The Birds 1963 Part II and the Hamm's Brewing Company December 9, 2019

Hey Peeps!!! Welcome back to another (and long overdue) SiscoVanilla at the Movies post. For today's post, I'm continuing my look at Alfred Hitchcock's classic film The Birds which is loosely based on the story of the same name by British author Daphne Du Maurier.

In my last post The Birds 1963 Part I, I left you all with main protagonists Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor)and Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) enjoying a small glass jar of what seems to be a pre-made cocktail along the dunes of the town of Bodega Bay. For this post we shift gears to the Tides restaurant, now known as the Inn at the Tides, where the townsfolk have gathered after the birds have wreaked havoc. In the background there are a plethora of spirits relevant to the early 1960's. I'll touch upon those at a later time. For today's SiscoVanilla Beer Chronicles post, I wanted to focus on the beer tap, bottles and cans that can see seen behind the counter: Hamm's Brewing Company aka Hamm's.

Hamm's, officially known as the Theodore Hamm's Brewing Company, was an American brewing company established in 1865 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Theodore Hamm (October 14, 1825 - July 31, 1903) was one of the many German immigrants that made their way to the Midwestern United States during the 1850's. Hamm arrived in 1856 and by 1864, he grew to be rather successful financially. As per the post Hamm's Brewery History & Olde Tyme Photographs from the Action Squad.org website:

In 1864, entrepreneur Andrew F. Keller, the owner of a small brewery called the Excelsior Brewery (then producing 500 barrels a year) needed money for expansion. Theodore lent the money with the brewery as collateral. When Keller defaulted on the loan, Theodore Hamm was the owner of a brewery.

Hamm's Brewery would grow from 5 employees that brewed 500 barrels a year to 75 employees brewing 40,000 barrels a year in 1885. Modernization in the form of bottling and refrigeration would follow suit.

Prohibition would affect Hamm's like every other brewery in the United States but the company was able to stay afloat by producing soft drinks and other consumables until Prohibition was repealed. The brewery wasted no time in making beer once again and expanding even further. By the time Hamm's would be seen on tap and behind the counter in the Birds, the company would have breweries in St. Paul, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Baltimore (which I will profile in a later post in relation to the Gunther Brewing Company) and Houston. 

Hamm's called itself the Classic American Beer that was Born in the Land of Sky Blue Waters and its mascot was a jolly animated bear simply known as "The Hamm's Bear."

 
This mischievous rascal would find himself in a number of different outdoor adventures with other wildlife creatures. Check out one of those commercials:

 
As with many beer brands throughout the United States, beer and Baseball would go hand-in-hand. Hamm's was no different. Aside from supporting the local Minnesota Twins after moving from Washington, D.C. in 1961:

Hamm's also sponsored the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox and even as far south as the Kansas City A's:

Plus they had an awesome ad in 1949 with The Man himself Stan Musial:

But as with many things, the good times don't last forever. For Hamm's, the good times wouldn't last past their 100th anniversary in 1964. Once again referring to the post Hamm's Brewery History & Olde Tyme Photographs from the Action Squad.org website:

In 1965, with Hamm's celebrating its 100th year as a family-owned business, the brewery was now the 8th largest in the nation, selling 3,800,000 barrels in 1964. Family members were ready to diversify their investments, and a buyer for the brewery was sought. Heublein, Inc. bought the brewery for 65 million. After two consecutive years of losses, the brewery again was sold. A group of Hamm's distributors bought the brewery for $10.4 million in October 1973. This operation was under-capitalized and was forced to sell. A family-owned West Coast brewery, Olympia Brewing Company, bought the brewery for $13.7 million. They operated the plant from 1975-1983. The final buyer was Pabst Brewing Company, who bought the brewery in 1983. In 1983 Pabst traded the plant to Stroh's for a Stroh's plant in Tampa, Florida. In the fall of 1997, the brewery closed down for good, never to produce beer again. 

The Hamm's brand would be bought by Miller in 1999 and is now brewed under the MillerCoors company umbrella. Found mainly in the Midwest, Hamm's Brewing makes a Hamm's Classic Lager and a Hamm's Special Light beer.

Hamm's Classic has a 4.6% ABV while the Hamm's Special Light has a lower ABV of 3.8%. Both of their beers are brewed in the Chicago area.

I guess I need to see if I can score some Hamm's here in the NYC area. Their website shows that their beer can be found in a couple of locations in Jersey City, NJ. I might have to hop on the PATH train one of these days off and see what I can find. Keep your eyes posted for that adventure. What do you gals and guys think about the Hamm's line of beers. Let me know what you think!!!!

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla

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