Hamm’s Appreciation Thread (2024)

@Blogjackets

 

And that's the deal. It didn't matter what beer it was, we got to have a sip of dad's beer. My dad was a PBR guy, except when we had company, and he'd step it up to Bud.

Upon warming, the flavor profile becomes...well, the food was delicious anyway. Cheers!

 

I have this beauty on my keychain at all times. It is roughly 100 years old, as the square notch is a “Prest-o-Lite key” used to adjust old gas headlights on automobiles from roughly 1900s-1920s.

I have a similar Gluek’s one attached to a leather pouch as well from the same era.

 

Did you forget that Diageo operated the Schaefer brewery to brew Captain Morgan and other malternatives until they sold to Boston Beer? Or did you omit them since they weren't making real beer?

 

1920 - 1933 was prohibition. Did Hamm's brew near beer for Minnesota?

 

No, I didn't forget - just figured it was irrelevant.

 

They did make soft drinks during prohibition. My estimated date range was tied more to when this style “key” was typically produced. I got this from my dad who collects pre-prohibition breweriana, so I guess pre-1920 feels like a good bet!

 

Any idea where in SF the Hamms/Rainer brewery was located? If it is in fact the Hamms building that’s right on the nose (and, I assume, a new/renovated structure).


Edit: Seems there is a precedent for historic brewing facility turned into office space and condos.

 

Yeah, that could be a hint.

Hamm's had a famous sign with a giant glass of beer on the roof (but I guess that's gone ) that can be seen in many shots of the SF skyline.

Even some video from the '70s.
https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/238938
On the same page are links to videos of the building under renovations from the 1980s.

Well, ya figure, there were thousands of breweries in US in the pre-craft era and all but a handful are left still in business, so they all became something (ya know, except for the ones that were torn down ). Probably mostly warehouses for the bigger ones and dependent of the area (residential vs industrial, etc).

 

Near beer, too. Ol' timers still remember Windsor Club Pale with "the real beer taste".

1929 is pretty late for a new near beer - very few were successful, as the official US Brewers Assoc. records show.
1910 - 59.5 M bbl.
1920 - 9.2 M bbl.
1930 - 3.2 M bbl.
1940 - 51.3 M bbl.
Looks like Theo. Hamm also made canned malt & hops syrup. (Need a whole different type of opener for those - and lots of hot water).

Hamm came out of Prohibition in pretty good shape, apparently. The 9th largest brewery in the US by 1938, with a barrelage of 750k (at the time, #1 AB had just reached the 2M bbl. mark) and most of the rest of top 10 were located in major larger brewing cities (Milwaukee, St. Louis, NYC/Brooklyn) or had multiple breweries (Duquesne in Pittsburgh + breweries in 2 other PA towns).

 

You really don't.

 

Well, I'd say a beer distributed nationally* by the fifth largest brewer in the world is in no way a "regional lager" (not that there's ever been a difference between most AALs, whether brewed by national, regional or local breweries).

There are still a number of true local/regional brewers left brewing AAL's like Utica Club, Genesee Beer, Straub, Yuengling Premium, Grain Belt & Schell's Deer Brand, Lionshead, Shiner Premium, Point Special, Narragansett, Reading (and other "revived" brands too numerous to note).

If people want a "regional lager", they should buy one brewed by a true regional brewery, not a multinational "beverage" corporation.
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* Despite people in this thread claiming they don't get Hamm's (have they really checked their local MC house for availability?). Molson Coors Blog says otherwise:

 

Yes, Reading is still available regionally but the beer is now brewed (owned?) by Sly Fox Brewing:



https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-58.661067/#post-7332587

Cheers!

 

I was in Reading right after the brewery closed and pretty sure I had some of the last draught Reading in town. I did miss the "Employees Only" party, tho'.

 

Bummer!!

 

That's not you on the far left -- guy checkin' his watch 'cause he's got a hot date?

 

Yeah, looks just like me circa 1976 BUT I never wore a watch at work, I kept in my pocket (or under my glove when I worked the line) to avoid looking at it too often because I worked at one of those jobs where if you paid too much attention to the time, the clock would go backwards.

Oh, and that "hot date" - cancelled when she called on the break-room payphone and said her fever was up over 100.5° and she was waiting for Doctor Brown* to make his house call. (*Not the Cel-Ray guy).

 

The MC blog may say "otherwise". But I checked their beer finder and found no locations for Hamm's in the state of NY. The local distributor doesn't mention it. I know I've not seen it in my corner of the state. (But I really haven't searched far and wide for it.) According to the beer finder, the nearest availability to me is NJ.

 

My dad gave me this a couple years ago. Was digging through one of their kitchen cabinets and found it. We moved from Iowa to Colorado in 1972. My dad knows for sure they had it when we were still in Iowa. So, this is from circa 1970 or earlier.

 

It's not that good. Good by cheap beer standards, but not great either.