A Relationship of Sebewaing Beer and Geyer’s Brothers in Frankenmuth
John Kintenko (holding case), William B. Thede (most right), Army Photo Stationed in Fort Polk, LA
My sisters, brothers, and parents have been in frequent communications with me since I started this project. My father, William B. Thede has been calling me several times a week whenever he remembers something about the brewery. His last call was good for some history that perhaps never would have been revealed otherwise.
One of Many Beer Labels from Geyer Brother’s Brewery
Shortly after my dad’s discharge from the Army in April 1963, he was asked by his Father, Otto H. Thede to drive his green Jeep to Geyer’s Brothers Brewing in Frankenmuth with three stainless steel buckets of yeast from the Sebewaing Brewery. That would mean in 1963, this brewery in Frankenmuth used Sebewaing Beer yeast to restart the brewery and some of the future Geyer’s Brothers labeled beer!
There was interest from Geyer’s Brothers to purchase the Sebewaing Brewery in 1966 when it was clear the State of Michigan was insistent on the payoff of back taxes. For whatever reason(s) and as the locals know, it never happened.
This is why I am going to start a sister exhibit on the Sebewaing Brewery at the Lager Mill Brewery Museum in Frankenmuth……..in 1964 – 65 my best friend, Rod Geyer and I and the Geyer Brothers went to the brewery to pick up and start the transporting of the Sebewaing bottling and canning equipment which was bought and put to use in the Geyer Bros. Brewery ….interesting to note that the equipment ended up in the National Pop Co. In Saginaw 1985 – 1995 …also I have the only pics of the one day only canning machine that was put in production at Geyers and then discontinued due to an argument among the Geyer management.., interesting was the fact that in the pics you can see them finish filling the cans on line with pitchers of beer… one of the reasons the fighting with the managers took place and the discontinuation of canning… which makes for the only can the Geyer’s ever filled with beer and sold in the market place, was the ”Frankenmuth Bavarian Light” the other ”dark” and the ”Geyers” can, are all air filled cans and never filled with beer… I know, I was there.
Great information Keith. Thank you for posting it here for others to read. I look forward to visiting your museum.
Nice work on this. The Military picture is my father in law John Kotenko. He recently passed. Thanks for posting this.
I am so sorry to hear about your Father’s passing. Thank you for commenting on the website and the kind words.
I used to buy beer from Geyers in the late seventies and early eighties before I went into the military and have missed this authentic German beer ever since then, since the stuff they call beer now tastes nothing like the old brew. To be honest I’m not impressed with any of the Americanized versions now sold for lager in Frankenmuth with all of its various awards or not. I thought about making my own beer or moving to Germany…lol. CW5(Retired) Rob Greenhoe
Hi Robert,
Thank you for sharing your experience. There is a brewery in Cedar Springs, MI called the Cedar Springs Brewing Company. They specialize in old school German brewing techniques and you may find something there that you would like. Here is a link to their beer offerings.https://business.untappd.com/boards/26731/page/1 Or here is their main website: https://csbrew.com/
I’m the great grand daughter of John Geyer and I’ve always had a dream of purchasing the brewery and brewing the original beers. My family has retained the recipes and if I do this someday, I’ll come back to this post to let you know so you can come and see if it’s Ike how you remember the beer. 🙂
Shannon,
This is a super cool post, thank you! We still have the original buckets used to transport the yeast to Geyer’s! It would make a good contribution to a museum piece in your future brewing facility! The very best of luck to you and I hope to see a future post.
Kind Regards,
Scott Thede