No source can pinpoint the time that the brewer's art was perfected. But even the first primordial brewmaster must have taken the above motto to heart. The art has been passed down generation to generation for countless eras, each generation experimenting and perfecting its own particular brand. As more than one historical wag has said, every nation that ever marched had beer and spirits to help it along. European countries by no means had a monopoly on brewing, but West Europeans did bring their skill to America. And to Pueblo, Colorado. Walter's Brewery of Pueblo was by no means the first or only supplier locally. The company under the aegis of Martin, Christian and Fries Walter inherited the legacy of ". . . Pueblo Brewery (that had) changed hands at least sixteen times in thirty years before 1898." The new company eventually became as synonymous with Pueblo as the steel mills.

Brewing in Pueblo before statehood

At least one source states that the date of Pueblo's first brewery is unknown, but " . . . it must have been several years prior to January 21, 1868". The first known was sold to M. Beshoar by J. A. Sichler. The land was on F Street between Santa Fe and Third in the Town of Pueblo. It was 200 by 150 feet in size. An updated version listed it as in Block 3 of Moore's subdivision, the 200 block of South Santa Fe Avenue on the west, "between . . . Patti's Drive-in and the D.& R.G.W. tracks".

The local paper, six months later, touted Beshoar's Brewery as being well-known in seven counties, producing both lager and cream ale, "not excelled anywhere." The company looked forward to supplying all of southern Colorado.

The operation passed to N. Anker who had been also involved in a general store and a brick yard. Excelsior Beer was Anker's main brand name, but it was short-lived, as he sold out everything and left Colorado Territory. It had been the only brewery supplying three forts and at least four cities.

Within a year, W. H. Young leased the brewery, claiming that the quality of his beer " . . . would not be surpassed....". It must have been customary to somewhat influence advertisers on the frontier with a sampling of one's product. At least the employees at the local newspaper, The Pueblo Chieftain, received a liberal donation of the brew from Mr. Young in late 1869.

In 1870 the Washington Brewery was begun by a Charles Wurtz on lower Santa Fe. Again, the Chieftain's staff was endowed with an entire keg. Wurtz soon sold again to Captain Walters (no connection with Walter Brothers) of Caņon City who turned the brewery into a confectionery store.

Meanwhile the old Pueblo Brewery was sold to a Weiss & Co. In late 1870, the usual sample keg was given to the Chieftain. The printers said the beer was "tip-top." A repeat performance came later. A "wonderful holiday ad."

Weiss expanded by building a new brewery between the 100 Block of East 3rd and the 100 Block East 4th, utilizing the hills for new cellars. A two story adobe building was added, which boasted a bar room. A nickel bought a liberal glass of beer and two-bits was good for a quart.

In less than a year, Weiss sold out to a Chicago group, Bingel and Metzger for $5,000.00. (Two years earlier, the property's value was $1,000.00.) Following custom the Chieftain reported: "This office was wet down the other day with some foaming beer furnished by Bingel & Co. of the Pueblo Brewery, for which favor they will please accept our thanks. . . . It's a dusty quarter here, but we can stand it when Bingel & Co. are in the field."

The thanks was even more eloquent the following year. Two years later the brewery had expanded and even had built an ice house. Bingel had also installed a steam engine for a pump and the malt mill. Drilling for water, they hit an artesian well, but too much alkali came in the water, so the steam engine was sold. In early 1874, the Pueblo Brewery was being operated by a George Miller, lauded by the Chieftain again: "The pleasant perfume of malt and hops again floats on the air." Miller shortly left the business, replaced by O. Elias Mertz, the " . . . most successful of all the owners to date." Not only did he sell beer for $3.00 a keg, but obviously being environmentally aware, he installed a sewer, greatly improving the premises. Mertz went further in expanding the ice house.

Meanwhile, back in old Pueblo Town, new competition appeared as the City Brewery had been established between Main and Santa Fe. Two gentlemen, Fritz Hanryot and Emil Brown ran the business. They apparently did not care to go big time, since their product was designed mainly for their own attached saloon.

Mertz, facing increased prosperity, decided to move and expand. As the Chieftain explained, Mertz commenced the erection of a large brewery about a mile south of the city, on the river. Possibly looking for another keg or two, the paper wished Mertz further success in the new venture. By 1881, the new brewery had been completed. "This was the beginning of what is now the plant of the Walter Brewing Company."

