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[ABOVE] Proposed legal definition of a group of brewing industry experts belonging to several different US brewers' organizations and companies, suggested to Federal regulators in 1935.
"California Steam Beer...is not a lager beer inasmuch as the brew is run directly from the fermenter into the trade packages (barrels)...This beer is produced by bottom fermentation yeast and when drawn into the stein is very wild because of the high pressure developed in the barrel, the stein being nearly full with foam. This beer has been evidently brewed for this effect, the customers desiring thi particular foamy character."
--- BEER - From the Expert's Viewpoint
Arnold Spencer Wahl and Robert Wahl, 1937
Four of the above five post-Repeal "Steam Beers" had been brewed before Prohibition - "Ritz", from the same owners as "Old Joe's" seems to have been the exception.
Also, in the case of "Old Joe's", it had previously been a product of The Eagle Brewing Co., of San Jose, as noted in the group of ads [RIGHT], local competitor of San Jose's Garden City Brewing Co.
(A number of the announced steam beer brew- masters' former breweries are also noted in the NOTICE ad.)
After Repeal, "Old Joe's" was a label originally owned by the revived Garden City Brewing Co. of the same city - which may not have ever reached to point of brewing but bottled the beer brewed elsewhere - at first, by an unnamed San Francisco brewery. Later it came from San Jose's Fredericksburg Brewing Co., and then its successor after 1937, the Pacific Brewing and Malting Co, which appears to have eventually owned the brand.
All 5 were short-lived and would disappear before US's entry into WWII, with "Old Joe's" on the market the longest, from 1934 - 1937. Anchor, of course, continued (but not uninterrupted).
As illustrated by legal and industry definitions of "steam beer" [TOP] and this article, most brewers believed steam beer should be a draught-only product.
Due to the early Federal regulation changes which took effect in April, 1933 and which allowed only beer under 3.2 ABW before full Repeal in December, 1933 with the passage of the 21st Amendment, and, after that the California state regulations that prohibited draught beer over 3.2 alcohol by weight until the 1955, it can be assumed that the draught steam beers of North Star, Grace Bros. and Sonoma Valley were lower in the alcohol than many of the common pre-Pro steam beers.
The 2 Garden City brands, however, were bottled, although the actual alcohol content is unclear. One ad, from Oregon, claimed it was "6%" (perhaps ABV rather than the then-currently more common ABW) and another says "9%" - which would be unheard of for a US-brewed beer at the time. Likely that 9% refers to "Proof" - so, 4.5% ABV or 3.6% ABW.
Later, in 1935, North Star also bottled their steam beer contrary to the [BELOW LEFT] ad's claim "SOLD ONLY IN KEGS, AS REAL STEAM BEER HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOLD", according to at least one liquor store ad. The price of 4¢ a bottle (less than half of the normal bottle of beer from local/regional brewers), however, raises some suspicions.
THE NORTH STAR BREWERY, INC.
SAN FRANCISCO
The North Star Brewing Co. of San Francisco (3310 Army St). operated from 1897 - 1920 in the Pre-Pro era and re-opened under new ownership, as the North Star Brewery, Inc., after Repeal in a former warehouse at 188 Filbert St. at Sansome, as noted in the large ad [LEFT], closing soon after by 1936.
The former manager of a liquor wholesaler, and bitters manufacturer, E. M. Lind, and Henry Barner* organized the post-Repeal North Star in mid-1933, planning to open a new 150 bbl./day facility by July.
(* A Henry Behlmer was president of PP North Star but his 1944 obit mentions no connection to the post-Repeal company).
Originally Charles Cornell (or Cournale) managed the brewery, later replaced by H.F. Butts as the president and manager of the firm. The brewmaster was announced, first, as George Roehm (formerly of the Independent Brewing & Malting Co. of Oakland), and later as Gottlieb Woehrle (formerly of the California Brewing Co., S.F. and the Salinas Brewing Co. of that city in the Pre-Pro period), later replaced by R. Behimer. The company was re-organized in the 1935, with new investors.
