Pre-Prohibition Upper Peninsula MI bottles

[whatsleftofyou]

I picked up a bunch of bottles from a local guy recently that are all from breweries that closed at Prohibition (to my knowledge). Part of the theme of my basement bar is going to be old local breweries, so I was really excited to get these. The guy sold me all of these for $100, which I thought was a good deal! Anyway I thought these were really neat, so figured I'd share.

Escanaba Brewing Company, Escanaba MI

Richter Brewing Company, Escanaba MI. This building still stands and is only a few blocks from my house.

Phil Scheurman Brewing Co and Park Brewing Co, Hancock MI

Calumet Brewing Co, Calumet MI
Soo Brewing Co, Sault Ste Marie MI
Bosch Brewing Co, one says Lake Linden MI and the other says Hancock MI

Upper Peninsula Brewing Co, Marquette MI

 

[Revvy]

Oh my god. How cool. I don't think I've come upon most of those names before in my research into michigan breweries. You are so lucky.

 

[StanJohnson]

Pretty cool to see bottles from the U.P. I was stationed at K.I. Sawyer in the 70's.

 

[rynb15]

those are really cool.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

I just met with this guy again and bought 11 more bottles off of him for $25. Pics to come soon.

 

[unionrdr]

That is indeed a treasure trove. Nice collection.

 

[Yooper]

Homercidal gave me a book last summer about Bosch brewery. I think I gave it to Lschiavo, so I can't quite remember the title. But Homer got it in the Keweenaw, so I'm sure it's available. Anyway, it talked about brewing pre-prohibition in that area and I recognize many of those names!

Great find! I can't wait to visit the "whatsleftofyou" home bar and museum sometime soon!

 

[Teromous]

Those are awesome. I especially love the raised lettering.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

Thanks for the heads up on the book, Yooper. I'm assuming that you're talking about this?

I've been doing quite a bit of research on all of the U.P. breweries and am actually thinking about eventually writing a book about them myself. There are some (like Bosch) with a plethora of information available, and some like the former brewery in Manistique where there is next to nothing.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

OK here are the pics as promised

Another bottle from Escanaba Brewing Company

More bottles from Richter Brewing Company

Leisen-Henes Brewing Company from Menominee, MI

Menominee River Brewing Company from Menominee, MI

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for the heads up on the book, Yooper. I'm assuming that you're talking about this?

I've been doing quite a bit of research on all of the U.P. breweries and am actually thinking about eventually writing a book about them myself. There are some (like Bosch) with a plethora of information available, and some like the former brewery in Manistique where there is next to nothing.

Yes, that's the book! It's very detailed, with lots of photos. I don't know anything about the former brewery in Manistique but my friends' mom is 87. Maybe she remembers it- I can ask her when I see her. If she's still around the next time I see her, as I"m in Texas for another 7 weeks or so.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

That'd be appreciated! Arsonists burned it down in 1909 so there's no way she'd remember it, but anything that she might know would be helpful. I think the local historical societies are going to become my friends during this project, should I pursue it fully.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

Well I came across a few more bottles so I thought I'd share:

Two more Richter bottles from Escanaba

Arnold Brewing Co from Sault Ste Marie (later became Soo Brewing Co)

Bessemer Brewing Co from Bessemer

Henze-Tollen Brewing Co from Iron Mountain. I love the "Free of Drugs and Poison" right on the bottle!

These are actually post-prohibition labels from Delta Brewing Co (formerly Richter), but they're still cool.

Unfortunately as part of this bottle shipment was an Ironwood Brewing Co bottle (Yooper's stomping grounds) and it was completely crushed. Too bad...

 

[Yooper]

Henze-Tollen Brewing Co from Iron Mountain. I love the "Free of Drugs and Poison" right on the bottle!

Those are so awesome!!!!! I especially love that one, as I also enjoy a good UP beer that is "free of drugs and poison"!

Thank you so much for posting the photos- it's so much fun to see them.

 

[Tolroe]

Thanks for posting these. I'm originally from the Escanaba area and would be interested in any information you have about UP brewing history (if you do write a book let me know).

 

[whatsleftofyou]

Tolroe - I have a fair amount so far, too much to post here. If you're looking for any specific info, let me know and I'll see what I can do to answer your questions.

 

[Gitmoe]

That's all awesome stuff Yooper. I spent a lot of time when I was a kid in the UP. Interesting to see the history.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

I have a few more to share...

Another one from Soo Brewing Co in Sault Ste Marie. The shape of this bottle is neat, plus sun exposure has turned it purple.

Another bottle from the Bosch Brewery in Lake Linden

Two from A Haas Brewery in Houghton. This brewery later became part of Bosch

This one is really neat. As far as I can tell, PJ Denn wasn't actually a brewery but rather just a bottling facility in Ishpeming. I'm assuming that they were bottling for Upper Peninsula Brewing Company (Marquette) at some point but I can't really find too much on them other than that they were beer bottlers.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

Follow up on this for anyone interested - I've lent a large portion of my collection to Northern Michigan University's Beaumier Heritage Center, who is doing an exhibit on past-and-present U.P. breweries. The exhibit will run from 4/19-9/5 so I recommend checking it out.

 

[Homercidal]

Cool! I might have to make a trip up there again this summer!

 

[whatsleftofyou]

For anyone still interested in this topic - I did a presentation last night on some of the old U.P. breweries for my homebrew club, and thought I'd share it here as well.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2lgxHB7JytKU0ZUZVE3b0FZcTA/view

 

[bfish]

Thanks for sharing the presentation. Looking forward to the book.

 

[whatsleftofyou]

I'm still not sure if I'm going to follow through with that or not. Maybe some day. This book did come out last year, which has a lot of information, but probably not as thorough as I'd like.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1626195684/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[bfish]

Well, I will add that one to my list too.

 

[Moose_MI]

A soak in oxy clean or pbw is all you need to do. There are lots of threads on this. I might replace those seals on the flip tops...they're cheap so don't worry about it. Don't forget to sanitize the bottles after washing...a clean bottle is not a sanitized bottle. I hope this was helpful...I think you're going to be fine

 

[whatsleftofyou]

A soak in oxy clean or pbw is all you need to do. There are lots of threads on this. I might replace those seals on the flip tops...they're cheap so don't worry about it. Don't forget to sanitize the bottles after washing...a clean bottle is not a sanitized bottle. I hope this was helpful...I think you're going to be fine

I don't think I'll be putting beer in 100+ year old bottles.