Grand Rapids Brewing Company: Good Press Since 1913

The original GRBC sat at the corner of
East Bridge (Michigan St) & Ionia*

Recently, while researching old newspaper archives, I came across a full page article about the Grand Rapids Brewing Company that ran in the August 23rd, 1913 edition of The Grand Rapids Press.

I use the word “article” loosely as the anonymous writer unabashedly praised both the wholesomeness of the company’s products and the wonders of its state of the art facilities. In reality, it was a paid advertisement wrapped in the guise of a feature story—an attempt by the GRBC to counter the anti-alcohol campaigns that were at the time threatening Michigan’s brewing industry. That fact alone gives the piece historical value. It’s a bonus that we find scattered throughout the blatant horn blowing and purple prose a number of interesting details regarding the workings of a “modern”  brewery in the early 20th century. 

The article begins by stating that “in the modern brewery one will find none of the lamentable conditions which are too prevalent in restaurants, dairies, bakeries, etc. Rather one finds the greatest possible cleanliness and freedom from circumstances which breed and propagate disease producing bacteria.” The reader is then informed that six local breweries consolidated to form the GRBC in 1892 and that the company moved into its “splendid” and “stupendously large” plant three years later.

A discussion of the brewing process follows. Readers are informed that “brewing begins with malt” and that malt is barley that has been germinated and kilned after the sprouts had been removed. We learn that the GRBC mechanically elevated its malt to storage bins on the upper floor and that gravity was used to move the grain to the lower level of the brew house. The author states that corn and rice are used in the production of American beer, explaining that adjuncts aren’t utilized by brewers in Germany “not for the reason of securing a fine quality of beer but because corn and rice are not produced in Germany. Indeed, the best authorities today favor the use of corn or rice with the malt.”

The author further educates the reader by stating that hops are another component of beer and that chemical hop substitutes are never used by the GRBC brewers. According to the article, the company purchased hops once a year from Washington, Oregon and Germany, and stored “the vast supply at low temperatures so as not to become rancid.” 

We learn that after the malt was milled it was placed in “cookers” and immersed in hot water. The malt was mashed, the liquid was strained through perforated bottoms and was then transferred into large kettles where it was boiled with the hops. At the end of the boil the liquid passed through a hop jack, was pumped into coolers and was then transferred to the fermentation tanks in the cellar. GRBC had thirty-two open fermenters, each having a capacity of 150 barrels, that were made from California redwood. The brewery’s yeast, the reader is told, was cultivated in a laboratory from strains initially imported from Germany.

After fermentation the beer was transferred into wooden tanks, also located in the cellar, where it aged for six months “during which time it ripened and matured.” The finished beer was then packaged in wooden kegs or sent to a bottling line that was capable of packaging 400 barrels of beer in ten hours. In 1913, the brewery kegged and bottled four beers—Silver Foam, Export, Pilsner and Alt Nuernberger.

After describing the brewing operation the author states that “No one can go thorough the plant of the Grand Rapids Brewing Company and not feel very deeply that the modern brewer is not like his ancestor, a bungling workman and empiricist. Rather he is an educated observer of scientific laws who has an adequate knowledge of chemistry and biology and who follows out well established rules in his everyday work in order to conform to modern tastes and modern economy.” This rather curious statement may have been an attempt by the brewery to distance itself from the anti-German sentiment that was sweeping west Michigan. Most of the area’s breweries had initially been established by German immigrants and the temperance movement was linking the unwholesomeness of consuming beer to the legacy of the German brewers.

In an obvious attempt to refute prohibitionist claims that beer is unwholesome and that the alcohol it contains is, indeed, poisonous, the writer ends the article by providing a quote attributed to a Professor T.J. Clouster of Edinburg University: “Alcohol excites the appetite, improves digestion, stimulates certain nutritive processes and is beneficial in the laying down of fat.” Apparently the GRBC had decided it was time to fight the outrageous claims being spouted by the dry movement with its own sort of scurrilous fire.

*Photo courtesy of the Grand Rapids Historical Commision

Homebrew Competition Update: Electronic Registration

The competition is now open. Please visit this contest update for the competition link and information on how to enter.  

Judging last year's competition at Vivant

By Greg Johnson

This year marks year ten of Siciliano's annual homebrew competition. First off, I want to thank everyone who has participated in past contests, whether as entrants, judges, and/or stewards. The event would not be the success it is without all of you.

This is my 4th year overseeing this event and, as in every other year, we are working to refine the processes of entry submission and entry judging in order to provide the best possible feedback for our competition entrants. This year, thanks to our friend Dan Frechette from the Kuhnhenn Guild of Brewer's (KGB), we will be using the Beers To Fear online software for entry registration. We will begin accepting entries on Monday, March 25th and will stop on Sunday, April 14th, or once we've reached a total of 250 entries (more on this below). More information about the online entry format will be detailed as we near March 25th, including the website URL, directions on how to enter your beer, and label printing, which this website will fully facilitate.

