his wife Marie, Constant Vanden Stock wasborn in Anderlecht on June 13, 1914, just before the start of the First World War. Ten years later, he began to play for the Mauve and Blancs, where he played only 52 matches in the first team between 1933 in 1938 due to serious injuries. He then joined the ranks of the neighbors of the Union Saint-Gilloise. Five years later, he put an end to his sports career and he focused on the development of Belle-Vue, his father’s brewery.
In the early 1950s, Constant Vanden Stock occupied a very first position at Sporting. He was there for three years responsible for recruiting young people. Constant was also the cadet and school coach. After a short stint as president of La Forestoise, he was appointed to the selection committee of URBSFA. Two years later, he became the only national team coach. Albert Roosens, the Anderlecht president at the time, wanted to bring him back to the RSCA, but Constant nevertheless chose the role of technical director at the Club Brugeois. A year later, in 1969, he returned to the capital, however. Constant became a member of management and also vice-president there, before finally taking over the helm as president in 1971.
It was the start of a long and successful period. In twenty-five years of presidency, Constant Vanden Stock managed to add many trophies to the prize list of our club. He celebrated ten Belgian champion titles, seven Belgian Cups, two Cup Winners’ Cups, a UEFA Cup and two European Super Cups. In addition, the old Émile Versé stadium was completely renovated between 1983 and 1991 to become a football stadium with boxes and business seats , a great novelty. The enclosure was logically renamed the Constant Vanden Stock stadium to pay tribute to his work.
In 1996, Constant Vanden Stock decided to pass the baton to his son Roger, but he remained, at 82, obviously very attached to his club, as honorary president. In 2005, Constant’s health began to deteriorate, with balance problems which were followed by a heart attack. Constant Vanden Stock died on April 19, 2008, just before the centenary of his club, at the age of 93 years. Rest in peace, Mr. Constant.
Brasserie Belle-Vue has a long and sometimes controversial history of innovation, takeover, and survival among the lambic brewers and blenders. It was founded in 1913, by a café blender named Philémon Vandenstock (1886 – 1945). The owner of a bar in Brussels, Vandenstock, along with his wife, bought wort from various lambic breweries in the city and began blending fondgeuze for the establishment. Shortly after they began their blending business, World War I broke out leaving few resources to continue. Finally, in 1927, the Belle-Vue Café in Anderlecht became available. Vandenstock purchased the building as an outlet for his lambics; serving five other cafes in the area while also selling directly to customers. From 1927 onward, the blendery would market itself under the Belle-Vue name with a mention to Ph. Vandenstock usually visible somewhere on the branding.
The business flourished under Philémon, leading to the first brewery acquisition by Belle-Vue in 1943: Vos-Kina, a lambic brewery located in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. The acquisition of the brewery came at a difficult time in Europe’s history, right in the middle of World War II. While many breweries were struggling through the war, Belle-Vue was growing. Now able to brew his own lambic, Vandenstock also brought his son Constant Vandenstock and his son-in-law Octave Collin Vandenstock into the business to help manage.[1] Sadly, Philémon was arrested by the occupying Nazi forces in 1944 and sent to the Neuengamme concentration camp where he remained until it was liberated in May of 1945. He died just one week after the camp’s liberation.
The journey of Belle-Vue’s slide into non-traditional lambic started immediately after the death of Philémon when his son Constant took over the business. Until then, Belle-Vue was producing only traditional fondgeuze; however, like many other lambic breweries at the time, Constant began to use artificial flavorings to adapt to the changing palates of Belgian lambic drinkers. Belle-Vue began sweetening, filtering, pasteurizing, and carbonating its gueuze so that it could be consumed more like a traditional European pale lager rather than a traditional lambic. Belle-Vue also was one of the first, if not the first, lambic breweries to move away from using the traditional 75cl bottles to using capped 25cl bottles. This provided an easy “one bottle for one glass” strategy and did away with specialty corkscrews needed for opening the larger bottles.
The journey to the top of the lambic world for Belle-Vue began in the 1949-1950 season when Belle-Vue began to send lambic across the country and into France and the Netherlands. Belle-Vue, who was at the time the only lambic brewery with filtered and pasteurized gueuze, managed to escape the heatwave that resulted in exploding bottles for the majority of the lambic brewers and blenders that season. Business was so good that the brewery went on to two more takeovers, taking over the Louis & Emile De Coster lambic brewery in 1952 and Timmermans in 1955.
