Henry Weinhard's

Last updated
Henry Weinhard's
Industry Alcoholic beverage
Founded1856
Headquarters Golden, Colorado
Products Beer
Owner Molson Coors Beverage Company

Blitz-Weinhard was a brand of beer first brewed in 1856 in Portland, Oregon. [1] The brewery was owned by the brewer Henry Weinhard of the Weinhard family, [1] who also made a line of soft drinks which survives to this day.

Contents

The Blitz-Weinhard brand was among several regional Pacific Northwest beers which were staples in that market during the decades following the repeal of Prohibition. As competition from national brands began to erode the market share of longstanding northwest beers, Blitz-Weinhard responded by creating what many consider Oregon’s first craft beer, Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve (also referred to as Henry Weinhard’s or Henry’s), in 1976. [2]

Advertising campaign

The company positioned Henry Weinhard’s as a premium beer through a noteworthy advertising campaign in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. The campaign featured a fictitious brand of beer called "Schludwiller" beer. A series of popular television commercials depicted Schludwiller as a beer brewed by the "California-Eastern Brewing Co." in California. In one of the ads, a "border patrolman" played by actor Dick Curtis asked Earl and Vern (the drivers of the Schludwiller Beer truck) "Well, now .{nbsp}.{nbsp}. where you fellas going with all that beer?" Schludwiller came complete with its own motto in Latin: Quod Nesciunt Sibi Damno Non Erit (roughly: "What They Don't Know Won't Hurt Them").

The Henry Weinhard's brand, repositioned as a quality microbrew, was able to regain and sustain its popularity. However, its favored status with beer-drinkers was not enough to save the original Portland brewery from eventual closure.

Like many businesses in the United States at the time, the Blitz-Weinhard brewery succumbed to purchase and resale by a number of companies in the late 20th century, including Pabst Brewing Company and Miller Brewing Company and now MillerCoors, the U.S. business unit of Molson Coors Brewing Company. In August 2021 Molson Coors announced the end of production for Henry Weinhard's Reserve.

Brewery

Henry Weinhard Henry Weinhard.png
Henry Weinhard
Henry Weinhard's brewery in 1890 Henry Weinhard Brewery in 1890 map art.jpg
Henry Weinhard's brewery in 1890

In 1862, Henry Weinhard moved to Portland, Oregon and purchased an old brewery on the corner of Northwest First and Davis, before moving in 1864 to a facility occupying two full blocks at Northwest 12th and Burnside. [3] This Blitz-Weinhard brewery in Portland survived as a production facility under several ownership changes until 1999, [1] when it was sold by the Stroh Brewery Company to the Miller Brewing Company, who closed it down in late August. [4]

The brewery was a fixture of an old industrial and warehouse district which, beginning in the 1990s, has become known as the Pearl District in downtown Portland, and its closure marked the beginning of a massive urban rejuvenation project. Following the closure of the Portland brewery in 1999, Henry Weinhard's was brewed at the Olympia brewery in Tumwater, Washington until that brewery too was closed in 2003. Some of its beers were brewed under contract at the Full Sail Brewing Company in Hood River until 2013.

Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve was slated for discontinuation as of August 2021. [5] [6] However, the brand was revived by Eugene, Oregon based Hop Valley Brewing in 2022. [7]

Gourmet sodas

Molson Coors Beverage Company has sought to exploit the Henry Weinhard's brand selling gourmet sodas, distributed out of Colfax, California. Flavors include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miller Brewing Company</span> American beer brewery

The Miller Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller. Molson Coors acquired the full global brand portfolio of Miller Brewing Company in 2016, and operates the Miller Brewery at the site of the original Miller Brewing Company complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coors Brewing Company</span> American brewery and beer company

The Coors Brewing Company is an American brewery and beer company based in Golden, Colorado that was founded in 1873. In 2005, Adolph Coors Company, the holding company that owned Coors Brewing, merged with Molson, Inc. to become Molson Coors. The first Coors brewery location in Golden, Colorado is the largest single brewing facility operating in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brewing in Oregon</span>

The U.S. state of Oregon is home to more than 200 breweries and brew pubs that produce a large variety of beer.

Thomas Kemper was a brewer of root beer, ginger ale, and other craft sodas under the Thomas Kemper Soda Co. label. Formerly owned by Pyramid Breweries, Inc., it was sold in 2007 to Adventure Funds of Portland, Oregon, which is running the company under the Kemper Co. name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in Canada</span>

Beer was introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century. The first commercial brewery was La Brasseries du Roy started by New France Intendant Jean Talon, in Québec City in 1668. Many commercial brewers thrived until prohibition in Canada. The provincial and federal governments' attempt to eliminate "intoxicating" beverages led to the closing of nearly three quarters of breweries between 1878 and 1928. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that a significant number of new breweries opened up. The Canadian beer industry now plays an important role in Canadian identity, although globalization of the brewing industry has seen the major players in Canada acquired by or merged with foreign companies, notably its three largest beer producers: Labatt, Molson and Sleeman. The result is that Moosehead, with an estimated 3.8 percent share of the domestic market in 2016, has become the largest fully Canadian-owned brewer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Full Sail Brewing Company</span> Craft brewery in Oregon, US

Full Sail Brewing Company is a craft brewery in Hood River, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1987, Full Sail was the first commercially successful craft brewery to bottle beer in the Pacific Northwest for retail sale, and one of Oregon's early microbreweries. The first beer packaged was Full Sail Golden Ale, followed in 1988 by Full Sail Imperial Porter, Full Sail Amber Ale, and Wassail Winter Ale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olde English 800</span> Brand of malt liquor

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Weinhard</span> Oregon brewer

