SALINAS BREWERY ~ 1874-1889
The Salinas Brewing Company and its successors, the Salinas Brewing and Ice Co., and Monterey Brewing Co. were all evolutions of Salinas' first brewing enterprise established in 1874. The "Salinas Brewery" was started by Lurz & Hagner, and had an initial output of about 240 barrels annually. The brewery was located on Castroville St., and operated under their management for three years, when in 1877 Hagner's half share was bought out by German immigrant, John H. Menke. Henry Lurz, a native of Bavaria, and John H. Menke of Hanover,
continued to build the business, and by 1891 production had increased to 2,000 barrels/year.
However, Henry did not live to see them break the 2,000 barrel mark. Their partnership ended with the death of Henry Lurz in 1889.
SALINAS BREWING COMPANY
~ 1889-1926
By 1891 John Henry Menke had sole ownership of
the firm, and in 1892 completed construction of a new steam beer brewery on San Juan St. The firm
was now
doing business as the Salinas Brewing Co. In addition to draught beer for
the saloon trade, beer was now available in bottles to include home trade.
(embossed bottle at right). Their brands included Salinas Steam Beer
(label above), Salinas Lager, and Salinas Beer (labels below) -
and all carried their California Bear logo.
Menke operated the plant for
thirteen more years, and on 24 August, 1904, he
formed a stock company to raise
capital for improvements. J. H. Menke was the president of the company and
principal stock holder and Chairman of the corporation, with William F. Voss, as
Secretary and manager of the brewery. There were seven members on the
corporation's board of directors: J.H. Menke, Wm. Voss, Lawrence Martella, John Breschini, Henry
H. Hollenstein, Fred W. Schroeder, and Fred W. Jansen. However, Menke
removed himself from the day-to-day operations the brewery, chosing instead to
oversee the First National Bank of Salinas, which he had established in 1892. "The Salinas Brewery, owned by our enterprising citizen Mr. J. H. Menke, is situated about half a mile from Salinas City. It was erected in 1892 and the plant is one of the most complete on the Coast. The output is about 8000 barrels a year and the brewery, besides supplying Salinas City, also ships as far as Paso Robles and Santa Margarita. The building is a
substantial three-story frame structure and is fitted with the latest
machinery for the brewing of steam beer.
On the ground floor is a 20-horse power steam
engine, kettle and malt kiln, wash house, malt floor and filter room.
On the first floor is the fermenting room, store-room, mash-tub and
dryer, and on the top floor is the hot water tank, cooler and barley
store-room. The output of the brewery can be increased to 9000 barrels
in order to keep up with the rapidly increasing population of Salinas
City. Mr. Menke, the genial and ever enterprising proprietor is one of
the leading men of the city and was recently elected a member of the
City Council."
On 3 December 1907 the
corporation increased the capital stock to $100,000 for further improvements.
This was probably to add a bottling shop in a shift to crown top bottles. They
were then bottling Salinas Lager, and Salinas Steam Beer.
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PROHIBITION ~ 1920-1933
Considering the popularity, and profitability of "near-beer", the principals of the Salinas Brewing Co. decided to engage in the production of this cereal beverage. To that end, the Salinas Brewing & Ice Company was incorporated in Nevada on 30 December 1926. (see imprint above)
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SALINAS BREWING & ICE COMPANY ~ 1933-1938With the end of Prohibition in 1933, many trained brewers were anxious to return to their trade. Anticipating Repeal, many took a proactive approach. One such brewer was JP Rettenmayer, past president and brewmaster of San Francisco's Acme Brewing Company. JP had attempted to open a new brewery in Oakland, supported by previous investors in the Olympia and Acme breweries. However, the project failed and JP sought an alternate plan. He was able to purchase the old Salinas Brewery, now the Salinas Brewing & Ice Co. To further the plan he enlisted the aid of his old superintendent from The Minneapolis Brewing Co., Armin L. Neubert. (see biography) Neubert was a 70 year old, retired brewing
engineer living in Santa Cruz. Rettenmayer, not only convinced Neubert to join
in the venture, but offered to include his son, Armin Karl, an engineer and
accomplished treasurer, to participate as well. They entered into a partnership to
restore the old Salinas Brewery in Monterey County, CA. The plant was located in
central Salinas at 347 No. Main St., and
after the required improvements the plant reopened in 1934. They also did a few contract brews such as: Cypress Beer for the Wing Chong Co. of Monterey; Mac's Special Lager for Mac's Cafe of Salinas; and Salute Lager Beer for Terminal Liquors of San Francisco. However, their flagship brands were Monterey Beer, Monterey Ale, and Monterey Bock.
The label at right is the earliest example from Salinas Brewing & Ice Co., c.1934. The labels below were the designs adopted the following year. They all display Permit No. CAL U-1129. U-Permit numbers were not required after 1935. The center label below is a variation on the first label shown at right. This version replaced the gold boarder with yellow.
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 Monterey Ale label c.1935 |
MONTEREY BREWING COMPANY ~ 1938-1942According to newspaper accounts, JP Rettenmayer continued as president and manager of the Salinas Brewing & Ice Company until his untimely death on 24 February,1937. A grand-daughter of Armin Neubert recalls that JP's death was widely held to be a suicide, but as was usual for the time, it was ruled an accident in deference to the family. (see bio: JP Rettenmayer)After JP's death, Armin Louis Neubert's son, Armin Karl, assumed the position of company president. William Voss, who had been a principal investor, and manager since 1904, was vice-pres. of the brewery. Armin Karl's brother-in-law, George Ziegler, was brewmaster, and Wm. Higdon, secretary/treasurer. Nine months following the death of Rettenmayer, a freak automobile accident took the life of Dr. William E. Fehliman. As well as a noted Santa Cruz surgeon, Dr. Fehliman was also a prime stockholder and director of the brewery. He was also an old time friend of Armin, Sr., from his days of running the Black Hills Brewery. With the loss of two of its principals the brewery's interests were assumed entirely by the Neubert family in 1938. Concurrent with assuming control, the family decided to change the name to the firm to the Monterey Brewing Company. The newly reorganized company continued to market their most profitable brands: Monterey Beer, Old Monterey Ale, Old Monterey Bock, Rodeo Beer, and Remar Beer (with a new label). They also added Gold Age Beer, and Butz Beer.
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| An interesting gimmick was the revised Rodeo Beer label (below) with a tear-away cowboy hat. On the back side of the hat was the calendar for local rodeo dates. The rear of the label also carried the slogan: "Don't Gamble - Drink Rodeo Beer." This apparently ran afoul of some regulatory agency and the label had to be withdrawn, and/or new labels printed without the offending slogan. In either case it's unlikely that many examples survived since by design the labels were to be torn open.
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rear of label (magnified) showing rodeo dates |
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In spite of the Neubert family's best efforts, the brewing industry
itself was beset with difficulties due to shortages and
rationing of raw materials for the war effort. They struggled to make the
business profitable, but after four lean years the family ceased production, and in
1942 they converted the brewery into a cold storage operation. |
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In January of 1920, when
the brewing of alcoholic beverages was
terminated with national
Prohibition, the firm remained open by
producing
non-alcoholic beverages.
The company also took up the ice & cold storage business, with William Voss
still managing the plant.
He maintained an interest in the Brewery, and was a vice president in the firm for a
period in the late 30's. About that time, Voss became a principal in the La Colma Wine Company of Salinas. 
The
new Remar Beer label (above) is
surprisingly similar to this Grain Belt
Beer label (left), from the Minneapolis Brewing Company.