Pioneer Bear Fenkhausen & Braunschweiger Whiskey

Wm. H. Spears & Co.

OLD PIONEER WHISKEY

(WALKING BEAR)

FenkhauseN & Braunschweiger SOLE AGENTS, S.F.

Amandus Fenkhausen and Herman Braunschweiger
San Francisco, California

Red Amber Fifth

Provenance: Ken Schwartz Collection

The Old Pioneer Whiskey fifth is extremely popular with collectors as it pictures an embossed walking bear. There are a number of variations of the bottle depending on who was holding the rights to the trademarked bear. Like many bottles, this “Pioneer Bear” has a story.

We have a second example in the museum of a Pioneer Bear Whiskey from the Richard T. Siri collection.

Amandus Fenkhausen

Amandus Fenkhausen was born in 1825 in Hamburg, Germany, and was among San Francisco’s most successful liquor merchants. Amandus was, by marriage, connected to a special cadre of elite liquor dealers who plied the West. Fenkhausen was a brother-in-law to another well-known whiskey dealer—Thomas Taylor—who also produced bottles with his name embossed. Both men had married sisters. Taylor married Bertha Frisch and Fenkhausen married Wilhelmina Frisch, both daughters of John G. and Dorothea Frisch. John G. Frisch is best known for producing his very rare and important California Bitters in the late 1850s in San Francisco. Frisch was a pioneer in the early western liquor trade but died in 1865, which was so early in western history that his name is not well known. Frisch and Taylor entered into a partnership in Virginia City in the early 1860s with Taylor being the primary operative as Frisch was certainly declining in health. He died in Dec 1865 and the business was renamed for just Thomas Taylor.

See the museum examples of Thos. Taylor & Co. Importers bottles.

See the museum example of the Frisch California Bitters.

Like many ‘whiskey men’ of his era, Amandus started out as a saloon keeper which expanded his horizons and presence with the local population. His wholesale liquor business was located initially at 322 Montgomery Street and then 809 Montgomery, between Jackson and Pacific. His new advertisements said he was an Importer and Wholesale Dealer in Wines and Liquors. He also advertised that he was the local depot for Star of the Union Stomach Bitters which was sold in an amber bottle with an embossed star. This was also when he trademarked the walking bear emblem for his Old Pioneer Whiskey.

Within two years, Fenkhausen had relocated again to a larger building at the northwest corner of Sansome and Jackson Streets. After remaining at that address for about three years, he took on C. P. Gerichten as a partner in 1869. Subsequently known as Fenkhausen & Gerichten, the firm moved to 221 California Street, doing business at that location until 1874 when the partners sold the business. Before long, Amandus was back selling whiskey and his business was now located on the northwest corner of Front and Sacramento. Throughout all these changes of address and ownership, the clear implication is that Fenkhausen was the primary concern in the liquor business relationships.

Unlike many other whiskey wholesalers, Fenkhausen featured only a small number of liquors in his inventory, many of them whiskeys that he was blending and compounding on his premises and attaching his own labels. Among his brands were A.A.A. Eureka, Gold Drop XXX, Tennessee White Rye, and Old Pioneer Whiskey. The latter two were his flagship brands.

In 1875, Amandus took on another partner, Herman Braunschweiger, and retained the business name of A. Fenkhausen & Co. This partnership prompted yet another move and name change, this time to 414 Front Street where an 1880 San Francisco Business Directory found the partners under the banner of Fenkhausen & Braunschweiger. From this short period, 1880 and 1881, we can surmise that the subject bottle in our museum was sold because Braunschweiger struck out on his own and the business name reverted to A. Fenkhausen & Company in late 1882. Actually, Braunschweiger would take the bear trademark with him.

Braunschweiger would take on Edward H. Bumsted as a partner in 1882 and produce Hibernia Stomach Bitters, Golden Anchor, Golden Chief, Golden Rule, Golden Cupid, and Silver Wedding liquors. From 1882 to 1884, they were listed as importers and wholesale dealers in wines and liquors at 223 California in San Francisco. There is a Dissolution of Co-partnership notice between Braunschweiger and Bumsted on August 9, 1884, in the Daily Alta California.

See the museum example of a Bear Grass Kentucky Bourbon bottle.

Lost California Bear found in North Carolina

[From Peachridge Glass] Marty Vollmer, the South Carolina collector, and bottle show chairman called me and said a friend found an advertisement on Craig’s list for a bottle with a bear on it. I asked if it was clear and he informed me that it was amber. I got online and the ad read; “Antique Bottle $3,000.” There were several pictures that were not very good but I recognized it as the Wm. H. Spears & Co. Old Pioneer Whiskey. I contacted the gentleman and we agreed to meet the next day in Charlotte to see the bottle. I walked into a McDonald’s in south Charlotte and met Mr. Donald Hurst, his wife Mary, and his granddaughter who helped him post the ad and pictures. The bottle was red shading to honey amber in the shoulder and so heavily whittled that the “Sole Agents, S.F.” was almost illegible. The condition was almost mint. We agreed on a price and I purchased the bottle. I thought it would be best if Don wrote a history of the bottle. – May 25, 2016

My story begins in 1951, when I was on a trip to the beach with my family. I was digging in the sand for clams when I found the bottle. That was in Netarts, Oregon in Netarts Bay. I kept it over the next 65 years, often showing it to friends. In 1980, my wife, children and I moved to Charlotte, N.C. It has always been kept in the closet, only bringing it out to show it off and telling people the story of how I found it. Two weeks ago we had people over for a cookout and the right man was there. He had an app on his phone and found the bottle. Our Granddaughter listed it on Craigslist and from there it found a new home with David Jackson.

Don Hurst

Primary Image: The Pioneer Walking Bear bottle imaged on location by Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Midwest Studio

Support: Reference to Whiskey Bottles of the Old West by John L. Thomas

Support: Reference to Amandus Fenkhausen: Christmas and Whiskey in “Frisco,” from Those Pre-Pro Whiskey Men! December 12, 2014, Jack Sullivan

Support: Reference to Peachridge Glass and Western Whiskey Gazette websites.

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