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Historic Beer Birthday: Jacob Hammel

February 10, 2025 By Jay Brooks

illinois-bc

Today is the birthday of Jacob Hammel (February 10, 1827-July 9, 1901). He was born in Rheinfalz, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1849, when he was 22. He initially settled in Ohio, but moved to Lebanon, Illinois where he started the Illinois Brewing Co. For health reasons, his son William moved to Sirocco, New Mexico, and his brother Gustav joined him and they founded Hammel Bros. & Co. But their father Jacob joined them when he was older, around 1888, and they renamed it the Illinois Brewing Co.

This obituary is from the American Brewers Journal five years after his death in 1901, in their “Five Years Ago” page in the 1906 edition.

Jacob-Hammel=Amer-Brewers-obit

This description of Hammel and his breweries’ histories

According to an oral history interview of Clarence Hammel by Helen Sickles, his grandfather Jakob Hammel emigrated from Bavaria ca. 1848 in company with (Eberhard) Anheuser and briefly considered forming a partnership with him in St. Louis, Missouri. The two men were evading conscription into the army before the War of 1849. They separated, and Anheuser established E. Anheuser & Co. (later Anheuser-Busch) in 1860 in St. Louis, Missouri, while Hammel set up the Illinois Brewing Co. (also called Illinois Brewery Co.) ca. 1870 in Lebanon, Illinois. Jakob’s son, William Hammel, was born in 1857 and migrated as a young adult to Socorro in 1882. Like many other newcomers he traveled west on a doctor’s recommendation to find a cleaner and healthier environment. He set up a warehouse and imported beer from Illinois until 1886 when he bought property from Pedro Montoya and started a brewery housed in adobe buildings. In 1904 the Illinois Brewery Co. moved into a new stone building which is now known as the Hammel Museum. The product was a lager beer with the label, Export, later changed to Select. The brewmaster was Francis Eppele.

In 1919 the Volstead Act (18th Amendment) put an end to the brewing operation, and the company continued for almost half a century as an ice house and bottling plant. The company had a very early franchise for Pepsi-Cola to which it added Orange Crush, Dr. Pepper, and Grapette. The growing number of home electric refrigerators eventually reduced the demand for ice to an unprofitable level and the business closed in 1969. Ownership was transferred to the Socorro County Historical Society.

Hammel-Brewery-1902-04
The New Mexico brewery around 1902-04.

And this is from “100 Years of Brewing.”

Illinois-Brewing-100yrs
beer___ice_edited
Illinois-Brewing-Socorro-NM-Tray
Illinois-Export-Beer

Filed Under: Birthdays, Breweries, Just For Fun Tagged With: Germany, History, Illinois, New Mexico

New Mexico Beer

January 6, 2011 By Jay Brooks

new_mexico
Today in 1912, New Mexico became the 47th state.

New Mexico
State_NewMexico

New Mexico Breweries

  • Abbey Beverage
  • Assets Grill & Brewing
  • Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery
  • Bohemian Brewery
  • Cazuela’s Mexican Grill & Brewery
  • Chama River Brewery
  • Comanche Creek Brewing
  • De La Vega’s Pecan Grill
  • Dirty Dog Brewing
  • Eddie McStiff’s
  • Embudo Station
  • Eske’s Brew Pub
  • Hellenbrick Brewery
  • High Desert Brewing
  • Il Vicino Brewery
  • Kelly’s Brewpub
  • La Cumbre Brewing
  • Marble Brewery
  • Mimbres Valley Brewing / Deming Brew
  • Nexus Brewing
  • Rio Grande / Sierra Blanca Brewing
  • Santa Fe Brewing
  • Second Street Brewery
  • Silver City Brewing
  • Socorro Springs Brewing
  • Three Rivers Brewery
  • Tractor Brewing
  • Turtle Mountain Brewing
  • The Wellhead Brewpub

New Mexico Brewery Guides

  • Beer Advocate
  • Beer Me
  • Rate Beer

Guild: New Mexico Association of Small Brewers

State Agency: New Mexico Alcohol and Gaming Division

maps-nm

  • Capital: Santa Fe
  • Largest Cities: Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho, Roswell
  • Population: 1,819,046; 36th
  • Area: 121593 sq.mi., 5th
  • Nickname: Land of Enchantment
  • Statehood: 47th, January 6, 1912

m-new-mexico

  • Alcohol Legalized: June 9, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 21
  • Rank: 24th
  • Beer Production: 1,584,745
  • Production Rank: 35th
  • Beer Per Capita: 30.9 Gallons

new-mexico

Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 38.4%
  • Cans: 56.6%
  • Kegs: 4.9%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.41
  • Per Case: $0.92
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $12.71
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $12.71

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $38,934,311
  • Direct Impact: $359,750,948
  • Supplier Impact: $252,384,829
  • Induced Economic Impact: $219,847,060
  • Total Impact: $831,982,837

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: 7 a.m.–2 a.m., except Sundays, for establishments with full dispenser license. / 7 a.m.–11 p.m., except Sundays, for restaurants with beer and wine license.
    Off Premises: 7 a.m.–12 a.m. except Sundays
  • Grocery Store Sales: Yes
  • Notes: New Mexico issues two types of license for consumption on-premise: a full dispenser license allowing sale of all types of alcohol, or a restaurant license permitting sale of beer and wine only. An additional Sunday permit is available which allows sale (on and/or off premise) on Sundays from noon until midnight. Exceptions are the prohibition of alcohol sale on Christmas, regardless of the day it falls on, and a Sunday permit allowing of sale (on and/or off premise) until 2:00 a.m. January 1, if December 31 falls on a Sunday. Sunday permits are only available where approved by voters within a local option district. Selling, serving and giving alcohol to a minor is a class 4 felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison.

new-mexico-map

Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.

Filed Under: Beers, Breweries Tagged With: New Mexico

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