The contest this year will be capped at 250 entries, with one entry per person, so that the judging load remains manageable. If we were to allow more than 250 entries, the amount of time we would need to judge the beers would increase significantly. Increased judging time means asking our volunteer judges and stewards to take more time out of their weekends than they already so graciously give us. So to help provide the best experience for our judges and ultimately provide the best possible feedback for our participants, we have chosen to keep the competition on the smaller side. There are other, larger competitions in the state that we help sponsor throughout the year for anyone looking to receive more feedback on their beer, namely the Michigan Beer Cup and Homebrew at the World Expo of Beers.

Important points for the 10th Annual Homebrew Competition:

• 1 entry per person
• 250 entry cap (NEW!)
• Entries accepted March 25th – April 14th (or until 250 entries is reached)
• $5 per entry, cash or check only
• BJCP Style Guidelines for categories 1-23 will be used
• Beer submission & bottle label printing will be web based (NEW!)

Good luck to all who enter!

Siciliano's AHA Big Brew Update: Location Secured

Photo from Wikipedia

By Steve Siciliano

I am pleased to announce that the Calder Plaza in downtown Grand Rapids has been selected as the location for Siciliano’s Market’s first ever sponsorship of an American Homebrewers Association Big Brew. This annual, country-wide event is scheduled for Saturday, May 4th and gives homebrewers the opportunity to gather at registered AHA sites to brew, promote the enriching hobby of homebrewing and join in a simultaneous celebration of National Homebrew Day. With the AHA convention coming to Grand Rapids in 2014, we feel that a huge Big Brew day event at a highly visible, downtown location will be a great way of showing the area, the state and the country that a vibrant homebrewing community exists in West Michigan.

As the sponsor for this event, Siciliano’s Market will be donating and providing the following:

• The ingredients for forty-eight all-grain batches of “Beer City IPA.”
• Bottled water for brewing.
• A chilling station capable of simultaneously chilling six kettles of wort.
• Platform handcarts for moving brewing equipment to and from vehicles and for transporting kettles of hot wort to the chilling station. 

Brewers will be responsible for furnishing their own mash/lauter tuns, propane burners, kettles, fermentation vessels, hydrometers, thermometers, and any other hardware they typically employ.

In the next few weeks we will be posting additional information, both online and at the store, as to how you may sign up to participate in this event either as a brewer or volunteer helper. You do not have to be a Siciliano’s customer or a member of the AHA to participate.

Dry Michigan No More

By Steve Siciliano

Beer tokens, 2013 MI Winter Beer Fest

Of the 6000 craft beer lovers who attended the Michigan Winter Beer Festival this past Saturday at Fifth Third Park, a good number of them traveled to Grand Rapids from areas outside of the state. Folks from as far away as Louisiana, Virginia, Connecticut and Colorado shopped at local stores, stayed at west Michigan hotels and visited the area’s breweries, pubs and restaurants. They paid lodging taxes, the six percent sales tax and when they filled up their gas tanks, they paid the 19 cents per gallon Michigan gasoline tax. They consumed and purchased a great deal of Michigan beer which will translate into more excise taxes when the state breweries replenish their inventories. In short, the craft beer industry has turned out to be a huge economic asset for the state.

That’s a good thing because the more tax dollars an industry pumps into government coffers. the less likely it is to be victimized by crippling legislation. Because of the potential for abuse, alcohol always has and always will be a political football, and short sighted politicians have always shown a propensity for siding with powerful self-serving interest groups. That was the case when Michigan banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages two years before the passage of National Prohibition. The current tag line for The Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s tourism advertising campaign is “Pure Michigan.” An apt slogan for our state back in the early years of the twentieth century would have been “Dry Michigan.”

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and The Anti-Saloon League at one time were extremely powerful political forces in Michigan and they were instrumental in getting our state to be one of the first to go dry. National Prohibition had, of course, a devastating effect on the entire country’s brewing industry but the destruction it wrought on a national level had a two-year head start in Michigan. That makes what’s happening with the incredible resurgence and growth of craft brewing in our state all the more remarkable.

