Crystal Rock Beer – Part 1

I think I'll keep the beer flowing here on the blog for a couple more days.

Above is a handsome ad for Crystal Rock Beer that ran in the Lorain Journal on July 2, 1947. Although the beer is but a memory now, its name lives on in Northern Ohio as a campground, as well as a nearby community on Lake Erie.

But how did the beer get its name in the first place?

You’ll find the answer in this article (below) that I wrote for the Black Swamp Trader and Firelands Gazette back in August 2010. 

Some things have changed since I wrote it ten years ago; the ‘new’ Cedar Point ride referenced in the article has already been dismantled! But the history of Crystal Rock hasn't changed.

So here's the article as it originally appeared, courtesy of the Black Swamp Trader and Firelands Gazette. In a few instances, I replaced a black and white image with a color version I had; I also included a few photos taken at that time that did not make it into the original article due to space.

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Crystal Rock Memories of Caves and Beer – Part 1
By Dan Brady

This summer, when Cedar Point guests embark on the new Shoot the Rapids water ride, they’ll board their boats inside the Crystal Rock Bottling Company of West Virginia, part of the ride’s moonshine and feuding theme. What many of the out-of-town guests won’t realize is that ‘Crystal Rock’ is not an ad man’s whimsical creation. It’s a name with a lot of Sandusky area history attached to it. It refers not only to a group of caves and an underground spring dating back to the late 1800’s, but a popular beer brewed with the spring water. The name lives on in other ways as well. Why is the name ‘Crystal Rock’ so memorable and enduring? To find out, let’s tap into some memories of Crystal Rock Beer and get the lowdown on the Crystal Rock Caves as well.

The Crystal Rock name begins with the caves and underground spring, located eight miles west of Sandusky near Castalia. According to the book The Limestone Caves and Caverns of Ohio by George W. White, the limestone Crystal Rock Caves contain Monroe dolomite, which is made up of tiny crystals, thus giving the caves and spring their memorable names.

At a time when Sandusky’s water supply was not yet filtered, the Crystal Rock Spring water flowing through the caves attracted the attention of some Sandusky businessmen. In 1892, Charles L. Wagner, Vice President of the Stang Brewery, and Albert E. Merrill, a probate judge and banker, formed the Crystal Rock Water Company and leased 125 acres of the cave property. They proposed selling the clear, pure water from the underground Crystal Rock Spring to the city of Sandusky for its water supply. They planned to use the water at the brewery as well. (The Stang Brewery had just been rebuilt, after a disastrous fire had destroyed the entire complex in July 1891.)

According to an article in the Sandusky Register on April 13, 1893, plans were made to construct a six and one-fourth inch pipe running five miles in length from the cave springs to the Stang Brewery, which would have exclusive rights to the water for brewing. The city would connect up with the end of the pipeline at the brewery.

Many meetings were held between city officials and the Crystal Rock Water Company to work out an arrangement. Although the plan ultimately fell through, the Crystal Rock Spring water was indeed used (for a time) by the brewery for its flagship product, Crystal Rock Beer.

Many local history books state that around 1904, it was determined that the Crystal Rock Spring water was not of uniform quality and that the pipeline to Sandusky from the spring was dug up and removed. But at least one local resident believes that the pipeline was never built.

Vintage beer tray

Jim Norrocky, who now owns part of the former Crystal Rock Cave property, has extensively researched the matter and makes a strong case that there is no evidence that the pipeline ever existed. “There were no deeds or leases that I could find, to property for a pipe which would have been needed to get to Sandusky across country which is the direct route,” he explained in a letter. He has determined that there is no physical evidence of a pipeline either, just a record of the brewery's intention to build it. Norrocky also believes that the water used at the brewery, along with any that was sold to the city, was transported from the cave by horse and wagon.

No matter how the Crystal Rock Spring water was ultimately transported to the brewery, it was important not only for the taste of the popular beer, but also for the marketing angle. A rare Crystal Rock Beer tray from the early days depicts a tranquil spring in a beautiful forest setting and states, “Our Famous Crystal Rock Beer is Brewed From the Waters of this Spring.”

In 1896, the Stang Brewery merged with the Kuebeler Brewing and Malting Company to become Kuebeler-Stang. 

Two years later, the company joined with several other breweries in Cleveland to form the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company.

According to the book Brewing Beer in the Buckeye State, Vol. 1 by Robert A. Musson, M.D., Crystal Rock Beer in its early days “dominated the entire beer market between Cleveland and Toledo.” Crystal Rock Beer was so popular that for its fans, the brewery constructed the Crystal Rock Castle at the Cedar Point amusement park and resort in Sandusky in 1904. This popular beer garden was located near the lagoons to attract arriving park guests. Many postcards exist of this impressive structure, which lasted until the 1960’s.

Vintage postcard of the Crystal Rock Castle, postmarked 1905

With Prohibition in 1919, Crystal Rock Beer became a near beer called Crystal Rock Cereal Beverage, produced by the renamed brewery, now known as Crystal Rock Products Company. Since it could no longer serve beer, the Crystal Rock Castle at Cedar Point was converted into the Ye Olde Castle Grill. But within a year after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, Crystal Rock Beer was back in production.

Next: Into the Cave