Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer Birthday: Jeremy Cowan

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Today is Jeremy Cowan’s 57th birthday. Jeremy founded and owned Shmaltz Brewing, makers of He’Brew. Jeremy is a good friend and we’ve known one another since he first pitched He’Brew to me at BevMo many years ago (which is detailed in Jeremy’s memoir Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah). Jeremy used to split his time between San Francisco and New York, and so I would often see him at beer events somewhat frequently, but less so after he built a brick and mortar brewery in upstate New York. Although that’s now been sold, he’s also a co-owner of Alphabet City Brewing in New York, which keeps him busy, and I haven’t seen him in a while. More recently, he’s moved back to San Francisco, and I just saw him in Philadelphia a few days ago for CBC. Join me in wishing Jeremy a very happy birthday.

Jeremy at CBC in Philly this year at a “Class of ’96” event (breweries founded in 1996) at Barcade.
Jeremy and me at the Craft Brewers Conference in Minneapolis in 2022.
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Jeremy, with City Beer Store owner Craig Wathen at their original location.
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A few years ago at the Toronado for a He’Brew release party. From left: Alec Moss, recently retired from Half Moon Bay Brewing, Pete Slosberg, Jeremy, and Rodger Davis, when he was still with Drake’s Brewing.
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Jeremy with Rich Norgrove, with Bear Republic, at GABF in 2006.
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Me and Jeremy at the Bistro Double IPA Fest in 2009.
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Jeremy shortly after he launched the Shmaltz beers, before all the grey hairs set in. (Thanks to the anonymous source that sent me this photo.)
Ron Silberstein, Rich Norgrove and Jeremy at the Toronado.
Jesse Cutler, Jeremy and two original He’Brew employees along with Zak at Admiral Malting (photo courtesy of Jeremy).

Beer Birthday: Brenden Dobel

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Today is the 56th birthday of Brenden Dobel, who until recently was the head brewer at Thirsty Bear in San Francisco, but then briefly at 21st Amendment, before moving over to Almanac on Alameda. Brenden grew up in the Bay Area, but learned brewing in Bavaria, at Doemans. He also brewed at Reccow and Broken Drum, before coming to Thirsty Bear over ten years ago. Brenden’s a terrific guy to share a pint with and discuss arcane subjects like history or English literature. If he hadn’t found brewing, he most likely would have ended up a teacher, or perhaps a sailor. Please join me in wishing Brenden a very happy birthday.

Me and Brenden at the East Bay opening gala for the 2023 SF Beer Week.

Shaun O'Sullivan, from 21st Amendment, and Brendan Dobel, Thirsty Bear
With Shaun O’Sullivan at the SF Brewers Guild festival in 2010.
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Brenden at some old unknown event.
Lars Larson (Trumer) & Brendan Dobbel (Thirsty Bear)
With Trumer brewmaster Lars Larson at the Celebrator’s 22nd anniversary party in 2010.
Clockwise from Left: Rich Higgins, John Tucci, Brenden Dobbel & Aron Deorsey with the 4 bottles of dessert
Clockwise from Left: Rich Higgins, John Tucci, Brenden & Aron Deorsey with our 4 bottles of dessert at a Sierra Nevada beer dinner after beer camp a few years ago where we made a beer for SF Beer Week.

Historic Beer Birthday: Otto Schinkel Jr.

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Today is the birthday of Otto Schinkel Jr. (April 9, 1869-January 26, 1907). While Anchor Brewing began during the California Gold Rush when Gottlieb Brekle arrived from Germany and began brewing in San Francisco, it didn’t become known as Anchor Brewing until 1896, when “Ernst F. Baruth and his son-in-law, Otto Schinkel, Jr., bought the old brewery on Pacific Avenue and named it Anchor. The brewery burned down in the fires that followed the 1906 earthquake, but was rebuilt at a different location in 1907.” Baruth had passed away the same year as the earthquake, and Schinkel died in an accident in early 1907 when struck by a streetcar in San Francisco.

Surprisingly, there isn’t much biographical information about Schinkel. He was born somewhere in Germany, and married Ida Caroline Baruth on November 26, 1890. She was born in California, sometime in July of 1873. They had three children together, all daughters: Elsie, Alice and Doris.

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I did discover that he was a president of the Norddeutscher Verein (or North German Association) four times as noted in this portrait from a book celebrating the organization’s 25th anniversary, or Silver Anniversary 1874-1899.

