Clyffside Brewing Company

Clyffside Brewing Company

Clyffside Brewing Company is a defunct brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio. The brewery, which began in 1933 when Paul Esselborn, who was educated at the Royal Bavarian School of Brewing in Germany, organized the company in the former Mohawk Brewery structures on West McMicken Avenue. The company’s signature selections included Felsenbrau beer and Old Hickory Ale that was “aged in the hills.”

History

Sohn Brewing Company

Clyffside Brewing Company is a defunct brewery in Cincinnati, located on the site of Hamilton Brewery, founded in 1845 by Johann Sohn and George Klotter (2)(4) as the Hamilton Brewery. By 1853, the company becane known as the Klotter, Sohn and Company. In 1866, Sohn bought out Klotter, and Klotter went on to establish his own brewery on Klotter Street.(4) Sohn renamed the brewery the J.G. Sohn & Company Brewery, and it became the tenth largest of its type in Cincinnati. In November 1900, the company was reorganized as the William S. Sohn Brewing Company when Sohn sold out his interest to his brother.(5)

In 1907, Sohn was purchased by Mohawk Brewery, and was known for its Zinzinnati Beer.(4) During Prohibition, Mohawk attempted to ride out the laws by producing not only near-beer, but true alcoholic beverages.(4) On August 3, 1925, Federal Agents waited from midnight until 6 A.M. the next morning for brewery employees to begin their shift. When the first truck was leaving the facility for delivery, agents raided the brewery. They shot at the truck driver and arrested brewery employees.

Sixty barrels and thirty-five half-barrels of beer was confiscated.(4) No other beer was produced by Mohawk and it closed down before the end of Prohibition.(6)

Clyffside Brewery

Clyffside Brewery began in 1933 (1)(4) when Paul Esselborn, who was educated at the Royal Bavarian School of Brewing in Germany, organized the company in the former Mohawk Brewery structures on West McMicken Avenue. The company’s signature selections included Felsenbrau beer and Old Hickory Ale that was “aged in the hills.”(1) In relation, Felsenbrau was loosely translated to beer “brewed in the rocks.”

In 1937, the former Sohn homestead was demolished and a brick addition was constructed along McMicken.(1)(3) Another addition soon followed, both bearing the name Felsenbrau. Underneath were lagering cellars 35-foot wide and 200-foot long, with walls that were 3-foot thick. It allowed the cellar to remain at a constant 53 degrees.(4) A tunnel went underneath Mohawk Street, connecting the brewing building to the natural spring.

By 1940, C. Howard Knapp became president of the company, assisted by Ivan Fischer and George Koenig.(1) It was around this time that the brewery reached peak employment at 150 persons. New additions were constructed after World War II in 1946, containing a bottling plant and fermentation tanks.(1)(7) Refrigeration units were installed in the below-ground tunnels to keep the air temperatures cooler.

In 1945, Clyffside was sold to the Red Top Brewing Company.(1)(4)

Red Top Brewery

By the 1950s, Red Top’s value was being dragged down by expansion costs and modernizations despite revenue dips. Red Top not only maintained the Clyffside location, but its original complex along Dayton Street. On August 9, 1955, Red Top was sold to a group of Cincinnati and Chicago investors for $1.5 million, which was headed by Frank Scolby, president of Chicago-based Better Brands Inc.(7)

Less than two months after the acquisition, Red Top began to consolidate its production facilities into the McMicken Avenue location. Under the proposal, the brewery would modernize the former Clyffside site and close the Dayton Street factory.(8) From November 23-26, the Dayton Street factory – once home to the John Hauck Brewing Company, and all of its equipment, worth over $8.5 million, was auctioned. A December 6 auction was for the brewery property, valued at $2.459 million, although much of it did not sell.

In January 1956, a 100,000 square-foot warehouse on York Street was sold to Thiemann Brothers, a wholesale grocer, which was followed with the sale of 325,000 square-feet to local investors on January 16, 1957, who planned to renovate the structure and lease it out to industrial tenants. The Hauck brew house, however, was not sold and was demolished in 1957.(8)

The decline of Red Top continued after the plants merged operations, and on May 9, 1957, 150 Red Top employees went on strike, complaining that the company was not honoring the contract.(8) The losses only worsened, and in August, Red Top announced plans to merge operations with the Muskegon Motor Specialties Company of Jackson, Michigan. The Jackson operation manufactured crankshafts, a completely different and independent operation than that of a brewery. Red Top noted that it was to give additional operating capital for investment, namely to continue with the modernization that began in 1955. Muskegon replied that it was to bolster its own financial assets.

Muskegon was not interested in maintaining the brewing operations, however, and the company sold all Red Top assets to the Terre Haute Brewing Company of Indiana. On September 27, 1957, the last batch of beer was produced from the Cincinnati facility.(8)

Sans Prohibition, beer was brewed on the site for 111 years, the longest of any brewery in Cincinnati.

Building stock

From west to east, the building stock included a structure constructed in 1845, which burned mid-20th century and was replaced with a concrete-block structure with a white stucco finish.(4) Adjoining that is a notable brewery structure completed in 1887. It was designed by the Wolf Brothers of Chicago.

Building additions were completed in 1937 to the east and along Mohawk Street.(4)

The bottling facility was located at 242 West McMicken, while the Brewery and Fermenting Tank structures were at 252 and 244 Mohawk Street.(4)

Ownership

• 1846-1867: George Klotter and Company (4)
• 1867-1870: Sohn, Kistner and Company
• 1870-1900: J.G. Sohn and Company
• 1900-1907: William G. Sohn Brewing Company
• 1907-1925: Mohawk Brewing Company
• 1933-1945: The Clyffside Brewing Company
• 1945-1958: Red Top Brewing Company

Redevelopment

On April 11, 2008, the $3 million Clyffside development broke ground.(2) Containing 17 two-story units and 2 one-story units, the development was priced between $124,900 and $229,900 and included townhomes and industrial-styled lofts with luxurious finishes, rooftop decks and interior garage parking. An Ohio Historical Marker, honoring Cincinnati’s brewing heritage, was installed at 231 West McMicken Avenue.(3)

Gallery

12►

Links

1. Brewery District, Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio

Sources

1. Wimberg, Robert J. “Clyffside Brewing Company.” Cincinnati Breweries. 2nd ed. 1989. Cincinnati: Ohio Book Store, 1997. 35. Print.
2. Lemaster, Kevin. “The Clyffside hits the market, breaks ground in April.” Building Cincinnati 27 March 2008. 3 March 2010 Article.
   2a. Related: Lemaster, Kevin. “The Clyffside to break ground on $3M condo renovation Friday.” Soapbox 8 April 2008. 3 March 2010 Article.
3. Lemaster, Kevin. “Brewery District signage installed.” Building Cincinnati 3 Aug. 2008. 3 March 2010 Article.
4. Hampton, Steve. Prohibition Resistance Text. Cincinnati: n.p., 2010. N. pag. Print.
5. Holian, Timothy J. “The Phoenix.” Over the Barrel. St. Joseph: Sudhaus Press, 2001. 222. Print. Vol. 2 of 1920-2001. 2 vols.
6. “Suds Ready to Flow!” Cincinnati Enquirer 14 Mar. 1933: 2. Print.
7. Holian, Timothy J. “Expansion and Consolidation.” Over the Barrel. St. Joseph: Sudhaus Press, 2001. 119-149. Print. Vol. 2 of 1920-2001. 2 vols.
8. Holian, Timothy J. “A Death in the Family.” Over the Barrel. St. Joseph: Sudhaus Press, 2001. 202-208. Print. Vol. 2 of 1920-2001. 2 vols.