THE BEGINNINGS
- Of Bavarian Brewery
THE BEGINNINGS
- Of Bavarian Brewery
ADS - From Newspapers
8B. BAVARIAN PLANT NO. 2 (1949-1954; Sold in 1956)
& The former Heidelberg Brewery (1934-1949)
ACQUIRING THE FORMER HEIDELBERG BREWERY For Plant No. 2
After WWII, the demand for beer produced by Bavarian Brewing Co. skyrocketed and they were unable to meet production needs, despite operating 24x7. However, while they were enjoying unparalleled success, the nearby Heidelberg Brewery, was struggling. It was difficult for a brewery as small as Heidelberg to be profitable. They also were involved in some litigation and had some management conflicts, losing their brewmaster, Joseph Ruh in 1945, who had formerly worked at Bavarian with his father Anton. For Bavarian, it seemed an easy solution to their production problem was to acquire the Heidelberg Brewing Co. and use their brewery property, as a second plant. Heidelberg was located in Covington, KY, between 4th and 3rd Streets and Philadelphia and Bakewell Streets - just several blocks north of 8A. Bavarian's main plant (No. 1).
In January of 1949, the Bavarian Directors approved the purchase of the Heidelberg for $400,000. Terms included a down payment of $100,000 and a 10-year note of $300,000 bearing interest at 4.5 percent. This offer was accepted by Heidelberg's shareholders on February 15, 1949. The purchase included all of the land, buildings, plant, fixtures, machinery and equipment, which also secured the loan. However, 15 trucks, all bottles and the cooperage were excluded from the loan. When Heidelberg stockholders met in February, 1949, they accepted the terms offered by Bavarian. (Please see 8C. Heidelberg Brewery for a brief history of this brewery, as well as a review of its beers and ales accompanied by images of its labels and advertising materials.)
Bavarian obtained occupancy rights to the former Heidelberg Brewery in March of 1949. Their first order of business was to make the plant suitable for their own operations. To do so, they needed to make changes to the brewery building and modify some of its equipment. In addition, they needed to repaint 15 trucks, barrels and other items they acquired, which referenced the Heidelberg name and its brands. Finally, it was necessary to determine what to do with the beer that was being aged in Heidelberg's oak storage tanks. In order to avoid paying hefty taxes on this beer, Bavarian decided to dispose of it, as explained in the text below.
BAVARIAN PLANT NO. 2
This photo, taken March 24, 1949, shows a workman removing his beer-soaked boots as foam settles on the floor of the Bavarian Brewing Co. Plant (No. 2). In order to make room for Bavarian's own product, and avoid paying beer tax, some 70,000 gallons (about 2,200 barrels) of Heidelberg beer were poured down the drain shortly after Bavarian bought Heidelberg Brewing Co. (The title of a newspaper article about this event joked that the fish in the Licking and Ohio Rivers were getting drunk.) After Bavarian acquired the Heidelberg plant, a couple of months were required to make modifications before it was suitable for Bavarian’s use. The plant provided additional production later that same year. This helped Bavarian increase their production beginning in the fiscal year of 1949, ending September 30th.
In the following 1950 fiscal year, Plant No. 2 helped Bavarian achieve their peak annual production of nearly 350,000 barrels. It appears this plant was operating close to its capacity of about 125,000 barrels per year, with the remainder produced in the main Plant No. 1. This level of production held around the same for fiscal year 1951.
Blueprints of Plant No. 2
About a year after Bavarian Brewing Co. acquired the former Heidelberg Brewery they arranged for blueprints to be made of this property, known as Plant No. 2, by Harold H. Hermann & Associates, Consulting Engineers. The were located in the Enquirer Building, in Cincinnati, OH. The draftsman for all blueprints, for these as well as those for Plant No. 1, was Frank C. Hall. The blueprints were acquired and provided courtesy of Timothy Holian, author of the "Over the Rhine" series about the brewing history of the Cincinnati area. Please note that these blueprints for Plant No. 2 have the original writing and show some aging with discoloration. Those blueprints for Plant No. 1 showed more aging, the writing was often smeared and more illegible, and overall conditions of these blueprints were worse than for Plant No. 2. Consequently, the blueprints for Plant No. 1 were reconditioned and the writing converted to text - by L. Ried Schott. Unfortunately, Plant No. 2 no longer remains, and few photos of that brewery were obtained. Therefore, it was not possible to provide photos of Plant No. 2 as it was for Plant No. 1. (Should anyone have such images for Heidelberg they would like to share, please let us know by contacting info@bavarianbrewery.org.)
