From April to June 1951, the Slinger community experienced several industry fires. The Storck brewery suffered its own fire on June 26, 1951, when a fire devastated the brewery's boiler room causing $30,000 of damage. The roof of the boiler room and the old coal shed were destroyed along with some brewery equipment. The stone and brick walls remained standing after the fire. Because of the large fire walls in the brewery, there was no apparent damage to other sections of the plant. It was believed that sparks from the boiler may have started the fire. The damage was covered by insurance, and rebuilding began almost immediately.
Ray Storck got out of the brewery business in 1952 after having a falling out with Ed Barnes. Ray was the last Storck family member to manage the brewery. He continued the family tradition of public service by serving on the Washington County Board for twenty-five years, and as the county's Civil Defense Director for twelve years until his death on July 3, 1966. Karl Grabner was made brewmaster and general manager after Ray left the company. Karl, prior to working for Storck, worked for Miller in Milwaukee, and West Bend Lithia. On occasion, he would have the beer truck stop by Miller after making its Milwaukee deliveries, and pick up parts for Storck.
Because of Storck brewery management's community negligence in the late 1940s, slow sales forced the brewery into voluntary receivership in 1952. Ed Barnes, the brewery's Milwaukee salesman was appointed as receiver by the court, and Ed Warhanek became President again. Elmer Keller resigned and enjoyed many years of operating a chain of liquor stores throughout Milwaukee.
Strike of 1953 and the End of the Associated Beer Depot Interest
The Milwaukee brewery workers went on strike on May 14, 1953. During the 76-day strike, all six Milwaukee breweries ceased operations and Storck brewery had an instant market in Milwaukee. This event allowed the Storck brewery to enjoy a profitable year by producing about 30,000 barrels of beer, their all-time high production record. The small Storck brewery had two shifts bottling beer to meet demand.
The brewery workers strike forced the owners of Milwaukee County Stadium to purchase beer from other breweries outside of Milwaukee. It didn't take long before hundreds of Storck beer cases were delivered and sold at each Milwaukee Braves game.
The instant market made the Associated Beer Depots constantly fighting with one another. The friction was caused by the amount of beer being sold to each depot. Each member felt that they were being short changed and should have had more beer, regardless of their shares owned in the brewery. When the Milwaukee breweries came back on line three months later, this lead to the demise of the group and the brewery's financial problems.
Storck Brewery Inc
The Associated Beer Depots had placed the brewery up for sale as soon as it went into receivership back in 1952. With the brewery in a better financial position due to the Milwaukee strike, Ed Barnes encouraged a Slinger resident, Eugene Schall, and Earl May of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, to purchase the brewery.
Gene Schall, Earl May, and Karl Omick made an offer of $33,000 to buy the brewery and it was accepted. They received a loan from St. Francis Savings and Loan and secured a working capitol of $20,000. Gene Schall and his older brothers were involved with the brewery one way or another for several years. Gene had a trucking business in the Slinger area and did some trucking of Blatz beer from Milwaukee to the Slinger area. When Ray Storck was managing the brewery for the Associated Beer Depots, the brewery was down to one operating delivery truck. The brewery's financial problems did not allow their trucks to be repaired or in working conditions. The brewery's last truck finally broke down on Hwy. 41 near Richfield, Wisconsin, and the driver abandoned his load of beer, hitch hiking his way back to Milwaukee. Gene hauled the beer from that point on.
Gene Schall also worked in the brewery's office in 1952 and 1953. During the Milwaukee brewery workers strike, Gene along with several other workers loaded a truck with cases of beer and headed to Milwaukee. All along the way they would make deliveries until they reached their last stop. The crew would be back to Slinger by 7 am to start up the brewery. Storck's best customer in Milwaukee was the Avenue Bar located on Wisconsin Avenue in the downtown district. It was very popular with the servicemen on leave from Great Lakes Naval Station, south of Milwaukee. At times, the Avenue Bar would take an entire truck load of beer in one delivery.
After new management took over the Storck brewery, the first order of business was to convince people in Slinger to drink Storck beer again. The brewery opened its Rathskeller doors to anyone wanting a cold beer during business hours and on New Year's Eve. Everyone was welcome to celebrate the new year at the brewery. Birthday parties, meetings, and celebrations were common. The first quarter barrel was always on the brewery at celebrations. The local hunters club used the Rathskeller one year for their annual raccoon dinner. Frank Kachelmeier, the local baker, roasted the raccoon meat in the bakery's wood fired ovens, and transported the meat in slow cookers to the brewery for everyone to enjoy.
The brewery also sponsored a bowling team in Slinger. The team bowling shirts had the Bavarian Club logo as the deliverymen's uniforms. The brewery's management also saw to it that the Slinger Fire Department always had Storck beer on hand in the fire hall.
