“The Fire Brewing Story” is a circa 1960 color promotional film that opens with an aerial view of Detroit and a voiceover reminder that “modern” cities are always on the move, especially a city’s industry. This holds true for the Stroh’s Brewery Company, as the camera pans in on the company’s red brick at mark 01:30 and the film’s title fills the screen. Near mark 02:00 the camera takes us to a “recreation center” within the brewery as smartly dressed men and women mix and mingle over pitchers of “light lager beers” as the narrator offers a brief history of the company and its founder, Bernard Stroh. From there we learn of the “painstaking effort” that goes into glass of beer that’s poured. At mark 03:40 we’re taken inside a tour of the brewery and an explanation of the brewing process and we see images of wheat and barley plus “fresh sparkling water” that are among the natural ingredients in beer. The narrator tells us starting at mark 04:45 how Stroh’s is “America’s only fire-brewed beer” and how the process is designed “in the old, time-tested tradition” of the company. Following an explanation of the “unusual, expensive process,” the film continues with a visit to the Stroh’s brewhouse and the specialized equipment including grain tanks, mills, and fire-brewing kettles. Mark 08:00 begins a tour of the stock house and its more than 400 fermentation vats, where golden brew is seen being drawn from a vat at mark 08:20 for testing. After passing through filters, the beer is ready for packaging (mark 09:40) as we watch cans and bottles of Stroh’s make their way down conveyor belts — almost 5 million cans and bottles daily, the narrator says. With labels in place at mark 11:55, the film shows cases of bottles and cans being placed onto trucks and off to liquor stores and taverns. As the film comes to a close, the viewer is told how the company is more than just about producing beer; it’s also about promoting an active lifestyle through sports … like bowling (mark 13:00) … as well as fishing, skiing, and golf. while also sponsoring radio and television broadcasts of the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings.
The Stroh Brewery Company was a beer brewery located in Detroit, Michigan. In addition to its own Stroh’s brand, the company produced or bought the rights to several other brands including Goebel, Schaefer, Schlitz, Augsburger, Erlanger, Old Style, Lone Star, Old Milwaukee, Red River, and Signature, as well as manufacturing Stroh’s Ice Cream. The company was taken over and broken up in 2000, but some of its brands continued to be made by the new owners. The Stroh’s brand is currently owned and marketed by Pabst Brewing Company.
The Stroh family began brewing beer in a family-owned inn during the 18th century in Kirn, Germany. In 1849, during the German Revolution, Bernhard Stroh (1822-1882), who had learned the brewing trade from his father, emigrated to the United States. Bernhard Stroh established his brewery in Detroit in 1850 when he was 28 and immediately started producing Bohemian-style pilsner, which had been developed at the municipal brewery of Pilsen, Bohemia in 1842. In 1865 he purchased additional land and expanded his business. He adopted the heraldic lion emblem from the Kyrburg Castle in Germany and named his operation the Lion’s Head Brewery. (The lion emblem is still visible in its advertising and product labels.)
Bernhard Stroh’s original beer selling operation consisted of a basement brewing operation and was then sold door-to-door in a wheelbarrow. The new beer (Stroh’s) sold door-to-door was a lighter-lager beer, brewed in copper kettles.
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