Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯

His great-great grandson, Robert R. β€œFred” Gray, says it’s the simple things β€” tradition, quality ingredients and family β€” that still matter most.

β€œI’ve always felt like I’m just the caretaker,” Fred Gray reflects. β€œMy dad always said to me β€˜We don’t own this. We’re just holding it for the next generation.’”

Fred’s daughter, Sarah, agrees.

β€œThere’s a lot of pride. It’s cool to be part of something so rare, so lasting.”

β€œMy grandkids are in boots, in the building, playing with bean bags pretending to make soda at home,” Fred said, chuckling. β€œWes and JJ, they’re going to be here. I just know it.”

FOUNDED IN 1856

In 1856, just three years after Janesville was incorporated as a city in 1853, Joshua Converse Gray founded Gray Beverage Co. Today, his descendants continue to produce beer and soda with his original recipes, and produce other beverages, as the business pre- pares to mark its 170th anniversary next year.

Over the decades, the company would halt and then reinstate beer production, introduce root beer and many other soda flavors, rebuild from a massive fire, and continue to expand, with products now sold across Wisconsin and into Illinois.

Founder Joshua Converse Gray was born in Fairfield County, Connecticut in 1814 to Issac Gray and Phoebe Converse Gray, the eldest of at least nine children. He and his wife, Margret Fosnot Gray, lived early in their marriage in Denison, Pennsylvania. They had seven children of their own and moved to Janesville in 1852, when their oldest son, William, was 12 years old, according to family records. William’s younger sibling, George, also made that move. The family’s five youngest children β€” Demma, Melissa, Miria, Charles and Rosa β€” were born in Rock County.

Fred Gray, the fifth-generation owner of Gray’s Brewing Company, took over in 1995. He now runs it with his children, Sarah and Jacob.

Other family members to have been at the helm over 170 years include the founder, Joshua Converse Gray, from 1856 to 1880; Charles C. Gray I, from 1880 to 1921; Charles C. Gray II, from 1921 to 1945 and his wife, Margaret (Crow) Gray, from 1945 to 1960; Robert R. Gray I beginning in 1960; and Robert R. β€œFred” Gray II beginning in 1995, now joined in the business by his children, Jacob and Sarah.

Fred Gray said according to his great-great-grandfather’s obituary, Joshua Converse Gray managed a stagehouse when the family first arrived in Janesville, on the site of what later became the Myer’s House hotel at Main and Milwaukee streets.

He founded Grays Beverage Co. in 1856, producing weiss beer and seltzer water, at 158 S. Locus St., steps from his home in the 100 block of S. Locust Street, in the city’s Fourth Ward.

The company would move to 2424 W. Court St. in 1959, where it remains today.

BEER AND SELTZERS

Fred Gray said in the 1800s the process of making beer and seltzers was very similar, involving the boiling and sterilizing of water and inclusion of sugars, so it made sense that his great-great grandfather offered both.

In 1865, ginger ale and sodas were added to the lineup, bottled in clay bottles with a cork and a gasket that when opened would β€œpop.” That’s where the term β€œsoda pop” came from, Gray said. This was an era before refrigeration and reliable long-distance distribution, he noted.

β€œYou made it yourself, or you didn’t have it,” he said. β€œThat’s how most of these old family businesses started.”

In early 1880, Joshua Converse Gray passed the business to his son, Charles C. Gray I, before succumbing to illness on April 1, 1880, at age 66.

His obituary noted that he had β€œwon himself the repudiation of being an honest man in his dealings and had a large circle of friends who will regret his death.”

The company went on

'CHOICEST CARBONATED DRINKS'

An 1891 article in The Janesville Gazette said the business, then known as Gray & Company, was β€œthe only manufacturer and the leading supply in Janesville and vicinity for the choicest carbonated drinks.”

Operating out of a two-story building, the article said it manufactured all kinds of β€œcarbonated and summer drinks,” that were popular not only with β€œhotel men and dealers but with private families who use them extensively as summer beverages, and who recognize in the goods of the purest and best quality.”

In 1912, the company halted beer production, moving exclusively to soda production, finding the carbonated beverage market more stable in the face of prohibition and shifting consumer tastes.

β€œThere were seven breweries in Janesville at one time,” Fred Gray said. β€œWe were one of the few to survive by diversifying.”

RESILIANCE

He said resilience has been a family theme across the decades.

When his grandfather, Charles C. Gray II, died of a heart attack in 1945, his grandmother, Margaret (Crow) Gray, a schoolteacher, stepped in to run the business. She would remain at the helm for the next 15 years until her children assumed control in 1960.

β€œShe ran it until my dad and uncle were old enough to take over,” Fred Gray said. β€œShe was tough. Real tough.”

Fred Gray started working at the brewery in the 1980s, briefly stepped away, and returned in 1989. A fire destroyed the production facility in 1992, requiring a full rebuild and consideration of whether to go on.

β€œThat was the passing of the torch,” he reflected. β€œMy dad asked if we should just call it. I said, β€˜Let’s rebuild. Let’s keep it going.’”

Family stories have also been passed down.

In an often told story, a man came off the train one day in Janesville, around 1905, with a sample of a new carbonated drink.

β€œMy great-grandfather tried it and said, β€˜this stuff tastes like medicine. It’ll never sell.’ That was Coca-Cola. So, I’m not saying every decision was the best one,” Fred shared.

The family did later partner with other beverage companies, including Mission Orange, Dr. Pepper and Sundrop, to bottle their products while continuing to bottle their own.

QUALITY INGREDIENTS

One thing Fred Gray says will never change is the family’s commitment to quality ingredients. They still have – and refer to – Joshua Converse Gray’s recipe books with his notes in the margins.

β€œHe would put advice in there, like, β€˜you never substitute, or you only use the best fruits,’” Fred said, adding that based on those recipes β€œwe were all-cane sugar before it was cool.”

Where will the family take things from here?

Today, β€œthe beer business has shifted,” Fred reflects. β€œWe were selling a lot of beer and a little soda. Now, it’s the reverse. Non-alcoholic is the fastest-growing beverage segment nation-wide.”

The business, now known as Gray Brewing Company, has adapted by expanding into contract bottling, including of THC and CBD-infused beverages. And after many name changes over the years, he said it is β€œdue” for another one at some point.

His daughter has suggested going back to Gray’s Beverage Company, which he concedes might fit better as beer isn’t their main product.

β€œThat’s the future,” Fred Gray said. β€œBeing a β€˜beverage company’ lets us stay flexible.”

When asked what will keep the company alive for another 169 years, Fred Gray doesn’t hesitate.

β€œIrish stubbornness,” he said smiling. β€œThat, and a promise to do it right, or not at all.”