From The Pittsburgh Press, 19 November 1932 ...last of a series of articles by Ruth Ayers reviving memories of days when beer was made legally in Pittsburgh.
Gustav Fritz Says Real Beer Will Put Home Brew to
Shame
Turning on
the spigot may mean more revenue for the government, good
jobs for the idle and a better toast for the thirsty, but for one man,
at least, it's going to be a new lease on life.
He is Gustav Fritz, for 28 years brewmaster at the Iron City Brewery,
Thirty-fourth Street and Liberty Avenue.
On his country estate in Valencia he looks forward to the fulfillment of a
dream.
"What is my hobby?" he asks. "My hobby is to go back to the brewery
again; I dream about it day and night.
"It has been 11 years since I was brewmaster. But I could go into a
brewery blindfolded and brew a kettle of beer. I'll be 70 this month, and
I know every step of the way in the making of beer, as well as I did when
I came out of the academy in Chicago, in 1892.
"No, it wouldn't be difficult for a brewmaster to recruit a new staff.
With a few men who were in the business before to help, we could soon
instruct the newcomers.
Much to Learn
"I won't say that the old 'braumeisters' knew everything--I was a brewer
from the time I was in my 'teens and I was still learning when I left--but
they know enough to brew a mighty fine kettle of beer that will put home
brew to shame."
Home brew, in the opinion of this past master of the art, is healthful in
one way, since it provides yeast. But because of the way it is made,
without proper fermentation, it is difficult for the system to digest.
Real beer, made under sanitary conditions with malt and hops of finest
quality, goes through a process of fermenting that insures its being
healthful.
"Gus" Fritz, as he was known to Pittsburgh's old brewmasters, has his own
ideas on what the country will want for beer once the law permits it.
"I foresee a demand for light beer, not quite as high in alcoholic
content, as the beer of pre-prohibition days," he said.
"A straw-colored beer, with from 3.5 to 3.7 alcoholic content by weight,
will be popular, in my opinion, with the younger generation of beer
drinkers.
Predicts Big Demand
"People have been making liquor out of everything, from shoe polish to
radiator alcohol. Naturally, when good beer comes back, it will be in
demand and will make its own popularity. If it isn't taxed to death, it
will find a market."
Gustav Fritz is the maker of one of Pittsburgh's best beers, labeled "Tech
Beer." Under his guidance the first Tech was brewed, and it was he who
first sampled it and pronounced it worthy.
Although Tech beer was his masterpiece, the story of "Gus" Fritz goes back
long before he thought of being the originator of a best seller. It goes
back, in fact, to Baden-Baden, Germany, where his boyhood was spent. His
father died during the Franco-Prussian War. Boys in the family were
apprenticed out to trades and "Gus" chose to be a brewer. He started in a
lowly capacity; he washed kegs, weighed in barrels and worked in the
malthouse.
Landed in U.S. with $30
Following the process of beer making from the cellar to the brew kettle,
he completed his apprenticeship in two years. Then he traveled through
Germany, working in some of the largest breweries. As his eighteenth
birthday neared he came to America.
He had about $30 when he landed in New York. His first job was in
Brooklyn. A year later he came to Pittsburgh and was given a job in the
Frauenheim-Vilsack Brewery, which since has become the Iron City Company.
He worked in every department, became one of the most promising
assistants, and was sent by the company to Wahl-Henius Academy in Chicago
in 1892. A few months after his return he was made brewmaster of the
plant.
His scholarly work at Wahl-Henius had taught him many things of scientific
nature and had given him a formula for brewing a perfect bottled beer.
Although the company had put out bottled beer, they looked to him to brew
a brand by which their name could be best known.
With selected raw materials, with yeast cultured in the plant, and with
the skill of his academic education "Gus" Fritz started a brew. It aged
six months before it was ready for bottling, Fritz recalls. In the
meantime, various names had been submitted for it, since it was the first
fancy beer the company had ventured. Finally, the name "Tech,"
with a Scotch plaid label, was chosen as the insignia.
Somewhere in the long forgotten lanes of memory, Fritz
recalls that
Carnegie
Tech didn't like the idea of a beer labeled "Tech" but since the
word stood alone without reference to any technical school, nothing could be
done about it.
Parade Introduced Beer
A gala parade with horses and wagons, a band and much fanfare, marked the
introduction of "Tech" beer.
Later the formula was amended when people complained that, although it was
good, they could not drink much of it because it was "too strong."
Brewmaster Fritz made it to suit the public taste.
At the height of his career as brewmaster, Gustav Fritz had 400 men
employed under him. He recalls the bar in the center of the plant where
his workmen were given their gallon of beer a day. Of course, the whole
gallon was not dispensed at once; it was served in quart measures four
times a day.
The bar, with a barkeeper installed behind it, was built so workmen would
not be tempted to dip in their steins at any place where there was a
spigot, Fritz explained.
There was a 120,000-barrel storage at the Iron City Brewery, with an
average of 60,000 to 80,000 barrels stored there all the time. Contents
of the 70,000 or some odd full barrels left when prohibition turned a
nation dry, were dealcoholized for the making of near-beer.
Seeks to Prevent Misuse
Much as he wants beer to return, Gustav Fritz is anxious that its
distributing be right. If it isn't, he fears the same conditions will
arise that prompted the Eighteenth Amendment.
"If beer is used right instead of misused, it will be perfect for the
nation," Fritz said. "Saloons, I believe, should be run on the same
system as banks. In a bank one transacts business at the desk and when
through, leaves. A saloon should be regulated so that customers will
leave after drinking, instead of lingering in back rooms to sample
additional glasses."
Gustav Fritz's home in Valencia, set in spacious acres, provides activity
for him in his leisure years. He has a hive of bees and a kitchen garden
that even this late in the year is thriving with greens. He has a cow,
too. Frequently, Mrs. Fritz churns butter, so that the family of two, the
braumeister and herself, have products from their own small farm for the
table.
Yet, no matter how pleasant this country life may be, Fritz is impatient
to be back at a brewery.
"It's like this," he said. "After a wagon has been in a rut a long time,
it it is jerked from the rut abruptly, it overturns. Perhaps the same
applies to me. I was in the business as brewmaster so long that I'll
never be content at anything else. I hope I may go back into it."
