This article needs additional citations for verification .(March 2013) |
Grain Belt is a brand of beer brewed in the American state of Minnesota, by the August Schell Brewing Company. The beer has been produced in a number of varieties. Grain Belt Golden was the original style introduced in 1893. [1] The current offerings are: Grain Belt Premium, first introduced in 1947; Grain Belt Premium Light; Grain Belt Nordeast, introduced on April 7, 2010; and the newest offering, Grain Belt Lock & Dam, introduced in 2016. It was originally produced by the Minneapolis Brewing Company which formed with the merger of four smaller brewers in 1891. Soon after introduction, Grain Belt became the company's flagship product. It was brewed at the original Grain Belt brewery in Minneapolis, Minnesota until 1976. A series of other owners followed, and Schell took over the product line in 2002.
The name refers to the "Grain Belt" of the American Midwest where much of the world's supply of barley, corn, soybeans and other grains are produced. The diamond-shaped logo was introduced early on, though it wasn't until the late 1930s that a rendering of a bottlecap was added in the background.
The Grain Belt name first appeared in 1893 as the "Golden Grain Belt Old Lager," then brewed by the Minneapolis Brewing Company. The Minneapolis Brewing Company was a conglomerate of four other Minneapolis-based breweries, formed in 1890 by the consolidation of the F.D. Noerenberg Brewery, John Orth Brewing Company, Heinrich Brewing Association, and Germania Brewing Association. It was one of the largest breweries in the United States at that time. [2] [3]
Grain Belt Golden, a traditional golden German-style lager, was popular, but Prohibition halted production from 1920 until 1933. The company temporarily changed its name to Golden Grain Juice Company and, like many other brewers, turned to making near beer and soft drinks until repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Grain Belt Beer returned to taverns in October 1933 with bottled beer reappearing in December 1933.
World War II brought rationing, and the company briefly had to drop cans altogether and resort to using green glass in its bottles, rather than the standard amber color which offered better protection from light. Sale of beer in bottles and cans had become dominant over draft sales in drinking establishments, so the brewer experimented with all sorts of packaging innovations, expanding the line after the war ended. A premium beer, called Grain Belt Premium, entered production in 1947. Conetop cans sealed with caps disappeared in the 1950s in favor of flat-top steel cans.
Minneapolis Brewing company officially changed its name to Grain Belt Breweries in 1967 after purchasing the Storz Brewing Company of Omaha, Nebraska, United States, which marketed Storz Beer and Storz Tap Beer in bottles, cans and draft. Grain Belt also took over the line of the New Ulm, Minnesota-based Hauenstein Brewery two years later. The company's main slogan — intoned by a deep male voice on TV ads — was, "Been a long time a-brewing." Eventually Grain Belt introduced a new beer called GBX Malt Liquor. For many years, the company also brewed Grain Belt Bock Beer for limited release in the spring. Grain Belt billboard signs could be seen on the scoreboard at Minnesota Vikings games and the beer was a popular choice in the stands at Minnesota Twins games. The label featured the image of a bubbling water fountain, which had been built on the park-like grounds of the brewery to tout the pure water used in the brewing process. Another ad slogan was, "From perfect brewing water...."
At the end of the 1960s, Grain Belt was the 18th-largest brewing company in the US, and a major force in the Midwest. Primary competitors up to this point had been local rivals, Theodore Hamm and Jacob Schmidt, both in St. Paul, Gluek Brewing Company, in Minneapolis, Cold Spring Brewing Company in Cold Spring, Minnesota and a few other regional brewers. Business began to decline as better-capitalized national brewing companies such as Anheuser-Busch, Schlitz and Miller began targeting the markets of regional brewers like Grain Belt. These companies swooped into markets, often advertising heavily, dropping prices and forcing regional brands like Grain Belt into the background since the smaller regional brewers were unable to match the big brewer's advertising and promotional budgets. In 1975, stockholders decided to sell the Grain Belt company to area businessman Irwin Jacobs, and operation ceased by the end of the year.
In 1976 the remains were sold to G. Heileman Brewing Company (based in La Crosse, Wisconsin), which closed the original Minneapolis brewery and moved production to the former Jacob Schmidt brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota, which Heileman had purchased only a few years before. At the St. Paul facility, former rivals Grain Belt and Schmidt were brewed side by side with Heileman stablemates Old Style and Special Export for many years. Heileman also launched a low calorie version of Grain Belt called Grain Belt Light.
In 1989, G. Heileman, citing over-capacity, closed the St. Paul brewery and moved production of Grain Belt to its La Crosse, Wisconsin, brewery, taking production of the Grain Belt (and Schmidt) brands out of the Twin Cities for the first time. G. Heileman found itself faltering within a decade because of many of the same market pressures Grain Belt Breweries had faced in the 1970s. A group of investors was formed to purchase the Schmidt plant from Heileman. They also negotiated with Heileman to obtain the Schmidt brand, but Heileman declined to sell it. Instead, it offered the investors the rights to the Grain Belt brand. The investors accepted the counter offer, as it was a recognizable, established Twin Cities brand which it could market. The new company was called the Minnesota Brewing Company 1991. It thrived during the 1990s with sales peaking in 1996. Minnesota Brewing also performed extensive contract brewing for other beverage companies to improve efficiency and keep the plant operating closer to capacity.
