The brewery was prosperous in the late 40’s, 50’s, and very early 60’s with million dollar years around 1960.  On January 1, 1962, President A. E. Mast retired and sold his stock to outside interest and shortly after, William E. Francis from Detroit led a group of other Detroit men to a proxy battle that gained control of the brewery.  Once Francis gained control, he put some of his own people on the board.  These outsiders who may have been good business people in other trades were not experienced in running a brewery.  On the surface, their intentions may have been good with the idea of marketing this local operation in all of Michigan and the neighboring states.  The potential new customers for supply could have grown the company, created more jobs, and boosted the economy of Sebewaing even more than it had already.  However, Sebewaing and beer originating from German immigrants who took pride in their beer, town, and connection to their local brewery were not trusting and as history demonstrated, rightfully so.  The marketing strategy and renaming of the Sebewaing Brewing Company to the Michigan Brewing Inc and the new Pride of Michigan Label did not work.  Lack of experience, perhaps the water from the near 400 foot deep rock wells were not as high of quality as in the past, and a number of other factors doomed this business.  As reported in the Sebewaing Blade on June 30, 1966, quote:

A year ago there was hope that the patient would rally from handling by incompetent physicians.  After years of successful manufacturing in Sebewaing, the brewery had fallen on evil days.  A new board had taken over a few years ago, management passed into the hands of the outsiders, and one day it was discovered that the operating capital was gone and the debts amounted to around $100,000.

Some observations from research may suggest the following contributors to the brewery’s demise:

• He may not have known the full impact of his decision, but when A. E. Mast did not sell his stock to local interest, and  sold his stock to non locals, it later triggered a proxy battle in 1961 that lost local control of the brewery.
• Cutting costs on ingredients and putting out the inferior label Pride of Michigan when compared to past labels and likely further damaging the brewery’s reputation.
• The Francis executive positions spending on trips, a plane, a second office near Detroit, etc.
• The Francis executive positions lack of connection to the local town and surrounding counties.
• Francis executive position policy changes that did not allow employees to make sales, handle money, banned the public from being on the property for liability reasons, and perhaps the biggest marketing blunder, removal of the free tap.  This reduced engagement of brewery staff with customers resulting in further alienation.
• The Francis executive positions not making themselves available to talk with employees and customers.
• Short term closure of the brewery for about three months before, during, and after the proxy battle in the spring of 1965.  Distributors needed beer for customers and went elsewhere and stores replaced their shelves with other brands.
• Seemingly impossible issues such as liens and debts that required payment and not enough time to rebound from the mismanagement that had occurred in the Chappell/Francis administration.
• The steady increase in federal and state taxes that further reduced profit margins to small breweries like Sebewaing.
• The desired switch of big city outlets from returnables with deposits to throw aways and the brewery production process was geared towards returnables.
• The interruption of supply and the wariness of outlets to take the risk again to buy from this brewery.
• The rumor that the beer stored in tanks was old and mixed with inferior brews increased the wariness of outlet and taverns to buy from the brewery.
• The water in the deep rock wells was becoming less pure and was impacting the beer’s taste.

What could have happened after 1966 if the brewery would have survived the year long period after the spring 1965 short term closure and the following proxy battle?  It is likely the brewery could have rebuilt its reputation and gained its previous foothold with distributors, store shelves, and most importantly, consumers.  More beer would have had to be produced to meet tax and payroll increases as well as the continued reinvesting of capital into the facility to keep pace with changes in state and federal driven production standards and building capacity needs.  The wells would have experienced further aquifer challenges with quality and capacity especially after local farmers and gas well practices extracted more and more water out of the ground.  Contamination of the aquifer through agriculture and other activities has changed the quality of water in the Sebewaing area and would have certainly impacted the taste of the beer brewed.  Alternatives would have had to be found such as hauling water in or processing the water that would have increased production costs.  There would have been considerable challenges to overcome.  Citizens of Sebewaing are resilient and if it could have been done, they would have found a way.