Progress Brewing Company and White Mule Ale

Before there was a brewery in Oklahoma City, there was a barn in Yukon—and two men who saw what was coming.

In 1933, as Prohibition ended, John Kroutil and Gustave F. Streich began brewing beer in a barn near what’s now Kimbell Park in Yukon. They didn’t stay there long. That same year, they opened Progress Brewing Company at 501 N. Douglass in Oklahoma City—making it the first federally licensed brewing operation in the state after repeal.

Progress was one of only three licensed breweries in Oklahoma after Prohibition—and it was the longest lasting.

Kroutil wasn’t new to building things. In 1902, he and his brother Frank took over a small grain elevator and mill in Yukon. Over the next three decades, they expanded it into the largest flour operation in the state and one of the largest in the Southwest. The mill—along with its iconic "Yukon's Best Flour" silos—still stands as a landmark along Route 66. The Kroutil brothers also founded Yukon National Bank in 1912, with John serving as president.

Kroutil used grain from the mill in the brewing process. He shipped it in by rail, then ran it through a conveyor system that fed it to the top floor of the brewery. From there, everything ran on gravity flow—a method that moved the beer through each stage of production from top to bottom. It was efficient, scalable, and decades ahead of what most breweries were doing at the time.

At its peak, Progress Brewing could produce 100,000 barrels a year and employed over 1,000 people during the depths of the Great Depression. Its beers included Jayhawk Beer, Progress Select, Progress Bock, and—introduced in 1935—White Mule Ale.

White Mule wasn’t just a name. It was bootlegger slang for white lightning—strong, unregulated liquor known for its kick. Putting that name on a legal beer so soon after repeal wasn’t subtle. The label showed a mule mid-kick. It sold well, and it stood out.

In 1960, Progress Brewing was sold to Lone Star Brewing, which operated the facility for a few more years before shutting it down. Consolidation in the industry had pushed many local brewers out. 

Still, the name endures.

White Mule Ale came out of a moment, and it was made by original Okies who came here to claim their future and knew how to build from nothing.

It’s another old label we loved.

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Photo from the Daily Oklahoman.