Bixel Brewery
Columbia, California, USA · Est. 1854
Also known as Columbia Brewery
Tally's Take
Why this matters
Sixty years of Columbia beer, and it began with another man's fire. When the blaze of 10 July 1854 took Proctor Rocher's brewery, Antone Bixel bought the equipment and put it up again at Matelot Gulch on the Italian Bar road. Two years later his brother Joseph bought him out; Antone went to Los Angeles, made a fortune in real estate, and got a street named after him. Joseph ran it for thirty-one years. German-born, briefly in Ohio, across the Isthmus of Panama, gold at Jamestown, then Columbia. He built a house beside the brewery in 1860 from lumber brought round the Horn and swam in the plunge behind it every single day, breaking the ice when it froze. When fire took every brewery building in 1880 he had workmen rebuilding before the ruins were cool. Asked by one of them what to do if the lunch bell went while his pick was in the air, he said: leave it up in the air and come and eat. What he rebuilt is worth picturing. A brick kiln with a great cast-iron bowl over it that they called the Hog. A horse-driven windlass, worked like an arastra, grinding the malt. A fermentation cellar hewn twenty feet by sixty out of almost solid limestone, its floor faced with Columbia marble. Barley grown in Tuolumne County, hops shipped up from San Francisco. Porter, ale, and steam beer — the specialty, and so lively that drinkers backed away from the bar when the drayman drove the bung, until somebody thought to tap it with a brass faucet instead. Louisa Bixel's rule on cleanliness: one crumb of bread can spoil thousands of gallons of beer. And it was where Columbia went. Picnic tables under the trees, a bandstand in the middle, families up from church on Sundays with their baskets, single men escaping the fandango parlours to sing. On the Fourth of July, after the parade and the orators, the brewery garden was the most popular place in town — and those who stayed home had taken delivery the day before and kept it under wet sacking. Then the run of deaths. Joseph in 1887, his son Paul two years later, Paul's widow in 1897 after eight years running it with Albert Baier brewing. Her son-in-law Amil Nelson carried it to somewhere between 1908 and 1915 and that was the end. Ethel Nelson gave the last of the brewery's metal to the war effort in the 1940s, which is why so little is left: a roofless building, a cold furnace, some stone foundations. On the hill above, as Kelly put it, resting in eternity, sleep the Bixels.
The Museum
Timeline
- 1854Antone Bixel builds at Matelot Gulch
Using equipment bought from Proctor Rocher after the Columbia fire, on an 80-acre ranch on the Italian Bar road.
- 1856Joseph buys his brother out
Antone leaves for Los Angeles and a real-estate fortune; Bixel Street there is named after him.
- 1860Joseph builds the house
30' by 40', a storey and a half, lumber brought around the Horn — reckoned the show place of the county.
- 1880Fire destroys every brewery building
Only the house and carriage house survived. Rebuilding began before the ruins were cool.
- 1887Joseph dies; Paul takes over
8 March 1887, aged 68.
- 1889Paul dies; his widow runs it
14 March 1889. She hired Albert Baier to manage the brewing.
- 1897Amil Nelson takes over
Son-in-law of Mrs Paul Bixel, on her death.
- 1915Brewing ends
Nelson operated it until some time between 1908 and 1915; the source does not narrow it further.
- 1944The Bixel house burns
A spark from burning trash caught the vines. Ethel Nelson had already given the brewery's remaining metal to the war effort.
The People
Behind the beer
Bought Proctor Rocher's brewing equipment after the 1854 Columbia fire and completed his own brewery at Matelot Gulch that year, on an 80-acre ranch with fruit trees and a vineyard. Sold out to his brother Joseph in 1856 and went to Los Angeles, where he made a fortune in real estate. Bixel Street in that city is named after him.
Born in Germany 1 December 1818; settled briefly in Ohio, crossed the Isthmus of Panama, mined at Jamestown, then came to Columbia. Bought his brother out in 1856 and ran the brewery for thirty-one years. Built a celebrated house beside it in 1860 and swam daily in the plunge behind it, breaking the ice when it froze. Died 8 March 1887, aged 68.
Joseph's wife. Died 12 June 1890, at the same age Joseph had reached.
Joseph's son, took the brewery over on his father's death in 1887 and died two years later, on 14 March 1889.
Took over on her husband's death in 1889 and ran the brewery for eight years, hiring Albert Baier to manage the brewing. Died 1897. Her forename is not given in the source.