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The Anchor Brewery in the early 1900s.

Here’s what’s written about him at Find a Grave:

Anchor Beer began during the Gold Rush when Gottlieb Brekle arrived from Germany and began brewing in San Francisco. In 1896, Ernst F. Baruth and his son-in-law, Otto Schinkel, Jr., bought the brewery and named it Anchor. The brewery burned down in the fires that followed the 1906 earthquake, but was rebuilt at a different location in 1907.

“Killed by a Bryant street car just below Twentieth street shortly after noon yesterday as he was attempting to take a seat on the open side of the vehicle. The sudden starting of the car is alleged to have caused him to fall directly in front of the moving vehicle.

“The first wheel crossed his chest and the heavy trucks crushed his skull before Motorman J. N. Swope could stop the car. Motorman, conductor and passengers jumped to the man’s aid. By main strenght they lifted the car. He was already dead, however, and terribly mangled.

“A brother J. H. Schinkel, was standing on the corner, less than fifty feet away, and saw the accident. He ran frantically to the scene and with his own hands dragged the form of his brother from under the car. J. N. Swope, the motorman, was arrested and charged with manslaughter. He was later released on $50 cash bail furnished by the railroad company.

“Otto Schinkel was a prominent German brewer of the city. He was the owner of the Anchor Brewery, located at North Beach before the fire and now being rebuilt at Eighteenth and Hampshire streets. He was a member of the Norddeustcher Verein, Norddeutsche Schutzen Verein, Schleswig-Holstein Society, Golden Gate Aerie of Eagles, Red Men and the Brewers Association. He was thirty-nine years old and had been very prominent in German-American circles for many years. He leaves a widow and two children. A checkbook found in his pocket showed that he had $40,000 on deposit in the Citizens National Bank.”

[Note: Find a Grave lists his birth year as 1849, while every other source I found says 1869.]

Historic Beer Birthday: Karl Frederick Schuster

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Today is the birthday of Karl Frederick Schuster (April 2, 1890-November 4, 1976). He was born into a brewing family, and worked in several Bay Area breweries until prohibition, during which time he continued working with beer people though making cereal products. When prohibition ended, he was named president of Acme Breweries.

Brewery Gems has the only biography of Schuster I could find, written by Gary Flynn:

Our subject’s grand-father, Frederick Schuster emigrated from the Alsace upon hearing of the California gold rush and made his way to the placer mines in Plumas County.

In the early 1850s he started a family and failing to strike it rich, he established a small steam beer plant, one of the first in California. The Pacific Coast Directory for 1867 lists the La Porte Brewery, F. Schuster, proprietor. When the placer mines played out Frederick relocated to San Francisco, and in 1870 he purchased the American Railroad Brewery. When Frederick died, his son Frederick Paul Schuster took control of the Brewery, and in 1902 he merged it with the Union Brewing & Malting Company. The American Railroad branch of the new company operated for two more years, and was then closed. Frederick became the vice president of the Union Brewery.

Frederick Paul’s son, Karl F. Schuster, continued the family tradition in brewing. In 1908 he started as an apprentice, drawing his first pay check from the Union Brewery, which had abandoned the manufacture of steam beer and entered the lager beer field in 1903. While Karl was learning all aspects of the trade, the brewing industry in San Francisco was undergoing many changes – in part from the effects of the ’06 earthquake, but also from the influx of brewers escaping early Prohibition in their home states.

….

Karl Schuster remained president of Acme Breweries until it was sold in January 1954. He died in November 4, 1976.

Here’s his obituary, from the San Francisco Chronicle on November 6, 1976:

You can read the rest of the Biography of Karl Frederick Schuster at Brewery Gems.

And here’s another obituary from the San Francisco Examiner:

Beer In Ads #5196: Bock Beer & Baseball, Both Here — That’s All!

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Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Tuesday’s first ad is for Tacoma Bock Beer, which was published on March 31, 1917. This one was for the Pacific Brewing & Malting Co., which was founded in 1897 in Tacoma, Washington. They also had a location in San Jose, California that was founded as the Krahenburg & Co., or Fredricksburg Brewery, in 1872, but apparently was bought by the Tacoma brewery who called by their own name from 1933-1951. But the ad below lists San Francisco, California, not just in the ad but San Francisco is printed on the bottle depicted in the ad, as well, so perhaps they had a facility in the city there. This ad has one of my favorite text blurbs from any ad: “Buck up, man! ‘Now is the Winter of our discontent made glorious’ by Spring’s greatest teams — Bock Beer and Baseball.” This ad ran in The Bulletin, also of San Francisco, California.

