Sheridan Brewery History

October 28, 2023

News – Sheridan Media

Today, Sheridan has several small breweries, but the first one in Sheridan was Sheridan Brewery in 1887. The Sheridan Brewery has an interesting history, which we will explore in this week’s history column.

The brewery was started by Peter Demple and his partners, George Paul and Arnold Tschirgi, in 1887. Demple was a German immigrant from Germany, and he came to Sheridan by way of Topeka, Kansas, where he had been a bootlegger and businessman.

The three friends wanted to brew beer from locally sourced grains and the fresh, clean mountain water in the nearby Big Goose Creek.

The Sheridan Brewery built their plant and delivered its first barrel of Sheridan Beer in a wheelbarrow to a bar on Main Street in 1888.

The Enterprise, September 8, 1888

At one time Sheridan Brewery was the largest employer in Wyoming, and produced 60,000 barrels of beer a year.

However, it wasn’t always easy being in the brewery business, with the government rules and regulations. From The Enterprise, July 21, 1888 – The Sheridan Brewing company are having considerable trouble in contending with the red tape of government officials. For four or five weeks they have had beer ready to he placed on the market and large demand to supply. Thursday the company received large official envelope from the revenue office, and they were sure the stamps had come, and the saloon keepers Immediately hurried to the brewery to secure beer for their customers. large number of kegs were sited and just before the parties were allowed to take them away the letter was opened, when lo, and behold there were the bonds, returned on account of some technical flaw in drawing them up, and the stamps were as far off as ever. The town is still dry.

The Sundance Gazette, August 8, 1890

And again, from The Enterprise, August 2, 1890 – The Brewery Closed. Frank A. Stitzer, interval revenue collector for Wyoming, arrived here Thursday from Cheyenne and yesterday morning took possession of the brewery for alleged violation of the revenue laws. Just what the proprietors are charged with doing unlawfully and when the question will be settled no one seems to know. C’has. Wilkerson was put in charge by Mr. Stitzer and is not permitted to allow anything to be removed therefrom—so the beer famine is on. This is the second time in the past year the brewery has been closed up by the government, and continuation of the deadlock is not only loss to the proprietors, but to the town as well. We hope the difficulty will soon be settled.

In 1906, they expanded, as we see from this article in the The Enterprise, May 25 – Sheridan’s New “Skyscraper” – Big Brewery Building Rapidly Approaching Completion and Operation. Constructed of Home-Made Brick – Capacity of 200 Barrels-Will Pay $100,000 Yearly for Barley. “The Sheridan Sky Scraper” is the name given to the new addition to the Sheridan brewery, this addition being the highest building yet erected in Wyoming.

“The Sky Scraper”will be 75 feet high comprises four stories will count in its construction 300,000 excellent brick from the local yards of E. C. Williams; has foundations of the firmest: walls of 21 inches in thickness: will cost $5,000, and will be completed within the next two weeks, E.C. Williams being the building contractor.

The new machinery, costing $5,000, has arrived and is being placed, the “Sky Scraper” being ready for full operation by the 15th of next month. This Sheridan brewery addition marks a new era in Sheridan beer manufacture and market. Mr. Millard Kelsey, secretary-treasurer and general manager of this big Northern Wyoming brewery, informs The Enterprise that the capacity of the new plant will be 100 barrels per day. With an easy extension to 200 barrels as inevitable market demands increase. Heretofore the daily product of the brewery of 25 barrels has consumed from 10,000 lo 15,000 bushels of local barley, while the eventual home demand for barley will reach 150,000 bushels. The brewery contracts for this barley at $1.25 per hundred eventually means a distribution among the farmers of the Sheridan vicinity of. over 100,000 per year for brewery barley purchase. Mr Kelsey says that the Sheridan barley is not surpassed— and has few equals in the world for excellent beer brewing purposes. Itis full-grained and has nothing “yellow” about it being the white of the whites of barleys.

A few months later, the newly enlarged Brewery sold. From The Enterprise, October 19, 1906 –Sheridan Brewery Sold: The Sheridan brewery has been sold. the transfer having been made this afternoon. The purchasers are residents of Anaconda and Helena ,Mont .

A cash price of $75,000 was secured for the property. This brewing plant-is a valuable piece of property, the late owner, Mr. Fred Schrader, having built up a large and profitable trade during the five years since he purchased it. Extensive improvements whereby the capacity of the plant has been doubled have recently been completed.

Sheridan Beer was sold throughout Northeast Wyoming. This ad from The Gillette News, August 12, 1910

Prohibition affected the Brewery and the Saloons in Sheridan and throughout Wyoming and the United States during the twenties.

Wyoming State Tribune, February 21, 1919 –Sheridan Brewery to Take All “Kick” Out: Sheridan. Feb. 20.— The Sheridan brewery, in all probability, will not manufacture beverages containing alcohol, even to the limit of one percentum as permitted by the new state prohibition law which becomes effective on July 1 according to authentic information coming from officials of the brewery. Instead, the brewery is planning to manufacture a near beer which has no ‘spike” or “kick” at all. It will be a soft drink which the most ardent prohibitionist can serve on hi- table on Sundays, with no questions asked.

The Sheridan Post, October 5, 1919 – Brewery Resumes Operations. The Sheridan brewery, which was closed down for several days, resumed operations Thursday, and the organization of workers which depends upon this institution for a living remains in existence. It is said a different brew of near-beer is now being manufactured by the local brewery, which is superior to the first attempt at a soft drink and overcomes the objections made against it.

The Sheridan Enterprise, June 30, 1919 – 18 Saloons Remaining. Majority of Liquor Dealers to Conduct Soft Drink Parlors in City King – Alcohol is breathing his last. He has been regulated into the discard “long with the other kings who have adopted the prefex, “ex” and pinned it to the worn-out titles. Tonight, at midnight, every saloon in Sheridan, in Wyoming, and in the United States will close its doors, never to open again for the faltering steps of drunken and debauched fathers, husbands and brothers. The 18 remaining saloons in the city of Sheridan will close their doors at 12 o’clock midnight. The saloon of J. Michael Posterksi closed up several weeks ago and is now selling soft drinks. The Mint had sold out its stock Saturday night and closed that evening. All the others will close tonight. Some of the proprietors have made no plans for the future, while many of them will engage in the sale of soft drinks in their same places of business.

During prohobition Sheridan Brewery begean making a near-beer product called Sherex, and an assortment of fruit flavored soft drinks.

The Sheridan Post, May 25, 1919

In 1933, After prohibition, they went back to brewing beer.

During WWII, they sent beer cans filled with water for the troops and invented the first flat top cans in the nation. In 1954 they ceased brewing beer and switched to a soft drink called, Can-a-Pop. I shut down in 1955 and stood empty for several years and was torn down in 1994, when the city decided to create the Whitney Commons Park.

Throughout the years, even surviving prohibition, even though Sheridan Brewery went out of business, Sheridan continues to drink beer. Today, some members of the Demple family, and other local breweries, are continuing the tradition of brewing fine beer that started over 130 years ago.