In 1934, Butts, in a complaint to the city of SF over a water bill, would state the brewery had a $4,000 monthly payroll.
As was typical of pre-Pro steam beer brewers and advertised as such, North Star would initially produce draught beer only, but did invest in the then-new steel kegs.
In March of 1936, the State Controller's office would announce the pending sale of the company for non-payment of $2,400 in taxes.
Much of NORTH STAR's equipment would be used at the Red Bluff Brewing Co. (later- the United States Brewing Co.), in the town of the same name in 1936.
GRACE BROS. BREWING CO.
SANTA ROSA, CA
The extended Grace family owned numerous breweries in California, with Grace Bros. of Santa Rosa one of the longest running firms, existing from 1897 - 1920, 1933 - 1952 and, unusually, given a second post-Repeal existence from 1958 - 1969 (it's last two years, owned by L.A.'s Maier Brewing Co. - the original brewery owned by Paul Kalmanovitz).
As noted in the article and ads [RIGHT], in 1934 they announced a revival of their steam beer, Grace's Steam. In August, 1934, it was reportedly on tap at eight establishment in Santa Rosa, but does not appear to have lasted long.
In an extensive 1950 article on the brewery, president Tom Grace explained that California's post-Repeal laws which prohibited draught beer over 3.2 abw even after the higher alcohol content beer became legal on a Federal level in December, 1933 with the passage of the 21st Amendment. Because steam beer was typically available only in kegs and underwent a secondary fermentation in the keg, it was difficult for the brewer to keep the alcohol content under the legal limit "without a lot of trouble and expense"; according to Grace:
So, there isn't much steam left anymore. We made it for a long time, but it proved too much trouble in recent years - the alcoholic content is unstable, and the law now makes it almost impossible to produce."
Unclear in Grace's comment is whether he is talking only of the post-Repeal era and how long "a long time" meant for what the call Grace's Steam beer in one ad.
(During it's start-up period, North Star apparently also had problems with alcohol content).
PACIFIC BREWING & MALTING CO.
SAN JOSE, CA
[ABOVE] 1933 ad for a San Pedro distributor of the Garden City beers.
Later the beers would be brewed atthe re-opened Fredericksburg brewery also in San Jose, by brewmaster Louis Baumgartner. Geoffrey family history claims that their bottling facility also bottled the other Fredericksburg brands.
Note, too, that August's son Donald was a clerk at Pacific Brewing & Malting a the time.
Unlike most other steam beers, the Garden City beers were bottled beers.
Fredericksburg would be taken over and renamed the Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. by 1937, with Baumgartner remaining the brewer. Industry reports suggest at the time the brewery had no bottling line which had been sent to Sacramento (?) "a couple of years ago".
Later the two brands, based on numerous joint ads for other brands like Frederickburg and eventually their own ads, appear to have become the outright property of San Jose's Pacific Brewing and Malting Co., best known in the post-Repeal era for the resurrected Wieland's brand beer. PB&MCo. would also use the brand names for "non-steam" lager beers.
August Geoffroy would be an executive at PBMCo in the 1940s.
In the 1940 census his employment is "Wholesale salesman - Brewery" and in 1942 he listed his company as "Geoffroy Bros.", which appears to have been a bottling and beer distribution company, in which his brother George was also involved.
Bottled Old Joe's Steam Beer would be rather widely distributed - sold in Nevada, Arizona and Oregon as well as its home market of California. (see bottom of page for a series of Arizona ads).
[BELOW] A lone Oregon ad proclaims it a "6%" beer. If so, the same recipe would not have been sold in California as a draught beer. At 15¢ a bottle, it was more expensive than local and west coast regional brands, which typically sold for 10¢ or 2/25¢.
[ABOVE LEFT] Price for Fredericksburg, Old Joe's Steam and some other west coast brands - Arizona, 1935 By comparison national brands like Budweiser, Schlitz, Pabst and Miller were advertised for between $2.87 - 3.00.