Hired by Mrs. Paul Bixel to manage the brewing operation after 1889.
Son-in-law of Mrs. Paul Bixel; took the brewery over on her death in 1897 and ran it until some time between 1908 and 1915. Also kept a wheelwright shop on Broadway Street. Died 30 June 1932.
Amil Nelson's daughter, who went on living in the old Bixel home until it burned in 1944 after a spark caught the vines. During the Second World War she gave the brewery's remaining metal to the war effort, which is why so little of the plant survives. She gave the family's brewery material to the county in 1945.
Follow the money
How it changed hands
2 recorded moves- 1854Founded
- 1856Joseph buys his brother out
Antone leaves for Los Angeles and a real-estate fortune; Bixel Street there is named after him.
- 1897Amil Nelson takes over
Son-in-law of Mrs Paul Bixel, on her death.
No current parent in the archive's records — the moves above are history, not present ownership.
Corrected by
- Rob Gordon, Tuolumne County Historical Society — 7 changes to publication, the people, the timeline, the written entry, the notes and artifacts, 2026-08-21
Corrections from outside the archive are logged permanently and credited here. Every one of them replaced something this archive had wrong.
Surviving objects
8 objects held by Tuolumne County Historical Society / Tuolumne County Museum and Tuolumne County Historical Society / Tuolumne County Museum — Barbara Eastman Collection and Tuolumne County Historical Society / Tuolumne County Museum — Columbia Exhibit and Tuolumne County History Center and E Clampus Vitus, Matuca Chapter 1849. The archive links to each record rather than reproducing its photograph — the images belong to the holding institution and are licensed object by object.
- Bixel BreweryBrewery built 1854
Object record for the brewery itself — the source of the 1854 build, the 1856 transfer to Joseph, the 1869 remodelling and the c.1914 close
- Cat
- M21367
Gift of Miss Ethel Nelson, San Francisco, granddaughter of Joseph Bixel, September 1945
- Columbia, Bixel BreweryFrom a daguerreotype of 1862
Photographic print of the brewery on Italian Bar Road at Pine Log, Matelot Gulch at upper left. The original is held by Columbia State Historic Park and the back is stamped as reproduced courtesy of the Bancroft Library
- Cat
- TP18397
- Accession
- TP18397
Barbara Eastman Collection
- Joseph Bixel19th century
Studio portrait of the proprietor, born 1 December 1818, taken at Sewell's Art Gallery, Sonora
- Cat
- TP3711
- Accession
- TP3711
Donor: Nelson. Property of Tuolumne County
- Columbia Brewery — Bixelcirca 1960
Photograph of the arch over the driveway reading "Columbia Brewery", taken long after brewing ended. The catalogue description attached to this record includes collectibles-market text rather than archival description, and the 1891–1910 dates in it are not adopted by this archive
- Cat
- TP13609
- Accession
- TP13609
Robert Hooe, Hooe Photo News Service
- Six keys from the house on the Columbia Brewery site
Three house keys and three safe keys on a ring, from the house on the brewery property — the house Ethel Nelson lived in until it burned in 1944
- Cat
- TO1353
- Accession
- TO1353
Gift of Ethel E. Nelson
- Spring scale used at the Columbia Brewery
Spring scale, weights and measures. On display in the museum's Columbia Exhibit
Gift of Miss Ethel Nelson, San Francisco
- Bixel Ranch, Matelot Gulch
Photograph
- Cat
- —
Large display photograph showing the ranch when the gulch was open ground. TCHS notes the site is now so overgrown that the photograph was not connected to the surviving ruin until this enquiry.
- Prosper Rocher Brewery
Plaque
- Cat
- —
Granite tablet set in brick, dedicated 11 September 1993. Its text is transcribed on the Rocher record, where it conflicts with the published history.
Show your working
Sources
- recordConfirmed
Built 1854 by A. Bixel at Columbia; his brother Joseph Bixel purchased an interest in 1856; remodelled 1869; business discontinued about 1914. Per Tuolumne County Historical Society object record M21367, from material given by Ethel Nelson, granddaughter of Joseph Bixel, in September 1945.
Columbia brewery holdings — Tuolumne County Historical Society collection records · Tuolumne County Historical Society · 1945–2026
PrimaryHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-21Reviewed 2026-08-21 - mediaConfirmed
TCHS supplied photographs with permission for non-high-definition use. None are reproduced here: the archive holds no images on any of its 2,904 records and has no pipeline for them. Objects are recorded by accession number instead — M21367, TP18397, TP3711, TO1353, and a spring scale in the Columbia Exhibit. Note also that TP18397's own record places the original at Columbia State Historic Park and carries a Bancroft Library courtesy stamp, so third-party rights may attach to that image independently of TCHS permission.
