Utah State brews up an inspiring immigration story

As the nation’s largest beer maker brews up controversy with a Super Bowl commercial celebrating its German founder’s immigration story, Utah State University is sharing a similar tale of ale in its first alcohol-themed exhibit.

On Jan. 26, the university’s Merrill-Cazier Library launched “Utah Brews: The Untapped Story of Ogden's Becker Brewing and Malting Company,” an exhibit focusing on the story of John S. Becker, who immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1845 to escape European imperialism — and to brew beer.

The exhibit was coordinated by Utah State student Cody Patton and manuscript curator Clint Pumphrey, who worked together for more than six months to tell the story of Becker and his pilsner-making progeny.

“I found this project particularly interesting because even though I have grown up in Utah my whole life, I had no idea that breweries played a significant role in the state’s history,” Patton said.

The Beckers are one of those “great American success stories,” Pumphrey said — an immigrant family that came to the United States to seize a business opportunity and who, through hard work, became wealthy and earned the respect of the community.

The exhibit’s debut comes the same week that beer giant Anheuser-Busch released a commercial tribute to its immigrant founder, Adolphus Busch, who arrived in the United States 12 years after Becker. In the commercial, Busch is shoved and told “you’re not wanted here” and “go back home.” The spot has been both praised and criticized, as it comes in the middle of a tumultuous week of immigration policy changes from the White House, which has ordered a halt to the processing of visas for immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations and all refugees.

In response to the new immigration rules, hundreds of Utahns gathered Thursday at the Salt Lake International Airport to welcome a refugee family from Afghanistan — one of the last to make it through before President Donald Trump’s order took effect.

Pumphrey hopes the exhibit serves as “a reminder that Utah has long been a surprisingly diverse place and its history is a product of contributions from people of many different backgrounds.”

About 60 percent of Utahns are claimed as members by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which advises its members to embrace refugees and eschew alcohol. According to the library staff, the response to the Becker exhibit has been positive, with librarians noticing the display “has gotten a pretty good amount of traffic,” Pumphrey said.

A digital version of the exhibit has been published at the USU exhibits site.