Schmidt Brewery

Not to be confused with Christian Schmidt Brewing Company.

The Schmidt Brewery was originally known as the Christopher Stahlmann, Cave Brewery. A brewery first appeared on the site of 882 W. Seventh Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1855, becoming the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company in 1900

History of Ownership

Christopher Stahlmann, Cave Brewery

Though Stahlmann's Cave Brewery was not one of the founding Breweries in Minnesota nor St. Paul for that matter, it quickly became the largest in the state producing 1,200 barrels annually by 1860, Exporting his Lager as far as Tennessee. In 1879 the Stahlmann brewery was capable of producing 25,000 barrels annually and became the first Brewers to sell more than 10,000 barrels in Minnesota along with being one of the first Brewers to bottle his own beer.

Sadly Stahlmann was to succumb to tuberculosis in 1883, leaving the company to his three sons all of whom would suffer the same fate with the next decade. Without the experience of these well trained men the company would never again find success and in 1898 was sold to the St. Paul Brewing Co.

St. Paul Brewing Co.

A short lived venture lasting less than three years. the company formed with the dissolution of the Christopher Stahlmann Brewing Co. The company was met with little success and by 1900 had sold its brewery to the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company.

Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company

Jacob Schmidt started his brewing career in Minnesota as the Brewmaster for the Theodore Hamm's Brewing Co. He left this position to become owner of the North Star Brewing Co. Under Schmidt's new leadership the small brewery would see much success and in 1899 Schmidt transferred partial ownership of the brewery to a new corporation headed by his son-in-law Adolph Bremer, and Adolph's brother Otto. This corporation would later become Bremer Bank. With the new partnership the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company was established. In 1900 the old North Star Brewery suffered a fire that caused it to close for good. With the new management team in place, a new brewery was needed, and the new firm purchased the Stahlmann Brewery from the St. Paul Brewing Co. and immediately started construction on a new Romanesque brewery incorporating parts of Stahlmann's original brewery along with the excavation of new Lagering cellars used in the fermentation process to create Schmidt's Lager Beer Upon Schmidt's death in 1911, the Bremers took full control of the company and continued to see success and growth.

In 1920 National Prohibition came to Minnesota and stopped the production and sale of intoxicating beverages. Schmidt's was one of the few breweries to see success and remain open all throughout prohibition by offering non-alcoholic beverages or near beers such as Malta and City Club as well as other beverages. It was rumored that Schmidt's continued to produce real beer during prohibition complete with a secret underground tunnel that allowed for beer to be transported from the brewery on the bluffs to awaiting ships on the Mississippi river below. None of these rumors were ever confirmed though.

Since Schmidt's never stopped production of beverages in the brewery, it was one of few breweries in Minnesota that was ready to produce real beer when prohibition was lifted in 1933. Schmidt's re-released City Club beer as a strong beer with the new slogan of "Tops in any Town". After prohibition Schmidt's saw widespread success and continued to grow. This success brought attention to the Bremer family, leading to the kidnapping of Edward Bremer by the Barker-Karpis gang on 16 January 1934; he was released on 7 February in the same year upon the payment of a $200,000 ransom.

By 1936 Schmidt's was the 7th largest brewery in the country, and in that year it decided to offer City Club in cans, becoming one of the first brewers in Minnesota to offer canned beer. Like Hamm's, Schmidt's initially offered beer in flat top cans, but then became one of the only brewers to switch back to cone top cans after introducing flat tops. During World War II Schmidt's obtained a contract from the federal government to supply beer to the troops, perhaps made possible by a long-standing friendship between the Bremers and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1951 Otto Bremer died and City Club beer was begun to be phased out. In 1954 due to mounting pressure and competition from national brewers, the Bremers decided to leave the brewing industry and sold the company to Detroit-based brewer Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer Brewing Co. and Associated Brewing Company

As City Club beer was removed from the market, Schmidt beer was introduced, it's acceptance helped greatly by the introduction of a scenic can series. Between 1947 and 1958 185 breweries either closed or were sold to larger companies, a period of time in the industry known as the great shakeout. It was during this period that Pfeiffer acquired Schmidt as well as other small regional breweries. Without a strong national brand to sell, Pfeiffer relied on multiple brands that had strong regional sales. This business strategy, along with the need to modernize multitudes of smaller breweries the company had purchased, many of which had been poorly maintained and struggled with inefficiency problems, made it difficult for Pfeiffer to compete with the national brands that advertized across the country. Slumping sales ultimately led the company to file bankruptcy and dissolution in 1972 at which time all of its assets were sold to G. Heileman of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

G. Heileman Brewing Company

As with Pfeiffer, Heileman purchased smaller struggling breweries with regional bases, and again Schmidt's brewery was one of many in a vast beer empire. The brewery ran at near capacity while it persevered under Heileman and rivaled the La Crosse brewery in efficiency. Along with its own brand, the Schmidt brewery brewed Heileman's flagship brand Old Style, as well as Blatz, Grain Belt, and Hauenstein. By 1981, Heileman was the 4th largest brewing company in the country. Still without a national recognized brand, it was vulnerable to competition and in 1987 the company was bought out by Australian corporate raider Alan Bond, who had built his empire on junk bonds. When junk bonds crashed, Bond lost everything, causing Heileman to be a casualty of the largest financial collapse in Australian history. By 1990, Schmidt's brewery would close its doors for the first time since its opening in 1855.

The Minnesota Brewing Company

In 1991 a group of local investors reopened the brewery under the name of the Minnesota Brewing Company. With the reopening of the brewery, a contest was held to name the flagship beer for the brewery. The two names with the most votes were Landmark (first) and Pig's Eye (second). The Landmark brand reflected the brewery's iconic status in the west St. Paul neighborhood and Pig's Eye honored the man credited with founding St. Paul. It was at this time that the iconic flashing Schmidt's sign that had long spanned the catwalk connecting the grain silos and the brewery's towers was removed and replaced with the non-lighting "Landmark" sign. Landmark beer met with little success and in 1992 the brewery released Pig's Eye Pilsner with much publicity. It was at this time that the company started to revitalize the Grain Belt brand, and began contract brewing for many small independent companies including Pete's Wicked Ale, one of the pioneers of the craft beer movement in America.

The brewery saw some success in the mid and late 1990s running the brewery at almost its capacity of 1.2 million barrels per year. The brewery was also able to hire back all of the employees that had been laid off by Heileman's closing of the brewery who still wanted to work. Trouble found the brewery though, and a combination of the brewery being too big to distribute just in the immediate area, but not large enough to distribute on a national level, outdated inefficient equipment, and the companies that contracted through them sometimes going out of business leaving the brewery full of vats of unpaid-for beer as well as labels for said brands, caused the brewery to shut down for good in 2002.

Gopher State Ethanol

In 2000 the Gopher State Ethanol Company began production of industrial grade ethanol on the site of the Minnesota Brewing Company. This proved to also be an ill-fated venture as the noise and smell produced during the production process of ethanol became the aim of neighborhood organizations that petitioned to stop production at the plant. In 2004 Gopher State Ethanol closed its doors and again the brewery lay idle.

Schmidt Artist Lofts

Minnesota based developer Dominium has purchased the site of the former brewery and as of 2012 has begun the renovation of the buildings to be turned into an artist community Schmidt Artist Lofts complete with studio space for the artist. As of January 2014, the former bottling department has be converted into lofts and is available for rental.

While renovation on the main brewery building is yet to be completed, Dominium has removed the Landmark sign and has stated it plans to replace the old flashing Schmidt's sign that once lit the west St. Paul night sky.

External links

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