Columbia brewery holdings — Tuolumne County Historical Society collection records · Tuolumne County Historical Society · 1945–2026
PrimaryHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-21Reviewed 2026-08-21 - noteConfirmed
The "Columbia Brewery 1891-1910, owner A. C. Nelson" of TCHS record TP13609 is the Amil Nelson phase of this brewery, not a separate business. Nelson was son-in-law to Mrs Paul Bixel and took over on her death in 1897, operating until some time between 1908 and 1915. This supersedes the archive's earlier claim that the two could not be reconciled.
The Bixel Brewery: A Brief History of Columbia's First Brewery · The Quarterly, Tuolumne County Historical Society (now Chispa) · 1900s
ScholarlyHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-21Reviewed 2026-08-21 - peopleConfirmed
Ownership ran Antone Bixel (1854-56), Joseph Bixel (1856-87), Paul Bixel (1887-89), Mrs Paul Bixel (1889-97, with Albert Baier managing), Amil Nelson (1897 to between 1908 and 1915). Antone Bixel later made a real-estate fortune in Los Angeles; Bixel Street there is named for him.
The Bixel Brewery: A Brief History of Columbia's First Brewery · The Quarterly, Tuolumne County Historical Society (now Chispa) · 1900s
ScholarlyHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-21Reviewed 2026-08-21 - noteConfirmed
The plant as rebuilt after the 1880 fire: main building 40' x 60' in wood; malt room 20' x 80' in brick with a basement; a brick kiln under a cast-iron vessel called the Hog; a horse-driven windlass, worked like an arastra, to grind the malt; and a fermentation cellar 20' x 60' hewn from limestone with a floor faced in Columbia marble. Barley was grown in Tuolumne County and hops shipped from San Francisco. Porter, ale and steam beer were brewed, steam beer being the specialty.
The Bixel Brewery: A Brief History of Columbia's First Brewery · The Quarterly, Tuolumne County Historical Society (now Chispa) · 1900s
ScholarlyHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-21Reviewed 2026-08-21 - siteProbable
The surviving brick structure stands on Matelot Gulch, half a mile from Columbia on Italian Bar Road, on land formerly of the Bixel family and now held by the Tuolumne County Water District. TCHS concurs that it is most likely the malt room of the post-1880 rebuild — 20 by 80 feet in brick over a basement, where the main building was wood and would not have survived. The interior has not been examined and the identification is not confirmed.
Source not recorded — this claim needs one.
Reviewed 2026-08-25
Only the claims above are sourced. Everything else on this page is the archive's own research and has not yet been tied to a document — which is worth knowing rather than hiding.
Straight answers
Common questions about Bixel Brewery
- Who owns Bixel Brewery?
- Bixel Brewery is independently owned — there is no parent company above it on record. It is based in Columbia, California, USA.
- Is Bixel Brewery independent?
- Yes. Bixel Brewery is recorded as independent, with no parent company. Independence is recorded as the brewery states it; where a stake is a minority holding or joint venture, this archive leaves it unmapped rather than calling it ownership.
- Is Bixel Brewery still open?
- No. Bixel Brewery has closed. Tuolumne County Historical Society collection, supplied 2026-08-21. Recorded as Bixel Brewery rather than Columbia Brewery because the archive already holds four unrelated breweries of that name. RESOLVED 2026-08-21: TP13609's "1891-1910, A. C. Nelson" refers to the Amil Nelson phase of this same brewery. STRUCTURE SURVIVES: TCHS supplied photographs on 2026-08-22 and identified the standing brick building as the Bixel/Columbia brewery — brick walls to eaves height, a partially collapsed timber roof, and a coursed stone footing consistent with Kelly's account of a limestone fermentation cellar. SITE CONFIRMED 2026-08-25: TCHS places the standing building on Matelot Gulch, half a mile out of Columbia on Italian Bar Road — the Bixel site, not Rocher's Spring Gulch. The land was Bixel family property and is now held by the Tuolumne County Water District; a locked gate bars vehicles and the interior has not been entered, so the malt-room identification remains an inference from the plant description rather than an inspection.
- When was Bixel Brewery founded?
- Bixel Brewery was founded in 1854 in Columbia, California, USA.
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