Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Historic Beer Birthday: Gottlieb Muhlhauser

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lion-brewery-ohio
Today is the birthday of Gottlieb Muhlhauser (January 24, 1836-February 9, 1905), who co-founded the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. He had two partners in the venture, his brother-in-law Conrad Windisch and his brother Heinrich Muhlhauser.

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Here’s a short biography from Find a Grave:

Beer Baron. A native of Muggendorf, Bavaria in Germany, he came to America in 1840 with his father, Frederick Muhlhauser, and settled on a farm near Portsmouth, Ohio. They moved to Cincinnati in 1845. After his father’s death in 1849 when he was 13 years old, he assumed the responsibility of the family as the oldest child and left school to work at a pottery. He then entered the mineral water business and became the plant’s foreman in 1852 when he was 16 years old. Muhlhauser went into the same business for himself in 1854. Business was very successful and he branched out to Chillicothe in 1855 and to Hamilton, Ohio in 1857. He also was married in 1857, to Christina Windisch, the sister of his future business partner. In 1858, he erected a mill for crushing malt and another for steam flouring with the aid of his brother, Henry Muhlhauser. During the Civil War, he supplied flour to the Union Army and the Cincinnati Home Guard. Around this time he suffered from a gunshot wound, but it was not severe enough to keep him from operating his businesses. In 1866, he organized the Lion Brewery with his brother Henry and his brother-in-law, Conrad Windisch. The million dollar beer company became the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Company in 1882 and Muhlhauser was the president and general manager. He died in 1905 in Cincinnati when he was 69 years old.

And this is him in another portrait, when he was a little older.

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Their brewery became known as the “Lion Brewery” because of the two lions that rested atop the brewery’s gables and many of their beer names used a lion in the name and on the labels.

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The History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio has a short history of the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Company:

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Paired Creation also has a history of the brewery.

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A label from Lion Lager (date unknown).

Historic Beer Birthday: Rudolph Rheinboldt

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Today is the birthday of Rudolph Rheinboldt (December 27, 1827-October 30, 1916). He was born in Germany, came to Cincinnati, Ohio, and was involved with helping to found what would become the John Kaufman Brewing Co., though for a short time, from 1856-58, it was known as the John Kaufman Rudolph Rheinboldt Brewery. It’s possible he was related to Kaufman, though it’s unclear how, although Rheinboldt did marry Magdalena Kauffman in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 13, 1859, when he was 31 years old.

Kauffman-brewery-letterheadHere’s the letterhead from the John Kauffman Brewing Co.

Since he appears to have been involved for only a short time, I was unable to find very much about him, no photos, and almost nothing after he left the brewing industry.

Here’s part of the John Kaufman Brewing Co. that involves Rheinboldt, from Cincinnati Brewing History:

In 1856 John Kauffman, George F. Eichenlaub, and Rudolf Rheinboldt purchased the Franklin Brewery on Lebanon Road near the Deer Creek from Kauffman’s aunt. Her husband, John Kauffman, estabished the brewery in 1844. He died in 1845. In 1859 under the name Kauffman and Company, they began to build a new brewery on Vine Street and soon left the Deer Creek location. The first structure on Vine was completed in 1860.

In 1871 the Kauffman Brewery was the city’s fourth largest with sales amounting to $30,930. It was located on both the west and east sides of Vine north of Liberty and south of Green Street.

In 1860 Kauffman also bought the Schneider grist mill on Walnut Street near Hamilton Road (McMicken Avenue), but leased it out before long to another company.

In its first year on Vine Street, the brewery produced only about 1000 barrels. By 1877 the number grew to 50,000 barrels of beer. Kauffman’s beer was sold in Nashville, Montgomery, Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans.

In 1865 Eichenlaub retired from the business and he was followed by Rheinboldt in 1877. John Kauffman then took over the leadership by himself. After his oldest son Johnn studied brewing in Augsburg, Germany, he went to work at the family brewery. Emil Schmidt, Kauffman’s son-in-law, was superintendent by 1877.

In 1882 the brewery was incorporated as the John Kauffman Brewing Company with a paid-in capital stock of $700,000. In 1888 the brewery building at 1622 Vine was enlarged. Note it is occupied by the Schuerman Company today. The office and family residence was at 1625-27 Vine, which was razed and replaced about 75 years ago.

