Dick Heidt - City Magazine

the state.
Likely
many
other
stockholders
were
patrons of
those 267
pubs.
Mandan
had the inside
track
for the
business,
offering 19
acres for a
site. But the
company’s directors opted for Bismarck instead, deciding
in early 1960 to build alongside the Soo Railroad line just
north of the Big Boy Drive Inn on East Main.
Shortly, the name “Dakota Beer” was chosen, and
booze began flowing in May 1961.
But the first batch of Dakota Beer had a problem: it
simply didn’t taste good. Apparently brewmaster Frank
Bauer had opted not to install filtration equipment that
would remove phenol from the Missouri River water.
Phenol, or carbolic acid, is a compound that comes from
natural plants and, in this case, likely related to the oil-tar
base in the water.
As the brewmaster from Detroit discovered too late,
phenol’s sweet, tarry odor and taste didn’t mix well
with beer, especially a new beer just hitting the market.
Though phenol can even catch fire, the only problem for
Dakota Beer was bad taste, not flaming beer.
So, the bad beer was recalled, holes punched in the
cans and the golden product dumped.
Dakota Beer’s owners quickly brought in an Austrianborn
graduate of a world-renowned brewmaster school,
and the beer improved. But the damage to beer-drinkers’
taste buds had been done.
Bills began piling up, and the brewery found itself in
trouble. A Missouri advertising company sued for $8,347
in unpaid bills, and the local sheriff tied up and then
auctioned 5,000 cases of Dakota Beer.
Facing more and more creditors, Dakota Malting went
bankrupt, and the doors closed on N.D.’s only existing
brewery on Sept. 30, 1965.
Stan Stelter, a North Dakota native and free-lance writer, is
development director at the Abused Adult Resource Center.
Photo above copyright 2006 Tavern Trove LLC
Spring Fling 2009 37