F.W. Cook Brewing Company
1855 - 1933

F.W. Cook Company
1933 - 1955

City Brewery was founded by Frederick Washington Cook and Jacob Rice at 11 NW 7th St. Known as Cook & Rice City Brewery until 1885 after Rice's death. Upon F.W.'s death in 1913 (at the age of 81) his son Henry ran it until his death in 1929. Then Henry's brother, Charles Cook, took over.

F.W. Cook was also the president of the Evansville Suburban Newburgh Traction company - an interurban railroad - and Cook Realty which operated Evansville's largest amusement park.

There was a tavern, The Rathskeller, in the basement of the brewery building (postcard below).

The Louisville & Nashville RR took a case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1912 against Cook because the L&NRR refused to accept shipments from Evansville to dry counties in Kentucky. Cook had won in the Circuit Court and received an injunction forcing the L&NRR to ship kegs and cases of beer.

The plant was closed during Prohibition.

The reorganization in 1933 was done to include the purchase of the abandoned downtown Evansville railroad line of the remains of the Evansville & Princeton Traction Company. This third-mile section of track down 9th St. linked the brewery to the Chicago & Eastern Illinois RR yard at 9th & Division Sts. The new railroad was called the Cook Transit Corporation and had one "box motor" electric locomotive. A 2-person crew would switch out the brewery twice daily - between 15 and 25 cars, Monday through Friday. A replacement locomotive was bought in 1947. This 1915 GE electric unit was retired when the brewery closed and is now at the Transportation Museum in Noblesville.

In 1935 & 1936 they sponsored a semi-pro baseball team, Cook's Glodblumes.

In 1948 Tony Hulman of Indianapolis Motor Speedway fame bought controlling interest. After the workers went on strike he closed it.

The Evansville Jail and Courts building now occupies the site.

Their Goldblume brand was brewed in other locations until 1972 and revived by the 1988-1997 reincarnation of the Evansville brewery. F.W. Cook also brewed Tropical Extra Fine Ale.

Reitman & Schulte
1884 - 1886

Fulton Avenue Brewery
1886 - 1894

Evansville Brewery
???? - 1894

Henry Schneider brewery
1863 - 1877

John Hartmetz Brewery
1877 - 1893

Evansville Brewing Association
1894 - 1918

Sterling Products Co. during prohibition.

Sterling Brewers Inc.
1933 - 1964

Sterling Brewers Associaiton (Associated Brewing)
1964 - 1972

G. Heilman
1972 - 1988

Also see Evansville Brewing Company, following.

(photo courtesy
Bruce Mobley)

3) In 1863 Henry Schnieder started a brewery in Louisville and produced the Sterling beer brand. The company went through many hands and several bankruptcies. It was sold at sheriff's auctions in 1869 and 1876. In 1877 Bavarian immigrant John Hartmetz bought and renamed it.

John Hartmetz and his brother Charles decided to go their separate ways sometime in the early 1880s. Legend says they flipped a coin to see who would stay in Louisville and who would move to Evansville. John moved to Babytown Hill (Harmony Way) in Evansville.

Brother Charles died in 1888 and the brewery in Louisville was sold by his widow to John Oertel in 1892.

I
Hartmetz Brewery on what is now Main St.

At some time the brewery was moved to Story Ave. east of downtown Evansville.

In 1894 John Hartmetz moved his family back to Europe and his son, Charles F. Hartmetz inherited the operation and used it to bring together 3 Evansville breweries to form the Evansville Brewery Association. This Association was reportedly the result of a price war between the larger F.W. Cook brewery and the non-affiliated breweries in town.

The main office went to the Fulton Avenue Brewery and the others were eventually closed.

Charles F's younger brother Otto eventually became the master brewer and was affiliated with the company until he retired in 1956.

Charles and Otto Hartmetz, along with the mayor of Evansville, Charles Heilman (irony only), were major stockholders in the Simplicity Auto Company from 1907 to 1911. The brewery modified one of the cars to be used as a beer delivery truck.

They established a branch sales office in Indianapolis in September, 1913. The address was 402 Majestic Bldg., telephone 1438. They did both store and home delivery.

The company renamed itself, like many others during prohibition, and made soft drinks, near beer, and malt extract (which was used by illicit homebrewers). After prohibition it was reorganized and renamed.

In the 1930s they brewed Sterling and Lug o' Ale brands.

From 1933 until 1936 they produced Drewrys beer for Drewry's U.S.A., a subsidiary of Drewrys in Canada. In 1936 Drewrys bought the Meussel brewery in South Bend, Indiana, and moved their production there.

Around 1935 they sponsored a semi-pro "colored" baseball team called the Sterling Beers.

In 1937 they built a second brewery in Freeport to increase production. It made 50,000 bbl per year in addition to the 500,000 made in Evansville. They closed this plant in 1939, the same year Charles F died.