Journeyman Distillery: Buy the Whiskey, Keep the Barrel

By Doug Dorda

Photo courtesy of Journeyman Distillery

Home beer and wine makers, have we not all fantasized about filling our very own barrel? Have we not sat in pleasant company and mused over the stylistic variances of fermented ale or vino that could benefit from an aging in a once-used whiskey barrel? Have we not become downtrodden when noticing that the price of said used barrel is often well into the hundreds, not to mention that the 55- or 60-gallon size is a bit cumbersome to store as well as increasingly difficult and expensive to fill. Often times I have mused that it would be so much grander were I able to locate a 5-, 10-, or even 15-gallon barrel to use, but often they cost as much as their larger counterparts.

Recently, while sipping a glass of the Ravenswood Rye from Michigan-based Journeyman Distillery, I discovered that they offer a unique solution to the “small barrel" problem. Often the distillery utilizes barrels that are quite a bit smaller than the traditional 55- or 60-gallon size, opting most commonly for 15- or 30-gallon barrels (they will even use as small as a five gallon barrel on occasion). But how do I get my hands on one of these? This is where things get interesting.

There is a lottery of sorts available to those who are not opposed to rolling the dice. You may put your name in to receive Journeyman's spent barrels on a first-come first-serve basis as the barrels are retired. However, as you may imagine, this method of acquisition is inundated quite often by barrel enthusiasts, and may come with a shaky, if inconsistent time frame by which to expect fruition. A more assured way to get your hands on one of these beauties is to enroll yourself in Journeyman's traveling barrel program.

For those of us with patience and an appreciation for whiskey, this may be one of the more fun “journeys” you will take. A full explanation of the program can be found at the Journeyman website, but my favorite program would have to be the one year journey. For $275 dollars you get to decorate your very own 15-gallon barrel which will be on display in the distillery for one year. You are also allowed to choose one of three whiskeys that will be aged in the barrel for that one year. When time has expired, you will travel back to the distillery to help bottle the whiskey out of your barrel. Not only do you then get to take the barrel with you, but you are also awarded four 750-ml bottles of the whiskey that was aged in your barrel.

Let’s review: $275 gets you a 15-gallon barrel, four bottles of a whiskey that you decide upon (each retailing for $50), and a journey to a corner of Michigan (Three Oaks) you may not have otherwise visited. And did I mention that Greenbush Brewing is just a stones throw away? Quite the adventure in fermentation if I do say so myself.

For those keeping score, the whiskey that you receive accounts for $200 of the initial investment placed toward the barrel. The barrel itself then only costs $75, quite a bit less than many other avenues of requisition. However, can one truly place a price on being able to say this: “Do you like that beer? That all began 18 months ago when I bought into a barrel at Journeyman Distillery. I chose rye whiskey to age for one year as I wanted to add a layer of new depth to my barleywine. I waited what seemed like an eternity to fill that barrel and, as such, you are tasting my vision of the past, brought to fruition in the present. Do you want to try the whiskey that aged in the barrel too?”

Tuesday Review: anCnoc 12 Years Old Scotch Whisky

Illustration by the author

By John Barecki

In an experiment over the next few months, we will be reviewing a handful of Scotch whiskys to try and find the best quality for the lowest price. As I delve deeper into the world of whisky, I tend to find a lot of overlapping ideas with regard to what influences a person's choice when they are standing at the liquor shelf. Being guilty of following the same trends myself, I thought it would be interesting to try to shadow all of the fancy selling points—color, extra maturing in different casks, packaging—to find out what appeals to me and our customers most, while at the same time trying to save some money in the process.

The first in this series is a 12-year-old single malt from the anCnoc distillery (pronounced a-nock). Previously called Knockdhu, the name change was done because of the confusion between it and the the Knockando distillery. Originally opened in 1894, anCnoc was considered the "perfect embodiment of a modern distillery" and, outside of a couple small additions, not much has changed in the way they create their warm flavors and complexity.

Stationed in the eastern Highlands, anCnoc 12 Years Old contains a great complexity not usually experienced in a younger whiskys. This is most likely due, at least in part, to the use of a worm tub, which consists of a coiled copper tube that is submerged in cold water. The worm tub condenses the alcohol vapor back into liquid form. While only a handful of distillers still use this method, the result is a wonderfully well-rounded, heavier character. There is a freshness to the nose, with a hint of smoke and pungent finish. It is medium rich on the palate, sweetness barely coming through, with some spices and fruit. The finish is long and rewarding, combining all the flavors down to a soft fruity end.

While anCnoc 12 Years Old does not surpass some of the longer-aged malts, it still packs a complexity worthy of the best and is available for under $40. anCnoc 12 Years Old is now available at Siciliano's Market for $38.81/750ml.

Is Craft Beer a Social Movement?