Constant, who was always involved with the football leagues in Belgium and Europe brought his son, Roger, as well as Roger’s cousin Philipe, into the business in 1962. In 1969, Belle-Vue acquired two more breweries: De Boeck and Goossens, known together as Brasseries Unies (United Breweries). These two breweries together had already acquired Brasseries Brasserie de la Couronne (De Kroon), Espagne, De Coster-Heymans, and Vandenkerckhoven. Again in 1970 Belle-Vue acquired Brabrux, which had already acquired other well known lambic breweries De Keersmaeker, Vaan Haelen-Coche, Bécasse-Steppé, and Vandenperre. At this point, Belle-Vue controlled approximately 75% of the lambic market. De Neve was also taken over by Belle-Vue in 1975, which is now a set of luxury apartments in the old brewery building.
Belle-Vue was riding a wave of success that very few lambic breweries were achieving at the time, but to do this Belle-Vue needed the help of one brewery still bigger than them in Belgium: Artois. Belle-Vue partnered with Artois to help expand its brand in the export market. The cost of this was a 43% minority share for Artois in Belle-Vue, with Constant still remaining in charge of Belle-Vue. When Artois merged with Piedboeuf (most recognized as the brewer of Jupiler) in 1988 to create Interbrew, it effectively put an end to the Vandenstock family stake in Belle-Vue.
Today, Brasserie Belle-Vue exists under the AB-InBev umbrella and consistently puts out non-traditional, sweetened lambics for the masses. No longer producing a traditional lambic or gueuze, the final true-to-style Belle-Vue product was the Belle-Vue Sélection Lambic released in 1999. Belle-Vue beers are now produced at the brewery in St. Pieters-Leeuw located just outside the Brussels Capital Region in Flemish Brabant. Belle-Vue is not a member of HORAL.
Today is the birthday of John Hemrich (June 12, 1823-August 24, 1896). He was born in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, trained as a brewer, and came to America when he was 25, and had breweries in New York, Iowa, Wisconsin, but eventually ended up in Washington state, where he founded the Bay View Brewery, which eventually merged with two other Seattle breweries to become the Seattle Brewing and Malting Co.
He’s also the father of Andrew Henrich, Alvin Hemrich, and Louis Hemrich, all of whom worked with other family members on a variety of brewery projects over the years. It’s a complicated story, but Gary Flynn at Brewery Gems is your best bet for understanding it all, and I recommend starting with his biography of John Hemrich.
Today is the birthday of Anton Ruh (June 11, 1845-November 26, 1925). Ruh was born in Germany, but made his way to America, settling in Kentucky. In 1889, he became the brewmaster of the Bavarian Brewing Co. of Covington, Kentucky, after Wilhelm Riedlin became the sole owner. He brewed there until prohibition began, and even though the brewery did reopen after repeal, he had passed away in 1925.
There isn’t a great deal of information about Anton Ruh, although there’s this brief mention from the North Kentucky Tribune:
One Covington family contributed greatly to the beer brewing heritage of Covington. German immigrant Anton Ruh was a long-time brew master at Bavarian Brewery. Under his leadership, the Bavarian brand gained a reputation across the Midwest. Anton’s son, Joseph Ruh, was associated with both Bavarian and Heidelburg Breweries. Joseph’s son, Carl Ruh, was a teacher at Covington Catholic High School, a Kentucky State Representative and Kenton County Sheriff.
It appears that Ruh may be front and center in this photo of the brewery workers from an unknown date.
And this history of the brewery is from “The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky,” edited by Paul A. Tenkotte, James C. Claypool:
Today is the birthday of Edmund Resch (June 9, 1847-May 22, 1923). He was the oldest brother of Richard and Emil Resch, who founded the Lion Brewery in Australia, although it was later known as Resch’s Brewery. The brewery was taken over by Tooth and Co. in 1929, but today is owned by Carlton and United Breweries.
