St. Joseph brewery historian Bob Fitzpatrick and I met in May of 2024 to chat about Goetz Brewing, brewery history, and a murder. While savoring beers at River Bluff Brewing, Bob shared a wealth of knowledge about the city’s brewery history. His notes, newspaper clippings, and insight guided me as I shaped the focus of several chapters in Barons, Brewers, and Bootleggers: A Social History of Beer in Missouri (University of Missouri Press, Fall 2025).
The sign above us in the photograph highlights Country Club Beer once made by Goetz Brewing, the hometown brewer and major employer in St. Joseph. One chapter dives into the story of Goetz Brewing, deservedly so. The city retains well-deserved pride about the brewery founded in 1859 by Michael Karl Goetz and business partner Jacob Max. Well into the 20th century, several generations of people worked at the plant in St. Joseph and in Kansas City. Odds are, you might find one of them or a relative willing to share stories at River Bluff Brewing over a River Cream Ale or Club Country Malt Liquor, a tribute to the top-selling Goetz product.
Bob and I compared notes and banter about a murder in St. Joseph tied to Avenue Brewery. Avenue, one of the city’s earliest breweries, once operated in the same building where we stood. Details about the victim, murderer, and plight of the brewery are fascinating and tragic. I appreciated trading tales with Bob at River Bluff Brewing, summoning the spirit of the past and assembling stories for another generation of readers.
Another chapter in Barons, Brewers, and Bootleggers: A Social History of Beer in Missouri delves into the life and adventures of Jerry Grider. Grider was an intriguing Black man in St. Joseph who worked for the Goetz family. He developed a reputation for his laugh and smile, known by citizens on the street and in the saloon, that was commemorated on a sought-after item of brewery memorabilia.
My research visit to St. Joseph included digging through the City Directory for specific years in the mid- to late 1800s. I skimmed through copies of newspaper articles from yesteryear preserved in files and on microfiche. I haven’t used a microfiche machine since high school. Gex Xers and older readers can surely relate to the memories of twisting knobs and whirring through microfiche and microfilm because the internet wasn’t invented yet.
Crazy, right? o_0
Thankfully, the St. Joseph Public Library staff were patient and helpful during my personal time travel to confirm details about people and breweries from more than a century ago.
I’ll close on this tidbit that home brewers may find encouraging. Once a mighty brewery that sold packaged beer in multiple states, Goetz Brewing originated when Goetz and Max brewed the city’s first lager beer in a wood-frame shack near the fresh water supply from Blacksnake Creek.
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