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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 4, 1914)
The Omaha Sunday B South Omaha PAGES ONE TO EIGHT EE South Omaha PAGES ONjL iO H - lIT VOLl XLIV NO. 16. OMAIIA, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 4, 1914. KIXflUE t.WY nVK (MINTS. THE TETTER BREWING CO o 9 MANUFACTURERS OF TS9 OlD 66 anci Ltd Age" Gold Visitors to Ak-Sar-Ben Are Cordially Invited to Inspect Our Most Thorough and Modern Plant. Your Visit Will Be Both Interesting and Educational ..... ; ; .... .. A :r,. V XL. ,, , -w V " ' ' t .j s , vs5?: " '"0 hie m & .. . . , . . -jj-.-:' it p it on n .... ;rVAfel to Hf P T , jltrv:: i aaurerr. xne gonor cxmp.ny Bu com xo r Drewnou ana in tne mlllhouM you are i woa to meet this condition that Draw and f Jetter's Brewery at South Omaha is Showing Steady, Marvelous Growth J. M. "Martin" Jetter lie.-ula the lare fe.st aingla f nterprl 'n the Malc City, lth tho exception of the packing houses nd the stock yards. Tho enterprise Is the Jetter Hrewlni? company, limited, which to located at Twenty-seventh and T streets In South Omaha. - Ranging- over an acreage of more than three acres, the Jetter. Brewing company, limited, will run well beyond the half million mark If you value It In dollars and cents. Mod ern to the last decree It Is equipped with the very latest devices In handling the Ingredients that go to make up the well known "Old Age Urew." of which the management Is so proud. The Jetter Brewing company Is more than twenty-aeven years old and was founded by Balthas Jetter, on land now Occupied by the packing houses. At that tlma the land was part of the Walker farm, which Jettar had bought after leaving his position In an Omaha brew ary located on Pearoa street. On April 11, 1887, Balthas Jetter turned out the first draught of baer from tha new plant In thoaa days methods were primitive and many of tha men. who helped make tho beer went out to assist In the sale of It The capacity of tha old plant was measured in gallons rather than barrels as at pr nt Ilard work and long hours aad a gradual appreciation of the brew raade by tho Jotters finally opened up the market and tha plant began to take on improvements. Load Bm(kt Early. When tha packing houses can, the land at Twenty-seventh and T streets was purchased and her the founda tions of the r.ew brewery were laid. Gradually they have expanded from a brewhouse of modest dimensions to one of tha best equipped and most spacious breweries went of Chicago. The meagre nutput of tho early days has now grown to a "capacity of 14,000 tuyrels storage. Old Balthaa Jetter, the founder of the plant. Is no, longer at the head of the business. On April to, last just Twenty seven yeara to a day, from tho time he opened his plant on the Wajker farm, he retired Independently rich. The business was taken over and reorganized under his nephew, Martin Jetter, who for many years has been the assistant and active head of the brewery. Tha consideration for the surrender of his placo at tha head of the company brought Balthas Jetter something In the neighborhood of tlOn.Ooo, which does not Include his stock. Martin Jetter, the present head, is the builder and the organizer. As a young man he engaged in pack ing house work and was one of the first city salesmen of Swift and company. Later his uncle perauaded him to under take the marketing of the Jetter beer. Young Martin threw himself into the work with enthuslams and purpose. Quietly he pushed the product of the old plant Gradually he extended Its market from a local distribution to a large ex port trade. He grasped the value of ad vertising his Idea boing to bring the pro duct before tho people. To this end he has made a special feature of a mod ern plant with tho moat sanitary equip ment Martim JeJter Takes Charge. For a number of years before his re tirement. Balthas Jetter. too former head of the plant, gradually turned the active management of tha business to Martin Jetter, so that when the retirement of Jetter senior came, a year ago, the bg plant showed not the smallest truce of a change other than tho legal readjust ment Balthaa Jetter. the founder of the plant, was born in Essen, Germany. He was of that sturdy stock, well . balanced business pioneers, to which belonged such men as Adolphus Busch, founder of the great Anheuser-Busch plant of St. Louis. The present head of the Jetter Brew ing company Is a second edition of the former president with the additional vir tues of the American business man. Few men will ten of getting the better of Martin Jetter In a business deal. As an organizer and advertiser the Jetter plant stands as a monument to him. He took the position that advertising on paper should correspond to the facta. When