|
|
Etched across nine decades which trace
America's history from Pony Express to Airliners is a story of
progress by the M. K. Goetz Brewing Company.
Of course, the latest chapter in the unending chronicle of the
Goetz brewery is the most brilliant chapter. This spring
of 1950, the brewery announced its new discovery, "flavor-blended"
Country Club Beer. "flavor-blended" Country Club
Beer is a decade ahead of its time. It is not the mere
blending of two ordinary brews. It is the joining of two
completely finished beers into one superlative product with an
entirely new flavor.
But the history of the brewery began back in 1859 in St. Joseph,
Missouri. That was one year before the first Pony Express
rider galloped from Old St. Joe toward the Golden West. So
well accepted was the beer which Michael Karl Goetz, the company
founder, produced in his tiny brewery that its fame spread
through Kansas City and the West and by 1870 the first physical
expansion of the brewery had been completed. By 1880
another expansion had been made.
And then came the Gay Nineties. The high-wheel bike, ladies
in full skirt and bustle, magnificent horses straining at giant
wagons and the driver with his prized sun umbrella ... such was
the Gay Nineties. More expansion for the Goetz brewery.
And then the turn of the century. The tempo of progress stirred
that new era. The automobile with its headlights had
excited eager imaginations which so recently thrilled to the
bicycle built for two. Jangly trolleys and splendid
draught horses criss-crossed the scene. The brewery at St.
Joseph continued to grow.
And then the prosperous twenties. The era of the flapper and
Prohibition. That was the flamboyant backdrop for the
period of the most dramatic growth in the history of the M. K.
Goetz Brewing Company. Thus the expression "More Than 90
Years of Continuous Brewing" is no idle statement. With
many breweries shut down during Prohibition, the Goetz brewery
turned its facilities to producing Goetz Pale, America's
old-time favorite, the most famous near-beer ever brewed.
Then in 1936, after repeal, another Goetz brewery was built at
Kansas City. Together the Goetz breweries at St. Joseph
and Kansas City now brew the Country Club Beer for distribution
from the Mississippi to the West Coast and from Canada to the
Rio Grande. |
| |
|
St. Joe |
Kansas City |
|
|
|
