Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. 547 South Queen Street Honolulu Hawaii

Discussion issues on Beer Cans,, Breweriana, Attended Shows etc...

Moderators: Forum Moderator, Current Officers, Previous Officers

User avatar
keithker
Rusty Bunch President
Rusty Bunch President
Posts: 4826
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2012 6:40 pm
Answers: 0
Rusty Bunch Member Number: 969
BCCA Number: 11507
Year Started Collecting: 1975
Location: Brandon Florida
Has thanked: 1141 times
Been thanked: 1908 times
Zodiac:
Status: Offline
United States of America

Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. 547 South Queen Street Honolulu Hawaii

#1

Post by keithker »

Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. 547 South Queen Street Honolulu Hawaii doesn't look a day over 123 years old....

The article from 1899 depicts the Honolulu Brewing & Malt Co. as it was to be built.

The street view image shows it what it looks like today.
The_Honolulu_Advertiser_Sat__Dec_9__1899_ (1).jpg
The_Honolulu_Advertiser_Sat__Dec_9__1899_.jpg
Hon.png
hon2.png
Evening_Bulletin_Thu__Jun_27__1901_.jpg


whitealtesziptopguy
Cone Top
Cone Top
Posts: 117
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:49 pm
Answers: 0
Rusty Bunch Member Number: 0
Year Started Collecting: 1975
Has thanked: 80 times
Been thanked: 83 times
Status: Offline
United States of America

Re: Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. 547 South Queen Street Honolulu Hawaii

#2

Post by whitealtesziptopguy »

I have one of their Bottles, from way back when it was known as Territory of Hawaii.
Attachments
HawaiiBottle3.JPG
User avatar
bodean
Rust Master General
Rust Master General
Posts: 588
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 1:27 pm
Answers: 1
Rusty Bunch Member Number: 0
Year Started Collecting: 1975
Has thanked: 559 times
Been thanked: 344 times
Status: Offline
United States of America

Re: Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. 547 South Queen Street Honolulu Hawaii

#3

Post by bodean »

This piqued my interest, so I dug for a bit. Some cool history about the Honolulu brewery. Kinda surprised the temperance movement (prohibition) affected a territory. Hawaii wasn't a state til 1959. The pics didn't carry over but the text does a good job of laying out the history.



Hawai'i's first commercial brewery, The Honolulu Brewery, was established in 1854 by Bischoff and Company, who maintained the brewery until 1857. After the closure of the Honolulu Brewery, beer in the islands was difficult to come by and provide largely through importation.

In 1865, Thomas Warren and Willard Francis partnered and opened Hawaiian Beer, offering residents of the the big island "lager beer in casks, kegs and bottles." (1) The partnership eroded 4 months later and the two became competitors; Thomas Warren opened Oahu Brewing, and Willard Francis remained at the helm of Hawaiian Beer. Both brewing companies failed. Francis, a few months after Warren established his brewery, placed his brewery for sale and left Hawai'i. Warren, because of the difficulty in finding a skilled brewer, converted his operation into a distillery.

Others attempted to make and sell beer in the islands but couldn't capture a market or public attention. The most successful of these failed enterprises was National Brewery, opened in 1888, selling "Steam Beer," (like the vaunted Anchor Steam in San Francisco, whose operations date back to the 1850s) in kegs and bottles to saloons and local consumers. National's Steam Beer remained popular with island dwellers and sold fairly well for several years, eventually closing in the 1890s.
Political Cartoon, Hawaiian Gazette, 1902. (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/ ... d-1/seq-1/)



The failure of Hawai'i's upstart brewing industry came, most likely, at the hands of its missionary population. Missionaries for the Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist, and the Mormon churches all found their way to the islands, attempting to convert the local population and, in the process, forbade their charges from drinking. As missionary work gave way to plantations, the religious in Hawai'i and the plantation owners who understood their profits would fall if their converted workers were drunk or hungover continued their fight against alcohol through anti-saloon leagues, and pro-prohibition organizations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union. These groups led an all out war against alcohol on the island, attacking anyone or any company that attempted the production and/or sale of alcohol.
Primo Beer Ad 1904


Despite the pressure from religious zealots, anti-saloon leagues and prohibitionists, brewers struggled on. In 1901, Hawai'i's longest lasting brand, Primo, came to market for the first time. Produced by the Honolulu Brewing and Malting Co. Primo found a market both with plantation workers and with a growing tourist market. Primo remained a popular and iconic beer until Hawai'i's legislature gave in to prohibitionist pressure and outlawed alcohol on the islands in 1918.

In 1933 with the national repeal of prohibition, thirsty Hawai'ians jumped headlong into brewing once again. Primo resurfaced, this time produced by the Hawaii Brewing Corporation, which would maintain control over the brand until 1963 when like many regional brewers it would fall victim to consolidation by big beer (Schiltz maintained control of Primo until it was bought out by Strohs in the 1980s). Competing with Primo were American Brewing Company's Pale Ambrew (first produced in 1934), and Royal Beer (1937), these three beers would define Hawaiian beer, becoming the favorite brands of American GIs stationed in Hawai'i , as well as tourists and locals.

By the 1960s and 70s consolidation in the brewing industry would see the destruction of locally brewed beer in Hawai'i. Shlitz would move Primo's production to its brewery in Los Angeles, putting an end to Hawai'i's longest locally produced label. Royal would be forced out of business by economic pressure put on it by the importation lower costing brands like Budweiser, Miller and the other big industrial brewers. By the end of the 70s beer making in Hawaii had ceased.

In the first wave of the craft beer movement several microbreweries and brew pubs tried to cash in on the nascent artisanal movement and tourist dollars available on the islands, but most failed to gain market share against the big three. The first to try was Pacific Brewing Company, who brewed Maui Lager from 1986 until they closed in 1990. Others came and went in the same period, but the more mainstream popularity of craft beer in the 2000s has seen a resurgence of craft brewing on the island.
We have art to decorate our spaces. We have music to decorate our time. - Mom
Scott
Rust Governor
Rust Governor
Posts: 2357
Joined: Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:35 pm
Answers: 0
Rusty Bunch Member Number: 442
BCCA Number: 14868
eBay name: No longer in use
Year Started Collecting: 1974
Location: Beaver Nation
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 229 times
Status: Offline

Re: Honolulu Brewing & Malting Co., Ltd. 547 South Queen Street Honolulu Hawaii

#4

Post by Scott »

Coasters
20230203_222902.jpg
The luckiest dumpers don't rely on good fortune, the unluckiest do.

The information contained in this communication and any attached documentation may be privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure and is intended only for the designated recipient(s).
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Return to “General Discussion”