The new location was almost on the river bottom, an ideal setting for picnics, would-be hunters, and possibly lovers' trysts among the trees. Mertz resented the careless shooters who fired at birds so close to his domain. One stray shot had even wounded his own horse. When a couple of recalcalcitrant and mouthy hunters gave him a bad time, Mertz went for his own Winchester. They then decided to leave without further ado.

Two short-lived incidents almost changed the future of the brewery. In March of 1883, Mertz had borrowed almost $7,000.00 from Fred Rohrer. The note was to be paid within ninety days. It defaulted and by December three years later a trustee sold the operation to Charles Kretchmer. In January 1884, the August Dreesz Brewing Company rented or leased the facilities. This lasted but a short time and the business closed.

A year later, a "syndicate of eastern capitalists" were interested in purchasing the brewery and all the adjoining land. The purported rationale was to erect blast furnaces for the production of pig iron. The ore allegedly was available three miles east of Pueblo at the Silver Steel Camp. It was reported that a " . . . large quantity of ore is already at the dump and a broad gauge switch will be built to connect to the Santa Fe main line." The scheme, whether or not it really had a solid foundation, faded into history.

In the meantime, yet another company entered the beer business. "Bauer & Seims made their first deliveries . . . which were well received by the public . . . many dealers said they would sell it exclusively." There was no mention as to whether the new firm oiled the wheels of advertising with a free keg or two.

Brewing was only one aspect of Pueblo's burgeoning industry. In late 1887, the Missouri Pacific Railroad made its debut here. Not to be left out of the welcoming parade of dignitaries, the Pueblo Brewing Company entered its own float with King Gambrinus and the royal court imbibing the home brew "in preference to all others".

Yet another change of ownership of the beerhouse took place two years later. Carl Roth and Henry Clodius purchased the Pueblo Brewery, later taking on Fred Koehl. Carl Roth & Company made several improvements, described later. In 1890, a fire destroyed the new structures, but left cellars and vats intact. Overall damage, however, set the business back enough that it did not recover. It was taken over by the mortgage holder, A. Magnus in 1892 who then sold to a Louis Frisch.

Troubles continued to plague the brewery until 1895 when once again Magnus took over. A new operator, William Wilhelm, leased the company under his name until July 8, 1898, at which time the Walter family finally entered the scene.

Martin Walter Arrives in Pueblo

Coming from Wisconsin, the Walters were seeking new opportunities, since their own breweries could not support a growing clan. Walter looked first at San Diego, then visited Pueblo. He found it to be a boom town with a great chance for a beermaker. He purchased the beleaguered Pueblo Brewery for $7,000.00 and kept 51% of the stock. Officers of the incorporated firm were Martin Walter, Christian Walter, and John Hrubesky .

Locationwise, Walter's Brewery was almost an orphan. In the late eighteen hundreds, ten to fifteen breweries or their representatives were located in the Grove or near Union Avenue. Intermittently, several saloons that made their own appeared on lower Santa Fe Avenue. (A few of these offered lunches along with their own home brew.) Walter's was located "n s & S F RR Tracks 2 miles s e of P O." (North side of the tracks, two miles southeast of the Post Office).

The first year of operation - 1898 - saw the first sales. That winter cellars were stocked with natural ice. Although an Ott Ice Machine had been purchased by one of the previous owners, it was in need of repairs. The machine seemed moody and broke down more than once. The purpose of the ice maker was to reduce considerably the temperature of a large tank of brine. This, in turn, was set to cool the ice cellars by the use of brine coils. Within a short time, an ammonia based process was utilized.

Water was supplied from the Fountain River via the Goldsmith Ditch, On these same grounds for years had been two large ponds, filled by the Goldsmith Ditch. A barn belonging to the Castellar family later occupied the site. Ice from the ponds was hauled by wagon to the top of the hill back of the brewery. The ice was then shoved from the high wagon onto the floor of the top cellar. This practice lasted up until two or three years before Walter came into the area, who then built a more accessible icehouse and utilized commercial ice by the carload, and " . . . delivered this ice along with the beer. This lasted only for a few years".

