A Brief History of Brewing in
Clarksville, New Albany, and Jeffersonville
Paul Reising,
Southern Indiana Ice & Beverage,
Main
Street,
Market Street, Spring,
City,
State
Street,
New Albanian
Paul Reising
Southern Indiana Ice & Beverage Company
| Bottomley and Ainslie
1840 - 1841 |
Hew Ainslie, an immigrant
from Scotland and a well-known poet, joined the New Harmony community in
1825. When New Harmony folded went to Cincinnati where he opened a brewery.
Later he opened a brewery in Louisville that was destroyed in the flood of
1832. He worked after that at the Nuttall brewery in Louisville.
Coming back across the Ohio River, he opened
the Bottomley and Ainslie brewery in New Albany in 1840 which was destroyed
by fire shortly thereafter. He was listed in the city directory as a
maltster in 1841 and then dropped out of brewing. By 1842 he was working in
a foundry. |
| City Brewery
1842 - 1873 |
The brewery was rebuilt and
operated as the City Brewery by Joseph & George Kealchle (1842 - 1848), John
Yaeger (1848 - 1856), Bath & Rickle (1856 - 1859), David Bath (1859 - 1860),
and Paul Reising (1860 - 1873). |
| Paul Reising Brewing
1873 - 1912 |
Paul Reising, an immigrant
from Bavaria, came to New York in 1854. By 1857 he had moved to New Albany
and bought the Metcalfe Brewery. (see below)
In 1861 he sold the Metcalfe Brewery and
bought the City Brewery in New Albany at 4th and Spring Streets (where a
Holiday Inn Express now sits). At that time the building was only 1200 sq ft
with a capacity of 1500 barrels in a 30 barrel brew length.
The Floyd County Gazetteer of 1868 lists
the "City Brewery, P. Reising, proprietor, is one of the oldest and largest
firms in this line in the city, having been established over twelve years,
and at present location eight years. The building is 115x50, two stories
high, and complete in all respects. There is also, a beer cellar 40x18, with
ice house above; malt cellar 40x50, and three other cellars of capacious
size. The mash tubs, etc., are run by an eight-horse power machine. P. R.
employs five men, and has capacity to manufacture thirty barrels beer per
day."
By 1891 the capacity was up to 12,000 bbl.
They made lager and common beer. Ye Old Beer and Rathskeller Brew were
brewery taglines.
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"JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind., About 2 o'clock morning a gang of 10 toughs,
who had been carousing on the commons all night, invaded the city
brewery and demanded more beer. Andrew Bauer, the night watchman,
refused, and was assaulted by the gang. Charles Mayer, foreman. came
to the watchman's assistance and a severe fight ensued in which Mayer
was fatally injured. Several men have been arrested and warrants are
out for a dozen more. Mayer's skull was crushed." - Daily Advocate
(Newark, OH) - Tuesday, June 20, 1893
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"New Albany's brewing heritage was fully intact at century's end, and
the city's residents still regarded the availability of freshly brewed
local beer as a social and cultural norm. Two independent breweries,
producing lager styles and the indigenous Louisville-area ale called
Kommon, thrived in New Albany in 1900. Another had closed only two
years before. A handful of smaller brewing operations were recognized,
including "saloon" breweries (known as "brewpubs" today). Another
moderate-sized brewery operated in Jeffersonville, while across the
river in Louisville, there were as many as 20 breweries in operation
at various times during the years prior to World War I. - Roger
Baylor, New Albanian Brewery
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John Meyers
1912-1913Southern Indiana Brewing
Co.
1913 - 1915 |
In about 1912 the brewery was
sold to John Meyers who resold it to Michael Schrick for $34,000. The name
was changed to Southern Indiana Brewing Company. In 1913 H.L. Meinhardt
became the president. They had 30 employees by that time.
It is said that some bad beer was distributed
in 1914 which led to a financial decline and bankruptcy in 1915.

"H.L. Meinhardt built this summer home in
Silver Hills while he was president of the Paul Reising Brewery, located
at West Fourth and Spring Streets. . . This postcard is from about 1910" -
New Albany In Vintage Postcards, D Barksdale & Robyn Sekula, 2005
|
"Mr. Paul Reising, West End brewer, will issue his second edition of
"Bock Beer" tomorrow. His customers will be supplied with the beverage
in a prompt manner, as Mr. Reising is a prompt and reliable business
man. Some people drink sassafras tea in the spring of the year; others
use sage catnip and such, and others sassaparilla. That is their
privilege. Another class prefer Bock Beer and it is their privilege to
do so. This is a free country. Drive on old Bock." - New Albany
Ledger-Standard, April 29, 1881
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|
Southern Indiana Ice &
Beverage Company
1915 - 1927Southern Indiana Ice
Company
1927 - 1933 |
Michael Schrick bought the
bankrupt Paul Reising Brewing Company property in 1915 and renamed it the
Southern Indiana Ice & Beverage Company. In 1923 prohibition agents closed the plant after their cereal
beverage, Hop-O was found to contain several percent alcohol.
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"Indiana Brewer Indicted
He Is Accused of Trying to Bribe Federal Prohibition Agent
Louisville, Ky. March
16. - Indictments charging bribery were returned by a Federal Grand
Jury here today against Michael Schrick, former President of the
Southern Indiana Brewing Company, and J.H. Booth, both of New Albany,
Ind. They are alleged to have attempted to bribe J.L. Asher, Federal
prohibition agent, with money and commissions amounting to $100,000 a
year to get assistance of that official in transporting illegal beer
to Louisville from New Albany. They were released on bond.