The bottling house, which was located next to the railroad lines, often attracted thirsty railroad workers. It was customary to allow the workers to stop by and drink a short filled bottle of Storck beer. This practice had to be discontinued because railroad workers were taking advantage of the brewery's generosity. Some workers would tie their pantlegs tight and stuff each leg with at least a dozen bottles of fresh Storck beer, before they returned to work.
As a cost cutting measure, a decision was made to discontinue brewing Slinger beer. This left the brewery with two brands of beer, Storck and Bavarian Club. By the end of 1954 Storck was selling as much beer in Slinger as they did in Milwaukee but needed to increase sales and markets further. The brewery opened other markets in Hurley, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Green Bay, and Kenosha. They also opened new markets in Northern Illinois.
Storck made bock beer every Spring. When the Storck family owned the brewery, they used a different label for their bock beer. Associated Beer Depots did not bother to make a bock beer. Gene Schall and his group started making bock beer again in 1954. They added about 200 pounds of dark malt to their recipe and called it bock. Sometimes they just added a five gallon pail of caramel malt liquid to the regular brew. One year they kegged so much bock beer and ended up selling it at a discount to the bowling alley in Slinger. The bottle had its regular label with a bock neck label and a bock crown.
Strange Events
During the fall of 1953, Karl Grabner asked a handyman to install sight glasses on the cypress aging tanks. Two of the tanks contained beer, two did not. Karl instructed the handyman which tanks were full and departed from the room to do other tasks. No one in the brewery saw the handyman for two hours. Nobert Nineck, a young fellow from Green Bay, went looking for the handyman. He found him with his finger in a large hole that he had bored into a tank full of beer. The handyman had been screaming for help, but no one could hear him in the aging cellar. Other brewery workers rushed to the scene to plug the hole, but not until a tour was given to those wanting to see the "Little Dutch Boy" plugging the hole with his finger.
The brewery did not purchase new equipment during the 1950s, and relied mostly on developing new ways to use their existing equipment. The brewery used a pump to transport beer from the aging tanks to the carbonating tanks. At first, the pump pressure caused the beer to go "wild." Karl Grabner's solution was to apply air pressure from the top of the aging tanks and force the beer to the carbonation tank.
One day, during the fall of 1953, the air pressure was not turned off and the bottom valve of the wooden cypress aging tank was closed. The pressure valve failed and the tank immediately exploded, blowing out the brewery's cellar windows. Jake Mergenthaler was thrown across the brewery cellar and managed to crawl to the cellar exit. Jake was not hurt badly but Nobert Nineck was not as lucky. Nobert was walking on a three-foot wide walkway directly in front of the tank as it exploded. The wood and pressure threw him into a stone wall killing him instantly. He worked at the brewery for only a few months.
Turning Point for Storck
By July of 1954, Slinger was buying Storck beer again and the brewery was showing a profit. Earl May came to Storck brewery while it was still under voluntary receivership in early 1953. He replaced Karl Grabner who left the brewery and ended up at the Fountain City brewery. Right after Earl became the new brewmaster, in August of 1954, a bad batch of beer left the brewery. The pasteurizer was not heating the beer to the proper temperature and the aging cellar was not cold enough to allow beer to age properly. Earl made the decision to let the beer go to market regardless of the quality problems. Soon, Storck beer was being returned by the truck load. Omick, Schall, and May met to decide what to do with the returned beer. A vote was taken and it was decided to resell the beer, 2 to 1. The bad beer ended up at one of the brewery's largest accounts in Kenosha. One month later, the Kenosha depot never bought beer from Storck again. Earl was blamed for the bad beer and was forced out of the company in February 1955.
Karl Omick left the brewery a little later in 1955. His job was to be on the road selling beer. After Earl May left the company, there was a six week period where no one saw Karl Omick. Gene Schall instructed the office workers if Karl showed up, Gene wanted to see him. To insure Karl would visit with him, Karl's pay checks were held. He finally showed up one day to collect his pay checks and walked out with them by threatening to fire anyone stopping him. Gene then stopped payment on the checks and both finally met. Karl then sold his shares to A.O. Haas of Milwaukee after the meeting. Mr. Haas installed his own people at the brewery. A.C. Kurzer became the next President, who held that position until 1957 when George Daugherty, a hot shot salesman that had worked for Haas, became Storck's final President.
Storck's Final Years
The Storck brewery did everything possible to stay in business, even if it was stretching the law. Most of the time, Storck beer was carbonated in the "Government Cellar". This was forbidden by law, but the brewery did it because it worked better for them. Anytime a government inspector was expected to arrive, the beer was carbonated in the carbonation tanks on the upper story where it was meant to be done.