Because his career is so intertwined with his brothers, this is his older brother Edmund’s biography, also from the Australian Dictionary of Biography:
Edmund Resch (1847-1923) and Emil Karl Resch (1860-1930), brewers, were the sons of Johann Nicolaus Resch, ironmaster, and his wife Julia Bernhardine Louise Wilhelmine, née Heitmann, both of Saxony. Edmund was born on 9 June 1847 at Hörde, Westphalia, and arrived in Australia in 1863. In 1871, after mining in Victoria, he moved to New South Wales where he and his mate were the first to strike copper at the Cobar South mine. After prospecting for a year between Cobar, Louth, Bourke and Gilgandra he went to Charters Towers, Queensland, where he built, then operated a hotel for four years. He sold out because of ill health and about 1877 bought with a younger brother Richard Frederick Edward Nicolas (1851-1912) a cordial and aerated water factory at Wilcannia, New South Wales. Next year he visited Germany, where at Munich, on 17 October 1878, he married Carolina Rach (1855-1927).
Business flourished, for Wilcannia was a busy river port and centre of a vast pastoral district. In September 1879 Edmund and Richard opened the Lion Brewery and in 1883 purchased a brewery at Cootamundra, renaming it the Lion Brewery; by 1885 they had branches at Silverton, west of Broken Hill, and Tibooburra on the Mount Browne goldfield. On 11 August 1885, however, the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent, Richard carrying on at Cootamundra and Tibooburra and Edmund at Wilcannia, where he built up an enviable reputation as a skilful brewer.
In 1892 Edmund Resch installed a manager and retired to live in Melbourne. In 1895, however, he moved to Sydney to manage Allt’s Brewing & Wine and Spirit Co. Ltd for a banker who had assisted him in his early business career. In 1897 he purchased the brewery for about £67,000 and in 1900 also acquired the business and plant of the New South Wales Lager Bier Brewing Co. Ltd. Assisted by John Herbert Alvarez (d.1913), his able accountant and manager, and his sons Edmund (1879-1963) and Arnold Gottfried (1881-1942), who had both studied modern brewing methods in Europe and the United States of America, Resch embarked on a large building programme, centralizing his combined interests in Dowling Street, Redfern. In July 1906 Resch’s Ltd was incorporated with an authorized capital of £150,000.
Resch’s second business career was even more successful than his first. In 1901 he told a Legislative Assembly select committee on tied houses, where he was reprimanded by the chairman Richard Meagher for answering ‘in an acrimonious way’, that he was the only brewer in New South Wales who did not use ‘salicylic acid and other antiseptics’ in his beer, and, not surprisingly, that he was against tied houses. He successfully advertised in 1904-14 as ‘brewer by appointment to His Excellency the Governor-General’: his ales, beers and stout captured much of the State’s market. From 1903 to October 1913 he was consul in Sydney for the Netherlands government and on his retirement he was appointed knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau. Wealthy, but uncultivated, he lived in great style at Swifts, a Gothic mansion on Darling Point built by (Sir) Robert Lucas-Tooth; sailing on Sydney Harbour was his chief recreation. During World War I Resch contributed generously to the war effort and made up the difference in pay for about sixty employees who had enlisted, but in November 1917, following an indiscretion, he was arrested and interned in Holsworthy camp. Edmund Resch died at Swifts on 22 May 1923, survived by his wife and sons, and was buried in the Anglican section of Waverley cemetery. Probate of his estate was sworn at £316,828. In 1929 Resch’s Waverley Brewery was taken over by Tooth & Co. Ltd in exchange for shares issued to the Resch family.
During World War I, like many Germans living in Australia, Edmund was imprisoned for the duration of the world because people believed his German heritage would make him a traitor to the allied war effort.
Despite, or perhaps because of his German roots, Edmund contributed generously to Australia’s war effort after the outbreak of WWI, as well as paying his sixty-odd enlisted employees the difference between their service and civilian wages. Nonetheless, he was not immune to the 1916 War Precautions (Alien Restriction) Regulations that required all non-British subjects aged fifteen and over to register their whereabouts. In November 1917, he was arrested and interred at Holdsworthy, near Liverpool, home of Australia’s largest war internment camp, despite having been a resident of Australia for more than fifty years.
Edmund Resch arrived in Australia from Germany in 1863, probably with his younger brother Richard, and after spending time on Victorian and New South Wales mine fields and as an hotelier in Queensland, he and Richard bought a cordial and aerated water factory in bustling Wilcannia in 1877. Business flourished and in 1879 the pair opened the Lion Brewery in the township.
