Hamm's Brewery - History

History

Hamm's was established in 1865 when Theodore Hamm, a German immigrant, inherited the Excelsior Brewery from his friend and business associate, A. F. Keller. Keller had constructed his brewery over artesian wells in a section of the Phalen Creek valley in St. Paul, Minnesota known as Swede Hollow. Hamm hired Christopher Figg to be his masterbrewer, and by the 1880s the Theo. Hamm Brewing Company was reckoned the second largest in Minnesota.

His son, William, and grandson, William Jr. inherited the operation in 1903. During Prohibition, the company survived by producing soft drinks and other food products, enabling it to expand rapidly through acquisitions after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In 1968 the company was acquired by Heublein, which sold it to Olympia Brewing Company. Pabst then purchased Olympia along with Hamm's in 1983. Miller Brewing acquired the brand in 1999. Miller was later purchased by South African Breweries and the name changed to SABMiller. Subsequently, SABMiller formed a joint venture combining their US and Puerto Rican assets with those of MolsonCoors to form MillerCoors, the current owner and brewer of the Hamm's Brand. MillerCoors now produces three Hamm's Beers, Premium, Golden Draft, and Special Light.

The Hamm's brewery in San Francisco opened in 1954 at 1550 Bryant Street and closed in 1972. Its 20-by-80 foot sign, with a 3-dimensional 13-foot beer chalice on top, appeared in the first Dirty Harry film and was a local landmark. In the early 1980s, the beer vats were rented out to punk rock bands, and it was a used as music studios until the building was renovated in the mid 1980s and converted into offices and showroom space.