Schmidt, his son, served over an 84 year period, Frederick W. Schmidt, another son, served as president from and then became chairman of the board. From Christian H. Zoller, a grandson, served as president. In May, , Carl E. Under each head there has been growth and consolidation, and with each there is a significant record of accomplishment. Christian Schmidt provided the spark which brought the brewery from obscurity to a place among Philadelphia leading firms within 13 years of purchase.
During the presidency of Edward A. Schmidt, the brewery grew from local to national prominence. Under Christian Zoller came the great modernization of the brewery, and acquisition of the Valley Forge brewery. It has fallen once again to the lot of another youthful brewery executive, Carl von Czoernig, to consolidate the gains made and prepare ground for new advances.
The original Christian Schmidt learned the art of brewing in Stuttgart and then emigrated to the United States at the age of eighteen. After working for several years as a brewer he was hired by Courtenay's Brewery, eventually acquiring an interest, and finally the controlling interest which started the Schmidt dynasty in By Christian Schmidt had built what is described in a financial paper of the day as a "commodious malt house on Edward Street, four stories in height, with a capacity for malting 50, bushels of grain during the season.
The article went on to say: "He has made several improvements in different branches of the business since he took possession of it: among others may be mentioned a spacious and convenient cellar, 18 feet below the street, and capable of containing barrels. This is constructed under the malt house and is connected with the brewery by pipes.
By , when the above article was published, Christian Schmidt was brewing 20, barrels a year, a figure which had already "raised his brewery from insignificance to an importance which entitles it to rank among the largest establishments of the city and State. Thus, in thirteen years Schmidt's production had increased five-fold, from 4, barrels to 20, barrels. By Christian Schmidt's three sons, Henry, Edward and Frederick, became partners in the business.
Ten years later the firm was incorporated, with Edward A. Schmidt assuming the presidency. Edward A. Schmidt remained president from until his death in This gave the Schmidt company a link with the Philadelphia of Colonial days, for Robert Smith had arrived in the colony in "to set up a Brew House for Ale. Schmidt's continued to prosper and grow under Edward A. Although the hiatus of Prohibition took place during his administration it did not for long slow down the development of the brewery.
Schmidt's did not shut down during the long interruption, but used its facilities to produced non-alcoholic cereal beverages. Immediately upon relegalization in Edward A.
Schmidt embarked upon plans to enlarge and modernize the brewery. During the 's the plant on Edward Street began to take the form and shape it holds today.
Extensive modernization and expansion were carried out, and new large capacity buildings and equipment were added. About a year after repeal sales began to mushroom. It was not long after repeal that Schmidt's came out with a full quart bottle. This proved to be one of the brewery's most successful pioneering packages. Later they introduced a 16 oz. Schmidt exercised aggressive promotional and advertising policies. He was responsible for the erection of one of the early spectacular billboards placed in downtown Philadelphia.
Other spectaculars have been placed in strategic places throughout the marketing area since those days, and many more have been in use for years. The slogan "None Better Since " promoted sales during the days immediately following repeal.
Schmidt's achieved regional distribution during the 30's. The beer was sold in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and farther south. Today western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio have been added to the marketing area. By the late 's C. An article printed in the issue of Modern Brewery Age celebrates the completion of the expansion program of the 's. The author toured Schmidt's modern new office building, the new malt storage building, the new ale stockhouse, new gas collecting cellar, new bottling cellar, and the "highly modern bottling and canning department.
Today Schmidt's operates seven production lines in the space once occupied by five, with far larger and bulkier pasteurizers, bottle washers and packaging machinery crowding the modernized bottling department.
Like his father, Edward A. Schmidt was a practical brewer, having gained his knowledge through many years of actual experience in the plant. His knowledge made it possible for him to closely supervise the modernization of the company's facilities. Schmidt has wisely surrounded himself with a staff of executives who pride themselves on their open minds," Modern Brewery Age said in When they believe they have even a germ of a new wrinkle they present it to 'the chief' …and very soon another new piece of equipment is facing the acid test under the watchful eye of Schmidt technical experts.
In two names who have become synonymous with the creativity and flexibility characteristic of the organization were prominently mentioned. They were master brewer Arthur H. Hipp, son of Schmidt master brewer William Hipp of an earlier day, and father of the present William A.
Hipp, now production manager. Arthur Hipp was busy superintending the final touches being applied to the new ale house in The other name to reckon with is Chief Engineer Richard Slama who was the guiding genius behind many of the custom-built machines and innovations used extensively throughout the brewery.
In Slama adopted the conventional Nye pulsometer pump, used previously in dredging and sand pits, for pumping away the brewery's spent grains. Under Mr. Slama applied this type of automatic pressure vacuum type pump in the disposition of spent grains, it had never performed a similar duty in any brewery.
Philip Miner was in charge of the bottling department in At that time the canning line had just been installed. It included an unscrambler, rinser, dating machine, crowner, band filler and pasteurizer, as well as weight checking machines for 12 and 32 ounce cans, an automatic packer and a carton sealer. All this was the very latest equipment for the time. The four bottling lines had been installed between and Two more were devoted exclusively to quart bottles even as far back as , and the other two handled 12 ounce bottle demands.
Considered high speed for the time was the bottles per minute rate for the 12 oz. Miner was proud of his department's ability to turn out almost a million bottles and cans over a 24 hour stretch. The post of sales manager has always been an important one in a brewery as sales minded as C.
Henry C. Schmidt, one of the brothers of Edward A. From to Christian Zoller was sales manager. With repeal Frederick W. Schmidt II, Henry C. Frederick H. Schmidt, son of Frederick W. Schmidt II, is now assistant vice president and director of public relations. For generations the name of Gardiner had been well known in brewing circles. The family owned the Continental Brewing Co.
John Gardiner married a daughter of Christian Schmidt. John Gardiner Jr. Gardiner, sons of John Gardiner, joined Schmidt's to add new luster, in, respectively, sales and finance.
During the entire period of relegalization- including the peak year of and through to , John Gardiner Jr. Gardiner, now a vice president, saw sales rise under his management from , in to almost 2 million in Gardiner, his brother, now chairman of the board, was responsible for the financial arrangements which made possible the various expansions of the brewery in the 's, 40's and early 50's.
It was Mr. The beer stopped flowing from its historic St. Paul location -- known to many as the old Joseph Schmidt Brewery, as advertised by its skyline "Schmidt" neon sign -- when Heileman closed the year-old plant that year. Some Schmidt employees lost their jobs. The second indignity came in , when Heileman changed the brand's name from Schmidt to Schmidt's, adding the "'s" to cut down on marketing and packaging costs; Heileman was already manufacturing a Pennsylvania brand named Schmidt's.
Returning the beer to St. Paul is one of the first major operational changes since Stroh, based in Detroit, acquired Heileman last summer, fortifying Stroh's presence in the Upper Midwest. Minnehaha Ave. Stroh also owns an equity stake in Pete's Brewing Co. Stroh is likely taking advantage of lower freight costs associated with moving the brand's production to the Twin Cities, which remains one of its strongest markets, according to one industry observer.
The lager, once in the top four regionally, is now but a footnote of local brewing lore. Decent but not the greatest cheap beer ever.
If I find it, I'll let you know. Straw gold color. Large foamy white head. Sweet grainy malt nose, redolent of corn. Flavor is light and nondescript. Pale bland and stupid is no way to go through beer life, son. Forget this. RateBeer is made by beer enthusiasts for the craft beer community.
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