GOT BEER?

GOT BEER?

I’ve never been a beer drinker other than root beer. On average, I consume two cans a day of the delicious beverage, sometimes adding it to ice cream. I’m always intrigued whenever I go to a restaurant having a microbrewery and watching their canning process.

The canning machine used at College Street Brewery here in Lake Havasu City is a complex-looking monster, something that appears to need finetuning quite regularly. I suppose it’s the same with all of these mechanical devices.

My first encounter with a local brewery was in Anchorage, Alaska. This was in 1976. A German company, for whatever reason, decided that building a brewery in the All-America City was a wise financial decision. Reports say that 11.7 million dollars were invested to produce Prinz Bräu beer.

Fancy sounding as it was, most Alaska working stiffs couldn’t even pronounce the name. That was an early indicator that things wouldn’t go well. My friends called it Prince Roy just because it was much easier to say.

Prinz Bräu was described as tasting like mud when it first hit the market, with brew meister, Heinritz Reich, slowly perfecting the quality and taste. Unfortunately, by 1979, this brewery was bankrupt, with the equipment sold and the building leased.

My brother and I saw the potential for collectibles here, hitting nearly every liquor store in town, buying whatever stock of Prinz Bräu they had left. We ended up with perhaps three six-packs and only a few glass bottles.

I kept my share in the refrigerator for years, until Joleen tired of seeing them. At that point, I sold or gave them away, still having one unopened can. With it now 45 years old, that aluminum container looks as if it could explode at any moment. I keep it next to a Midnight Sun Beer – Pioneer Brewing Company bottle in my office that dates to the 1920s.

There are now several breweries in Alaska, with Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau perhaps the most successful. They sell their beer in 25 states. A nonalcoholic beverage called Skagway Root Beer is also made by them.

I show three microbreweries located in Lake Havasu City. Barley Brothers Brewing Company, Mudshark Brewing Company, and of course, College Street Brewing Company. I believe two out of three sell their products outside of the city. I’ve seen them in several grocery stores throughout the state.

My wife’s grandparents, Karl and Josephine Schweitzer, made their own homebrew, with Joleen saying that she got to sample it as a teen. With her Grandpa and Grandma coming from German parents, of course, their beer would reflect such. She said it was dark brown and quite strong. I believe this was more along the lines of an ale.

Mom washed her hair in beer, saying that it helped keep things shiny and soft. Up until she passed away her hair was still thick and colorful. I’m not sure the beer helped but then again it could’ve.

One of these days, I’ll drill a hole in my prized Prinz Bräu can and drain the contents. It seems a waste to dump it down the sink.  I’m not for drinking the stuff, yet pouring a small amount on my head shouldn’t hurt as the damage has already been done.

Had German investors used local people to manage their company in Alaska, instead of relying upon a management team in Germany, and been a bit more diplomatic in dealing with people, I believe that Prinz Bräu Brewery would still be in business.

The large and powerful family that owned Prinz Bräu, the Oetker Group, could’ve learned a lot from the hands-on entrepreneurs starting Mudshark, College Street, and Barley Brothers, here in Havasu.

A good name plays a big part in new products, with these arrogant Germans in 1976 picking a real winner.