by Jeremy Banas
An empty bottle of milk from Alamo Foods. Jeremy Banas.
Things were a little different now compared to just two years earlier. Prohibition had begun, and the San Antonio Brewing Association was now Alamo Industries. By 1922, Isaacs had become chief engineer. In 1924, to further add more notches to his brewing belt, he attended the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, a revered brewing school that exists today. While at Siebel, Isaacs took classes in baking, milling, engineering, refrigeration and other topics related to the food industry, as teaching people how to brew was not allowed. He later became a registered engineer and a member of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. His wife, Dorothy, may have even worked as a stenographer for Alamo Industries. By 1943, Isaacs had been promoted to plant manager. In 1952, he was plant superintendent, and by the time of his departure in 1957, he was a member of the board of directors and vice-president of plant operations.
Isaacs would remain vice-president all the way until his retirement in 1969. The Pearl Brewing Company honored William Isaacs at the San Antonio Country Club with a lunch. Otto A. was present and gave Isaacs a bronze plaque praising his dedicated service, which saw the brewery through Prohibition, World War I and World War II.
Isaacs diversified himself a little and was a member of the board of the Exchange Club, the building committee for St. Luke’s Church and the board for the Texas Diocese of the Episcopal Church. Isaacs passed away on October 19, 1991, at the age of ninety-five, having had one heck of a life and career.
However, it would not just be its beloved founder, president and manager’s passing that would give the San Antonio Brewing Association its fair share of challenges. Conflicts with the dry camp, as well as the state government, would come into play after Koehler’s death. Before 1903, the members of the Texas Consolidated Brewing Association worked toward an anti-prohibition agenda, with members agreeing to pay twenty cents per barrel of beer that was kegged and one cent per six-pack of bottled beer, raising more than $2 million. The State of Texas alleged that these funds were used to commit a multitude of campaign interferences between 1902 and 1911. Specifically, the organization was accused of messing with specific whole tax laws, contributing toward political campaigns that would support its wet agenda and the political acts of corporations aligned with its ideals. Although it was collectively fined a mere $281,000, its actions served only to fuel the growing sentiment against alcohol.
So worried were Otto Koehler and the San Antonio Brewing Association that Koehler himself expressed his concerns over the funds needed to support their anti-prohibition campaign in a letter to August A. Busch on February 1, 1911:
From the above general outline you can see that we are entering into a very costly campaign and I do not believe that the amount of money which can be raised outside the brewing interests will amount to very much. The Texas Brewers have assessed themselves 60 cents a barrel on 600,000 barrels, which will make a total of $360,000. Your contributions of $100,000 and the 30 cent assessment on Lemp, Pabst and Schlitz well at $45,000 more to this amount, which (if paid in) will make a total of $505,000, which ought to be enough, but I have requested Mr. Clauss take up immediately with the wholesale liquor people the question of a contribution from them, switch on their usual basis of one-third the number of shipping brewers, would amount to $50,000 more. If all this money is paid IT OUGHT to be sufficient for our campaign.
A San Antonio Brewing Association delivery truck parked in front of a building advertising Texas Pride, another of SABA’s brands. Pearl LLC Archives.
PERIOD III
PROHIBITION, 1918–1933
TEMPERANCE WINS OUT
In the two years leading up to the start of Prohibition, San Antonio, and Texas in general, was in its prime. San Antonio boasted six breweries: the San Antonio Brewing Association, Peter Bros Brewery, Degen’s Brewery, the Lone Star Brewing Association, Schober’s and the Och’s and Aschbacer’s Brewery. The year 1916 saw these San Antonio breweries realize a combined annual income of $8 million, which was a ridiculously high sum that amounted to about one-fourth of the city’s overall income. With 1,200 employees and a total payroll of $1 million, San Antonio’s brewing industry was three times larger than any other industry in the Alamo City. In 1917, with Prohibition on the horizon, the San Antonio Brewing Association introduced “La Perla—A Near Beer” while still brewing XXX Pearl Beer.
