Tuolumne Brewery

It was never a Sonora brewery to begin with. Henry Schuler brewed at Bensonville, a hamlet south of Columbia, from at least 1866 — a legal notice fixes his brewery in township no. 2 — and ran depots at Columbia and at Sonora, in Peter Mehen's old stand. His advertising is the most complete price list in this archive for a gold-country brewery: lager at 62½ cents a gallon, five dollars a keg, two-fifty a half; porter, ale, sweet cider or California wine at twenty-five cents a bottle; empty bottles bought back at fifty cents a dozen. He sold fresh yeast daily, which is what a brewery did before packet yeast existed, and claimed his beer was made without the mixture of any deleterious substance — a purity boast that means something in an era of adulteration. In 1875 Louis Baccigalupi bought him out and Schuler left for San Francisco that same week; the paper said he shook the dust of Tuolumne from his feet. Baccigalupi moved the brewing down to Green Street in Sonora, which is why the town briefly had two breweries while its population was falling — it did not grow a second one, one walked in. At half past eleven on the night of Sunday 16 March 1879 the brewery burned to the ground, taking six tons of malt with it and scorching the neighbours on both sides. He was insured for thirteen hundred against a loss of twenty-six. Nothing is heard of the business afterwards.

1. 1866
   Brewing at Bensonville

   TCHS traces records back to this year. A legal notice places Henry Schuler's brewery in township no. 2, Bensonville — a hamlet south of Columbia.

2. 1875
   Baccigalupi buys from Schuler

   Louis Baccigalupi continues furnishing lager, ale and porter. Schuler leaves for San Francisco with his family the same week.

3. 1879
   Destroyed by fire

   About 11½ o'clock, Sunday night, 16 March, on Green Street, Sonora. Loss about $2,600 against $1,300 of insurance. No mention of the business is found after this.

1. 1875Baccigalupi buys from Schuler

   Louis Baccigalupi continues furnishing lager, ale and porter. Schuler leaves for San Francisco with his family the same week.

Sources

1. recordProbable

   Brewery record taken from Tally's California master, Pass 187, which cited https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=TUOI18750731.1.4 for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.

   Tally's California master, Pass 187 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026

   CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 2026-08-19
2. historyProbable

   Dated evidence as recorded in the source pass: 1870, 1875, 1879.

   Tally's California master, Pass 187 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026

   CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 2026-08-19
3. historyConfirmed

   The brewery originated at Bensonville, a hamlet south of Columbia, with records traced to 1866 — four years earlier than the archive's previous evidence, which placed Henry Schuler at the brewery by 1870. A legal notice locates his brewery in township no. 2. Schuler's own advertisement lists depots at Columbia and Sonora and states that the brewery itself was near Columbia.

   Tuolumne Brewery — period clippings supplied by the Tuolumne County Historical Society · Tuolumne County Historical Society · 1800s

   PrimaryHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-20Reviewed 2026-08-20
4. historyConfirmed

   Destroyed by fire about 11½ o'clock on Sunday night, 16 March 1879, on Green Street, Sonora. Six tons of malt lost in the brewery; a further twenty tons of malt and barley damaged by water and smoke in Baccigalupi's brick saloon on Washington Street, whose rooftop cooler burned. Loss about $2,600, insured in the Phœnix for $1,300, net loss about $1,100. Neighbouring outbuildings belonged to Wm. G. Rudorff and C. Henke. No mention of the business is found after the fire.

   Tuolumne Brewery — period clippings supplied by the Tuolumne County Historical Society · Tuolumne County Historical Society · 1800s

   PrimaryHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-20Reviewed 2026-08-20
5. peopleConfirmed

   Henry Schuler ran the brewery from at least 1866 and sold it to Louis Baccigalupi in 1875, leaving for San Francisco with his family that week. Baccigalupi continued furnishing lager, ale and porter and moved the brewing to Sonora.

   Tuolumne Brewery — period clippings supplied by the Tuolumne County Historical Society · Tuolumne County Historical Society · 1800s

   PrimaryHigh reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-20Reviewed 2026-08-20

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.