Tap Handle #859: Brewski Brewing

10/26/2025 07:10:00 PM

Tap Handle #859: Brewski Brewing - Bar Room Ale

Tap size: 10.5"

Rarity: brewery closed, 25 or less seen

Mounting: internal 3/8" nut

This is one of the oldest microbrew taps in the Museum's collection. It features the bust of a man in vest, tie and bowler hat holding a metal stein of Brewski Bar Room Ale. The bust is sitting on top of a barrel that has the name of the beer carved on it in raised letter, and the barrel is attached to a wood spindle. The man and barrel are resin, and the man in the bowler bears a strong resemblance to a character on the Brewski bottle label. It almost looks like the raised beer name was a piece made separately and glued into an empty space in the front of the barrel. Pressed into one side of the barrel are the words: "1994 Brewski Brewing Company". Some taps have a number below this that is written in yellow ink. I have found a number as low as 163 and as high as 335 on pieces in the secondary market (the number on mine is 238). The date puts this tap squarely in the early Sandy Saemann ownership period. Saemann, who put a big emphasis on marketing Brewski swag, likely offered some of these taps as a numbered collectible through his mail order store. With some numbered and some not, it's possible that unnumbered taps were used in bars across the country, assuming that Brewski - which was known for certain to be distributed in bottles - was distributed in barrels as well, but that assumption is far from certain. The sculpting lacks detail in several places (especially the fingers and eyes) and seam lines are pretty sloppy, suggesting that these taps were cranked out in a hurry. The resin used to make this tap is of an old composition, which means it is brittle and breaks easily, so it's unlikely that many of these taps have survived over the years. I've seen about 15 of these hit the secondary market, with the last one appearing in 2023 for $175. The price has ranged from $50 for early offerings to a high of $400 in 2022.

Brewski Brewing Company was founded in Culver City, California in 1993 by Sandy Saemann. Saemann's lifelong interest in alcohol marketing began when he worked in a grocery story liquor department during college, and his personal collection of beer signs and beer paraphernalia numbered in the thousands. Saemann had been an executive VP in charge of marketing at L.A. Gear before he was forced out in 1991. Saemann was also a co-founder of Brewsky's Bar Room in New York, along with Jerry Kuziw, and Brewsky's was renowned for having the world's largest selection of both domestic and international brews in the early 1990's. Kuziw would also open the legendary Burp Castle in the same building in 1992. Based on his interest in alcohol marketing, Saemann decided he wanted to own a brewery, so he established the Brewski Brewing Company in Culver City in 1993. He had spent the previous 2 years working with a brewing expert to develop a proprietary yeast strain and they created 2 beer recipes. His 2 beers, Brewski Brew Pub Classic and Brewski Brew Pub Light, both won bronze awards at the 1993 Great American Beer Festival. After winning the medals, Saemann decided to take the brand national, having the beer contract brewed and bottled (possibly by Pabst, Stroh or both) in Portland, Oregon; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Baltimore, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas. Early distribution was to California, Hawaii, Nevada and New Hampshire markets, with New York soon added thanks to Saemann's previous relationship with Manhattan Beer Distributors.

In 1993, Saemann may have been operating a brewpub in Hermosa Beach on Manhattan Avenue, brewing Brewski Bar Room Ale, which was added to the company's national bottling and distribution network. Additionally, Saemann was producing and selling various items of merchandise associated with the company. In 2005, he likely worked with Michael Zislis to open Brewski's Brewing, a brewpub in Hermosa Beach on Pier Avenue. Zislis had experimented with home brewing since he was 13 years old, and, having already achieved Master Brewer status, had dropped out of USC to pursue brewing full-time. He had already opened Manhattan Beach Brewing Company in 1989, one of the early brewpubs in California, as well as Redondo Beach Brewing Company and a few other brewpubs along the California coast. Zislis was able to lease the former Rebel Republic Social House building for the brewpub. He brewed Bar Room Ale, as well as Bar Room Blonde, Bar Room Honey Red, and Billy Goat Bock, although one source suggested that most of the brewing was contract brewed by the Bohemian's microbrewery in Torrance, California. Also in 1995, Saemann moved Brewski Brewing's administrative headquarters from Culver City to El Segundo.

Zislis's association with Brewski's was short-lived; in 1997, with the craft beer crash starting to accelerate, Zislis decided to shift his focus from the brewing business to the hospitality business, selling off most of his brewpubs, and opening high-end restaurants instead. He sold his interest in Brewski's Brewing to one of his business partners, Tommy Short. The Brewski's brewpub continued to operate until 2003, when Short closed Brewski's and reopened the location as an Italian restaurant called Mediterraneo. As for Saemann, he continued to operate Brewski Brewing until around 2004-05. It was likely that competition for contract brewing space, as well as contract brewing issues, impacted profitability, and Saemann decided to close all brewing operations. Kuziw took over the Brewski Brewing name, partnering with Greg Zaccardi to open a production brewery in Johnstown, New York, with Brewski Golden Lager as their flagship beer. To help fund the venture, Kuziw sold Brewsky's Bar Room in New York, along with Burp Castle, to Gary Gillis, who renamed Brewsky's to Standings to avoid any confusion with Kuziw's operations. However, in 2008, a fire destroyed Kuziw's brewing facility in Johnstown, and he was forced to turn to contract brewing to keep production running.

In 2021, Zislis returned to Hermosa Beach to open a new brewery, The Brews Hall, in the same building where his Brewski's brewpub had originally been, but The Brews Hall subsequently closed in the summer of 2025 and is now being turned into a Tiki-themed restaurant. The presumed Manhattan Avenue location of Brewski Brewing in Hermosa Beach that was run by Saemann is now the home of both a shipping company and a cleaning company. And finally in early 2025, Kuziw closed his Brewski Brewing Company venture, ending the last tie to the original Brewski name.

Editor's Note

There's a lot of mystery and uncertainty regarding the origins of both Brewski Brewing and Brewski's Brewing. I spent countless hours trying to find information and tie everything together neatly, but hit a lot of dead ends going down countless rabbit holes. The problem was that these brewing entities existed in the early to mid-1990's, before the Internet (as we know it today) was in place, so information is extremely hard to come by. Still, I was able to find enough data points to create a fairly coherent story. It is certain that Sandy Saemann and Michael Zislis knew each other, as Zislis had spoken up for one of Saemann's businesses in a Hermosa Beach city council meeting (source not cited here as it is not part of the writeup). That also suggests they were on friendly terms, meaning they must have worked together and not been adversarial over the use of the trademarked name "Brewski". That also makes it very plausible that there were actually 2 brewpubsin Hermosa Beach, with a couple of sites showing Brewski Brewing on Manhattan Avenue, and Brewski's Brewing located on Pier Ave. Finally, I did find some conflicting information that I ultimately deemed to be incorrect, so it was not included. As a result, I made some logical leaps which I cannot establish as 100% fact. Take the information provided above as a "best guess", and if I get more clarity on this subject in the future, I will update this post. Also of note: there are newer (current) brewing entities using the Brewski name; none of them are related to the 2 older breweries discussed above, nor are they related to the subsequent Brewski Brewing in New York that was owned by Jerry Kuziw.

There is an entry in Beer Advocate for Brewski Brewing Company, listed on Manhattan Avenue in Hermosa Beach. However, none of the beers match any known beers from Brewski Brewing or Brewski's Brewing, so no ratings are provided.