Dick Heidt - City Magazine

More documents

Recommendations

Info

| HISTORY Dakota Beer: A good idea, but a bad batch dooms brewery Back in the late 1950s, a few people thought N.D. was missing out on a golden opportunity or, more precisely, a golden brewing opportunity. Since the state was the nation’s leader in producing barley, why not a N.D. brewery? It had been tried before, but failed. According to a Bismarck Tribune story, the brewery seemed to be a good venture. “It used N.D. capital, labor and raw materials and appeared to have created a good market within the state.” Move over Hamm’s, here comes Dakota By Stan Stelter Beer. Organizers incorporated Dakota Malting and Brewing Company in November 1959 to “build, equip, maintain, manage and operate a brewery and malting plant.” Plans were to build a brewery with a capacity of 50,000 barrels a year, employing up to 60 and marketing in N.D. and S.D. They began selling shares of stock at $1 each, with a goal of one million shares, but only to North Dakotans. About 3,500 state residents snatched up the million shares, including an estimated 267 bar owners around 36 thecitymag.com
the state. Likely many other stockholders were patrons of those 267 pubs. Mandan had the inside track for the business, offering 19 acres for a site. But the company’s directors opted for Bismarck instead, deciding in early 1960 to build alongside the Soo Railroad line just north of the Big Boy Drive Inn on East Main. Shortly, the name “Dakota Beer” was chosen, and booze began flowing in May 1961. But the first batch of Dakota Beer had a problem: it simply didn’t taste good. Apparently brewmaster Frank Bauer had opted not to install filtration equipment that would remove phenol from the Missouri River water. Phenol, or carbolic acid, is a compound that comes from natural plants and, in this case, likely related to the oil-tar base in the water. As the brewmaster from Detroit discovered too late, phenol’s sweet, tarry odor and taste didn’t mix well with beer, especially a new beer just hitting the market. Though phenol can even catch fire, the only problem for Dakota Beer was bad taste, not flaming beer. So, the bad beer was recalled, holes punched in the cans and the golden product dumped. Dakota Beer’s owners quickly brought in an Austrianborn graduate of a world-renowned brewmaster school, and the beer improved. But the damage to beer-drinkers’ taste buds had been done. Bills began piling up, and the brewery found itself in trouble. A Missouri advertising company sued for $8,347 in unpaid bills, and the local sheriff tied up and then auctioned 5,000 cases of Dakota Beer. Facing more and more creditors, Dakota Malting went bankrupt, and the doors closed on N.D.’s only existing brewery on Sept. 30, 1965. Stan Stelter, a North Dakota native and free-lance writer, is development director at the Abused Adult Resource Center. Photo above copyright 2006 Tavern Trove LLC Spring Fling 2009 37
Page 1 and 2: APRIL 2009 BISMARCK • MANDAN DICK
Page 3 and 4: Publisher’s note Is it Black or W
Page 5 and 6: ECLIPSE by Richard North Patterson
Page 7 and 8: What drew you CM: to journalism and
Page 9 and 10: Cole Twister Bob It's my night to v
Page 11 and 12: At United Printing, our dedication
Page 13 and 14: The programs in place there help in
Page 15 and 16: SHANNALEE is the kind of place you
Page 17 and 18: Why isn't the number 11 pronounced
Page 19 and 20: learning more about food,” said S
Page 21 and 22: | MANDAN ON THE Move Working to dec
Page 23 and 24: As I approached the far right lane,
Page 25 and 26: Year 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970
Page 27 and 28: Mary’s, Community Bowl, 6 p.m.; B
Page 29 and 30: dents are quite cooperative.” He
Page 31 and 32: directed short plays in an intimate
Page 33 and 34: Bismarck for male inmates considere
Page 35: I think that service is a big part
Page 39 and 40: Inside/Out Wellness Center: ALTERnA
Page 41 and 42: “ I want to teach my customers ho
Page 43 and 44: The e-bug bit hard and, in 1997, sh
Page 45 and 46: Spring PARADE OF HOMES Twice each y
Page 47 and 48: Plastics are classified by a “res
Page 49 and 50: summer arrives. Although we know wh
Page 51 and 52: Photo taken from aquaglide.net one
Page 53 and 54: SALSA DOGS Ingredients 8 Cloverdale
Page 55 and 56: tant to me than ever,” says Ander
Page 57 and 58: need to be cleaned thoroughly; the
Page 59 and 60: Photo provided by Impressions by As
Page 61 and 62: The Jungle Bus From Nightlife Limou
Page 63 and 64: lavata becker 701-527-1393 bev koch

Dick Heidt - City Magazine

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?