Henry Weinhard was a German-American brewer in Portland, Oregon. After immigrating to the United States in 1851, he lived in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Sacramento before settling in the Portland area. Weinhard worked for others in the beer business before buying his own brewery and founded Henry Weinhard's and built its brewery complex in downtown Portland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olympia Brewing Company</span> Former brewery in Tumwater, Washington, USA

The Olympia Brewing Company was a brewery in the northwest United States, located in Tumwater, Washington, near Olympia. Founded in 1896 by Leopold Friederich Schmidt, it was bought by G. Heileman Brewing Company in 1983. Through a series of consolidations, it was acquired by Pabst Brewing Company in 1999; the Tumwater brewery was closed in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BridgePort Brewing Company</span> Craft brewery in Oregon

BridgePort Brewing Company was a brewery in Portland, Oregon, in the United States. It operated from 1984 until 2019. Brewery operations ceased in February 2019, and the brew pub closed on March 10, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hair of the Dog Brewing Company</span> Brewery in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Hair of the Dog Brewing Company was a brewery in Portland, Oregon, United States. Several of its beers were bottle conditioned. The tasting room in southeast Portland's Buckman neighborhood closed on June 26, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weinhard Brewery Complex</span> Historic building complex in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

The Henry Weinhard Brewery complex, also the Cellar Building and Brewhouse and Henry Weinhard's City Brewery, is a former brewery in Portland, Oregon. Since 2000, it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In that same year, construction began to reuse the property as a multi-block, mixed-use development known as the Brewery Blocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Eckhardt</span>

Otto Frederick Eckhardt was an American brewer, homebrewing advocate, and writer. Eckhardt is best remembered as a pioneer in the field of beer journalism, publishing a series of articles and books on the topic, including the seminal 1989 tome, The Essentials of Beer Style. At the time of his death in 2015, Eckhardt was memorialized as "the Dean of American beer writers".

The AC Golden Brewing Company, founded July 11, 2007 by Pete Coors and Glenn Knippenberg, was a subsidiary of MillerCoors, a Division of Molson Coors Brewing Company. Its purpose was to serve as a specialty brewing arm of MillerCoors; in the words of president Glenn Knippenberg, "Our mission for AC Golden is to be a brand incubator for what is now MillerCoors". The AC Golden Brewery operates in the former pilot brewery of the Coors Brewery. It debuted its first beer, Herman Joseph's Private Reserve, in 2008. In April 2010, AC Golden Brewing Company introduced Colorado Native Amber lager in Colorado, a lager made with 100% Colorado ingredients. The Colorado Native family of beers is sold only in Colorado. After Miller was purchased by Molson Coors, MillerCoors was dissolved, and AC Golden Brewing Company became an entity of Tenth and Blake Beer Company, the craft and import division of Molson Coors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcoholic beverages in Oregon</span>

The U.S. state of Oregon has an extensive history of laws regulating the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages, dating back to 1844. It has been an alcoholic beverage control state, with the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission holding a monopoly over the sale of all distilled beverages, since Prohibition. Today, there are thriving industries producing beer, wine, and liquor in the state. Alcohol may be purchased between 7 a.m. and 2:30 a.m for consumption at the premise it was sold at, or between 6 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. if it is bought and taken off premise. In 2020, Oregon began allowing the sale of alcohol via home delivery services. As of 2007, consumption of spirits was on the rise while beer consumption held steady. That same year, 11% of beer sold in Oregon was brewed in-state, the highest figure in the United States.

Saint Archer Brewing Co. was a brewery in San Diego. It was sold to brewing conglomerate Molson Coors in 2015 and run as a subsidiary under the Tenth & Blake group. In January 2022, Molson Coors Beverage Company announced that it would stop production of the Saint Archer brand and sell its San Diego-based brewery and taproom to Kings & Convicts Brewing Co., which owns the Ballast Point brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hard soda</span> Alcoholic beverage

Hard soda, also referred to as flavored beer, adult soda, fermented soda, mature soda and alcohol soda, is a type of alcoholic beverage and craft beer that is manufactured in the style of a soft drink. It has gained recent prominence in the United States after the success of the Not Your Father's Root Beer brand manufactured by Small Town Brewery. As of late May 2016, at least 39 hard soda brands exist in the United States.

F.H. Steinbart is a homebrew supply store on SE 12th Avenue in Portland, Oregon. It is the oldest homebrew supply store in the country and helped nurture the vibrant Pacific Northwest craft-brewing scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steeplejack Brewing Company</span> Brewery in the U.S. state of Oregon

Steeplejack Brewing Company is a brewery with three locations in the U.S. state of Oregon. The business operates in Portland and Hillsboro, and has announced plans to expand to Manzanita.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Engeman, R.H. (2009). The Oregon Companion: An Historical Gazetteer of the Useful, the Curious, and the Arcane. Timber Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN   978-1-60469-147-4 . Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  2. Meunier, Andre. "Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve, Hailed as Oregon's Original Craft Beer, to Be Discontinued". The Oregonian. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
  3. Brewery Blocks - Portland Oregon Brewery History
  4. McCall, William (August 29, 1999). "Blitz-Weinhard closes after 140 years". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1A.
  5. Meunier, Andre (August 3, 2021). "Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve, hailed as Oregon's original craft beer, to be discontinued". The Oregonian . Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  6. Reeves, Katie (2011-11-29). "How Molson Coors deals with the cultural issues surrounding its M&A activity". Strategic HR Review. 11 (1). doi:10.1108/shr.2012.37211aaa.008. ISSN   1475-4398.
  7. "Henry Weinhard's - Hop Valley Brewing". Hop Valley Brewing. Retrieved 4 December 2023.

Further reading