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Historic Beer Birthday: Simon Fishel

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Today is the birthday of Simon Fishel (December 14,1846-January 31, 1917). He was born in Bohemia, came to the United States, and was married to Rosa Zucker (also originally from Bohemia) in 1870. In 1892, Wenzl Medlin founded the Bohemian Brewery and hired Fishel to manage it. Three years later, Fishel bought it from Medlin, who stayed on as brewmaster. A few years later, in 1904, he renamed it the Fishel Brewing Co. In 1907, his brewery became part of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Co. and Fishel became the conglomerate’s manager, and then president.

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Here’s a short biography of Fishel from Brewing in Cleveland, by Robert A. Musson:

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Here’s Fishel’s obituary from the American Brewers Journal:

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The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History also has a short history of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Corporation:

The CLEVELAND-SANDUSKY BREWING CORP., known for many years as the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Co., was formed in 1897 through a merger of 11 northern Ohio breweries. These included the Cleveland firms of Baehr, Barrett, Bohemian, Cleveland, Columbia, Gehring, Phoenix (later Baehr-Phoenix), Star, and Union breweries; and the recently consolidated Kuebeler-Stang breweries of Sandusky. The Baehr, Barrett, and Union breweries were closed shortly after the merger, while 3 others were added to the chain: Schlather (1902) and Fishel (1907) in Cleveland, and the Lorain brewery (1905) in Lorain, OH. The oldest of the Cleveland & Sandusky breweries, Gehring and Schlather, had been established in the 1850s by Chas. E. Gehring and Leonard Schlather. The first president of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Co. was Frederick W. Gehring. The company’s general offices were in the American Trust Bldg. on PUBLIC SQUARE. ERNST MUELLER†, founder of the Cleveland Brewing Co., successfully served as president of Cleveland-Sandusky in its formative years (1898-1907). Mueller left in 1907 after a dispute arising from his opposition to the purchase of the Fishel Brewing Co., and then founded a new firm, the CLEVELAND HOME BREWING COMPANY.

Most of the chain’s smaller breweries were closed over the years, so that of the company’s Cleveland plants only Gehring, Fishel, and Schlather remained by 1919. During Prohibition, the company manufactured carbonated beverages and near-beer at the Schlather bottling plant at 2600 Carroll Ave. After repeal, the only Cleveland brewery to reopen was Fishel, located at 2764 E. 55th St., which resumed production in July 1933, brewing Gold Bond and Crystal Rock beer and Old Timer’s ale into the 1960s. In Sandusky, the Stang plant reopened but was closed in 1935 following a 2-month strike. Oscar J. Fishel headed the company during this turbulent decade but resigned in 1940 after a proposal to sell the brewery’s assets to the Brewing Corp. of America was defeated by stockholders. Following 3 successive years of losses, Marvin Bilsky became president of the brewery in 1956. Bilsky’s aggressive advertising and merchandising–in 1958 Cleveland-Sandusky became the first brewery in the nation to toast its malt, and in 1959 it introduced the throwaway bottle–were not enough to reverse the company’s fortunes, however. The Cleveland-Sandusky Brewing Corp., as it was last known, closed in the mid-1960s.

One of Cleveland & Sandusky Breweries’ most popular and enduring beers was Gold Bond Lager Beer. The beer was originally created by Fishel as $500 Gold Bond Beer, which was a reference to a promise on the label that Fishel would pay anyone $500 if they could prove that his statement about the ingredients used in the beer were false. Those ingredients included “choicest Barley, Malt, East India Rice and selected Hops. As for what it didn’t contain, there was “No Glucose, Grape Sugar nor injurious substances.”

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The beer came with Fishel to the Cleveland & Sandusky and continued as one of their most popular beers, too.

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At some point they dropped the $500 from the name and it became “Gold Bond Beer.”

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It continued well after Fishel’s death in 1917 and after prohibition and at least into the late 1950s, though they dropped the promise and just kept the name Gold Bond. The Cleveland & Sandusky Breweries closed some time in the 1960s.