By Weston Eaton

Social movements are collective actions organized by institutional outsiders that challenge existing power structures. The civil rights battles of the 1960s and the ongoing struggles of American Indians or the LGBT community are iconic examples. These groups demand recognition not only from the state for their legitimate rights to be treated as equals under the law; more than this, these groups form new collective identities, or a sense of “we-ness,” to challenge dominant cultural mores. There are transferrable lessens here for the craft beer community. In the world of craft beer, home-, micro-, and craft breweries challenge giants like Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors. These challenges are more than battles over market shares. These are challenges over cultural acceptance, distinction, and legitimacy more broadly.

In his 2009 book Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations, the young social scientist Hayagreeva Rao uses a social movements lens to understand how it was possible for a craft brewing movement to gain traction in a market so heavily dominated (98% in 2003) by well known brands with well established distribution networks and centralized planning. To understand this question, folks like us who are immersed in beer culture need to take a few steps back. Industrial economics theory points out that, over time, industries concentrate, and in doing so, move from specialists to generalists. This is helpful as it sheds some light on things like the taste of Little Caesars versus the pies at Harmony Brewing, or Coors Light compared to Founders Solid Gold or Bell’s Amber. Furthermore, according to theory, as generalists move more to the center, room opens up at the peripheries. This is the space Rao wants to explore in the world of craft beer.

The craft beer movement is clearly a success, however one might define success. This is important because not all movements, of course, are successful. Understanding how craft beer, as a culture, a market, a lifestyle, became successful sheds light on the way cultures develop and are themselves responded to. Unpacking this requires that we look at the people involved, the contexts they shape and operate within, and the way they work with others to achieve their aims. Rao’s argument is close to arguments I have been making for some time in this column: from home to micro and craft segments, craft beer is by definition less about market share and more an expression of a new identity, one premised on small-scale, authentic, and traditional methods of production. Recently I wrote about the “Local Trap,” the tendency to confuse scale, which is a means, with taste, an end. The point then is that taste, as in both the cultivated tastes of enthusiasts and the way a product tastes, is a significant component of identity.

Now we are nearing the “creation story” of craft beer. WWII vets returned home from Germany, Belgium, and France—where beers were as diverse as dog breeds—only to find what Michael Jackson termed “chicken-feedy” lagers, as in tasting too much like corn. Within this myth, however, is a wedge of pertinence that can give insight into social movements applicability: consumers might be open to alternative tastes. Adding to this was the modern homebrewing movement, championed and popularized by folks like Charlie Papazian who did for home brewing what Carl Sagan did for science. From these ranks were born folks like Sam Calagione, who, like his counterparts, is voracious about creating and defending the standards that separate craft beer from, say, Miller Lite. As Calgione might say, no matter that MillerCoors brands unequivocally outsell 90 Minute IPA, they lack terroir, the sense of place associated with products made within certain locales. In the emerging craft beer identity, generalist victories are not the point.

As I have warned in previous essays, however, this presents a slippery slope. How exclusive ought craft beer culture be? Where do we draw the line, and who draws it? Rao points out that contract breweries like Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) make substantially different claims about what is at the root of craft beer cultural identities. For Boston Beer, fresh ingredients equal craft beer. For others, like those who drafted the American Craft Brewer Definition for the Brewer’s Association, craft brewers must be small (less than 6 million barrels a year), independent (less than 25% of the brewery is owned by non craft breweries), and traditional (meaning adjuncts are used to enhance, not simplify the product).

These tensions demonstrate a few nuances I would like to add to Rao’s argument. While the craft beer movement is a success, by no means is it homogenous. People who identify with this cultural movement harbor a range of perspectives and interests that are not always harmonious. Moreover, although successful, the cultural, market, and identity battles are clearly ongoing. There is no clear distinction between craft and non craft. Instead, differences are socially constructed by interested groups. For example, as brewing consultant John Haggerty pointed out to me years ago, Budweiser, like Boston Beer, and so many others, indeed uses some of the finest malts and hops and well cared for water in the world of beer.

But it is the intangibility of identity that ultimately can help us make sense of such technical incongruences. Overall Rao’s point is that without the network of “evang-ale-ists,” home brewers and enthusiasts, craft beer would hardly be the market and cultural success it is today. Of course successful retailers, breweries, and brewpubs know this well. My argument is that in thinking of craft beer as a social movement, one that so many of us have been affected by, we can see that this is an ongoing movement, whose boundaries are porous, aims are fluid, champions are varied and contested, and that we ourselves, as home- or professional brewers or industry folk, or especially as beer drinkers, can have a hand in steering.

Like other popular movements, such as environmental movements, one could argue that what’s really going on here is the coinciding of several movements. Steve Siciliano of Siciliano’s Market pointed this out when he discussed the symbiotic relationships that emerge between various players in regional markets. I think this is accurate and, in West Michigan, we certainly seem to be situated at the front lines of this convergence.