In 2001, the company launched a line of specialty craft beers under the "Brewer's Cave" and "Grain Belt Archive Series" brand names. These beers were high quality, all-malt products brewed without adjunct grains such as corn or rice. Most were highly hopped and very flavorful to appeal to the new breed of craft beer drinkers. Unfortunately, in a classic case of "too little, too late", these fine Grain Belt beers came a bit late to save the company, which was facing financial problems.
History repeated itself yet again, and by 2001 sales were off 50% from their 1996 highs. The company's debt deepened, and Minnesota Brewing filed for bankruptcy in February 2002. On June 24, 2002 the brewery's doors were closed. The Grain Belt brand was bought in August 2002 by a longtime rival Minnesota brewer, the August Schell Brewing Company of New Ulm. Schell's brews and packages Grain Belt Premium, Grain Belt Premium Light, Grain Belt Nordeast, and Grain Belt Lock & Dam, primarily for the Minnesota market. [4] Grain Belt Premium has since become Schell's most popular brand, and has earned an especially strong following in the younger demographic of the region. On February 16, 2018, Schell's announced that it would be adding to the Grain Belt family by canning its Grain Belt BLU variety (previously a Minnesota State Fair and limited release variety). [5] Starting in 2015, Grain Belt released limited-edition 12 packs featuring football-themed labels and bottle cap games. [6]
Minneapolis Brewing Company | |
Location | Jct. of Marshall St. and 13th Ave. NE. Minneapolis, Minnesota |
---|---|
Coordinates | 45°0′0″N93°16′13″W / 45.00000°N 93.27028°W |
Architect | William L. Lehle; Frederick W. Wolff |
Architectural style | Romanesque |
NRHP reference No. | 90000988 |
Added to NRHP | June 21, 1990 |
The former brewery building in Northeast, Minneapolis, located north of Broadway Street Northeast on the east bank of the Mississippi River, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. [7] It was renovated and redeveloped by Ryan Companies for multiple tenants. The contributing structures include the Brewhouse, currently the home of RSP Architects, which was designed by the architectural firm [8] of Wolff [9] and Lehle; [10] the power station (Boiler House); the Wagon Shed and Shops (Gasthaus), which has become the Pierre Bottineau Branch of Hennepin County Library; the Grain Belt Office Building (designed by Carl F. Struck); [8] the Bottling House, including the 1969 addition, which now serves as a space for artist studios; the 1910 Warehouse, including its 1949 and 1957 additions, but not its 1964 addition, which has been developed into office and light industrial space; and a railroad spur. The Keg House is also part of the complex, but not part of the Registered Historic Place entry. The renovation has won the National Preservation Award from the American Institute of Architects. The area forms an anchor to the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District, including many members of the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association. The 1964 addition to the warehouse will be demolished as part of the development of Sheridan Memorial Park.
Grain Belt Beer Sign | |
Location | Nicollet Island |
---|---|
Nearest city | Minneapolis |
Coordinates | 44°59′10″N93°15′48″W / 44.98611°N 93.26333°W |
Built | 1941 |
NRHP reference No. | 16000511 |
Added to NRHP | August 4, 2016 |
In 1941, a 48-foot-high sign with the Grain Belt logo, illuminated by a mix of neon tubes and incandescent bulbs, was placed on the roof of the Marigold Ballroom in downtown Minneapolis. In 1950, the sign was moved to Nicollet Island, next to the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, and an illuminated green frame added around the logo. The sign sits on Nicollet Island, an island in the Mississippi, and is part of the Saint Anthony Falls Historic District. [11] The sign was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. [12]
The sign's illumination failed sometime after 1966; it was restored in 1989 and the sign lit intermittently until 1996. [12] [13] On December 30, 2017, the sign was again relit following a 15-year restoration campaign and the replacement of all the neon tubes and incandescent bulbs with LEDs. [14]
Foster's Lager is an internationally distributed brand of Australian lager. It is owned by the Japanese brewing group Asahi Group Holdings, and is brewed under licence in a number of countries, including its biggest market, the UK, where the European rights to the brand are owned by Heineken International.
Grolsch Brewery , known simply as Grolsch, is a Dutch brewery founded in 1615 by Willem Neerfeldt in Groenlo. In 1895 the de Groen family bought the brewery. They had started their own brewery in Enschede in the early 19th century. It held a significant stake until November 2007. Today the main brewery is located in Enschede.
The Theodore Hamm's Brewing Company was an American brewing company established in 1865 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Becoming the fifth largest brewery in the United States, Hamm's expanded with additional breweries that were acquired in other cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, and Baltimore.
Nigerian Breweries Plc, is the largest brewing company in Nigeria. It serves the Nigerian market and West Africa.