Beer Birthday: Dick Cantwell

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Today is Dick Cantwell’s 69th birthday. He’s the former head brewer and co-founder of Elysian Brewing in Seattle, Washington. In addition to brewing, Dick’s a great writer, too, and his work frequently appears in numerous beer magazines. Cantwell’s the co-author of Barley Wine and Wood & Beer: A Brewer’s Guide, with Peter Bouckaert, formerly of New Belgium Brewing, and more recently Brewing Eclectic IPA. He was also on the BA’s board of directors and headed both the Communications and Pipeline committees and worked for a time as the BA’s Quality Ambassador. More recently, he was brewing with Magnolia in San Francisco, but he’s retired to a new home in my neck of the woods in Sonoma County and built his own garage brewery. Join me in wishing Dick a very happy birthday.

With Kim Jordan at the Firestone Walker Invitational in 2023.
With me, Vinnie Cilurzo, Jeremy Cowan and Natalie Cilurzo, at the Bistro Double IPA Festival in 2023.
At New Belgium’s airport taproom in Denver after GABF judging in 2022.
At an impromptu lunch at Russian River in 2025.
Award-winning Portland beer writer Lisa Morrison and Dick at an Elysian event during OBF.
Dick, with an English volunteer, and Sam Calagione, from Dogfish Head Brewing in Delaware, enjoying themselves at the Elysian Booth during the Alaska Barleywine Festival in 2008.
Enjoying a pint at the Falling Rock in Denver with Portland Brewing co-founder Fred Bowman during GABF week.


Beer Birthday: Rich Higgins

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Today is the 47th birthday of Rich Higgins, who wore many hats in the San Francisco beer scene. He left his job as the brewmaster at San Francisco’s Social Kitchen & Brewery several years ago, and was also the President of the San Francisco Brewers Guild and Director of SF Beer Week for a time. He’s currently focusing his attention on his consulting, Rich Higgins Consultant à la Bière, and most recently had been brewing at San Francisco’s Bon Marché Brasserie & Bar, but it closed last year after a short run. Rich was for quite some time also one of only six people to have earned the title “Master Cicerone.” I’d gotten to know Rich working on SF Beer Week over the last few years, and he’s a great person, as well as a terrific brewer. I’ve haven’t run into Rich lately, since he moved to Montana. Join me in wishing Rich a very happy birthday.

Rich, me and Hop-Meisters hop farmer Marty Kuchinski on the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien..
Rich Higgins at the Social Kitchen Brewery
Rich at the Social Kitchen Brewery.
Dave McLean & Rich Higgins at Magnolia
Dave McLean owner of Magnolia, and Rich, at the brewpub during SF Beer Week several years ago.
Clockwise from Left: Rich Higgins, John Tucci, Brenden Dobbel & Aron Deorsey with the 4 bottles of dessert
Rich, John Tucci, Brenden Dobbel & Aron Deorsey with 4 bottles of dessert at the end of a Sierra Nevada beer dinner in Chico several Decembers back.

Historic Beer Birthday: John Christoph Wunder

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Today is the birthday of John Christoph Wunder (March 24, 1855-February 11, 1929). He was born in Streitberg, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1872, when he was 17, settling in Minneapolis Minnesota. Ten years later he became naturalized as a citizen. He worked as a liquor agent, and eventually opened his own saloon in 1887.

Here, Tavern Trove picks up the story:

In 1884 he was an agent for a liquor dealer in that city. By 1887 Wunder had his own saloon. In 1895 Wunder, along with Charles H. Sievers of Minneapolis, John G. Hinkle of St. Paul, William Bryler of St. Louis, and C. F. Kessler of San Diego together capitalized the San Diego Brewery of California. He left that partnership in 1898 to purchase the Bavarian Brewery in San Francisco, whereupon he renamed it the Wunder Brewery. He phased out its flagship Bavaria Lager Beer in favor of his own Wunder Beer. He continued to run the brewery until it was merged into the Union Brewery syndicate. The brewery closed in 1909 and Wunder retired in Germany.

