The breweries that lived and died in the 1930s in Florida have always fascinated me. The lack of breweriana from them has added to their mystique. Curiosity led to this brief glimpse.
On May 8, 1933, the Florida legislature approved the sale of beer of 3.2 percent alcohol by weight. It could be sold even in dry counties since it was considered non-intoxicating. By November of 1934 the alcohol limit was removed for wet counties, and in May 1937 the legislature prohibited the specification of alcoholic content on labels.
The return of legal beer saw a frenzied scramble in southern Florida to open a brewery. This is the story of a few of those attempts as constructed from old newspaper articles, official records, and reports in issues of The Western Brewer.
In late 1932, before the legalization of beer, Brown (temporary offices at 720 Olympia Building) announced that the Miami Brewing and Storage Company had been organized. The name changed to the Miami Brewing Company the next year, then to the Flamingo Brewing Company that same year. The required federal permit had been obtained by December, 1933, and its product was placed on the market around the first of July 1934.
The brewery was located at 1199 N.W. 22nd Street (22nd St. and 12th Avenue N.W.) in Miami, and was equipped with a bottling works. It was owned by the Diehl brothers, George P. and Ernest G., originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. It is probable that they were associated with the Christian Diehl Brewing Company in Defiance, Ohio, which operated between 1867-1919 and after repeal from 1933-1935. The brewmaster was Robert Loewanthan, a graduate of the Wahl-Henius Institute in Chicago. He had gained his practical experience prior to Prohibition at the Springfield Brewery in Ohio.
The Flamingo’s flight was brief in the beer business. The January 1935 edition of The Western Brewer sadly noted that, "After operating for about a year, the Flamingo Brewery has been closed down, and the plant is being offered for sale." Although the equipment may have been sold, the plant never reopened.
Little remains of the Flamingo Brewing Company. A 43/16" pink and black coaster was found with writing on the back, "Charles Zauchag, souvenir when I worked at the brewery, 1935." A possible one-of-a-kind incised (like acid etched) glass featuring a flamingo existed at one time. Twenty Years of American Beers, 1930s and 1940s by Reino Ojala says Silk Velvet brand beer was also produced.
The Hialeah Brewing Company was located at 699 Palm Avenue (Palm Avenue and 6th Street) in Hialeah, Florida, a suburb of Miami. It was organized in mid-1933 by Joseph B. Thorpe, President, E. N. Strom, Vice President, and W. O. Stiles, Secretary-Treasurer. Mr. Thorpe and Mr. Stiles had formerly been in the banking business in Bridgetown, Kentucky; Mr. Storm was the former President of the Storm Ball Bearing Company in Chicago. The first brewmaster, William Reise, was replaced shortly by Fred D. Schleifer. The firm’s federal permit was obtained in January 1934. By mid-1934, Jockey Club ale and beer were supposedly on the market and C. E. Barr became Vice President and J. J. Jones joined the brewery as Secretary-Treasurer.
In late 1934, the plant was closed and acquired by C. E. Barr & Associates for $10,000 in cash plus the assumption of $26,000 in debt. It was announced that the brewery would soon reopen with John J. Borger, Sr. as the brewmaster. By February 1935, the Miami Brewery, Inc. had been incorporated by Alfred Betancourt, a man "prominent in business and social circles in Miami Beach," reported The Western Brewer. He was originally from Cuba where he operated a large tobacco farm. Also in this group were John B. Gallagher, Vice President, and T. J. Kelly II, Secretary-Treasurer.
Within a few months the ownership changed again. Arthur L. Guggenheim became President, C. E. Barr, Vice President, and Stanley M. Beckerman, treasurer. Mr. Guggenheim was also Vice President and Treasurer of the Forests City Brewery of Cleveland, Ohio. Two new brands from the brewery, Jockey Club and Florida’s Favorite, were scheduled to hit the market on July 1, 1935.
By August of 1936, the brewery was in bankruptcy. Its assets were acquired by William D. Singer under the name Gold Top Brewing Company. In December of 1934, it was in the process of again being liquidated for the last time.
Located at 414 Second Street (former site of a laundry) in West Palm Beach, the Sunshine Brewery obtained its federal permit in April 1934. On July 4, 1934, its Haven’s Pilsener beer hit the market in quarter and a half barrels; bottles were to follow in two weeks. The proprietor was John T. Havens, a local businessman. The brewmaster, Gottlieb Striffler, was a 60-year-old brewer from Bavaria, Germany. The product was advertised at 5 cents a glass using the slogan "Not a Burp in a Barrel."
On December 31, 1936, William H. Gould resigned as the Vice President and manager of the Wagner Brewing Company of Miami to purchase the Sunshine Brewery. Mr. Havens went into the bicycle business. The new company, the Gould Brewing Company, incorporated January 18, 1937, purchased property adjacent to the brewery to double its capacity. The rehabilitation process was completed in May of 1937. Alex Hostettler, the capable brewmaster, was formerly associated with the Wagner & Sons Brewing Company of Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Hostettler, assisted by his son, developed Gould’s All-Grain beer made exclusively of malt, hops and rice, the Palm Beach Post and Times reported on July 8, 1934. Another bottled brand was Gould’s Old English Type ale. In early 1939, the company’s Vice President, S. R. Quaden, took over from Mr. Gould who became sales manager for the Jax Ice & Cold Storage Company. On May 5, the brewery name was changed to the Tuna Brewing Company. Fred Hoermann was the brewmaster-secretary and Harry Farris and D.W. Prince were listed as Vice Presidents. The 1939 National Survey of the Brewing Industry noted that the Tuna Brewery had produced 10,000 barrels with 20 percent being draft and 80 percent bottled beer under the brand name of Tuna. The brewery closed that same year and was officially dissolved in 1943 for failure to pay taxes for the previous year.
By mid to late 1934, the De Soto Brewing Company of Tampa had obtained a federal permit and purchased at building at North Howard Avenue. and Nassau Street. (1202 N. Howard Avenue.). The President of the company, Daniel Arias, was also President of the Independent Ice Company and the People’s Oil Company. He purportedly invested $100,000 into his brewing venture. Others involved were Ralph Cernuda as Vice President-Secretary, John T. Bize, manager, O.G. Sexton, sales, and Fred D. Schleifer, brewmaster. This was the same Schleifer who had been with the Hialeah Brewing Company. The brewery went into receivership by 1936 after producing De Soto beer and Colonial ale during its short history.
Several others announced plans to open breweries in Florida, but most never materialized. One of these was the Fette Brewing Company which gave its address as 1013-32nd Avenue, Tampa in 1934. Frank J. Fette was the chief engineer for the Tampa Florida Brewing Company, Inc. in the late 1930s. Other companies registered were the Dade Brewing Company, Biscayne Brewery Company and the Gust Muller Brewing Company. All three were registered in Miami in 1933. Other strange names bouncing around during 1933 were the Gulf Brewing Company in Pensacola, later changed to the Spearman Brewing Company, and the Peninsula Brewing Company of Miami which became the Wagner Brewing Company.
Many breweries flourished in Florida during the 1930s: Spearman Brewing Company in Pensacola, Jax Ice and Cold Storage in Jacksonville, Wagner Brewing Company/ American Brewing Company in Miami, the Atlantic Company in Orlando, and the Tampa Florida Brewing, Inc. and Southern Brewing Company, both in Tampa.
In an effort to establish cordial relations between the brewers, the Florida Brewers’ Association was formed on April 6, 1934. All of the above listed breweries joined the new organization with the exception of the small Sunshine/Gould/Tuna brewery. Before the major influx of the national breweries, the Florida Brewers’ Association exercised considerable powers.