E. R. Hantzsch - A closer Look

I've mentioned E. Robert Hantzsch in my article on "The Cave of the Mad Poetess".  But in addition to excavating the cave that the colorful Maude Phillips took up residence in many years later, Hantzsch was an interesting character in his own right.

Today Hantzsch is a forgotten figure, known only to collectors of breweriana.  Here is almost certainly the oldest beer bottle from this part of Wisconsin.

Like most brewers Hantzsch was originally from Germany.  He had some training in the Prussian army and before coming to Eau Claire Wisconsin in 1859 fought in Nicaragua  as a mercenary in William Walker's ill starred take over of that Central American nation in 1856/57.

He makes his first appearance in the public eye in association with a brief, ridiculous Indian scare that gripped Eau Claire in 1862.  With the Lakota tribe rising up on the Minnesota frontier there were fears that the local Ojibway might do likewise.  There were confusing eye witness accounts....one fellow who reported lurking warriors in the nearby river bottoms was known to be a chronic liar and rascal.  The search party that went out took him along.....and also brought a rope to hang him if he was proven to have lied!  (Some peaceable accommodation was reached, probably of the "Get out of Dodge" variety).

But a local defense force was still needed.  And one of the leaders was by acclamation, E.R. Hantzsch.  An account twenty five years after the fact says:

'....all the able bodied men in Eau Claire were ordered to University Hill to be drilled.  Capt. Hantzsch was detailed as drill sergeant.  He had once been in the Nicaragua war and was the only man in the county that owned a sword.  He gave the order to fall in, some were armed with grub pins, some with pike poles, others had brooms and fishing poles and here and there at long intervals a rusty musket....

Captain Hantzsch was in his element.  He had no difficulty with the bone and sinew, but experienced any amount of trouble with the lawyers, doctors and merchants who would persistently bulge out of line.  At length becoming furious he smote them with the flat of his sword in the abdomen and in a loud voice exclaimed "keep in line you d______d big bugs".'

Another 1875 account of the farcical "Scare" has the drilling take place in Union Square, and suggests that viewing the caliber of his troops Hantzsch decided that the best thing to do was provision them with plenty of tobacco and intoxicants.  Despite the lack of an opponent there were said to be many casualties the next morning.

For our subject, Hantzsch, was a saloon keeper and wholesale liquor dealer.  His establishment was at "The Sign of the Two Barrels" on the corner of Eau Claire and Farwell Streets.  As was usually the case with pioneer businessmen he was very diversified.  Ads in the 1860's indicate he sold everything from "whiskeys, brandies, gin, rums.." to "cigars, cheeses, sardines, herring, candles, almonds, raisins, etc."

At an early date he started dabbling with production as well as his wholesale and retail trade.  In 1862 he is claiming to be a "..rectifier of a superior article of whiskey.." and by 1866 he was also a "..manufacturer of a superior article of vinegar...".  One wonders if a few batches of the former went bad and produced the latter!

His distillery/vinegar plant was probably at 413 S. River street.  I'll have more to say on that matter in a future post.

Hantzsch's venture into brewing is a little hard to follow.  In 1867 he was advertising the sale of some distilling apparatus, indicating it had been used "..a few months only.." .  And circa 1870 Hantzsch appears to have been in partnership with a man named L. Parrish.  "L. Parrish and Co." manufactured XXX Cream Ale and Stock and was located "...on the site of the distillery formerly owned by ER Hantzsch..."  Even at that early date the product was available in bottles and various sizes of keg.

Through the early 1870's the enterprise seems to have gone well, even though Parrish had to split his time between brewing and his other job as village constable.  Presumably he arrested men intoxicated on the products of his "day job".  

By the mid 70's a few disquieting notes appeared.  The paper of course still carried his usual boilerplate ads, but also occasional personal notes.  Asking that people owing him money pay up.  Announcing a grand Re-Opening.  Asking that his returnable bottles and kegs be, well, returned.  I really like this last one, it gives a rare glimpse into the nuts and bolts of running a small brewing enterprise in 1873:

' All persons in possession of empty beer kegs branded with my name or branded "Parish" or both names branded thereon, also those persons who find themselves in possession of stone bottles, quarts and pints, with my name pressed in, are friendly requested to deliver the same at my store or leave word at my offices.  

E. Robert Hantzsch.

This makes it sound as if there was some transition in ownership of the business from Parish to Hantzsch.  It also flat out says that somewhere there are quart bottles that should be the big brothers to the pint specimen shown above.  I believe none has ever turned up but I'm happy just knowing they do exist somewhere.

The later years of Hantzsch's enterprises seem to show gradual decline.  His 19 year old son drowned in 1879.  By 1880 - the last year I can find a trace - his brewery was still going with a modest output of 300 barrels per year, but it was being run by his wife Emily.  E.R. Hantzsch moved to Minneapolis at about this time and died there in 1882, at the young age of 46.