As shown by the blueprints below, Plant No. 2 was primarily only two stories in height. However, according to the plans, the first level was called the Ground Floor, and the second level was the First Floor. The Brew House was on the far east side of the site (on the NW corner of Bakewell and 4th Streets) and was four stories above the ground level. However, the fourth (or fifth) level was only a quarter of the size of the other Brew House Floors.
The ground floor primarily contained the Stock House with 32 mostly wood tanks, a Government Cellar with six steel tanks, the Boiler Room with two boilers, and Engine Room with ammonia and air compressors, condensers and an electrical panel. The ground floor of the Brew House had a Receiving Room with an elevator to receive grains on the north side, Malt Bins were in the middle, the bottom of the Brew Kettle was in the far southeast corner with a hop jack and hop separator. Opposite it were lockers and toilets.
The first floor primarily had 23 Fermenting Tanks (all but three were wood) plus three settling tubs, a Bottling Room with soaker, washer and pasteurizer, a Wash House, case storage, cooper storage and hop storage. The first floor of the Brew House section contained the Brew Kettle, the Lauter Tub the Mash Tub and the Brew Master's office.
The second floor contained higher ceilings for the Cooperage Room, the Fermenting Room and, next to the Brew House, Hop Storage. Offices were on the far west side above the Wash House and contained three offices, a general office area, a women's restroom and a men's restroom. The Brew House section on the far east side contained the Brew Kettle, Malt Bins, rice and meal scales as well as the top of the Lauter tub.
The third floor of the Brew House included a Cooler Room, a hot water tank, a cold water tank, two scale beams and a reel.
On the small fourth floor, there was a Hot Wort tank. On the roof, there were also penthouses that housed the equipment for the freight and grain elevators that served each floor of the Brew House.
The brewing kettle capacity in Plant No. 2 was 178 barrels, slightly more than half the size of the 350 barrel brew kettle in Plant No. 2. However, the Stock House and storage capacities were significantly greater at Plant No. 1. Plant No. 2 had 32 mostly wood tanks with a total storage capacity for 9,000 barrels, whereas Plant No. 2 had 83 larger tanks, most glass lined steel, with a capacity for about 28,000 barrels. Plant No. 2 was also situated on a relatively small site compared to Plant No. 1.
Summary of Plant No. 2
According to a History of Bavarian Brewing Co. manuscript that historian C.B. Trousdale prepared in 1954, the equipment in Plant No. 2 consisted of the following items.
Brew House:
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a brew kettle with a capacity of 190 barrels
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a mash tub with a capacity of 207 barrels
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a cooker capable of holding 103 barrels
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a lauter tub with a 207-barrel capacity
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two malt bins with a capacity of 3,000 bushels each
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one hop jack capable of holding up to 103 bushels
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one malt hopper with a capacity of 18,000 pounds
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a hopper able to hold up to 10,000 pounds
Fermenting Cellar: (23 tanks with a total capacity of 3,790 barrels)
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two wood tanks with 200 barrels each (400 barrels)
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three wood tanks with 230 barrels each (690 barrels)
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15 wood tanks each with a capacity of 150 barrels (2,250 barrels)
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three steel bins with capacities of 150 barrels each (450 barrels)
Storage Cellar: (32 tanks with a total capacity of (9,000 barrels)
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11 steel bins that could hold 295 barrels each (3,245 barrels)
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two wood tanks with 265 barrels each (530 barrels)
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19 wooden bins holding 275 barrels each (5,225 barrels)
Government Cellar: (six tanks with a total of 585 barrels)
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three tanks with a capacity of 115 barrels each
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three tanks that could each hold 80 barrels each.
Other: Two water tanks (hot and cold).
Engine Room: All equipment was electrically driven; no steam engines. There were two water-tubed boilers with stokers and horse power ratings of 100 and 120.
Bottling Dept.: The equipment in this department wasn't upgraded before Bavarian acquired Heidelberg, and Bavarian didn't replace it when they began operating Plant No. 2.