The above ad for 22 oz. bottles of Old Joe's does not call it a "steam beer" possibly because the Federal limit was still 3.2 abw.
In 1933, one of the company's distributors, Surf City in Santa Cruz, would also advertise Old Joe's Real Beer and Ritz Extra Pale.
The latest ad for Old Joe's Steam Beer [RIGHT] in 1937 makes it the second longest-lived "steam beer", existing for at least 4 years after Repeal. As seen [LEFT] PBMCo would continue to use the "Old Joe" and "Ritz" brands for lager beers.
SONOMA VALLEY BREWING CORP.
SANTA ROSA, CA
Founded after Repeal in the same city where the Grace Bros. brewery was located, it was organized by Michael Hanahan and a number of other investors, including the first brewmaster and V.P., Dr. Maximillian A. Buchner.
The brewery's initial product, brewed in a temporary home in a former pickle factory, was "Buchner's Albany Steam", which Buchner claimed won a prize in 1900 at the Paris Exposition. (Buchner had been the brewmaster of the Albany brewery in San Francisco before Prohibition and his father had also been a Bay area brewmaster, at one time
brewing Wieland's Beer).
The first batch of SV's steam beer was available at the brewery and one local retail establishment on August 17, 1934.
A new recipe for steam beer was announced but the brewery apparently stopped operating and the company was tied up in court during the months of January and February. A Trustees Sale at Public Auction would occur in November 1938.
By December of 1934, Buchner would be fired, accused of financial mismanagement (buying lumber for a summer home in the Russian River area) and other brewery officers were sued by investors.
THE POST-REPEAL STEAM BEERS THAT NEVER WERE
&
THE ANNOUNCED STEAM BREWERIES THAT NEVER OPENED
MARCH, 1933 – In a wire story that went national, brewmaster Gunnar C. Tornberg announces that steam beer can be brewed to meet the new legal alcohol content limits then being discussed (3.05 or 3.2 abw) and stated his brewery was "all set" to begin brewing steam beer. He claimed that a "dozen years of research have shown him how to get high-pressure beer in a bottle and keep it there. In the old days, steam beer was sold only on draught. It was too lively to get in a bottle. "
Although the article did not mention it, the younger Tornberg was apparently associated with the former Eagle Brewing Co., about to begin brewing as El Rey Brewing Co. of San Francisco. (Fred "Fritz" Walter was El Rey's brewmaster, so the Tornberg likely held another position.)
Tornberg further stated that steam beer:
“(is) the purest beer made. Only malt and hops are used...
A lot of people didn’t seem to like it - but lots more did.”
Gunnar Tornberg, called the "son of the originator" of steam beer, was the son of Swedish-born, long-time San Francisco-area brewer Carl A. Tornberg who was dubiously credited with both the creation and naming of "steam beer" in 1870 by some sources in the post-Repeal period, supposedly, choosing "Steam Beer" over "Tornberg Beer".
Carl A. Tornberg and another SF brewmaster John Claasen had founded the Eagle Brewing Co. in San Francisco (Mission and Mohawk) in 1899. Previously Tornberg was one of the founders in 1897 of the North Star Brewing Co. (Army St.) Both were notable steam beer breweries.
In 1918 he was listed as owning a brewery operated under his own name at 428 Chestnut St., which brewed and bottled "ale" and "steam beer". His obituary in 1940 says he was operating the Consumers' Brewing and Bottling Co. of S.F. at Prohibition, retiring at the time. Some sources claim the latter two were the same brewery.
Two different post-Repeal California brewers would brew a beer called "Tornberg's Old German Beer" [RIGHT] in the 1930 - 1940s - El Rey, S.F. which also apparently canned it under the "Consumers Brewing Co. S.F." 'dba' as well as "North Bay Brewing Co.", in Santa Rosa, CA., a "dba" of Grace Bros. Unknown exactly what connection the brand had to the Tornberg family of brewers but Gunnar did operate a bottling firm in the year before Repeal, combining the names of two of his father's breweries, Consumers North Star Bottling Works, which bottled a near beer called Old German Style Brew.