The Storck brewery needed to produce 25,000 barrels a year to make money. After the bad batch of beer in 1954, production dropped to 15,000 and the brewery was losing about 10¢ a case. As the large breweries in Milwaukee continued to grow, Storck's sales continued to drop during the next four years. The brewery could not afford advertising, so only banners and easel cards were used to promote Storck and Bavarian Club beers in package stores. Storck offered incentives to increase production. A beer depot could buy beer at $1.60 a case if they bought a truckload at a time. For each ten cases they order, the eleventh case was free. Regardless of what brand of beer a person bought, the brewery only made one brew. Bavarian Club beer and Storck beer were actually the same product, just different labels and prices were used. It cost the brewery $1.48 to brew each case. Beer depots sold cases of Storck Beer for $2.25 and cases of Bavarian Club for $2.45. Quarts sold for 25¢ retail, Shorties for 10¢, or $1.25 per case. A promotion was used by offering a free Storck beer glass with every ten cases of beer bought.
Once Storck Beer crossed state lines, the brewery was subject to federal brewery inspection. On the first inspection, the Chicago inspector demanded that Storck use an exterminator from Chicago. Gene Schall explained to him that the brewery used a local business for pest control. The inspector would not budge on his position so Storck was forced to not sell beer in Illinois.
Fighting Among Other Brewers
The big Milwaukee brewers forced many small brewery to go out of business during the 1950s and 1960s. Small breweries fought for their lives even among other small brewers. Occasionally, dirty tactics were used by other breweries to discourage depots and bars from selling certain brands. One very effective tactic was used against Storck after the batch of bad beer was sold in 1954. Salesmen from other small breweries would remove cases of Storck beer and place the beer in the sun. The sunlight would give the beer a skunky taste. After one week, a bottle of skunky beer would be inserted into many cases of Storck beer in the beer depot. Consumers would stop buying Storck beer and started purchasing other brands after drinking the skunky Storck beer.
Final Days
The Storck brewery was forced into involuntary receivership during September, 1958. The brewery was losing money and had not paid their alcohol taxes in eighteen months. Production was down to 800 barrels of beer per month with only ten workers. The brewery did not have a brewmaster. Ironically, some say that this period was when the brewery made its best beer. After the court tried to shut down the brewery, the court appointed receiver, Leroy Clavey, who was the comptroller for the Fox Head Brewery in Waukesha.
On the day when Leroy Clavey met Gene Schall, Leroy was shaking so hard he couldn't light a cigarette. When Gene asked him what was wrong, he replied "Don't you read the newspapers?" Mr. Clavey had been subpoenaed to appear in a Chicago court to testify on the Chicago beer market and why brewers were merging. Fox Head had tried for years to break into the Chicago market and did not succeed. Fox Head delivery truck tires were constantly slashed whenever they entered Chicago. When Tony Acardo was paid $5,000 per month as a salesman, the tire slashing ended and Fox Head was able to sell beer in Chicago. Clavey also knew that the last two individuals subpoenaed were found murdered with bullet holes in back of their necks before they testified in court.
Towards the end of the brewery's operation, Storck was sending beer as far north as Hurley. Storck and Bavarian Club beers were sold much cheaper the further away it traveled from the brewery. Storck's management was hoping the locals in Slinger would pay the full price and that the extra sales would add the volume needed to operate the brewery.
Four straight years of "operating in the red" finally forced A.O. Haas and Eugene Schall into Federal Court in Milwaukee. On October 27, 1958, the Federal Court in Milwaukee decided the fate of the brewery after hearing from the creditors. Both Haas and Schall were optimistic that the creditors will go along with the brewery, giving them a new clean start to try and make a go of it in the future. After further investigation, the government finally got the brewery to shut down for back taxes on November 30, 1958, even though the other creditors were willing to allow the brewery to continue operating.
Post-Storck
Ernst Fassbender rented the Storck brewery for three years. Ernst remodeled the brewery's boiler room to burn garbage. He had a garbage pickup route around Cedar Lake and sold the scrap after the garbage was burnt.
Accidents continued to happen at the old Storck brewery. Norbert P. Wiebelhaus was killed in an accident while razing the brewery on November 7, 1962. Norbert and his companion, Charles Uhing, were salvaging rafters from the second story of the brewhouse for the Slinger Speedway. Norbert was removing timber from the west wall of the brewhouse when the brick portion of the north wall gave way, crushing him. Charles Uhing was able to jump to safety. Since 1962, the brewery property has been used as an auto salvage yard.
Today, most of the Storck brewery's buildings have been torn down. The buildings that are still standing are crumbling. The green Storck's sign that dates back to the Prohibition ice cream heydays is still painted on the front of the kegging house. The brick smoke stack for the coal fired boiler has been torn down and used for an addition to Slinger's Catholic Church. Brick from the brew house, some dating back to Lehman Rosenheimer's brewery days, have been used to build shelters in Slinger's Firemen's Park. The 65-barrel brew kettle top can still be seen in the chalet at Slinger's Little Switzerland ski hill, although it is now used as a fireplace. The bottom portion is now being used as a small swimming pool at a cottage in northern Wisconsin.
Today you can ask anyone in the village of Slinger where the brewery is, and many will give you directions as if it were still brewing beer today. Inquire anyone who remembers the brewery and you'll hear many fond stories of their past and how Storck Beer played in those memories.