Sterling merged with the Associated Brewing. Co. group of Michigan in 1968 and it passed to G. Heileman in 1972. Sold to Evansville Brewing Company (below) in 1988 after G. Heileman closed the plant due to over capacity in its other plants.

The Sterling Quality Pledge

We know of no beer made with finer ingredients than Sterling. We use choice mountain grown hops, select 6-row barley and filter pure water to brew this premium beer. These select grains and hops, together with our natural aging, make Sterling the finest beer obtainable at any price. . . . . .Sterling, pure Sterling.

After G. Heilman bought the company the plant was used to make many of the brands they acquired from other breweries including Cooks from Evansville, Champagne Velvet from Terre Haute, and Drewrys from South Bend. Others included Drummond Brothers, 9-0-5, Falls City, Lederbrau, Pfeiffer, Rheingold, Tropical Ale, Weideman, Katz, Bavarian, and Prager Bohemian.

Mickey's, famous for the "big mouth" bottles, originated at Sterling and is reputed to be named after the wife of the president of Sterling Brewers. It is now part of Pabst via Stroh's.

Prior to 1972, when Falls City Beer production moved to the Sterling plant in Evansville, a friendly local rivalry existed between the two beers. For many years the Evansville brewed Sterling was the #1 selling beer in Louisville, while Louisville-made Falls City was the #1 selling beer in Evansville.

The Sterling brand is now owned by Pittsburgh Brewing.

Sterling had a Rathskeller (picture below taken from a postcard).

The EBA's office's Brucken's Annex, built in 1894, is in the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures. The brewery has been demolished.

The Sterling brand is now owned by Iron City Brewing in Pittsburgh, having passed from the Pittsburgh Brewing Company.

more info

1988 - 1997

The brewer was Ken Griffiths and the plant had a 1,200,000 bbl annual capacity. They employed about 90 people. The CEO was Mark Mattingly and at the time of the bankruptcy Steven Cook. Headquarters was at 1301 Lloyd Expressway.

Evansville made Cooks, Wiedemann, Drewry's, Falls City, and Sterling beer and brewed beers under contract for many marketing companies including Frontier Brewing (the first Certified organically brewed beer in the US) (Norway IA), Rainbow Ridge Brewing (Marietta GA - White Ridge Wheat Beer), State Street Brewing (Chicago IL). They also made "novelty" beers for the likes of 1990's Bicycle Beer's Veri Berry, Misty Lime, and Apricot Stone for a marketing company in Michigan.

The original big-mouth bottle (famous as Mickey's) came from Sterling (right).

Birell was made in the 1990s, licensed from Hürlimann Brewery in Zürich, Switzerland. Other brands included Coldsburg Gray, Drummond Brothers, Eagle, Evansville, Gerst, John Gilberts, Gringo Light, Hey Mon, Hoosier Red, Jackaroo, Joe's Freakin, Lemp, Lemp Light, Mo's Maxin, New Fontier, River City, Riverfront, Sainsburys, and Zebra.

The Lemp brand was first made by Adam Lemp in St. Louis in 1838. It is said to be the first lager beer in the western hemisphere. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Lemp (not Anheuser-Busch) was the largest selling beer in St. Louis. After a number of tragic things that occurred to the Lemp family Busch took over the #1 slot. The Falstaff shield was modeled after the Lemp shield after prohibition.

By 1994 Evansville Brewing sold almost 40% of it's beer overseas.

Declared bankruptcy and closed on October 1, 1997. The brands were sold to Pittsburgh Brewing.

Part of the Evansville Brewing Plant

• City Brewery, Cook & Rice. On 7th, between Main and Sycamore Streets
• Evansville Brewery, Stumpf & Eisenfelder. At the corner of 6th and Ingle Streets
• Fahnley, Kuhn, and Co. At Bunker Hill with an office at 85 Main St.
• Franklin Brewery, Fred Weber & Bro. At the corner of Franklin and 4th Ave.
• Fulton Brewery, Bittrolff & Kroener. At the corner of 8th and 5th Ave.
• Old Brewery, Kroener & Son. On Fulton Ave between 5th and 6th Streets.
• Olive Branch Brewery, owned by Joseph Jauch. On 11th, near C.C. Springs
• Union Brewery, L Rice & Co. At the corner of Vine and Canal
• One owned by George J Fisher at the corner of Franklin and 9th Ave.
• One owned by Jauch & Hirschberger. On Market between John and 4th Streets.
• One owned by Philip G Klapper. At the corner of 12th Ave and Franklin
• One owned by Henry Wingert at the corner of Pearl and Front Streets.

1937 - 1940

Brands included Hi Hop Beer and Wittekindt Muenchener Beer.

1996 - Present

1997 - 1998

The Little Cheers

2004 - 2006

The Firkin was resurrected in 2004 with the same equipment and same brewer but a new name. A downtown bar with little emphasis on their own beers. It stopped brewing in 2006.