Four years later, the brothers expanded their activities by taking over Cootamundra’s Burton Brewery. Originally established by Mary Jane Rochester, Henry Morton and Frederick Henry Jackson in 1881, the new owners renamed it the Lion Brewery in line with their earlier establishment and in December 1883 advertised that “…for cleanliness, condition, fullness of the palate, great keeping qualities and mellow vinous flavour, our ales cannot be surpassed.”
In 1882, a third brother Emil arrived in Australia after serving a brewing and malting apprenticeship in Germany and following a short stint in Melbourne, moved to Wilcannia to join his siblings. By 1885, their expanding business empire also boasted branches at Silverton and Tibooburra, but in August that year, the partnership was amicably dissolved, with the various holdings split up between the brothers.
Richard continued the Cootamundra and Tibooburra businesses, and after trying unsuccessfully in 1888 to sell the former brewery, carried on until 1903, when he relocated to the Clarence River Brewery at Maclean. Operations ceased around 1915.
Edmund carried on at Wilcannia until 1892 when, after installing a manager to oversee operations, he moved to Melbourne intending to retire. This was short lived, however, and three years later he relocated to Sydney to take over management of Allt’s, a brewing, wine and spirit company, on behalf of a banker who had supported him in his early business activities.
After purchasing Allt’s Brewery in 1897 for more than £65,000, Edmund went on to acquire the New South Wales Lager Bier Brewing Company Ltd’s Waverley Brewery business and plant in Redfern three years later. Together with his sons Edmund and Arnold and his accountant/manager John Alvarez, he embarked on major construction works to centralise activities on the Dowling Street, Redfern site. Directories show that he also continued to operate his Wilcannia business until at least 1909.
Promoting himself between 1904 and 1914 as “brewer by appointment to His Excellency the Governor-General”, Edmund became so successful that his brewery’s output secured much of the State’s market. In 1906, Resch’s Ltd was incorporated with a capital of £150,000.
Today is the feast day of St. Medard of Noyon, who was also known as St. Medardus (c. 456–545). “He was the Bishop of Noyon. He moved the seat of the diocese from Vermand to Noviomagus Veromanduorum (modern Noyon) in northern France. Medardus was one of the most honored bishops of his time, often depicted laughing, with his mouth wide open, and therefore he was invoked against toothache.” He is also the patron of brewers, as well as vineyards and good harvests. “He is sometimes depicted with a giant eagle hovering over his head to shelter him from rain, while others around him got wet (reputedly this occurred while he was a child.) This led to his association with control over the weather.”
Born c.470 in Salency, Picardy, France; died c.558. Born of a Frankish noble father and a Gallo-Roman mother, Saint Medard was educated at Saint-Quentin. He is also the brother of Saint Gildard, archbishop of Rouen. At 33, he was ordained to the priesthood and became so successful as a missioner that he was chosen to succeed Bishop Alomer in 530 in the see of Vermandois. Medard may have been consecrated by Saint Remigius of Rheims.
According to an unreliable tradition, Medard moved his see from Saint-Quentin to Noyon after a raid by the Huns, then united it with the diocese of Tournai. Allegedly Noyon and Tournai remained under one bishop for 500 years.
Medard is known to have given the veil to Queen Saint Radegund. He is credited with the institution of the old local custom of Rosiere. Each year where his feast is celebrated, the young girl who has been judged the most exemplary in the district is escorted by 12 boys and 12 girls to the church, where she is crowned with roses and given a gift of money (Benedictines, White).
In art, an eagle shelters Saint Medard from the rain, a reference to the legend that this happened when he was a child (Roeder). This may explain the origins of the superstition that if it rains on his feast day, the next 40 days will be wet; if the weather is good, the next 40 will be fine as well (White). He might also be portrayed with two horses at his feet, leaving footprints on stone, or holding a citadel (Roeder). In Medieval art, Medard may be laughing with his mouth wide open (le ris de Saint Medard), and for this reason he is invoked against toothache (White).
Saint Medard is the patron of brewers, peasants, prisoners (Roeder), corn harvests, and vintage (White). He is invoked on behalf of idiots and lunatics, as well as for fruitfulness, both in child-bearing and in the fields, for rains and vineyards, and against bad weather and toothache (Roeder).