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Historic Beer Birthday: John H. Foss

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Today is the birthday of John Henry Foss (November 30, 1859-December 13, 1912). He was the son of Henry Foss, who in 1867 became involved with the Louis Schneider Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio, eventually becoming a partner. It was later known as the Foss-Schneider Brewing Co. When his father passed away in 1879, John H. Foss stepped into his father’s role as co-owner of the company and was also president of the brewery. The brewery closed during prohibition, but reopened when it was repealed in 1933, though closed for good in 1939.

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This biography is from the “History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio: Their Past and Present,” published in 1894:

John H. Foss, president of the Foss-Schneider Brewing Company, is the eldest son of the late John Henry and Adelaide (Te Veluwe) Foss. He was born in Cincinnati, November 30,1859, received his education at. Xavier College, and became the junior partner of the firm of Foss & Schneider in 1879. In 1883 he made an extensive tour, inspecting many of the greatest breweries of Europe, and obtaining ideas there from that have proved of incalculable benefit in his management of the business of his company. Upon his return from Europe, and the incorporation of the business in 1884, he was elected its secretary and treasurer, in 1890 becoming its president. On November 4, 1885, Mr. Foss was married to Katherine Marie, daughter of B. H. Moorman, a retired merchant and capitalist of Cincinnati. She died May 15, 1893, leaving two children, Adele and Robert. The foundation of the Foss-Schneider Brewing Company was laid in 1849 when Louis Schneider transformed his little cooper shop on Augusta street into a brewery. The new industry thrived, and became known as the Queen City Brewery. Soon a removal to more commodious quarters was necessitated. In 1863 new buildings were erected on the site of the present plant on Fillmore street. Four years later Mr. Schneider, on account of ill-health, sold out to Foss, Schneider and Brenner, the son, Peter W. Schneider, taking up the burden of active interest in the business laid down by the father. In 1877 Mr. Foss purchased the interest of Mr. Brenner.

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The business was then continued under the name of Foss & Schneider until the death of John Henry Foss, August 13, 1879, when his interest became the property of his widow and her eldest son, John H. Foss, P. W. Schneider still retaining his interest. In 1884 it was incorporated under the name of The Foss-Schneider Brewing Company. The year 1884 was one of annoyance and disaster to the young corporation. The flood which devastated the city that year undermined and caused the collapse of the malt house burdened with over sixty thousand bushels of malt. This calamity, however, caused no cessation of work, and, in spite of the disaster, the business of that year showed an advance over the preceding year. It was determined at this time, too, to erect an entirely new plant, and in less than one year the Foss-Schneider Company was installed in one of the finest and most completely equipped brewery structures in the country. The product of this great establishment is celebrated, and finds a ready market throughout the United States and in many foreign lands, the annual output being 80,000 barrels.

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Here’s a short history of the brewery, from “100 Years of Brewing:”

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Historic Beer Birthday: Theodore Hollencamp

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Today is the birthday of Theodore Hollencamp (November 2, 1834-June 21, 1902). He was born in Hanover, Germany.

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This biography is from A Brief History of the Hollenkamp Family, by H. Robert Schoenberger:

Early Years in America: Theodore Hollencamp Sr. was born in November, 1834 in Hanover, Germany. He was the son of Henry H. and Kate (Gerling) Hollencamp.

At the age of 20 he came to America. For thirteen years, he resided in Cincinnati where he learned the brewery business. Eventually, he moved to Xenia where he continued in the brewery business with an uncle.

In 1870, he married Miss Anna Tepe in Cincinnati. She, likewise, was born in Hanover, Germany. It is interesting to note they knew each other while growing up in Hanover, but at that time there was no thought of marriage. They had six children, Anna, Elizabeth (Fr. Charles’s mother), Lena, Katie, Theodore (our “Co-Founder”), and Benjamin.

Brewery Business: The Xenia uncle died in 1871, and Theodore Sr. moved his family to Dayton where he worked in a brewery. In 1885, he and a John Aleschleger established a partnership, which was known as the Dayton Ale Brewery. This partnership was short-lived, and, two years later, Mr. Aleschleger’s position was assumed by a Henry Kramer. Eventually in July, 1885, he bought out this partner and became the sole owner of the brewery. Thus began the Hollencamp Brewing Co.

The plant was located at the corner of Brown and Hickory. Chiefly, ale and porter were produced, and the annual production was about 5,000 barrels, consumed mostly in Dayton.