As World War I heated up in 1917, a nationwide conservation of resources was well underway, and the brewing industry was not immune. In September 1917, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the distillation of spirits to stop. It was not long after that beer and wine were ordered halted as well. The Food and Drug Administration even forbade corn to be distilled for any reason, even medicinal. Brewers were limited in the amounts they could buy to 30 percent, and the alcohol by volume (ABV) was reduced to a maximum of 2.75 percent. Later the next year, the serving of alcohol within a ten-mile radius of a military base was prohibited.
Between the temperance movement and federal restrictions on grain, breweries around the country were hit hard. On June 15, 1918, Texas governor William P. Hobby declared that Texas would be dry statewide. Earlier than the federal government, Texas was now in a true state of prohibition. Later that year, the president declared a stoppage of grain use by breweries, although they were able to use what they had on hand until December 1, 1918.
The monetary effects of Prohibition would hit the San Antonio Brewing Association as hard as it hit all breweries around the country, dropping from net profits of $551,564.45 in 1916 to a mere $265,588.59 in 1918. Its main products at this point were kegged beer, bottled beer, ice and spent grain given to farmers as cattle feed. By mid-1918, when prohibition hit, the San Antonio Brewing Association faced a difficult decision: keep going or shut down. Considering that the federal government only allowed breweries to take a 20 percent loss if they liquidated, Emma Koehler and the San Antonio Brewing Association board chose to keep going instead. To do this, they would need a drastic modification to their business. Thus, Alamo Industries was born, and Emma and company entered the dairy business.
At this time, many in the beer, wine and spirits industry believed that Prohibition would not last—that it would be repealed along with the end of the war—and the San Antonio Brewing Association fit right into this camp. When the war did not end as quickly as expected, Alamo Industries had to think more long term. With co-founder Colonel Otto Wahrmund stepping into the role of brewery manager and de facto president, the brewery at least had some direction and the appearance of leadership to the public and investors.
Having attained his military education at the Texas Military Institute in Austin, Texas, Wahrmund also led a political career. Oddly enough, the San Antonio Brewing Association was not Wahrmund’s first foray into the brewing industry. A San Antonio city directory at the time listed Wahrmund as the general manager of J.B. Belohradsky’s City Brewery, just prior to its purchase by Koehler and company that same year. It appears that Wahrmund had loaned Belohradsky about $4,000 when the latter was trying to keep City Brewery under his control. After the takeover of City Brewery was finalized, Wahrmund joined the San Antonio Brewing Association.
By 1908, Wahrmund had been elected to the Texas state legislature and would later be reelected to three more terms, always keeping his mind on the legislature that would be favorable to his beloved San Antonio Brewing Association. By early 1919, Wahrmund’s four terms as a state representative would come to an end when he was asked to resign by the Texas Democratic Party for what appeared to be no good reason. With Wahrmund clearly on the wet side of the prohibition issue, it’s possible that his party felt pressure from Texas’s Governor Hobby (a dry) to do something about the beloved colonel.
Wahrmund himself insisted that poor health had factored into his departure. Later in 1919, months after his departure from politics, Wahrmund again claimed poor health as the reason he was not able to testify at the tax evasion trial of Emma Koehler’s nep
hew, Corwin Priest. Priest had joined the San Antonio Brewing Association as vice-president in January 1915 two months after Koehler’s death.
Priest was quite an interesting fellow. His prior employment included as a cashier for the German savings bank in St. Louis, showing that numbers were clearly his forte. This may not have helped Otto Wahrmund, as what he needed was somebody like Otto Koehler and not someone like himself. At this time, the Alamo Industries Board of Directors realized that it would need to modify its business plan. This led various board members, including Wahrmund, to kick in money out of their own coffers.
Although he lacked the Koehler zeal for dealing with the public, as well as a personality for dealing with employees, Wahrmund was more than up for the task of running the San Antonio Brewing Association. However, after opposing Emma Koehler’s plans for turning the brewery into a dairy, he gave notice on December 2, 1918. On January 1, 1919, he officially resigned from Alamo Industries.
In 1922, with Priest resigning, it appeared that Wahrmund might be able to return to the brewery he helped found by repurchasing stock. However, this was not something that was in the cards for the old colonel. Wahrmund was not without means, though. He sold his interest in the Mexican mines and was still head of City National Bank and Sommers Drugstore, showing that his diversification would allow him to thrive outside of the brewery that he had helped found—the company that he would miss most dearly.
