History of the Columbia Brewing Company
(1900 - 1933)
Columbia Breweries, Inc.
(1933 - 1953)
and the Heidelberg Brewing Company
(1953 - 1979)

Emile Kliese was a 35 year old, German-born brewmaster who had emigrated in 1885, and by 1891 (according to one account - yet to be verified) held the position as brewmaster with the Milwaukee Brewing Co. in Tacoma.

In 1897 the brewery was purchased by the larger, Pacific Brewing & Malting Co. and operated as its Milwaukee plant until it was closed in 1899.

Instead of staying on with Pacific Brewery after the Milwaukee plant closure, Kliese chose to start his own brewery. So he, along with, William C. Kiltz , filled for articles of incorporation on the 8th of February, 1900 "to brew and sell at wholesale and retail beer and other malt beverages" at a company to be known as the Columbia Brewing Company.

The new firm had an initial capitalization of $50,000. William Kiltz was sales manager and Emile Kliese was owner, president and brewmaster. While Smith was a principal in the company, he wasn't involved in the
day-to-day operations.

The brewery's start-up may have been aided by the larger Pacific Brewing & Malting, but it was definitely a major shareholder. By 1906 it controlled Columbia, but allowed it to operate independently and market its own brands of beer.

The plant was located at 2120-2132 on South C Street in Tacoma. It was a five story, wooden frame building built over an artesian well. The brewery's output was about 50 barrels per day. (image below)

Alt Heidelberg label, 1933 - 3.2% beer

Alt Heidelberg label, 1934 & '35 - 4% beer

Hemrich re-introduced the popular Alt Heidelberg brand using the familiar, pre-prohibition label used from 1906 to 1916 (above).

In 1934, Hemrich revived Columbia's original "Old Pilsner" brand renaming it "Alt Pilsner" Lager Beer, and used a Bavarian village scene to evoke the Pre-Prohibition era (at right).
 

However he wanted a more modern look for his new "Columbia Lager Beer" (at left) so he used the graphics from the label of his earlier 3.2% "Columbia Brew" (above).

In a later update of the early '30s "Alt Heidelberg Pale Beer" the brewery dropped the old world look and adopted a more contemporary version focusing on the Student Prince alone, and calling it an "Extra Pale Beer." Variations of this label (at right) would be used for decades.

In October of 1935, Hemrich sold his controlling interest in the brewery to Joseph F. Lanser, one of the original investors. Elmer then started his own firm in Seattle, Elmer E. Hemrich's Brewery, Inc. Prior to his departure Columbia acquired controlling interest in the East Idaho Brewing Co., Inc. of Pocatello, ID. Their Idaho plant also produced the Alt Heidelberg line until it came under new ownership in 1942. The plant also produced: Aero Club, Esquire, Sun Valley, and Idallo Beers.

Lanser continued with Hemrich's expansion program with the $120,000 construction of a Bottling Shop, a portion of which was devoted to a canning line. This shop completed the third unit of their building program, the first two being the brew house and cellars. The brewery (at left) as it appeared in 1936.

In 1936, Columbia was the first Pacific Northwest brewery to introduce canned beer. It was named Alt Heidelberg Guest Beer (at right), and as explained on the back of the can: "...here is a beer just as you would taste it as a guest in our brewery..."

1937 saw another new beer added to the Columbia line-up. It was called Atlas Beer (at right), and it doesn't appear to have been a strong seller.

In 1939 Norman Davis replaced Joseph Lancer as president of the brewery. Lancer stayed on until '42. He then sold his share of the company and left for Phoenix where he purchased controlling interest in the Arizona Brewing Co. - brewers of A-1 Beer. Coincidentally, his A-1 plant would be purchased in '64 by the Carling Brewing Co. after first taking over his old Tacoma plant.

One of Davis' early decisions was to discontinue the faltering Atlas brand in '39. However, he did find a replacement in the product line with the introduction of an entirely new style of beer. Columbia Ale made its début in 1941.

