Upon Keller's death, Hamm inherited the small brewery and flour mill in the east side wilderness of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Keller had constructed his brewery in 1860 over artesian wells in a section of the Phalen Creek valley in Saint Paul then known as Swede Hollow.

Figge expanded the Hamm's brand into a national entity with breweries in Saint Paul, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Houston.

As the company celebrated its 100th anniversary, the family sold the brewery and left the brewing industry to focus on its real estate ventures.

[citation needed] Unbeknown to his wife, Hamm had staked all of his savings and mortgaged his beer garden to support Keller's trip and property acquisition in California.

As collateral, Keller gave the deed to his small brewery and flour mill, located on the east side of Saint Paul, to Hamm.

[citation needed] The northern portion of the brewery today is mostly inhabited by various businesses, including a trapeze school.

In December 2022, the City of Saint Paul announced it had tentatively selected JB Vang Partners, Inc. to redevelop the former Hamm's Brewery Complex, the plans for which include affordable and market-rate housing, commercial space, a public plaza, and more.

In the early 1980s, Suicide Club (secret society) used a jackhammer to "take out the doors and open holes in the giant tanks and make living spaces",[12][13][14][15] the beer vats were then first squatted and then rented out to punk rock bands.

After a failed attempt to re-introduce the Gunther brand in 1963, the brewery was sold to the Schaefer Brewing Company of New York after only four years of operation.

[citation needed] A final attempt at expansion was made in 1963 with the purchase of the Gulf Brewing Company of Houston, Texas.

[24] The original jingle, with lyrics by Nelle Richmond Eberhart and music by Charles Wakefield Cadman was derived from a 1909 art song entitled "From The Land of Sky-Blue Water".

In a typical TV spot, the bear would dance around in a pastoral setting while the "Land of Sky Blue Waters" advertising jingle played in the background.

[25] "Most agree that the character was born in 1952 at Freddie's restaurant in Minneapolis at a meeting with Cleo Hovel, creative director for Campbell-Mithun, and Howard Swift, an animator who worked for the California TV production company Swift-Chaplin.

Hovel usually gets the credit for drawing the bear on a napkin in response to the idea to add an animal character to the Sky Blue Waters campaign.

[31] The original idea for the mascot came from Cleo Hoval, an account representative with Campbell Mithun, who finally asked a business acquaintance, Ray Tollefson, to draw the bear after discarding other prior attempts by his own marketing co-workers.

Tollefson eventually drew many scenes and humorous situations into which he could put the bear in the ongoing Hamm's advertising campaign.

Larry LaBelle, Vice President, Director to Television Production at Campbell-Mithun, could draw the bear accurately and conceptualized many of the commercials.

LaBelle also created the concept of Albert & Stanley for Grain Belt Beer while the pair collaborated on the finished character designs.

Commercials featuring the klutzy cartoon bear with a bewildered but cheerful grin—often pictured in television ads tripping over canoes, logs, or its own feet—were considered an overwhelming success.

[35] Each spot held genuine entertainment value for viewers (and had a miniature story-line containing a plot, some form of conflict, and usually a final resolution), guaranteeing TV audiences would pay attention.

[35] The Hamm's Bear ads were run in support not only of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings; but also of the Chicago Blackhawks, White Sox, Cubs and Bears; the Kansas City A's; San Francisco Giants and 49ers; the Los Angeles Rams; Houston Oilers; Baltimore Orioles; Green Bay Packers; and Dallas Cowboys.

[33][36] The character was so well known (and identified so closely with the state of Minnesota) that in 2000, the St. Paul Pioneer Press named the Hamm's Bear as one of the "150 Most Influential Minnesotans of the Past 150 Years".

[34] By that time, however, the current parent company, Miller Brewing, had drastically reduced the bear's use due to concerns it might be interpreted as an attempt to market beer to children (just as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco had recently been forced to discontinue its Joe Camel character for similar reasons).

In the 1974 film A Woman Under the Influence, the character played by Peter Falk shares a Hamm’s beer with his children in the back of a truck.