An early article on Theodore Hollencamp Sr. described the family as “members of Emmanuel Catholic Church and standing well in the esteem of the community”. The article went further in describing Theodore Sr. as “having achieved a creditable success in business, having begun his life in Cincinnati without a dollar, and being now one of the solid capitalists of Dayton. He is broad-minded and open hearted, ever ready to give assistance to the needy and to aid all enterprises for the public good.” He was known as a staunch Democrat, but he never ran for public office.

On June 21, 1901 he passed away at the age of 66. All six of his children were living at the time of his death. Anna Tepe Hollencamp, his wife, lived until January 21, 1907 and was 64 at the time of her death.

His son, Theodore Jr., who we have lovingly called our “Co-Founder” when writing about this reunion, assumed the presidency of The Hollencamp Brewing Co. upon the death of his father in 1901. He was only 19.

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And here’s another short biography:

Theodore-Hollencamp-bio
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And this short biography is from Breweries of Dayton – A toast to brewers from the Gem City: 1810-1961:

Theodore was born to Henry H. and Kate (Gerling) Hollencamp in Hanover, Germany on November 2, 1834 At the age of twenty-four he came to the United States and lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, working at any odd jobs he could find, until he finally found a position in the brewery industry, and set out to learn the trade. After thirteen years he moved to Xenia, Ohio where he worked with his uncle in the brewery business. When his uncle passed away in 1871 Theodore decided to move on to Dayton.

In 1885 Theodore, along with his partner John F. Oehlschlager, established the Dayton Ale Brewery.

Theodore married Anna Tepe on November 22, 1870 in Cincinnati. They had six children. Theodore was a member of the Emanuel Catholic Church of Dayton, as well as a great supporter of the St. Joseph’s Orphanage.

Theodore passed away on June 21, 1902, leaving his wife to carry on the brewery business.

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And this about the brewery from the same source.

Dayton Ale Brewery
Hollencamp & Kramer Brewery
HoIlencamp Ale Brewing Company
Theodore Hollencamp and John F. Oehlschlager opened the Dayton Ale Brewery in 1885 at 816 South Brown Street, on the location of the old Ohio Brewery. The two-story plant had a 10,000-barrel capacity, which needed a fifteen horsepower engine to supply the enormus amount of power to run the equipment. There was also a separate bottling plant where they bottled their own products of ale and porter. Oehlschlager sold his share to Henry Kramer in 1888, using the profits to open the Gem City Ale House, a beer distributing center for Cincinnati Brewing Company and Xenia and Morrow Ales. Kramer stayed on for seven years before selling his shares of the business to his partner, Theodore Hollencamp. Kramer used the money to begin his own street sprinkling business. Theodore ran the business on his own until his death in 1902. His wife, Anna, took over that same year, changing the name of the company to Hollencamp Ale Brewing Company. The output of the plant was exclusively ale and porter, with the brewery producing about 5,000 barrels year.

From 1907 until prohibition the brewery was run by Theodore Hollencamp, Jr. The brewery stayed in business during prohibition by making soft drinks, cereal beverages (near beer) and ice.

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Beer Birthday: Ashley Routson

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Today is also the 32nd birthday of Ashley Routson, a.k.a. The Beer Wench. In addition to writing her own blog, Drink With the Wench, she also works for Green Flash Brewing. She’s a social media diva and girl about town, beer town that is. She certainly seems to be everywhere at once and if everyone had her energy for promoting good beer we’d be winning the war against bland, tasteless drinks. She also recently published The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer, though I haven’t gotten my review copy yet (hint, hint). Join me in wishing Ashley a very happy birthday.

Tweetup organizer Ashley, a.k.a. The Beer Wench, with Ron Lindenbusch, from Lagunitas
Ashley with Ron Lindenbusch at a Tweet-Up at Lagunitas a couple of years back.

Me and The Beer Wench
Me and Ashley at the same Tweet-Up.

Stephen Beaumont & Ashley a.k.a. The Beer Wench
Stephen Beaumont and Ashley at Triple Rock in Berkeley.

Justin Crossley & Ashley Routson
With Justin Crossley from the Brewing Network at the Celebrator Anniversary Party at Trumer at the end of SF Beer Week a few years ago.