Staff: Some of those who had worked with Heidelberg Brewing Co. stayed on as Bavarian staff members in Plant No. 2. For one notable example, Carl Moeller, who had previously worked at Heidelberg in 1942 and became the chief brewmaster in charge of both plants in 1951. The Brewmaster for Plant No. 2 was Walter Zanis, who had also briefly worked at Heidelberg before it was purchased by Bavarian. Henry Wetzel, Assistant Brewmaster, began working for Bavarian in 1917, had also served with the previous Brewmaster of Heidelberg, Joseph Ruh, at Bavarian shortly before Prohibition, and continued to serve at Plant No. 1.
The success of Plant No. 2 for Bavarian was relatively short-lived. Beginning in the 1951 fiscal year, sales started to decline and the brewery faced a slight decline in profit. Bavarian's management began to address this situation and considered alternatives at the end of the 1953 fiscal year. (See period 9. Turnaround Efforts.)
In the following year, they decided to close Plant No. 2 on November 1, 1954, keeping it in stand-by condition for another six months in case sales turned around. When this didn't occur, Bavarian made the final decision to sell the plant in 1955.
Frederick A. Schmidt Inc. was engaged to sell the property; this firm advised Bavarian the plant could bring between $250,000 to $300,000. However, it took over two years to sell the land and buildings, only bringing $110,000 in December, 1956. The buyer was initially reported to be the C. Rice Packing Co., which planned to use some of the building's refrigeration for meat storage. Bavarian also sold the equipment in Plant No. 2 in a separate deal, which increased their overall sales price for the property to $187,743. Although Bavarian had acquired the brewery for $400,000, they had also installed new equipment and added improvements that made their total investment in Plant No. 2 $520,740. Consequently, the total loss was $332,997. However, considering the depreciation of the assets on an accounting basis, the total book loss to Bavarian from the liquidation of Plant No. 2 was considerably less, amounting to $120,431. It is unclear if these amounts included the sale of the Sebastian Building that had been used as the Bottling Department, which was sold by Bavarian to Justin Schneider with Central Sales for $55,000 in February of 1956. (Coincidentally, when Schneider sold this property in 1967, he purchased another property that had been used by Bavarian, their main brewery property.)
(See period 11. The Brewery Closed & Sold.)
In conclusion, Bavarian Plant No. 2 operated for over five years, from the Spring of 1949 until November of 1954. The plant was successful in substantially increasing the sales for Bavarian nearly 50% between 1949 and 1952. Evidently, it contributed significantly to the profitability of the firm in those years, until 1953. Thereafter, Bavarian realized that the acquisition of Plant No. 2 had substantially increased their costs. With declining sales, their only way to be profitable was to reduce those costs. Hence, Bavarian needed to consolidate their operations by selling their Plant No. 2, the former Heidelberg Brewery, and modernize their main Plant No. 1.
What Happened to the Heidelberg Brewery?
The accompanying photo shows the former Heidelberg Brewery as it was being demolished in September of 1986. In comparing this photo to one taken when the building was a brewery, shown above, the upper fifth floor of the tower has been removed. All the windows had also been bricked. The site is now occupied by Gold Start Chili, on the northwest corner of Bakewell and 4th Streets, where the tower section of the brewery was located. Immediately to the west on 4th Street is a Burger King and a McDonald's is situated to the north and on the same block as the two other noted restaurants.
1986. 4th & Bakewell Streets. Source: Kenton Co. Library.
CONTINUE TO
Section 8C - Heidelberg Brewery
SOURCES:
Timothy Holian, for copies of the blueprints.
Behringer-Crawford Museum, for photos.
The Kenton County Public Library for exterior photos.
L. Ried Schott for various photos and the editing / revision of most photos.
C.B. Truesdell, (The History of) The Bavarian Brewery, 1954. (Unpublished manuscript.)
Robert A. Musson, M.D., Bavarian Brewing and the rest of Northern Kentucky, Volume IX.
The Riedlin and Schott families, for information.
Newspapers.com and Cincinnati Enquirer.
March, 1949. The background is a photo of the beer soaked boots of a Bavarian Brewing Co. employee emptying 70,000 gallons of Heidelberg beer allowing Bavarian to legally avoid beer tax and to make room for Bavarian's Beer in the former Heidelberg Brewery, which became the Bavarian Plant No. 2.