Why exactly he’s a patron of brewers or vineyards or good harvests is not very clear, and I can find no satisfactory answer. The only logical assumption may have to do with association with rain, but that’s admittedly a bit of a stretch.
Central part of a triptych from St. Catherine Chapel by unknown artist (circa 16th century)
There’s also a Brasserie Saint Médard in France that was founded in 2015 that uses the saint in their logo and on their beer bottles.
Today is the birthday of Johann George Moerlein, who went by “George” (June 8, 1852-August 31, 1891). He was the son of Christian Moerlein, who founded the Christian Moerlein Brewery in 1853, when his son was one year old. He later joined the firm and was the vice-president at the time of his untimely death at 39.
And while he was obviously involved in the family business for all of his life, he’s perhaps more well-known for something else.
In 1884, he “got the idea to take a trip around the world. Ten days later he was on his way to traveling a total distance of 35,194 miles by railroad and steamer. Throughout his trip, Moerlein wrote letters documenting his journey which were published in the local papers, The Commercial Gazette and the Volksblatt. The Krebs Lithographing Company of Cincinnati created 110 color illustrations, chosen from a collection of over 800 original pictures gathered during Moerlein’s travels. In 1886 George Moerlein’s “A Trip Around the World” was published.”
George Moerlein (seated) in India.
While having little to with their brewery, the book is still fascinating. Here’s a few more of the illustrations from it:
Today is the birthday of Frank Leonard Eppig (June 4, 1864-February 11, 1923). He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was the son of Leonard or Leonhard Eppig, who owned the Leonard Eppig Brewing Co., but traded under the name Germania Brewery. When his father died, his sons, including Frank as president, continued running the brewery until it was closed down by prohibition in 1920. Frank died in 1923, but the rest of the remaining family reopened the brewery after repeal, but in 1935 sold it to George Ehret Brewery.
Zimmerman’s Saloon, located at the corner of Graham Ave and Moore Street, in Williamsburg, New York, in 1877, advertising that they carried Leonard Eppig beer.
I’ve been unablt to find any photos of Frank, or much information, but this is Eppig’s obituary from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, for February 13, 1923:
Recently, a descendant of the Eppig family opened a craft brewery in San Diego, which they named Eppig Brewing, and included this infographic in their website:
Today is the birthday of August Schmid (June 4, 1843-June 4, 1889). He was born in Switzerland, emigrated to the U.S., and in 1850 with a partner, Emanuel Bernheimer, he founded the Constanz Brewery on East 4th Street near Avenue B, and a couple of years later, Bernheimer and a different partner, James Speyers, started the Lion Brewery on Columbus Ave, between 107th and 108th Streets in Manhattan, next door to the beer garden at the Lion Park, and indeed it is sometimes referred to as the Lion Park Brewery. The business was reorganized in 1868, and August Schmid also became a partner in the Lion Brewery, and by 1890 its official name was the Bernheimer & Schmid Brewery, though they continued to trade under the Lion Brewery name. In 1895, it was the sixth-largest brewery in the U.S. After 1903, it was called the Lion Brewery of New York, presumably to avoid confusion with the many other breweries with Lion in their name. Lion survived prohibition but closed for good in 1942.
This is the beginning of Schmid’s obituary from the New York Times, but it’s oddly only available to subscribers.
August Schmid of the firm of Bernheimer Schmid, proprietors of the Lion Brewery, died early Monday morning at the Hotel Royal after an illness of three days with pneumonia.
Shortly after immigrating to the United States, Swiss-German August Schmid and Emanuel Bernheimer founded the Costanz Brewery at East 4th Street near Avenue B in 1850. The brewery produced a lagered beer, a favorite among German immigrants. By 1852, they built a second Costanz Brewery at Four Corners in Staten Island, home to a large German community. Five years later, Bernheimer became the partner of another German immigrant, James Speyers and founded the Lion Brewery in 1857 in Manhattan Valley.
A group of Catholic Bavarians helped build the Lion Brewery. When it was built, they held masses in the Brewery on Sunday mornings.