Wahrmund did return to the San Antonio Brewing Association/Alamo Industries for a brief time in the early 1920s. This, however, was short-lived, as Wahrmund’s failing health again prevented his staying with Alamo Industries. Oscar Bergstrom’s return was also key in this. With Emma Koehler not being firmly in control of the management of Alamo Industries, this paved the way for Bergstrom to bring in an outside company to manage the brewery, all the while Emma Koehler was working her tail off to keep things going. This harsh management of the outsiders caused trouble with the unions. Faith would not be restored until the arrival of Benjamin Brooks “B.B.” McGimsey, whose leadership style was similar to Otto Koehler’s and who was able to restore relations with the workers. It was this partnership between McGimsey and Emma Koehler that kept things going near the end of Prohibition and would see the brewery through Otto A.’s later transition as brewery president.
Wahrmund kept himself busy after his brewery days and was appointed as water director in 1925 by then mayor John Calvin. Showing that his organizational skill was just what the city needed, he soon placed the city’s water system on solid financial ground.
Much like his fellow co-founder and friend Otto Koehler, Warhmund was not born with a silver spoon. He was born the son of Judge William Wahrmund and his wife, Amelia, in the Texas Hill Country town of Fredericksburg, a town that had its own modest brewing history. Fredericksburg was one of a number of towns along with New Braunfels that was settled by Germans in the mid-1800s. Many immigrants at that time applied to a well-known German organization known as the Society of Melbourne, headed by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. Those who applied in Germany often listed their equipment skills and talents. Hoping to form their own version of the East India Company, Carl and his fellow barons purchased land in the area that would be known later as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, not realizing, though, that it landed smack dab in the middle of Comanche Indian territory.
The second head of this organization, John O. Meusebach, also a German baron, was able to make peace with the Indians, and the settlement of Fredericksburg, Texas, officially began. About one year later, the colony was prospering, with peace between the new settlers and the Comanches.
Warhmund’s parents were married in Germany and came to Texas in the 1840s, and the colonel’s brother was born in 1849. His parents were supporters of Southern rights in the Civil War, and when they first arrived in the mid-1840s, they joined General Zachary Taylor’s army as volunteers during the Mexican-American War. Upon their return, they were granted land.
Despite not having seen any military service like that of his father and uncle, Otto Wahrmund eventually gained his honorary title of “Colonel” from Texas governor Oscar Colquitt. On January 23, 1879, Wahrmund married Mary Sophie Nimitz, whose father operated a hotel in Fredericksburg. The hotel is now the site of the Museum of the Pacific War and the Nimitz Museum. His new family would later see the birth of Chester W. Nimitz, later commander-in-chief of the Pacific navy fleet and who was present when Japan’s Admiral Hirohito surrendered aboard the USS Missouri. In fact, Nimitz was our dear colonel’s nephew.
Beginning his business career in Fredericksburg, he moved his family to San Antonio in the early 1880s and was the father of seven daughters and one son. Although reports are mixed, Otto Wahrmund and his wife, Sophie, settled by either River Avenue or Broadway, both rural areas at that time in San Antonio. Wahrmund passed away in neither San Antonio nor his hometown of Fredericksburg. On June 25, 1929, he passed away in Kerrville, Texas. He had recently sought refuge in the Texas Hill Country hoping to heal his ailing body. His funeral was held at his home in San Antonio, with many wealthy and well-known San Antonians in attendance. San Antonio Brewing Association brewmaster Gustav Etter, Judge S.G. Newton and C.T. Priest were among those in attendance.
When Wahrmund passed, he was survived by his wife and four of his seven daughters—all of whom would later be buried in south San Antonio at the Mission Park Cemetery. However, the colonel is not alone. To his right are buried Gustav Etter and his wife, Carey. To his left are his dear friend Otto Koehler and the venerable Emma Koehler. Hardly a coincidence, I would think.
HAIL TO THE CHIEF?
The brewery faced another challenge when Wahrmund resigned in 1919, leaving it again without leadership. Despite being the majority owner, Otto Koehler’s widow, Emma, would not be elected president of the San Antonio Brewing Association for a while. For the time being, Corwin Priest would be elected the association’s president in 1919——this, of course, despite charges of tax evasion. Emma was, however, elected vice-president.