When Carl's son, Johnny, won a yacht race it was announced that a picture of that boat would appear on the label of "his" Tornberg's beer, which one paper called his "Viking brew".
El Rey operated from 1933 - 1937, after which it became the Albion Brewing Co. after buying the trademarks of that famous pre-Pro California brewery. In 1941 it began using the Eagle Brewing Co. name until going out of business in 1942. No clear evidence of this firm brewing steam beer exists, although Albion was hinted at in Oregon's distributor's ad and the author of the recent book, The Los Angeles Sugar Ring states that El Rey brewed and marketed steam beer in the 1930s.
JUNE 1933 – Fred Frank announces plans to re-open the family's Grass Valley Brewery (founded in 1853 in Grass Valley, CA) aka Washington Brewing Co., to brew steam beer. The brewery had burnt down twice during its history and the winter before Repeal the existing brewery's roof "pancaked" due to heavy snows. The company would open the attached bar in June of 1933 at which time the local newspaper reported:
"Plans are underway to bring back the brewery department at
an early date and again serve the foaming steam beer, which was
one of the delights of this establishment."
Besides beer from the Grace Bros. brewery in Santa Rosa, the bar would also serve "Milwaukee beer" (likely beer from the "Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco Co.") and, in September feature Grace Bros. Dark Brew. By August it was announced dismantling of the damaged wooden sections of the brewery was complete, and new construction would start after Labor Day.
Lowy was actually, according to a full page ad for the El Rey Brewing Co. in mid-1933, their "consulting chemist" and operated a San Francisco-based brewing laboratory.
MAY 1933 – D. F. Tillman, owner of St. Helena brewery announces the re-opening of his brewery by June 1st, “steam beer will be manufactured exclusively”. No Federal Brewery Permit ever issued.
JUNE, 1933 – The El Rey Brewery (Mission St., San Francisco), in the brewery formerly operated as (Golden) Eagle, announces it will begin brewing steam beer, with lager beer added at a later date. Benno Lowy, referred to as El Rey's brewmaster was quoted as strongly suggesting it, noting that they were brewing a similar beer 3.2 beer called "Jung Beer" (German for "young") which was "half way between lager and steam".
Frank would die in April, 1935. No evidence the brewery ever re-opened and No Federal Brewery Permit ever issued.
SEPT 1933 - Head of the syndicate that owned El Rey Brewing Co., J.E. Preston, announces that brewing of steam beer was being postponed until Full Repeal of the Eighteen Amendment was enacted due to the higher alcohol content.
JAN 1934 – Rinaldo “Doc” Puccinelli (a notorious S.F. Bail bond broker and later head of the Pan-Pacific Fisheries) and partner Joe Van’s plans to brew steam beer ended after he is sued by a group of bottlers and a head bookkeeper.
MARCH 1934 – Claiming the entire beer output of the Yosemite Park Distillery and Brewing Co. in Oakdale has been sold and 100 barrels of steam beer will be brewed daily, J. J. Murphy VP. “The company will make only steam beer” and will have twice the capacity as Anchor in San Francisco. The brewery was managed by H. L. Hilbert, who operated a brewery in Vallejo in the pre-Pro era. (Fred Hilbert had previously announced plans to re-open the Vallejo in partnership with Frank Batt). No Federal Brewery Permit ever issued, distillery never opened.
A Yosemite Brewing Co. operated in Fresno from 1934 - 1939. Unclear if it was the same firm. No other evidence of a Yosemite Park brewery.
JANUARY - MARCH 1934 - J. Witzelberger, a local building contractor, announces the erecting of a brewery between Brown’s Corner and Woodland, CA. A Yolo Brewing Co. in Woodland is said to have existed only in 1934. No Federal Brewery Permit ever issued. Jack Witzelberger operated The Yolo-Colusa Beverage Co., a beer,wine and tobacco wholesaler, which distributed Old Joe Steam Beer. Witzelberger sold the distributorship in 1936.
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