In 1862, Henry Weinhard, and partner Geo. Bottler, purchased the 10 year old Liberty Brewery of Portland from Henry Saxer, and re-named it the City Brewery. Two years later Bottler sold out and Weinhard became the sole proprietor, and remained so until his death.

The history of the City Brewery has been dealt with in many publications over the years and won't be covered here. However, the period from Henry Weinhard's death in 1904, to the merger with Blitz in 1928, hasn't received much attention and is the focus of this piece.

The early years of the brewery is briefly covered in Henry Weinhard's biography.

Morning Oregonian Jan.1, 1908

The two names on the 1908 newspaper picture above, Paul Wessinger and Henry Wagner, were the two sons-in-law of Henry Weinhard. The following profile on Paul Wessinger is taken from the History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 782-785; S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.  

"Upon on the death of Mr. Weinhard, on Sept. 20, 1904, he was made president of the company, which position he filled until his death, December 3, 1926. He was one of the executors of the Weinhard estate and when it was incorporated in 1917 he became its president.

Mr. Wessinger was one of the original fifteen directors of the (1905) Lewis and Clark Exposition and served as chairman of the grounds and buildings committee, in which capacity he contributed immeasurably to the success of the fair¹."

Officially known as the Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair, it was a worldwide exposition to celebrate the centennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Opening on June 1, 1905, it ran four and a half months, closing on October 15, 1905.

The Expo was to have a major restaurant and the Weinhard Brewery made a business arrangement with a St. Louis company, Fritz Müller & Sons, to build a German restaurant called the Bismarck Cafe. This business association with the Müllers would last over a decade.

The Brewery introduced a dark draught (draft) lager, exclusively for the restaurant, called Kaiser Beer. It was a huge favorite of the many patrons of the Bismarck, and was awarded a Gold Medal by the event's judges. Gold medals were also awarded to Weinhard's Columbia and Export beers.

The tip tray shown here was produced for the Bismarck Cafe, and has the image of the first chancellor of the German Empire, Otto von Bismarck. The Cafe also had etched beer glasses sporting the image of Bismarck (image at bottom of page). This glass was also used later, in Müller & Sons' San Francisco Bismark Restaurant.

Due to the favorable response to their Kaiser Beer a bottled version was introduced on the 4th of July 1906, and was named Kaiserblume. This was a dark lager, or Dunkle, in a slightly sweet and malty, Munich style. Their bottled Columbia was a light Pilsener style lager, and the bottled Export was a pale Dortmunder style lager that would have been fuller, with more malt and less hops than the Pilsener.

They also produced a Vienna style, draught beer called Standard which they claimed:

"...has added much to the fame of our establishment, and represents the tradition of the Vienna school, both in the brewing and malting process."

This style of lager was a reddish-brown or copper-colored beer with medium body and slight malt sweetness.

At some point prior to 1905, the Brewery had a Pale Beer - as seen in the embossed display card shown at the bottom of the page - but it didn't appear in their list of brands in an ad published in '06.

Another item that is generally believed to have been produced for the 1905 Expo is a beer stein with "H. Weinhard - Portland Ore" and the brewery logo consisting of a W. H. monogram on an eagle with the slogan "Purity is Health."

This newspaper ad (thumbnail at right) from the Oregonian, published in 1911, shows that if the stein wasn't made in 1905 it was certainly made no later than 1911.

The San Francisco fire and earthquake on April 18, 1906, had a serious effect on the city's breweries and bottlers, with many plants severely damaged or lost entirely. Consequently, the city faced a severe shortage of beer.

The result of the shortage was that numerous Northwest breweries received huge orders for beer. The Olympia Brewing Co. of Tumwater, WA, took this opportunity to convert their San Francisco bottling works (the Olympia Beer Co.) into a brewery, establishing the Acme Brewing Co.  While Weinhard didn't go that far they did consider a larger presence in the city.

Prior to the fire & earthquake Weinhard had been shipping kegs of Columbia beer to their San Francisco agent and bottler, the California Bottling Co. However, the disaster leveled the bottling works, and had to be rebuilt. A larger bottling works was completed and the California Bottling Co. continued bottling and distributing Weinhard's products, including a brand called Portland Beer.

Portland Beer label ca.1906 - Anderson collection

Weinhard etched glass

But within a years time the Weinhard Brewery had purchased the new California Bottling Co. plant and distribution depot. The 1907 issue of, American Bottler, reported:

"The Weinhard Bottling Company has been incorporated in San Francisco with a capital stock of $150,000. Those interested in the concern are M. A. Lang, William Neuman and George V. Leroi. Paul Wessinger is president of this concern, and Mr. Neuman is manager of the works."