The Stroh Brewery Company was a beer brewery in Detroit, Michigan. In addition to its own Stroh's brand, the company produced or bought the rights to several other brands including Goebel, Schaefer, Schlitz, Augsburger, Erlanger, Old Style, Lone Star, Old Milwaukee, Red River, and Signature, as well as manufacturing Stroh's Ice Cream. The company was taken over and broken up in 2000, but some of its brands continued to be made by the new owners. The Stroh's brand is currently owned and marketed by Pabst Brewing Company, except in Canada where the Stroh brands are owned by Sleeman Breweries.
Pittsburgh Brewing Company is a beer company headquartered in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States best known for producing brands such as Iron City Beer, I.C. Light Beer, I.C. Light Mango, Old German, and Block House Brewing. Until August 2009, all production was conducted at its Lawrenceville facility. From August 2009 to 2021, their products were contract brewed at City Brewing Company in the facility once produced Rolling Rock. On February 4, 2021, Iron City Beer's Instagram account announced that Pittsburgh Brewing Company would resume production of its own product in a new production brewery in Creighton, Pennsylvania, in the original Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company plant. At its opening, the facility is capable of producing 150,000 BBLs of beer annually.
The Pabst Brewing Company is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and malt liquor: these include its own flagship Pabst Blue Ribbon, as well as brands from many now-defunct breweries.
Olde English 800 is a brand of American malt liquor brewed by the Miller Brewing Company. It was introduced in 1964, and has been produced by the company since 1999. It is available in a variety of serving sizes including, since the late 1980s, a 40-U.S.-fluid-ounce (1,200-milliliter) bottle.
City Brewing Company is a large brewery located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. It is the former facility of the Heileman Brewery, and can brew up to 7 million barrels of beer a year. Its twin-stream brewhouse can manage 16 brews of 1,100 barrels per day at the same time.
Falls City Brewing Company was based in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. The company operated from 1905 until 1978. After the company closed the Falls City brand was purchased by differing groups of investors over the years.
National Bohemian Beer, colloquially Natty Boh, is an American lager originating from Baltimore, Maryland. It was first brewed in 1885 by the National Brewing Company, but was eventually purchased by Pabst Brewing Company.
The G. Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, was a brewer that operated from 1858 to 1996. It was ultimately acquired by Stroh's. From 1872 until its acquisition, the brewery bore the family name of its co-founder and brewer Gottlieb Heileman.
The Valentin Blatz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It produced Blatz Beer from 1851 until 1959, when the label was sold to Pabst Brewing Company.
Hudepohl Brewing Company is a brewery established in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1885 by founder Ludwig Hudepohl II. Hudepohl was the son of Ludwig Hudepohl who emigrated from Malgarten, Kingdom of Hannover, in 1838. Ludwig II had worked in the surgical tool business before starting his brewery. Hudepohl combined with Schoenling Brewing Company in 1986. Today, the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Christian Moerlein Brewing Company.
Rheingold Brewery, also referred to as Rheingold Breweries, or Liebmann Breweries, was the producer and marketer of Rheingold Beer from 1883 until 1987. This article is about both the brewery and its primary brand “Rheingold,” which has been sold by other companies intermittently since Rheingold Brewery was ended.
The August Schell Brewing Company is a brewing company in New Ulm, Minnesota, that was founded by German immigrant August Schell in 1860. It is the second oldest family-owned brewery in America and became the oldest and largest brewery in Minnesota when the company bought the Grain Belt rights in 2002. In September 2010, the brewery celebrated its 150th anniversary with a two-day festival. Every year, Schell's also celebrates traditional German holidays with Bock Fest and Oktoberfest. The current brewery is owned and operated by the August Schell Brewing Company, a Minnesota corporation that was incorporated in 1902.
The Storz Brewing Company was located at 1807 North 16th Street in North Omaha, Nebraska. Established from a company started in 1863, Storz Brewing began in 1876 by Gottlieb Storz and was owned by the Storz family until 1966; the brewery ceased operations in 1972. Their beers won several prizes in international competitions, and Storz was the top selling brand in Nebraska starting in World War II. Storz was one of the "Big 4" brewers located in Omaha, which also included the Krug, Willow Springs and Metz breweries. On August 8, 2013, it was announced the brand would be revived by Tom Markel, nephew of Monnie Storz Markel, the granddaughter of Gottlieb Storz, with his cousin John Markel, son of Monnie Storz Markel as investor.
The Schmidt Artist Lofts is a historic former brewery for Schmidt Brewery. It is located in the West Seventh neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The building was vacant for 11 years until a massive community and developer effort resulted in a plan for a revitalization of the brewery's historic building into the creation of the Schmidt Artist Lofts in 2013.
The Christian Schmidt Brewing Company was an American brewing company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1860, it was the largest brewing company in the history of Philadelphia, producing nearly 4,000,000 barrels of beer a year in the late 1970s. When it closed in 1987, it marked the first time in over 300 years that there was no brewery operating in Philadelphia.
The Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company is a former brewing company that was located at 882 W. Seventh Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1855, the brewery was originally known as the Christopher Stahlmann Cave Brewery.