Wunder brewery employees in 1894.

The Bavarian Brewery had been founded by Philip Frauenholz in 1852 at Vallejo & Green Streets in San Francisco, but later moved to Greenwich & Scott Streets. After buying the brewery in 1898, Wunder renamed it the Wunder Brewing Co. and it remained that until he closed in 1909. Somebody reopened it, sort of, under the name Wunder Beverages in 1930 at 830 Isabella Street and ran that until 1955.

Two years after retiring to Germany, Wunder passed away in December of 1928 when he was 73 years old. This short obituary is from the Oakland Tribune on December 20, 1928:

San Francisco, c. 1898.

Historic Beer Birthday: Frederick “Fritz” Brekle

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Today is the birthday of Frederick “Fritz” Brekle [sometimes spelled “Breckle”] (March 5, 1849-July 30, 1897). I can find almost nothing about Brekle, apart from he was born in Wurttemberg, Germany, and he opened the Frederick Brekle Brewery in 1896, but it closed shortly thereafter, when he became ill, and he died the next year, in 1897. It was located at Point Lobos Road and Boice (or Boyce) Street.

After his father Carl Gottlieb “George” died in 1888 he took over operations of his Golden City Brewery in San Francisco. He ran that brewery for only about nine years, at which point he he died in 1897 at age 49 years. The brewery then became know as the Anchor Brewing Co. starting in 1896.

Dave Burkhart, in his book, “The Anchor Story,” has some more information on Fritz:

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San Francisco in 1897.
Anchor at one point made a beer in Brekle’s honor.

Historic Beer Birthday: Anthony Durkin

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Today is not necessarily the birthday of Anthony Durkin (March 1831-January 15, 1868), but all I could find is that he was born in March of 1868. Before the mid-1800s, record-keeping was spotty at best and only the well-heeled and royal consistently kept birth records. Durkin was born in Swinford, Ireland, in County Mayo. He was the oldest of five siblings. He married Margaret Elizabeth Moroney in early 1855 while still in Ireland and their first daughter was born late the the next year in San Francisco, so he made his way to San Francisco, California as a young man, sometime between January of 1855 and December 1856.

Durbin in 1857.

There’s not too much I could find about him, apart from this overview, from Brewery Gems.

In 1860, he established A. Durkin & Company, at 608-610 Mission St., for the purposes of brewing ale and porter. His two partners in the company were Charles M. Armstrong, a 35 year old Irish immigrant, and a German immigrant, Louis Luhden. In naming the brewery Anthony simply referenced its location, thus the Mission Street Brewery.

In their history of the Hibernia Brewery, there’s also this:

The first serious incident occurred on June 16th, 1861. The following account was reported by the Daily Alta California:
"A beautiful child, aged seven years, daughter of George Coffee, Boiler Inspector, fell into a vat of boiling beer in the Mission Street Brewery, last evening. A young man named Thomas Kennedy attempted to rescue the child and he also fell in. John McCabe, the cooper of the establishment, was severely scalded in his efforts to get them out. The child died almost immediately. Kennedy was taken to St. Mary's Hospital. He will probably die."
In spite of this tragic accident the business experienced steady growth and in 1863, in addition to its ale and porter, the brewery began producing lager beer. This wasn't lager in the traditional sense, but a lager peculiar to the San Francisco area called steam beer. It was made without refrigeration but with a bottom fermenting yeast. Another steam beer producer, and major competitor, was a company that also took their name from their location, the Broadway Brewery.
In 1864, Anthony severely injured his left arm, leaving him partially disabled, but he didn't quit brewing. Then in July of 1865, all that changed. The following is a newspaper account from the July 4th edition of the Daily Alta California:
"Anthony Durkin, the brewer who was disabled about a year since, by falling under a street car which fractured his left arm so that it was found necessary to perform the operation of excision of the elbow joint, met with another unfortunate accident while running to the fire with Engine Company No. 2, on Sunday morning. He tripped and fell while holding by the rope, and his arm, which had become in a measure useful again, went under the wheel of the engine, which crushed it into a shapeless mass, making what is termed by surgeons a 'compound comminuted fracture' of the worse description. Dr. Murphy, who is attending upon Mr. Durkin, has little hope of being able to avoid a full amputation this time."
As a consequence of the accident, Anthony sold his interest in the brewery to his partner, the month after the incident.
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