the engraver, who made the above cut undertook to add a few fringes and art decorations In the way of buildings that did not exist Martin Jetter ordered tlie picture changed. "Make It like the plant," he said. And the picture is just like tho plant The new brewery covers three and one-half acres of land In the southwest section of South Omaha. It includes every thing that goes to make up a modern brewing plant and a num ber of things that are not generally oon Vlered necessary to such a plant For Instance, there ts m magnificent lake situated along the entire south side of tho brewery. This lake has be a deep ened and beautified and Is filled with fish. Hero tho Jetter workmen, who num ber as high as 100, can come with their families on holidays and pirnlo on tho banks of tha laJte or if they prefer, they ma) swim or boat or even fish for there ts much fish la tha lake. Xn oloso prox imity to tho lako Is a gantgo built after the manner of a railroad roundhouse. Every truck and every machlno belonging to the plant are housed in this garage, each In Its separate compartment A mechanician's room la part of the equip ment so that the t K trucks can be fixed without d'-lay. In deference to the demands of repid delivery, the Jetter company has come to use motor power almost exclusively. Seven large trucks supply the local trade, while a doien lighter cars are used in other departments. Only seven teams are now kept In tho stable house. Know How to Brew Brer. But to know tho Jetter Brewing com pany thoroughly you : must know Fred Drew, the vice president, and August Radxuwelt, the secretary. Fred Drew Is a native German and he learned the brew ing trade in Germany. Ho knows it from beginning to end. With Drew, beer mak ing Is an art. He has a special desk In the new brew house and there he sits while the brewers are making the famous Jetter's Old Age." That is the pride of Drew's old age, for he Is no longer young. The secret of the Old Age beer is his secret. He and Balthas Jetter, former head of the Jetter Brewing company, spent many months in Germany studying and working on the Old Age brew. It Is patterned after the old German Munchen style, being a heavier draught than the usual domestic beers. The Old Age brew Is different from the ordinary brew In that It Is a double brew. In the great copper kettles, which cost the plant IZO.O'W to Install, occurs the fermentation from the ingredients of his secret recipe. An artesian well of 1,817 feet was driven es pecially to obtain the right kind of water. From this well there is a flow of 4.S0 gal lons a minute. Bohemian hops are used in tho brew, and many extracts, but of this Drew will not speak. That la tho secret of Old 'Ago. Prow has been with tho Jetters for twenty-five years. Ho is taciturn almost to a fault unleas you know bun; then he opens up Into a moot Interesting char acter. Together with Martin Jetter, the head of the company, bo has watched the plant grow from two or three little stor age buildings to a six -story mill house and a five-story brow bouse. From a total capacity of a few hundred barrels he has seen a plant spring up whono oa pacity la 10O,OuO barrels and whose annual output Is bO.GOO barrels. Mast Bo 4 leas. Kverythlng In tho manufacture of Old Age must be immaculately clean. In tho brewhouse and In tne mlllhouaa you are reminded of the cleanly homes of the old Germans of the Rhine. Everything la se verely orderly and everything Is severely clean. Drew sees to that The mlllhouee, where the hops are stored, Is kept cooled by an artificial cooling system. The floors and wails are of concrete and rfteel and no vermin can find entrance. When the management realised the vulue of the mi'thocJs pursued In making ! Old Age, they extended It to the whole plant, and to all the beer mnde there, j Class enameled vats have been steadily ilicplacing the old wooden vats used in i most breweries. Jetter thinks that glass I enameled vats keep the beer from any danger of wooden mould and tho woody tuste that sometimes Is noticed on beer. a:h of these glass enameled vsts holds from 2"0 to 3W) barrels of beer. After the beer has ag;d sufficiently It Is drawn off over pipes ranging from file heat to ex treme frigidity. Over these pipes the beer frewh from the kettle Is allowed to flow slowly, then through other conductors Into the big vats, where It stands any where from six weeks to eight months. Tou cannot get beer out of the Jetter cellar under six wreks no matter what the weather or conditions. The time of di aught is dependent upon the weuther. In some weather the beer ages more quickly than at other times. When the Old Age is ready to be drawn oft It Is sent through a special chemical process which puts the foam and gives It the tang that is . just