VBC PRESENTS A WEBPAGE DEDICATED TO:
THE B. SCHADE BREWING CO.
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
I hold the B. Schade Brewing Co. solely responsible for my addiction to the hobby of collecting and selling breweriana. It's that "treasure hunt" rush, with hopes that someday you will find that elusive or never seen before item. For me, Brian Schade, (unfortunately no relation to the brewery family) my "treasure hunt" is finding items from this brewery. I felt the least I could do was create this page to share the information that I have gathered about this brewery.
Throughout this page, you will find photos of breweriana from this brewery and vintage photos of the brewery itself along with some of its workers. In addition, I have found some great ads and articles from the early 1900's in two local newspapers from the Spokane area, the The Spokesman Review and the Spokane Daily Chronicle. The vintage photos are courtesy of the Spokane Public Library.
If you have some information to add, photos to share, or items for sale from this brewery, please contact me by e-mailing info@vintagebeercollectibles.com I would love to hear from you! Prost!
Founder and Owner - Bernhardt Schade
The workforce behind the B. Schade Brewing Co. circa 1909
The B. Schade brewing company came into existance back in 1903. Bernhardt Schade, the founder and owner, decided to leave his job as the head brewmaster at New York Brewery, also located in Spokane, to build his own brewery on the corner of Sheridan and Front Streets. (Now Trent St.) It was the largest brewery in the area with a capacity of approximately 40,000 bbls a year. This was more than other "in town" rivals such as New York, Spokane Brewery, and Inland Brewery.
Beer brewing operations began in 1904 and continued through 1915.
Some nice newspaper ads from the The Spokesman Review and/or the Spokane Daily Chronicle. Later ads show "Schade" with a cursive script.
ABOVE: Spokesman Review - March 2nd, 1904
BELOW: Spokane Daily Chronicle - August 30th, 1906
One of two known trays to exist. I am fortunate to have both in my collection.
Brewing beer thrived in Spokane up until 1916 when the state of Washington passed the prohibition law several years before many other states in the country. The B. Schade Brewing Co. starting brewing near beer and soda in January of 1916.
Prohibition lasted until 1933 but the B. Schade Brewing Co and its owner did not survive it. The brewery shut down its operations and Bernhardt Schade passed away in 1921.
Poor example of a bottle cap from a full bottle of Schade Beer that I have. Wish I had a clean one!
The ad in the middle dates from September 15th, 1906 and posted by a local distributor. You have to love the nickname of "The Liquor Man."
LEFT: The knife/corkscrew is a favorite piece in my collection.
Early on, the B. Schade Brewing Co. had success and expanded its brewing and bottling operations as noted in the two articles below. The two articles are from October of 1906 and October of 1907.
But while the success of the B. Schade Brewing Co. made Bernhardt the largest brewer in the city of Spokane, his union workers were not happy. Bernhardt soon faced many issues including a strike in the summer of 1908. Labor union members across the city were also fined $2 if they were caught drinking Schade Beer.
The articles below tell some of the story that Bernhardt faced with the labor union in the summer of 1908. LEFT TO RIGHT: July 3rd, 1908 / July 15th, 1908 / August 4th, 1908 / August 17th, 1908
Some great breweriana from my collection. Above is a framed litho. The upper right is a beer glass. This one is in red script. There is also the same glass with white etching. To the right is a rare piece that I was able to require. It is a small pocket mirror.
Awesome photo showing the Schade family enjoying what I assume is either their Schade Beer or Aber-Fine Beer.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHTt: Bernhardt's father Julius Schade, Bernhardt, Frederick Schade (future 6th district representative) and the brewmaster Wenzel Mraz who was Bernhardt's brother-in-law. If only I could see those lithos on the wall.
BELOW: Photo of young man in the center is Henry Mraz who the bookkeeper for the brewery. The man to his left, in the hat, is another photo of Wenzel, the brewmaster
I have four bottles in my collection and three of them are still capped with remnants of beer in them. All four have different labels. The cap shown above is from the second bottle on the right.
Washington state enacted prohibition at the start of 2016. During that time, the B. Schade Brewing Co. made near beer which was 0.5% ABV. As you can imagine, it wasn't nearly as popular as regular beer. In addition to that, they also made a varieties of sodas to help keep them in business.
Nutcracker and carving set advertising Schade Beer
Several newspaper ads from the summer of 1912. They have a much different look than the ones earlier in 1900's.
Read through them if you can. Some great slogans and phrases to try and convince you to buy Schade Beer.
Here is the other tray that is in my collection. While both are hard to find, this is the harder of the two. This one is in wonderful condition.
It would be awesome to add a crate to my collection like the one to the left, in the photo.
When prohibition did finally end, the brewery was purchased by the Golden Age Brewing Co.
Out of all the many breweries that Spokane had in the past, the B. Schade Brewing building is the only one that still stands. It now houses an antique shop and other small businesses and is a historical landmark in Spokane. It is located at 528 Trent St. Spokane, WA. If you have any other information, photos to add, or even items that you are looking to sell, please contact me at info@vintagebeercollectibles.com
ABOVE: Two nice lithos from my collection. Subtle advertising on each. The one on the right is a bear hunt with Schade script on the rock. Circa 1910's for each.
BELOW: Two calendars from my collection circa 1914 and 1915. Abraham Lincoln on the left consoling a widow during the Civil War, and Paul Revere's famous ride being depicted on the right.
ABOVE: Two of the earliest pieces in my collection. Also two of my favorite. Lithos don't get much better than this in my opinion. The calendar on the left is probably one the earliest known pieces from the B. Schade Brewing Co. dating back to 1904. I have never seen another litho with this image. The one of the right is from 1905. You just have to love those early beer ads that used children.
BELOW: These are items that other people have from the B. Schade Brewing Co. Great stuff! Keep the items coming!
© 2011. All pictures and content are the property of Brian Schade and Vintage Beer Collectibles.