EXHIBITS

Utah Brews: The Untapped Story of Ogden’s Becker Brewing and Malting Company: A Modern Brewery

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A Modern Brewery

Blueprint for a compression system, c. 1900 [Click image to enlarge.]

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Becker Brewing and Malting Company Records Addendum, CAINEMSS31 Addendum Series 03, Box 004, Folder 10, Item 001)

One of the guiding principles of the Becker Brewing and Malting Company was ensuring their customers received a quality product. In order to guarantee this principal was applied uniformly to all their products, the Beckers invested heavily in modern brewing equipment. Even during the company’s early years in the 1900s, the family put forth the utmost effort into maintaining their plant to the same standards as the large eastern breweries. They purchased the most up-to-date filters, bottlers, rackers, bottle washers, and other machines necessary to achieve the standard of quality they demanded. By upgrading their facilities, the Beckers maintained a beer with a consistent taste, free of harmful contaminants, and less prone to spoilage as beer made by traditional methods.

Two employees packaging bottles of Becker’s American Pilsener, c. 1944

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Gustav Lorenz Becker Photograph Collection, P0361 Box 009, Item 007)

Employee inside the Ice Manufacturing Room, c. 1917

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Gustav Lorenz Becker Photograph Collection, P0361 Box 009, Item 010)

Employee performing quality control at the Becker Brewing and Malting Factory, c. 1940

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Gustav Lorenz Becker Photograph Collection, P0361 Box 001, Folder 04, Item 009)

The chemistry lab at the Becker Brewing and Malting Factory, undated

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Gustav Lorenz Becker Photograph Collection, P0361 Box 9, Item 005)

Two Becker employees canning beer, c. 1940

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Gustav Lorenz Becker Photograph Collection, P0361 Box 001, Folder 04, Item 007)

The Beckers kept pace with brewing trends as the twentieth century progressed, adopting new bottling and canning techniques as they were developed. One of the most expensive but necessary upgrades was the acquisition of a beer-canning machine. After Prohibition, drinking beer from a can, rather than a bottle, became all the rage. Cans were cheaper and could be disposed of upon consumption, as opposed to glass bottles, which had to be returned to the dealer. In addition to canning, the Beckers also adopted modern sales and advertising techniques, including packaging beer in the now iconic six-pack, creating radio jingles, and running ads that portrayed drinking beer as an entertaining and popular activity, similar to beer advertisements today.