Lone Star Brewing Company

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The Lone Star Brewing Company was an American brewery in San Antonio .

history

The history of the Lone Star Brewery can be divided into two phases. In the first phase from 1884-1918 the first Lone Star Brewing Company was founded and managed by Adolphus Busch , in the second phase from 1940-1996 the name was imposed on another brewery after taking over the trademark rights.

Foundation of the first Lone Star brewery up to prohibition

The first brewery, called Lone Star, was founded on Jones Avenue in 1884 by beer magnate Adolphus Busch and some San Antonio businessmen. In addition to this brewery, Busch had two other breweries in Texas : American Brewing Company ( Houston , 1893-1918) and the Texas Brewing Company ( Fort Worth , 1890-1918). However, all three breweries operated independently of Busch's main business, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

In 1895 the Alamo Brewing Company , founded in 1874, was acquired and incorporated into the Lone Star Brewery. Busch marketed his beer under the name "Alamo Beer", alluding to the patriotic symbol of the Fort Alamo . Thanks to his entrepreneurial experience, Busch quickly achieved success: Alamo beer was distributed by car and rail throughout Texas and as far as California and Mexico . The brewery used an artesian well for water supply.

The brewery continued to be successful: by 1903 an annual output of 65,000 barrels had been achieved. With the beginning of Prohibition in Texas in 1918, the brewery was closed.

Establishment of the second Lone Star Brewing Company until the 1990s

In 1940, the George Muehlebach Brewing Company of Kansas City, Missouri, acquired the Champion Brewing Company on Simpson Street (now Lone Star Boulevard). The Champion Brewing Company was the product of a restructuring of the Sabinas Brewing Company , which was founded with the end of Prohibition in 1933. The George Muehlebach Brewing Company acquired the trademark rights to Lone Star Beer and renamed the Champion Brewing Company to Lone Star Brewing Company . On April 19, 1940, the product flagship "Lone Star Beer" was introduced, the annual output in that year was 39,000 barrels. On September 2, 1949, the Lone Star Brewing Company went public.

The first step towards expansion was taken in 1960: Progress Brewing Company ( Oklahoma City ) was acquired, but had to be closed again in 1971 for various economic reasons. In 1965 the brewery had an annual output of over one million barrels. Since the 1970s, Lone Star beer was marketed as "The National Beer of Texas".

Between 1976 and 1996 the Lone Star Brewing Company changed hands several times:

In 1976 the brewery was bought by the Olympia Brewing Company . This continued the production of Lone Star beer in San Antonio until the Lone Star Brewery was bought in 1983 by the G. Heileman Brewing Company . The annual output in 1981 was 1,500,000 barrels.

In 1996, Stroh Brewery Company took over Heileman and closed the San Antonio brewery. Lone Star beer production was relocated to Longview .

When parts of the Stroh Brewing Company were taken over by the Pabst Brewing Company in 1999 , the production of Lone Star beer was moved back to the Pearl Brewing Company in San Antonio. However, this was closed again after a year because its facilities were out of date. The production of Lone Star beer was given under license to the Miller Brewing Company in Fort Worth.

The former administration building of the Lone Star Brewing Company now houses the San Antonio Museum of Art .

In 2015, the Lone Star Brewing Company's brewery complex was sold to a company from Austin, Texas .

literature

  • David G. Moyer (2009), American Breweries of the Past , Bloomington (Indiana): AuthorHouse, pp. 58–59 (English)
  • Bill Yenne (2004), Great American Beers , St. Paul (Minnesota): MBI Publishing Company, pp. 60-69.

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