From the Annals of the Breweries –  In 1896, the Galveston Brewing Company began operations. The GBC operated the first major brewery in Texas with notables such as major shareholder Adolphus Busch raising $400,000 to fund the construction.   Smaller local brewers had of course been operating since the early days of the Republic.  With its sizable German population,  several commercial breweries had been established in Texas’ German and Czech communities.  The impressive Galveston complex included a large ice plant, cold-storage rooms, water wells, railroad access, and a brewery capable of producing 75,000 barrels of beer each year.    GBC featured brands such as High Grade and Seawall Bond.   GBC’s facility somehow survived the infamous 1900 Hurricane practically unscathed.  Prohibition was more of a challenge than the worst the Gulf of Mexico could throw at it,  but the GBC managed to survive for a while by producing  Galvo, a “nonintoxicating cereal beverage” of questionable quality and likely disgusting taste.