Minnesota: home of the Twin Cities, the Juicy Lucy, the Mall of America, and Hamm’s. While “the beer refreshing” is now available in select markets nationwide, it remains a true Midwest staple, and has been since the 1860s. One of the few regional lagers to survive Prohibition, Hamm’s has not just endured, it maintains a loyal fanbase.
Beyond great flavor, the lager “from the land of sky blue waters” stands out from the crowd in branding, history, and its cult-like following. Here are eight things you should know about Hamm’s.
The brewery’s namesake wasn’t a brewer.
The history of Hamm’s dates back to 1865 when German immigrant Theodore Hamm inherited a St. Paul, Minn., brewery from his friend Andrew F. Keller, who had established it in 1858. Hamm became a business partner when Keller needed additional funding to fuel the brewery’s expansion, and Keller ultimately cut ties with the business in the early 1860s, leaving the keys to Hamm.
Hamm changed the brewery’s name from the Pittsburgh Brewery to the Excelsior Brewery. Though never actually a brewer himself — Hamm was a local saloon owner and a trained butcher — he proved to be a savvy business owner, as the brewery ascended to become the second largest in Minnesota by the 1880s. In 1896, it was renamed the Theodore Hamm Brewing Company.
The first Hamm’s brewmaster was Jacob Schmidt of Schmidt beer fame.
When Hamm took the helm of the brewery, he enlisted his friend and fellow German immigrant Jacob Schmidt as brewmaster. Schmidt worked with Hamm’s for several years before working at a number of other lager breweries around the country. In 1900, he established his namesake business, the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company. The St. Paul-based operation became famous for its regional lager, Schmidt beer, which is currently owned and produced by Pabst.
Die-hard Hamm’s fans have a nickname.
If you love Phish, you’re a “Phan.” Followers of the Grateful Dead are known as “Deadheads.” Devotees of the late Jimmy Buffett are “Parrotheads.” And die-hard Hamm’s fans are considered “Hammpions.” As far as we can tell, no other fanbase of a specific beer has gotten tagged with such a moniker. Every regional lager has its loyalists, but clearly Hamm’s fans are on another level.
Punk rockers took over Hamm’s San Francisco brewery in the ‘70s.
For almost a century, Hamm’s was brewed and enjoyed exclusively in the Midwest, but the 1950s and ‘60s saw the company buy up a number of additional facilities in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, and Baltimore in a stride to expand its reach to the rest of the U.S…