right. Then It goes down Into the bottling works or into the room where It Is drawn Into barrels for saloon trade. . Like Imported Boor. Old Ago Is less than two years old that Is, It Is less thau two years since the beer was put on the market Jetter had been working on it for years. The idea was to give the people an American beer that would have all tho benefits and per factions of the imported beer and yet bo within tho reach of the common trade. Oertnava Imported boor Is high priced after It has been Imported and stored and shipped about tha United States. But German beer Is acknowledged to hava the advantage over American brews. It was to meet this condition that Drew and Balwas Jetter worked out the secret of Jetter's Old Ago beer. . When the beer was first put on the market Martin Jetter pushed It as some thing out of the ordinary. Its success was almost phenomenal. Demand for the brew Increased and gradually the amount made at the local house Is reducing the amount of lighter draught beer manufactured there',. The Old Akb brand has the virtue of being a domestic l eer, In the sense that It Is adapted to home .consumption. It U heavier, has more body and docs not ap pear to affect the' one drinking-It In the same manner as lighter Ix-ers." Is Cold Ker t here. Jotter beer Is marketed the country over and has a small export trade. Its special market Is In the states of South Dakota; Iowa, Colorado and Wyoming. From Its toe manufacturing plant the Jetter Urew Ing company refrigerates Its own Immense plant and turns out about 11 tons of Ice per day. This is shipped to the storage stations of the plant located In the states above mentioned. Special refrigerator cars, the propeity of the Jetter Brewing company, carry tho product of the local plant to Its most distant storage room and dlsti Uniting station. W hen an order is given, the beer Is drawn from the great cellars and by an automatic air machine pumped Into the barrels and made ready for shipment. A special -machine draws every bit of air out of the barrels. The barrels them selves have been scoured and washed and every smallest trace of mould or cork Is removed from the Inside before the beer Is put Into them. Indeed a fire brand Is us-d to explore the Interior of the barrel before It Is finally made ready for the filling room. Tho filling machine can fill seventy barrels per minute with out losing more than a few drops of beer. Bottles Arc Sterilised. When the barrels are filled they are automatically rolled Into the stamping room and on out to the loading dock, whero they are placed in the refrigerator cars which take them through tho coun try to the final markets. If tha order Is for bottled bear and particularly for Old Age, tho draught Is made In a dif ferent department Tho bottles are ster- lllxed again and again. Then ranged in a circular .luachine, the' beer is poured Into them and they are covered with the sanitary Uold Tops. A revolving table carries thrnf now 'corked to a machine which places the labels on them. Grad ually they sre pushed out to the packing boxes. In all of this work the men of the. Plmit noxer touch the beer or the bottles. Everything Is automatic. Uvery thintf' Is sanitary. . Mauv Men' Kmpleryod.' -While the JeHer Urewing company em Ploys more men In a season, the average number of employes Is 109. These are given steady time and receive from $15 to im a wo.-k for common labor and aa high as 1 for m .bin.j - UUIIOB, This doesn t include the pay of the offloo men or the solicitors, who go about the rlty and the country developing trado. Th, ,,un Bt jett,r, cUlm ,hey higher wage, than other brewing com Pnl. s pay. Be that as it may. tho Jotter employes are loyal and each one 1. as Intensely Interested In tho well being of the whole plant at if he were a stock, holder. Many of the employe, sre stock holder.. Fred -Drew. ,h. head brsww master, who Is vice president, hold, .took h" ron,rn- "'doe. August Radsu weit. the secretary and treasurer. Marti. Urllfc f l"0"r' holJ controlling ls you go through th piant y, mr. Impressed with' the b.gnes. ofT-th. Ping department. Few realized until iZ " 'y r"t Plant that was loca In the Magic City. And yet It Is on of tho largest brewing plants in tha stats. It has an organisation second to bobs. It supplies hundreds of saloon, with beer -thousands of patrona with tho bottled product called Old Age. It la a plant that has grown steadily without much noise. Its growing popularity Is vouched for by Its order books. What tho futuiej holds for It can only bo prognosticated from ths past success. St. Louis ant Milwaukee have become known la cob section 'with the famous beers browed there. Tha Marin Oitv v headquarter. of tho Jotter Brewing com pany ana tne - riorae ox Old Ago Beer. '