Fisher Brewery was one of Utah’s first breweries, founded by Albert Fisher on the banks of the Jordan River in 1884. The river, more pristine than it is today, was the source of water for the brewery. The architect of the original buildings is unknown, but by late 1885, Richard Kletting, the architect of the Utah State Capital, was designing additions and alterations to the 15-acre property. Kletting’s relationship with Fisher continued, and in 1912 he designed a well-known Prairie Style office building for the company (Buildings designed by).

Utah is not usually thought of as an alcohol-loving place. But Fisher Brewing Company took an aggressive approach to their advertising campaign: “Beer-drinking people are a home-loving, moral people.” Success came early and soon Fisher Brewing was bigger than Coors. Prohibition shut them down for over 15 years, but in 1933, Albert’s son and grandson reopened Fisher Brewery. It cost what was then a fortune ¬— about $250,000 — to recondition the plant and install new equipment.

In 1948, Fisher underwent a three-phase, $1 million renovation project to increase capacity. Ashton, Evans & Brazier designed the final phase (1950) consisting of a new brewhouse and five new grain storage bins. The brewhouse was seven-stories high with an all-copper kettle imported from Germany, especially designed for high altitude brewing. The brewhouse was well known for decades because of the large windows that allowed passersby to see the beautiful brewing vats (S.F. brewery).

The 1950 blueprints show a tasting room, though it is unclear if this was ever built as designed. In 1953, blueprints show that Ashton, Evans & Brazier did a few smaller projects for Fisher Brewery: a cellar building addition and an office building modification (Special collections).

But the expansion was short-lived. Fisher Brewing sued San Francisco-based Lucky Lager in 1955, alleging that Lucky kept prices below production cost to steal market share. A Salt Lake City jury awarded Fisher $1.1 million in damages, but Lucky appealed and the case dragged out until 1957, when Fisher sold the brewing operations to Lucky Lager. Lucky Lager ceased production at this facility in 1967 as a result of a change in Utah’s liquor laws.

In 1977, the property was in poor condition and was sold to developers whose grandiose plan was to create the Fisher Brewery and Mall with restaurants, theater, bank, department store, ice-cream store, sporting goods store, and a working full-scale railroad. After millions of dollars of investment, the developers declared bankruptcy in 1982.

The building was again abandoned, the vats and equipment sold for scrap and the large glass windows smashed (S. F. brewery). The property was sold to Mountain Fuel Supply and the brewhouse accidently burned during demolition in 1993 (For the record).

In 2017, fifty years after Fisher Brewing sold its last beer, the brand name was restored when Albert Fisher’s great-great-grandson and three partners remodeled an old auto-body shop and began brewing Fisher Beer again.