Mark W. Rummel posted this photo on January 14, 2012 in the Facebook Group “You know you are from Sebewaing, MI when …”.   Here is a bottle cap from the “Old Style” beer label, which was the main Sebewaing brand from 1934 until “Pheasant” came along in the 1950s. Notice the slogan “No Lyin’ – It’s Good” which has an interesting story and can be read in this post.

Great comments follow that mention my grandfather Otto H. Thede:

Erma Rummel I heard that Otto Thede went north with the last lion draped on his fender and went into a bar and said that he shot it and that they always were in pairs so the people in the area should be prepared.

Mark W Rummel Oh, wow, what a wonderful story! Otto T. wouldn’t tell me anything about the brewery (I wanted to write a term paper about it in college, probably 1970) but he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. LOVE the lion on the fender story!

Mark W Rummel Good question about aluminum cans, John. I don’t know for sure. I remember Sebewaing Beer was trying to keep up with other brewers and added what they called a “Zip and Sip” can pull-tab top just before closing. Does anyone know if they ever used aluminum (doubt it)??

Erma Rummel I think the lions were in a cage behind Anna Gall’s home. John Gall would know.

Betty Engelhardt For a time, the lions were fenced in an area where McDonald’s is now located. As I recall, there was no fence over the top and they used to sit on top of their “houses”. We had to walk by on our way to school (Immanuel)

Dawn Norcross My grandpa, Frank Taschner, acquired one of the lions. Not sure of the story but it’s still in his attic. It’s in very rough condition, not sure what’s gonna become of it but sad to think about losing a piece of history.

Thank you to Mark W. Rummel for posting the photo and all of those who took the time to comment in Facebook.

This photo of the Sebewaing Brewing Company was taken shortly before demolition began.  If you look at the window above the word “Sebewaing” the wooden middle pane has fallen to a 30 degree angle.  This piece of wood can be seen a different positions throughout the 1970’s.  Notice the boarded up window for the Keg and Rack Room along with boarded up doors for the same as well as the Main Office just around the corner from the painted pheasant.

This photo was posted by Janet Feurst Reithel on October 6, 2011 in the Facebook Group “You know you are from Sebewaing, MI when …”.  It has the distinction of being the first Sebewaing Brewery related photo to be posted to that group.  Here are the brewery related comments from people reminiscing in response:

Scott N Tracy Guillett-Goodale In what year did they tear the brewery down?

Timothy S. Welther 1985, I do believe..

Janet Fuerst Reithel My inefficiency, I did not date the picture. Other pictures taken with the camera (a Kodak instant camera) that I did label with the date were taken from 1979-1981 so the picture was taken during that time frame. Tracy, was your dad Gerry Guillett? If so, he was my cousin. His mother and my dad were brother and sisters.

Scott N Tracy Guillett-Goodale oh wow Janet yes that was my dad!! your Gene’s sister??

Brian K. Schwartz Awesome pic! My Grandfather, Frank Schwartz used to haul beer.

Scott N Tracy Guillett-Goodale Fond memories of the old town…i miss living there at times!

Lori Fisher The brewery seemed so much bigger when I was a kid.

Chuck Kunisch Ok time for another quiz : for you know you are from Sebewaing group. How many types of Sebewaing Beer can you name. And for bonus what type( i.e. Ale, lager) was each beer?

Kyle Dutcher ok, the ones I know of were STOCK ALE, OLD STYLE, SPORT (brown), CLUB (lager), SEBEWAING, GOLDEN PHEASANT, AND SPORT BEER…..Not sure if there were others or not. I still have in my possession a CLUB beer case.

Chuck Kunisch Nicely done there was also POM too “Pride of Michigan”

Brian K. Schwartz If anyone ever gets over to Shaggy J’s in Pigeon, they have a door from one of the beer trucks hanging on the wall.

John Schneider mark…..finally picked up that paper your dad wrote on the brewery from Rod this past sat…..when I’m finished with my project I’ll email picture….better yet I’ll bring it along to the next get together….the final touch was your dad’s signature on it! thanks…meaningful to me

Julie Wenzel Beuschel Bricks from the brewery form a small wall in the village park. My sister, Jan Wenzel, painted a pheasant on it when it was first put up. I’m pretty sure it needed to be repainted over the years, and someone else did that.

Kim Schulz In the Detroit Brewery (somewhere by Comerica park) there is a plaque and a pasteurizer that says it was especially built for the Sebewaing Brewing Co. It’s right when you walk in the door. Very cool… I have a picture of it.

Brent Kundinger That’s Bill Thede’s Travel-all in front of it. I used to ride in that going up to their cabin in Curran for snowmobiling. Scott Thede and I now live in Big Rapids.

Alice Pommerenke For all you ‘young kids’ – in the 30’s we had a sledding hill behind the brewery in the winter time. They would ice the top at night to make it a great start! How do I know? I broke my collar bone slipping on it. Also out front (for a short time) was a cage of lions that would roar when we walked by on our way to town. One year a Christmas tree out there by the sidewalk trimmed w/12 oz Sport bottles, think I still have one.

Scott N Tracy Guillett-Goodale I kinda remember the brewery,gosh that was a longggggggggg time ago!! lol

Robin Gaeth Nice pic… my dad worked there.

Jacklyn Hughes My uncle, Joe Kling, worked there part time when he wasn’t barbering…..he said they could drink all the beer they wanted when they had their breaks! Part of the perks I guess. he’s still alive, by the way….94 years old.

Thank you to Janet Fuerst Reithel for posting the photo and all of those who took the time to comment in Facebook.