At its peak, the Lion Brewery occupied about six square city blocks, from Central Park West to Amsterdam Avenue and from 107th to 109th Street. At the time Manhattan’s Upper West Side was an open area with inexpensive land housing, many public institutions and an insane asylum. There were about five to ten thousand living in shanties after being displaced by the creation of Central Park in 1859. Consequently, with the brewery and surrounding areas, the Upper West Side failed to increase its real estate value until the early twentieth century.
In 1862, a $1 tax on each barrel of beer hurt small brewers but not Lion. The anti-saloon movement in the late 19th and early 20th century encouraged Lion to clean up its own saloons. Lion Brewery got caught up in a wave of mergers and closings among some of the smaller New York Brewers in the early 1940s which continued until 1941, when the business closed. The brewery (including the canning facilities) was auctioned off on August 26, 1943. The plant was demolished in 1944 and more than 3,000 tons of steel were taken from the original brewery structure and recycled for the war effort.
After the Brewery was knocked down the lot was paved over with cinders. On Sundays, after the war, returning World War II Veterans formed a Softball League and played almost every Sunday afternoon. Home plate was located near 107th street and Columbus Avenue. Today, apartment houses occupy the Lion brewery’s former location.
Around 1860, the brewery published a pamphlet titled “Observations on Brewing and Beer: With an Analysis and Scientific Testimony Relative to the Lager Beer of the Speyers’ Lion Brewery.” The pamphlet had a short history of the different kinds of beer, and an analysis showing that their lager beer was pure. The pamphlet also included some great line drawings of the brewery complex.
In 1850 recent Swiss German immigrants August Schmid and Emanuel Bernheimer founded the Costanz Brewery at East 4th Street near Avenue B. The brewery specialized in lagered beer, a favorites among their fellow immigrants. By 1852, their success encouraged them to build a second Costanz Brewery at Four Corners in Staten Island, then home to a large German immigrant community. Eight years later, Bernheimer became the partner of another German immigrant, James Speyers, in his Lion Brewery, established in 1857.
The Lion Brewery, depicted here, occupied a site bounded by what are now Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue and extending from 107th to 109th Streets. The background view includes Central Park, with a glimpse of the Blockhouse, a relic from the War of 1812. (The Church of the Ascension is there now, built with the brewery’s help in the 1890s). During this period Manhattan’s Upper West Side was a relatively open area offering inexpensive land and it accommodated numerous public institutions including an insane asylum. Also clustered in the neighborhood were the shanty homes of between 5-10,000 thousand people displaced by the formal opening of Central Park in 1859. The combination of shanties, public institutions, and such foul-smelling industries as breweries explains why the Upper West Side failed to develop the real estate value of other areas bordering Central Park until the early twentieth century.
Late in the life of the Lion Brewery, it became involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions, eventually becoming The Greater New York Brewery, Inc.:
Lion brewing got caught up in a wave of mergers and closing among some of the smaller New York Brewers in the early 1940s. In late 1940, the Fidelio Brewing Co., located at 1st Ave. between 29th and 30th Streets., closed. However, on November 15, 1940, it reopened business as the Greater New York Brewery, Inc. In December 1940, the Greater New York Brewery merged with the Horton Pilsener Brewing Co., which was located at Amsterdam Ave. and 128th Street. Horton Brewing President Alex White became a director of Greater New York Brewery and they continued producing previous Horton products. In January 1941, the Greater New York Brewery merged with City Brewing Corporation of Queens. In February of 1941, Horton, as part of Greater New York Brewery, closed its doors. On April 9, 1941, City Brewing Corporation, as part of Greater New York Brewery, temporarily had its license canceled because of illegal merchandising in the form of gifts to retailers. (It apparently reopened at a later date.)
In May of 1941, Greater New York Brewery, Inc. acquired the Lion Brewery. It was the only brewery of the four that merged that had facilities to package beer in flat top cans. But by February of 1942, the Lion Brewery was closed and put up for sale. There being no buyers, the brewery (including the canning facilities) was auctioned off on August 26, 1943. In 1944 over 3,000 tons of steel were taken from the original brewery structure and recycled for the war effort. In April, 1946, the Greater New York Brewery, Inc. became known as the Greater New York Industries. This entity remained in operation until 1950.
