Theodore Hamm Brewing Company

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Theodore Hamm Brewing Company logo.

The Hamm's Brewery is a former American Brewery in St. Paul .

history

Early years to the turn of the century

The predecessor of Theodore Hamm Brewing Company was founded in 1860 by Andrew F. Keller near Phalen Creek . This brewery, known as the Pittsburgh Brewery and Excelsior Brewery , was safely located over an artesian well . To finance the expansion of the brewery, Keller took out a loan from the German emigrant Theodore Hamm - the brewery acted as a pledge.

When the brewery went bankrupt in 1865, the brewery fell to Hamm. He ran it together with his wife Louise as Theodore Hamm Brewing Company (also Theodore Hamm Brewery ) and made Christopher Figg the new master brewer. At that time, Hamm was producing the products Excelsior, Preferred Stock, New Brew and Velvet - the annual output was around 500 barrels .

In 1886 Hamm's son William joined the company. At that time the brewery was already the second largest brewery in Minnesota, with an annual output of 40,000 barrels of beer . The brewery was officially registered in 1896: Theodore Hamm became the first president and his son William became vice-president.

Company founder Theodore Hamm died seven years after registration - his son William took over the management of the brewery together with his own son William Jr. William Figge, a relative of the company's first master brewer , became the new general manager and master brewer. In 1912 the annual output was already around 700,000 barrels.

Prohibition until the 1950s

During Prohibition , the brewery diversified into various product areas: low-alcohol light beer, soft drinks , syrups , ice cream , cigars , sardines and malt extract were produced. After the end of Prohibition, regular brewing operations were resumed. William Hamm began to expand the brewery further.

In 1951 William C. Figge, son of the former master brewer, became president of the brewery. The growing economy of the post-war period and the declared goal of expanding nationally ensured rapid growth of the brewery. Hamm beer was advertised with the slogan “From the Land of Sky Blue Waters”. A cartoon bear was used as an advertising character in print and television advertising, which made it very popular.

Expansion into the 1960s

The following years were characterized by the expansive efforts of the company management. Between 1951 and 1954 alone, annual output rose from 1,200,000 barrels to 2,300,000 barrels. The Hamm brewery had become the eighth largest brewery in the USA.

In order to keep up with the increasing demand in the post-war period, various breweries were bought up: Rainier Brewing Company (1953, San Francisco ), location of Liebmann Breweries (1957, Los Angeles , formerly Acme Breweries ), Gunther Brewing Company (1960, Baltimore ) , Gulf Brewing Company (1963, Houston ).

With the purchase of the Gunther Brewing Company, Hamm wanted to enter the east coast market . The Gunther brewery was suitable for this, among other things, because it had only recently completed a number of modernization work. On March 7, 1960, the sale of Hamm beer in Baltimore began. However, this could not prevail due to the existing resentment due to the closure of the Gunther brewery. The sales figures for Hamm beer even fell below those of the Gunther brewery that had been bought up. For this reason, Gunther beer was reintroduced on November 1, 1962. After this failure, the Gunther Brewing Company was sold to the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company in 1963.

Sale and decline

Decommissioned Hamm brewery in St. Paul.

The rapid consolidation of the industry and the competitive pressure from other national breweries meant that the Hamm family decided to offer the brewery for sale in 1965. Both Rheingold Breweries and Molson expressed interest, but the acquisition was banned by the US Department of Justice . Hamm was then bought by the schnapps maker Heublein for $ 10.4 million.

In 1968, the highest annual output in the company's history was reached with 4,300,000 barrels. However, the sales figures for Hamm beer later fell again. As a result, the companies that were bought up in the 1960s had to be sold again (the original names of the companies are given): Gulf Brewing Company (1967), location of Liebmann Breweries (1972), Rainier Brewing Company (1973).

Since Heublein was planning to shut down the entire company, seven distribution companies in Hamm joined forces in 1973 to form Brewery Unlimited in order to keep the Hamm brewery running. They kept the brewery in operation until 1975. That year, Theodore Hamm Brewing Company was bought by Olympia Brewing Company for $ 14.7 million. In 1983, Olympia was again bought by the Pabst Brewing Company .

The St. Paul brewery was swapped by the new owner for a Tampa brewery in an exchange deal with the Stroh Brewery Company . Hamm beer production was relocated to Milwaukee .

In 1997 the former Hamm brewery in St. Paul was finally closed. Two years later the rights to Hamm beer were sold to the Miller Brewing Company , which was merged into SABMiller in 2002. The rights to Hamm beer are now owned by MillerCoors , a joint venture between Molson Coors and SABMiller.

Hamm beer in pop culture

  • In David Frizzell's song "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home" (1982), the Hamm bear, the brewery's popular advertising figure, is mentioned.

Hamm beer appears in a number of films:

Trivia

  • In 1933, William Hamm Jr. was kidnapped by the Barker Karpis gang on his way home near the brewery . A ransom of $ 100,000 was demanded, which was paid. William Hamm Jr. was released.

literature

  • David G. Moyer (2009), American Breweries of the Past , Bloomington (Indiana): AuthorHouse, pp. 48-49 (English).
  • Victor J. Tremblay, Carol Horton Tremblay: The US Brewing Industry: Data and Economic Analysis , pp. 97f. Available online on Google Books , accessed June 21, 2015.
  • Bill Yenne (2004), "Great American Beers," St. Paul (Minnesota): MBI Publishing Company, pp. 46-59.

Web links