Gunther Brewing Company

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The Gunther Brewing Company was an American brewery in Baltimore . The history of the brewery began with the establishment of a predecessor brewery in 1876 and ended with its closure in 1978 . At the height of its success, the Gunther Brewing Company was the second largest brewery in Baltimore.

history

In 1878 George Gunther became a business partner of the entrepreneur Christian Gehl, who owned a Baltimore brewery founded in 1876 . This brewery had an approximate annual output of 3,900 barrels . In the following year the name of the brewery was changed to Gunther & Gehl Brewery - the annual output had risen to 6,850 barrels. In 1880 Gunther took over Gehl's shares.

In 1886 a new five-story brewery had to be built after a fire destroyed the old building. The architect in charge was Otto C. Wolfe, and the cost of the building was around 50,000 US dollars. As a result of the rebuilding, the company was equipped with the most modern machines for the time, including new ice machines for mechanical cooling of the beer.

In 1899 the brewery was taken over by the Maryland Brewing Company , which bought a total of 18 breweries (including, for example, the Globe Brewing Company and the National Brewing Company ) in Baltimore as part of a consolidation strategy. George Gunther received $ 900,000 for the sale of his brewery. Within this conglomerate, the Gunther Brewery was assigned the facilities of the National Brewery and BayView Brewery, which were also part of the Maryland Brewing Company. George Gunter was elected to serve as the executive director of the Maryland Brewing Company for a one year term. He contractually undertook not to operate in the beer market in Baltimore after he left the board.

Gunther bypassed this contract, however, and in March 1899 founded a brewery in the name of his son, the George Gunther Jr. Brewing Company on the corner of Conkling and Toone Streets. The responsible architect was again Otto C. Wolfe. This brewery had a production capacity of around 50,000 barrels per year and began operations on November 12, 1899. The Maryland Brewing Company successfully sued Gunther: she was awarded $ 100,000 in compensation. The Maryland Brewing Company's Gunther Brewery, which still existed, was closed.

In 1906 Frank H. Gunther, a son of Gunther, started working for the brewery. In the years that followed, the company expanded: a bottling plant (1909) and another four-story brewery (1910) were built, and the BayView Brewery next door, which is still owned by the Maryland Brewing Company (now Gottlieb-Bauernschmidt-Straus Brewing Company) found bought. Company founder George Gunther died on September 5, 1912.

In 1919, just before the beginning of Prohibition , the George Gunther Jr. Manufacturing Company was founded. This ensured the economic existence of the entire company during the prohibition with the production of strongly reduced alcoholic light beer ("near beer") and ice cream. It was closed on July 31, 1931.

With the end of Prohibition, the brewery was reopened on April 7, 1933 under the name Gunther's Brews Inc. It was one of two breweries in Baltimore that were allowed to start brewing immediately. In 1935 the name was changed to Gunther Brewing Company , the picture frame manufacturer White-Seidenman Company, which was located next door, was purchased and another five-story building was built.

The Gunther brewery continued to invest heavily in its expansion: in 1947 a new brewery and office building was built. In the years 1954–1959 alone, around 7 million US dollars were invested. Annual output had risen to 800,000 barrels by that time, making it the second largest brewery in Baltimore. At that time it had around 600 employees.

As part of its marketing activities, the Gunther Brewery sponsored the radio quiz "Quiz of Two Cities" (1930s and 40s), various local football and basketball teams and the Baltimore Orioles baseball team (1950s). Your advertising slogan was “What's the good word? Gunthers! ".

In 1957 the brewery bought the trademarks and rights of the Fort Pitt Brewing Company . 1959 Gunther beer was first offered in cans.

Despite the good market position in Baltimore, Gunther had to bow to the increasing competitive and cost pressure from national breweries. On January 1, 1960, the Gunther Brewing Company was bought by Theodore Hamm Brewing Company . In 1963 it was sold to the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company and finally closed in 1978.

Parts of the brewing complex have been demolished since the late 1970s. A part has been renovated and continues under the name "The Gunther".

In 2002, the remaining buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places .

swell

  1. ^ The Gunther , accessed June 7, 2015.