Proving that it was easily adaptable and would not give up, the San Antonio Brewing Association did what even fellow brewing giant Lone Star could not do: it kept people working and did it in a way that maintained its facilities in case it ever was able to brew beer again. The now re-formed Alamo Industries, later known as the Alamo Foods Company in 1922, altered its production complex to make various sodas and created an ice plant to manufacture ice for the local San Antonio community and even a mechanics shop to help the city’s residents repair their vehicles. When Prohibition arrived in 1918, La Perla was dropped as a brand, and XXX Pearl Beer became XXX Pearl Near Beer.
Other buildings on the grounds were used as dry cleaners, cold storage, a dye plant, an ice cream shop and more. The spent grain left over from making near beer was sold to the nearby farmers as feed for their animals, a practice long used by breweries and one that continues to this day.
Many creative promotions came out of the brewery during its Alamo Foods Company days. On May 16, 1919, the dairy products department of Alamo Industries produced a popular Alamo ice cream. Multiple flavors were available, such as cherry nut salad, tutti-frutti, caramel nut, French orange and almond bisque. Around Christmas 1919, special flavors were introduced, like New York ice cream, caramel ice cream, frozen pudding, maple mousse, cranberry sherbet, marshmallow date brick (which was a three-layer brick of marshmallow date, pineapple sherbet and cherry nut) and angel cream brick (a three-layer brick of caramel, angel cream and tutti-frutti). Other items produced by the dairy department included Alamo cream, Sunnyvale milk and cream, Alamo butter, Sunbeam butter, Alamo cottage cheese and Alamo buttermilk.
In about 1921, a few short years after national Prohibition began, Alamo Industries changed its name to Alamo Foods Company, and the company’s focus shifted from various businesses such as dry cleaning, auto repair, a billboard company (known as Sunset), soda making and the like to solely food-related businesses. Many of the other ventures were
sold off to companies in the San Antonio area.
Alamo Foods’ ice cream contest. The contest would put the ice cream division out of business. Charlie Staats.
On October 8, 1922, the ice cream division of Alamo Foods Company decided to have a mystery ice cream contest, with winners getting a free quart of ice cream each week for one year. In all, there were 177 winners, which, when multiplied by fifty-two weeks, amounts to 9,204 free quarts of ice cream. The flavors were banana nut, cherry and orange. This was so much ice cream given away for free that it effectively put the ice cream division out of business. In 1923, the company sold the division to another local creamery, which, ironically enough, rented space out from the San Antonio Brewing Association for the creamery. In 1930, Blue Bell and Bluebonnet Creameries rented space on the top floor from Alamo Foods Company—Blue Bell would become an icon of its own in coming decades.
By 1930, Alamo Foods Company had also begun to bottle its Orange Crush soda. This is the very division that Otto A. Koehler would take over upon his return from the war, although 1930 would not prove to be the best year for the brewery. It was on December 12, 1930, that Otto Koehler’s brother, Charles, who was the treasurer of Alamo Foods Company, was killed in a Laredo, Texas hunting accident.
The San Antonio Brewing Association still had a reason to brew during this period, and that was malt syrup. Drugstores were in need of this for various ice cream–related delights, and thus Hop Flavored XXX Pearl Malt Syrup was born and was distributed to anyone who wanted it. This syrup made it easy for industrious fans of XXX Pearl to brew up a batch of Pearl at home themselves.
All of these enterprises not only kept the association in business but also kept employees working; it showed the Alamo City that it was committed to more than just beer. The San Antonio Brewing Association was committed to its community. Although these various enterprises kept things going, by the end of the Roaring Twenties, things began to get worse for the country, as well as for Alamo Foods Company. The Great Depression hit everyone hard, even the association’s board members, several of whom, feeling the pinch of the Depression, sold their shares to Emma Koehler, who was already majority owner, thus solidifying her position. Although she remained vice-president, it was Emma who used her determination to create ever-evolving plans to keep the business going. Much like many women at the time, although she was not in the limelight, she became the driving force behind the San Antonio Brewing Association and was critical to its survival.