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Soon the name
was changed to the Gluek Brewing Company, and by 1964 Gluek became
Minneapolis's oldest continuously-operated business.
In 1858 the company brewed 3,996 barrels of beer, and by 1901 the
annual capacity was second only to the
two "giants" the Minneapolis Brewing Company (later renamed as the Grain
Belt) and the Theo. Hamm Brewery of St. Paul.
The earliest mode of delivery was by horse-drawn wagon, which
limited the geographic area that could be served. Prior to Prohibition,
95 percent of Gluek sales were in the city of Minneapolis. The
Gluek Brewing Company maintained a stable of huge horses to haul a mammoth
beer wagon full of the golden brew. There were 110 draft horses during their heyday. Those sleek, powerful teams of
Percheron draft horses, the early trademark of the brewing industry,
soon gave way to trucks. The horses reappeared briefly on city streets during
WWII, when company vice president Arthur Gluek put them back to
work to help conserve gasoline and rubber for the war effort.
Gottlieb Gluek worked hard to keep his dream going and growing.
Even a fire in March of 1880 that gutted the brewery could not
defer his dream. No life was lost to the fire, but the
brewery was insufficiently insured and the Gluek family took a
$20,000 loss. Despite the reservations of others, the Gottlieb
Gluek used family funds to rebuild the brewery, and it was larger and more modern than its predecessor. The real cost
of the tragedy, however, was much greater. The strain of the loss
and the effort to rebuild the plant contributed to the
unexpected death of it's founder in October of that year, at the
age of fifty-two.
By 1920, of the 114 breweries that started between 1878 and 1920,
51 had survived to be devastated by the "noble
experiment" of Prohibition. During that period Gluek did what
many other breweries did, turned to "near beer" and soft
drinks along with other products. Nearly half of the Minnesota
breweries would not survive to celebrate the Repeal.
When Prohibition ended April 7, 1933, Gluek went back into production.
Alvin Gluek, then plant superintendent, was concerned about their
customers and told the local press that "police protection
will be necessary if the lame and the halt are not to be trampled
underfoot, and fenders and running boards of family automobiles
are not to be squeezed and bumped."
Gluek kept pace with technology, first by using one-way containers
(cans) for their beer. Then by introducing a revolutionary new
malt beverage called "Stite," a forerunner of today's "light
beer". Some drinkers claimed it had a higher than average
alcohol content and the beverage gained the name "Green Lightning".
Grudgingly, in 1964, the Gluek family bowed to economic reality.
The venerable old brewery at 20th and Marshall was sold to the
G. Heileman Brewing Company of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. And, in the
name of progress, it was demolished two years later.
Although it languished in relative obscurity and changed hands
more than once, the Gluek Brand "Family of Beers" finally
returned home in 1997.
The Cold Spring Brewing Company of today is much like its namesake,
dedicated to brewing the finest beer from the finest ingredients,
regardless of cost. The Cold Spring water source is world famous, bubbling
from deep within the crystalline granite of Stearns County, Minnesota.
The water, which requires no additional filtration, produces a
beer of extraordinary taste and purity.
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