Beer In Ads #1400: Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Co.

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Wednesday’s ad is for the Windisch-Muhlhauser Brewing Co., from some time in the late 1800s. The brewery was founded in 1866, in Cincinnati, by Conrad Windisch and Gottleib and Heinrich Muhlhauser, but was later known as the Lion Brewery and later the Burger Brewing Co., before closing in either 1934 or 1973, depending on whose account you believe.

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Taking Over America’s Taste Buds

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Today’s infographic, an overview of Craft Beer, Taking Over America’s Taste Buds, is not strictly about Ohio, but its creator, Molly Denning is from Columbus and created it as an Ohio State school project to be used in the Craft Beer Village at the Bunbury Music Festival, which begins today in Cincinnati.

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Click here to see the infographic full size.

Ohio Beer

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Today in 1803, Ohio became the 17th state.

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Ohio Breweries

Ohio Brewery Guides

Guild: Ohio Craft Brewers Association [no website]

State Agency: Division of Liquor Control

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  • Capital: Columbus
  • Largest Cities: Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron
  • Population: 11,353,140; 7th
  • Area: 44828 sq.mi., 34th
  • Nickname: Buckeye State
  • Statehood: 17th, March 1, 1803

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  • Alcohol Legalized: December 5, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 60
  • Rank: 9th
  • Beer Production: 8,671,658
  • Production Rank: 7th
  • Beer Per Capita: 23.4 Gallons

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Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 36.3%
  • Cans: 54%
  • Kegs: 9%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.18 ($0.16/gal. in Cuyahoga County)
  • Per Case: $0.41
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $5.56
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $5.58

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $1,555,415,429
  • Direct Impact: $3,566,617,431
  • Supplier Impact: $2,629,997,648
  • Induced Economic Impact: $1,569,465,065
  • Total Impact: $7,766,080,145

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: 5:30 a.m. – 2:30 a.m.
    Off Premises: 5:30 a.m. – 1 a.m.
  • Grocery Store Sales: Yes, under 21% abv
  • Notes: 12% ABV cap on beer. 21% ABV cap on wine. The Division of Liquor Control does not operate retail outlets; it appoints private businesses to act as its agents and sell its products in exchange for a commission. Normal proof spirits (>21% ABV) are sold only in a limited number of agent stores. Many retail outlets sell diluted spirits (diluted by water to 21% ABV) under a more readily obtained permit.

    No intoxicating liquor shall be handled by any person under twenty-one years of age, except that a person eighteen years of age or older employed by a permit holder may handle or sell beer or intoxicating liquor in sealed containers in connection with wholesale or retail sales, and any person nineteen years of age or older employed by a permit holder may handle intoxicating liquor in open containers when acting in the capacity of a server in a hotel, restaurant, club, or night club.

    Alcohol can be sold/given to people under the age of eighteen if given by a physician in the regular line of his practice or given for established religious purposes, or the underage person is accompanied by a parent, spouse who is not an underage person, or legal guardian.

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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.

For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.

Beer In Ads #320: Little Kings Mini Rocket Car

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Today in 1997, the Boston Beer Co. took possession of the Hudephol-Schoenling Brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio. One of their most well-known brands was Little Kings Cream Ale, so I found an ad for Little Kings from the early 1980s for Monday’s ad. It shows a scary-looking costumed Little King “introducing … The Little Kings Mini Rocket Car.” It was based on a real rocket car that the brewery sponsored, driven by Larry Nagel. Nagel has some nice reminiscing about the rocket car and even the brewery’s involvement in his Flickr gallery. Here’s his commentary for this ad:

Little Kings cream ale brewery sponsored my rocket car. Here is a picture of the promotional go kart, a mini replica of my rocket car they had built. Little Kings was a family owned brewery based in Cincinnati, OH and treated me like part of the family. Every year in Champaign, IL, a college town, they have Little Kings day. The bars open at 6am and people would belly up to the bar and have a bowl of cheerios with Little Kings instead of milk. I had the Pocket Rocket outside on display and when I went inside the bar, sitting there with all the kids eating his cereal drowned in beer, was Bill Schoenling, owner of Schoenling Brewing. I had a whole new respect for this man. Talk about staying in touch with your demographic.

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