For its short lifetime the former Lion Brewery continued to produce beer in cans labeled as products of the Greater New York Brewery. The two flat tops produced are scarce, but not truly rare. However, during its short life span, the Greater New York Brewery also produced a very rare crowntainer and two rare quarts containing Lion beer and ale. There are only 3 of the Beer quarts known today and the Ale is not much more common. Another rare Lion can, a Lion Pilsner, was produced by Pilsner Brewing in New York in the 1940s, but I do not yet know this company’s relationship to the original Lion Brewing. Today, apartment houses occupy the Lion brewery’s former location.
Today is the birthdays of both David Kuntz (June 4, 1819-July 11, 1892) and Louis Kuntz (June 4, 1852-October 8, 1891). David Kuntz was born in Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany, but moved to Waterloo City in Ontario, Canada, opening the Spring Brewery in 1844, though it was later renamed the Louis Kuntz Park Brewery. His son, Ludwig “Louis” Kuntz was born in Waterloo, Ontario, and work with his father at the family brewery, though passed away a year before his father, and the business passed to David’s grandson, and Louis’ son, David C. Kuntz. Shortly after David C’ Kuntz’s passing, in 1930, Canadian Breweries Limited, which had originally been “named Brewing Corporation of Ontario,” was created “by merging The Brading Breweries Limited, an Ottawa company Taylor had inherited from his grandfather, Capital Brewing of Ottawa, and Kuntz Brewery of Waterloo, Ontario.” In 1977 Carling Brewery was purchased by Labatt Breweries of London, but the Waterloo plant was closed by 1993 and all the buildings on the site had been demolished.
David & his son Louis.
David Kuntz was a pioneer brewer who helped establish Waterloo as a centre for quality beer making by undertaking every aspect of the business himself. It is written that Kuntz, a cooper as well as a brewer from Germany, made the barrels himself, brewed the beer, and actually made the bricks for the brewery he eventually built. In the 1830s, Kuntz brewed his beer in an old wooden washtub during the day and made his way around the county at night, selling it from a wheelbarrow. He hid his cash from the beer sales in an empty keg to avoid being robbed. By the early 1840s, Kuntz had enough capital to purchase a brewery hotel from Christopher Huether. The building still stands at the corner of King and Princess Streets and is now known as the Huether Hotel and Lion Brewery.
The 1861 census shows that Kuntz, aged 41, used 3,000 bushels of barley and 1,000 bushels of hops that year at a value of $1,700. He produced 12,000 gallons of beer, valued at $2,400. The pioneer, who had emigrated from Wiesbaden, Germany, now had two male employees who were each paid a monthly salary of $36. He also had one female employee who was paid $11.50 a month. The enumerator, who recorded the census information, commented that Kuntz made “the best beer in the country as far as the judgment of the Enumerator extends. The Brewery, Cellars, and House are of first quality.”
On a personal note, the census shows he was married to Magdelina, twenty-eight, who was also from Germany. At that time, they had four children – Ludwig, Henry, Catherine and Charles between the ages of two and eight. The couple went on to have thirteen children.
The Kuntz family lived in a two-story brick house and had two “pleasure carriages,” along with four horses, twelve cows and twelve pigs. The value of the animals was $560. His new brewery prospered and was called Spring Brewery because it used water from a spring on the property. In the early 1870s, his son Louis took over, renaming it L. Kuntz’s Park Brewery. Louis Kuntz, who was married to Theresa Bauer, died at a young age in the early 1890s, forcing his brothers-in-law Frank and Aloyes Bauer, to take over operations. At the time of his death, his own three sons were still children. In 1910, Louis Kuntz’s sons were old enough to take over the brewery and David Jr. became president, incorporating the business and calling it Kuntz Brewery Ltd. His brothers William and Herbert were also involved in the business. David Kuntz Sr. had
died in 1897.
Employees of the Kuntz brewery in 1894. I suspect one of the mustacheo’d gentlemen may be Louis, but I’m not sure which one.
By the time of the First World War, the Kuntz Brewery was selling 90,000 barrels of beer every year and, in Ontario, was second in popularity only to Toronto’s O’Keefe brew. The Kuntz family also owned hotels including the Alexandra House in Waterloo, and the Opera House in Hamilton. After years of prohibition, the Kuntz family was dealt a fatal blow when the federal government won a tax suit valued at $200,000. By October, Toronto’s beer magnate E.P. Taylor took control of the million dollar plant for the price of simply paying the suit. In 1936, Carling Breweries Ltd. of London, Ontario joined Kuntz, calling the business Carling-Kuntz Brewery Ltd. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the name Kuntz was dropped for sounding “too German” along with the well-loved brews Culmbacher, Bohemian and Olde German Lager. In the mid-1970s it became Carling O’Keefe and a few years later the business was sold to Labatt Breweries of London.