Brewmaster Birkmaier developed the ale, which was a top fermenting beer, and a first for the brewery. The old English style Ale immediately gained a following and remained a popular seller for 17 years. When Carling purchased the brewery in 1958 they discontinued the product and replaced it with their Red Cap Ale, but it the new ale never sold as well as Birkmaier's. Otto died in 1945 and succeeded by Anders W. Erikson.

With the country at war with Germany it was decided to re-introduce the figure of Columbia, but in her most patriotic incarnation - the Statue of Liberty (below left). So, this image was to grace their new Columbia Ale and Beer labels. They also played down the Germanic figure of the Student Prince by reducing his image on the Alt Heidelberg labels (below right).
 

Columbia Breweries, Inc. was purchased by Heidelberg Brewing Co. in 1949 but continued to do business as Columbia. On July 15, 1953, the brewery officially changed its name to Heidelberg Brewing Company. At this time they chose to drop the "Alt" from their flagship brand simplifying it to just Heidelberg Beer. This was an effort to show their abandoning of the "old" in favor of a more modern approach to brewing.

The late '40s and early '50s saw a huge growth in sales, due in part to the vigorous advertising campaign that sought to blanket the Northwest with the image of the Student Prince. The figure (below) leapt out at you from billboards and print media.

 Below are a few examples of promotional pieces from this period...
 

...and the late '50s.

The year 1954 began another period of expansion with the installation of a second "brewing line," and additional storage tanks in a four story addition. The new cellar had storage for over ½ million gallons of beer for aging. The brewery now had triple the capacity that it had in '47, at 750,000 barrel/year. Heidelberg was now the largest brewery north of San Francisco and west of Milwaukee.
 
This is the brewery (at left) as it appeared in 1954 after the $800,000 project was completed. The tall, windowless building at the end of the block is the cellar.

In 1958 Carling Brewing Co. of Canada purchased the Heidelberg Brewing Co. for $3,500,000. This added Carling Black Label, and Red Cap Ale to the line-up, and ended Columbia Ale - but not Columbia Beer. However, Heidelberg Beer remained its best seller.

Carling then made a further move to modernize the Heidelberg label by introducing a rounded triangle shaped border, with the Student Prince reduced even further (at right). By 1965 the image of the popular figure was dropped entirely.

Carling's Black Label was never a big seller in the Northwest, but Heidelberg continued to be a regional favorite.

Since 1956 Carling had been licensed to brew and market the Danish beer, Tuborg, and had been producing it at their Natick, MA plant. Then from '73 to '75 the company also brewed Tuborg in both their Baltimore and Tacoma plants. During this period the Heidelberg Brewery was also doing business  as the Tuborg Brewing Company.

In 1976 Carling of Canada sold their American Division which then merged with the National Brewing Co. of Baltimore, creating Carling-National Breweries, Inc. Three years later Carling-National was purchased by the G. Heileman Brewing Co. of La Crosse, WI.

Prior to the purchase of the Heidelberg brewery, Heileman had acquired the Rainier Brewing Co, in Seattle. Unfortunately this multiple acquisition ran afoul of the antitrust laws. Owning two major plants in such close proximity gave Heileman too large a share of the regional market, and they were forced to close one of the plants. So, in the Spring of '79, after 3/4 of a century of brewing in Tacoma, the old Columbia Brewery closed its doors for good.

Today the brewery lays vacant and decaying, but plans for the brewery complex are in the works. The following is from a blog by Beth Luce:

Aug. 14, 2009—A story in The News Tribune today reports that the Tacoma Landmarks Preservations Commission has given an unofficial nod to a plan to transform the Heidelberg Brewery into a hotel, probably a Holiday Inn Express. The property is located on UW Tacoma’s southern border, at South 21st and C streets, within the Union Station Conservation District.

This is the developer’s third design plan for the property, after the commission criticized earlier plans to demolish the brewery building and build a “cookie cutter” stucco-covered hotel. The new design for the 160-room hotel is mostly brick, with stucco-like covering only on the top floor, and fits better with the neighborhood, the Tribune reports. The eight-story hotel would include two stories of parking space.

Read the Tribune story.

 

 

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