Left: Partial view of historic brewery 1920s (Courtesy the Esplanade); Right: Current brewery (Courtesy Sally Sehn).--SUBMITTED PHOTOS
In July 1914, ‘Hatters got a taste of the first brew prepared by the Medicine Hat Brewing Company Limited.
The first batch was called Twin City Beer.
The Medicine Hat Brewing Company was the second brewery owned by Charles (Carl) Drazan, a Czech-American who also owned the Palouse Brewing Company in Palouse, Washington, south-east of Spokane.
Drazen may have been motivated to establish a brewery in Canada as Prohibition came into effect in Palouse in 1910 and in all of Washington State in 1914. Little did Drazan know at that time that only two years later, Prohibition would become law in Alberta.
Drazan constructed a two-storey brick building on Industrial Avenue near Medalta Potteries. In 1915, the Palouse Brewing Company closed, and Carl concentrated on the Medicine Hat location.
It was a family run business.
Carl was the President and Manager of the Medicine Hat Brewing Company; his wife Mary was the Secretary Treasurer. Three of his four children had jobs at the plant. His daughter Marjorie was a steno, son Harry was a clerk and son Walter was a bottler.
Before Prohibition, there were several breweries in Alberta.
After Prohibition ended in late 1923, there were six successful breweries who supplied most of the beer, ale, and stout in Alberta. Two in Edmonton, two in Calgary, one in Lethbridge and the brewery in Medicine Hat. To stay in business during Prohibition, the Medicine Hat Brewing Company brewed “temperance beer.”
This was a low alcoholic beer advertised at 2% alcohol. In 1918, a customer could buy a two-dozen quart case of “temperance beer” for $4.00. In today’s dollars, that case would be $68.10 or about $2.84/quart.
Carl also found another way to survive the hardship placed on his business. He had a well-drilling operation in the Many Island Lake oilfield.
When Prohibition ended, Carl sold his controlling interest in the brewery and moved to Los Angeles where he spent the remainder of his life.
Under new ownership, in 1926 the brewery expanded operations into Lethbridge where a warehouse and distributing branch were opened.
In 1928, six breweries, including the Medicine Hat Brewing Company formed an agency known as Distributors, Limited to sell beer. This was the end of the local company.
A distillery was proposed for the former brewery building but did not materialize. After years of being used for storage, the old building on Industrial Avenue burnt down in 1975.
In 2016, the Medicine Hat Brewing Company name was revived with a new brewery in the Brier Park area. Like the Drazen’s, this operation is also a family run business. And in 2019, the Palouse Brewing Company’s name, after a lapse of over one hundred years was also re-established in Palouse, Washington.
Carl Drazen’s brewing legacy lives on in both locations.
Sally Sehn is a past Member of the Heritage Resources Committee, City of Medicine Hat