The Labatt brewery in Waterloo was demolished in 1993, but the Kuntz beer that started out in an old washtub, will be remembered by some as “the beer that made Waterloo famous.”
And this account, written in 2016, is by Rych Mills for the Waterloo Region Record:
No one alive can remember the taste of “Old German Lager” from Kuntz Spring Brewery (I don’t mean the 1988 re-brew by Labatt). Nonetheless, Kuntz fascination continues and its ephemera are fervently sought by brewerianists — collectors of brewery items.
In the 1830s, while still a teenager, David Kuntz came with older brother Jacob from the German Duchy of Nassau. After a few years working as coopers in Doon, they moved north to slightly larger Waterloo, which boasted maybe 200 inhabitants.
A much-quoted anecdote says David made the bricks that helped build his first brewery; made the barrels that contained the beer; and made the wheelbarrow that helped him deliver the beer.
David and Jacob’s initial brewing began around mid-century on Princess Street at the rear of Wilhelm Rebscher’s original Waterloo brewery (now the Huether Hotel site). They next built a small malting building near Erb and Queen (later renamed Regina) behind Bowman’s Hotel. Then, in the early 1860s, the brothers began constructing a full brewery at King and William streets. A fine flowing spring lured them to that corner and by 1865 the new brewery was in full production using hops and barley the brothers grew themselves. They named it Kuntz Spring Brewery. Jacob Kuntz soon expanded the Kuntz brewing empire; he moved to Carlsruhe, opened Lion Brewery and thus helped to begin Bruce County’s brewing industry.
David Kuntz seems the type of entrepreneur who is never fulfilled. In 1870, aged 50, he turned the business over to son Louis who renamed it L. Kuntz Park Brewery, using the decorative green space in front of the brewery as the company’s trademark. In the meantime, David briefly moved to Hamilton to set up son Henry’s Dominion Brewery.
Returning to Waterloo, David kept busy. He served on council during 1876 when the village became a town and erected a modern hotel, the Alexandra House, kitty-corner from the brewery.
Louis Kuntz died, aged 39, following an appendectomy in 1891. His children were still young so brother-in-law Frank Bauer, also a brewer, took over. Then David Kuntz died in 1892. Bauer’s own 1895 passing began an almost unbelievable sequence of deaths in the brewery’s management. However, business success continued and in 1910 David Kuntz Jr., Louis’ son, took over. He also died young, 38, in 1915 so his two brothers, Herbert and William stepped in.
The First World War, Prohibition and a huge 1929 lawsuit loss resulted in the Kuntz name starting to fade from the brewing business.
E.P. Taylor bought the struggling firm in 1929, wrapping it into his brewing empire. During the Depression, the name changed from Kuntz Breweries to Kuntz-Carling to Carling-Kuntz and finally, during the Second World War, to just Carling. The brewing site at King and William later operated under the O’Keefe and Labatt banners.
What remains of the Kuntz legacy?
For nostalgists, highly collectible Kuntz beer trays, bottles, bottle caps, labels, advertising, Kuntz 1920s soft drink bottles, etc. Two Waterloo houses built by David are historically designated: the 1880 Kuntz-Eckert House at 156 King St. S. and the 1885 Kuntz-Labatt House at 167. In southeast Waterloo, Kuntz sounds echo daily through the neighbourhood — one of the 1902 bells at St. Louis Roman Catholic Church is a bequest from David’s will and is named Magdalena for his wife.
A myth surrounding the Kuntz early years claims streets such as Caroline, William, Mary and John were named after David’s children. A nice idea but those names appear on a map published in 1855 before all but two of the Kuntz children were born. In addition, David and Magdalena did not have children named William, Mary or John.
However, from the couple’s dozen-plus children, a large clan of Kuntz family members still lives in Waterloo Region. The Kuntz name in business carries on with Kuntz Electroplating (KEI) started in 1948 by Oscar Kuntz, son of David Jr. and great-grandson of David.