Major Pre-Prohibition Expansion

The Walters, at first, rather than hiring others, undertook most of the work themselves. This included the job of brewmaster. Martin, at least, spent a week or more at a time at the plant, eating and sleeping between the needs of work. At least he seldom appeared at home. Wanting to corner the market on beer, the Walters capitalized on what had gone before they came into Pueblo. Going beyond that, one of the first brands to come off the recently acquired labeling machine was called Mountain Dew About eight years later the name was changed to Gold Label. Continuing to build on what had gone on before, Walter's beer had good sales, prompting the addition of another - a third - story to the cellar. Beneath that story, the fermentation and aging took place and the finished and bottled product came from the bottom level.

The two tanks inherited by Walter's in the old cellars were wearing out and were replaced by larger, more modern tanks. For awhile supply met demands, but then demands outran the capacity of forty-five barrels even when running both day and night in the summertime. By 1902, production had increased to 170 barrels at a time, with the addition of a modern brew house, a fifty ton Dela Vergne ice machine, a washing room, malt storage facilities, and two boilers.

Construction continued five years later with four new cellars containing larger tanks and increased room for the keg filling. But new construction and demand called for more refrigeration. To accomplish this, another boiler was added in 1908 in an even larger room, along with added electric power from a small dynamo. By 1909, more machinery was needed and the old brewhouse no longer filled the needs.

To meet the future, a new three story structure was added to the building with a brand new engine room on its first floor. Another, more modern ice machine - a 100 ton Vilter - with a much larger capacity was installed. The older Dela Vergne icer was moved into the new facility. Together the two steam driven machines could produce about twice the power needed, so they were geared to about half that. This way, they could last longer without major maintenance. In fact, the smaller was utilized during the cold winter months; the larger one in summer. The first decade of this century saw Walter's Brewery electrified sufficiently to meet the demands of the Twentieth Century industry.

A large outdoor beer garden was established just inside the gate, much to the enjoyment of individuals and large groups. Inside facilities were made available in cold weather. Much to the disappointment of many, these were not available after 1909. Further changes in the first decade had to be made to meet even more production - the brew kettle was enlarged in 1912 to a 250 barrel capacity. As with other brewhouses across the nation, a saloon had been prominent on the grounds for several years, but it also was closed at the end of the year in 1909. It then became a storage room for kegs. More buildings had to be added to accommodate other types of storage.

The advent of trucks made its own demands on storage and maintenance facilities. Supply and demand apparently evened out in that period immediately preceding World War I.

But on December 31, 1915, Colorado voters, in their infinite wisdom (or ignorance) chose to vote for statewide Prohibition. This action, along with similar moves of a few other states, preceded the well-intentioned but catastrophic action of the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment as they overtook the national scene. The first day of 1916 saw Old Demon Rum outlawed in Colorado. The Walter Brewing plant closed. As with other like estabishments, the building and its equipment became prime picking for vandals as it rusted and de-cayed. Bootlegging became a local, as well as a national, pastime. "Blind Tigers,", "Wort", "Near Beer", "Bathtub Gin", "Hootch". "White Lightning", and other sobriquets replaced the older drinks of the nation. Harking back to the beginning, 1868-1898, one source iterated the beermaking scene: "At the start, the brewery had no bottling plant....

A makeshift bottle house was rigged up in a leanto next to the side of a residence." As little as one barrel of beer was bottled in a day. The bottles were soaked in hot water, and then buckshot was placed in the bottle along with the water. The bottles were then shaken to finish the cleaning.

These were half pint bottles called "splits," unlike modern bottles. These were sealed with inch-thick rubber to fit inside the neck of the bottles. The "seal had a staple in it similar to a small chicken wire staple." This could be opened with any sharp instrument such as a nail or icepick, by inserting the opener under the staple and prying out the seal. Designed for local consumption only, the beer was not at first pasteurized.

Later the makeshift bottle-washing operation was transferred into the basement of the office building. Here the bottles were subjected to steam from a small engine which turned a brush inserted into the bottle, said to be an improvement over the buckshot method. Whether the buckshot contained any toxic elements was not mentioned.

During the same decade, to cater to more than the local market, a bottle house was in action replete with a bottle soaker that cleaned an entire batch of sixteen bottles at one operation. A counter pressure filler and a crowning machine were added combined with large wooden tanks that allowed for pasteurization. From the original one barrel a day, production grew from sixteen to forty until the earlier mentioned capacity was reached. As production increased, more than one shift was needed.