Pre-Pro

Street in Tucson, Park Brewery

Pre-Prohibition Arizona Brewers
Territorial brewers such as Alexander Levin, who built Arizona's first brewery in 1864, found that brewing beer in the desert southwest was a challenging endeavor. Levin lacked the proper provisions for making a quality beer and had to do with what was on hand. Territorial brewers such as Levin dealt with high alkalinity in water, a scarcity of proper brewing ingredients, grueling manual labor, insufficient refrigeration, high transportation costs, and among other things, a shortage of vessels for transporting beer such as bottles and kegs. Regardless, they were able to produce a variety of beers to satisfy consumer demands.

1870s Park Brewery Newspaper Advertisement

1883 Val Blatz Trade Booklet

By the early 1870s, most Arizona towns had their own brewery. Prescott, Bisbee, Tombstone, Globe, Flagstaff, Pinal, Williams, and other towns, all had at least one brewery in operation. Mining was the principal draw which brought people to the territory and many of Arizona's brewers also dabbled in mining. By the 1880s, completion of the railroad brought more out-of-state beers with better shelf-life into the territory, which negatively impacted the state's breweries. The reduced need for locally made beer caused most to close during this time. By the 1890s, the majority of beer came from out-of-state.

The Back Side of the 1883 Booklet

1880 ~ Pacific Brewery Advertisement

1881 Newspaper Ad for the Pinal Brewery in Globe

1881 Arcade Brewery Ad ~ Phoenix

c. 1905 Colored Post Card, Copper City Brewery

Copper City Brewing Company ~ Douglas

The Copper City Brewing Company was under construction at the same time the Arizona Brewing Company opened in Prescott. Copper City opened in 1904 in the southern border town of Douglas. When prohibition came to Arizona in 1915, the brewery made an attempt to produce near beer, but was threatened under penalty of law if it continued. For a short time, it did test the new law with the production of Barette, a near beer. Shortly after, it was cited and closed soon after in 1915. One year later, Copper City's owners resurrected the brewery as the Peoples Ice & Manufacturing Company. Peoples Ice operated for a few years more before closing.

1910 Lithograph ~ Bassett Collection

c.1904 Beer Label

c.1905 Tannhauser Beer Label: Anheuser-Busch sued the Copper City Brewery and forced it to change its design since it was too similar to their Budwesier label.

Arizona Brewing Company ~ Prescott

1905 Advertisiement for the Arizona Brewing Co.

Although most breweries in Arizona had closed by 1900, some enterprising individuals believed a brewery could succeed. The Arizona Brewing Company in Prescott became the first brewery to open in the territory following the turn of the century. Construction began in 1903 and its first beer was sold in 1904. It became very successful but closed just before the new year in 1915 when prohibition came early to Arizona.