Federal agents who
said they were concealed in a closet, told the Grand Jury the two men
were trapped in Asher's room in a hotel here in January while Schrick
and Booth were in the act of paying Asher the first installment of
$2,000." - New York Times, Mar 17, 1922 |
|
"Indianapolis, Jan 3 - Judge Albert B Anderson today promised a rigid
investigation of alleged promises of immunity from criminal action to
high officials of the prohibition division at Washington to Michael
Schrick, a brewery owner of New Albany, Indiana. Roy A Haynes,
director prohibition enforcement said Mr. Andrews, chief of the bureau
of litigation at the department, and John Owen, former campaign,
manager of Senator James U Watson and alleged go-between, were named
by Schrick today." - Marion (Ohio) Daily Star, Jan 3, 1924
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In 1927 it was bought by Ernest Boone,
becoming the Southern Indiana Ice Company. |
| Southern Indiana Ice &
Beverage Company 1933 - 1935 |
Philip Ackerman
and Frank Senn opened a brewery in Louisville in 1877. It thrived and was
merged into the Central Consumers Corp. in 1901 and closed in 1914.
Philip Ackerman became the brewmaster and
superintendent of the SII&BC after prohibition and the factory was locally
known as Ackerman's Brewery.
Brands included Amsterdamer Bock, Ackermans,
Great Eagle, Royal Munich, Vienna Select, Old Rip, Imperial Double Stout,
India Pale Ale, and Daniel Boone. The brewery, unable to make a profit in a
competitive city, closed on November 15, 1935. |
Main
Street Brewery
Metcalfe Brewery
1847 - 1857Paul Reising
1857 - 1861
Main Street Brewery
1861 - 1889
Indiana Brewing Company
1889 - 1895
Pank-Weinmann Brewing Company
1895 - 1899 |
Started by Joseph Metcalfe in
1847. Sold to William Grainger who sold it to Paul Reising (see
above) in 1857. Reising sold it to Martin Kaelin in 1861 who
renamed it Main Street Brewery. The
Floyd County Gazetteer of 1868 lists the "Main Street Brewery, Martin Kalen,
proprietor, has been in operation eighteen years, and has been owned and
managed by the present proprietor for six years. The building is 40x60, two
stories high, and has two capacious cellars 30x35, together with all the
necessary tubs, vats, etc., is run by horse-power, employs five men, and has
a capacity of three hundred barrels per month."
Kaelin sold it to Louis Schmidt in 1882.
Sold to Hornung and Atkins in 1883, it transfered to sole proprietor Jacob
Hornung in 1886.
In 1889 it was renamed the Indiana Brewing
Co. and, in 1895, it became the Pank-Weinmann Brewing Company.
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"The Indiana Brewing Company is making many improvements to its
property on East Main Street, above Vincennes. Several additions to
the building have been made and the company has contracted for 500,000
bricks for the erection of the other buildings this fall. The company
purchased the Buchheit brewery material sometime ago and is
transferring it to their present large plant. Mr. Gustav Weinmann is
the energetic and enterprising general manager of this extensive
brewery." - New Albany Ledger, Aug 23, 1890
|
Located on the west side of 18th St between
Main and Stone. The capacity of the brewery was about 5,000 bbls.


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Market
Street Brewery
Market Street Brewery
1856 - 1884Julius Gebhard & Co.
Enterprise Brewery
1884 - 1886
New Albany Brewing Co.
1886 - 1888
National Brewery
1888 - 1890 |
Established by Peter Buchheit
at 10th and Market Streets behind his home. The brewery eventually covered
nearly the entire block between Market and Spring Streets on the west side
of 10th. Peter Buchheit was born Jean
Pierre Buchheit in Schweyen, Lorraine, France.
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"The Old National Brewery/Market Street Brewery offers an example of a
small, local operation. It was established in 1856, by Peter Buchheit
who immigrated to New Albany in 1852 from Alsace, Germany, and his
wife, Barbara, who was born in Bavaria, Germany. The brewery was three
buildings on East Tenth Street, between Market and Spring Streets (of
which some of the original brick buildings still stand). The family
home was located at the corner of Market and Tenth and also served as
a boarding house for brewery staff. It was surrounded by homes and
businesses." - New Albany Bicentennial Public Art Project -
2009
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The Floyd County Gazetteer of 1868 lists
the Market Street Brewery "Peter Buchheit, proprietor, has been established
about twelve years, and occupies three buildings—30x60, 30x60, 18x60—all
three stories high, has all the latest improvements in tubs, vats, etc., and
uses steam, employs four hands, and has capacity for brewing three hundred
barrels per month."
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"This morning at 6 ½ o’clock, the alarm of fire was sounded and it was
discovered that the extensive brewery of Peter Buchheit was on fire.
When the alarm was
given the three engines, the Sanderson, Jefferson and Washington, were
prompt in action, and did efficient work in subduing the flames, which
required three quarters of an hour. The cause of the fire is not
known.
The citizens gathered
from all quarters and rendered timely assistance. The building
contained two thousand bushels of malt and a quantity of barley. The
basement was filled with beer, which will be damaged by becoming
heated. The malt, which was consumed, is valued at $2,500, barley
valued at $1,000." - New Albany Ledger Standard, Sept 22, 1875 |
The Encyclopedia of Louisville, 2001,
suggests Peter died or otherwise turned over ownership of the brewery to his
wife, Barbara Buchheit, in 1876.
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"His beer is known and greedily guzzled in New Albany and far beyond
her confines. This gentleman has met with considerable misfortune by
the destruction of his establishment in 1875 by fire. Being a man of
great nerve he at once set about and rebuilt, and today has a larger
and better brewery than ever. It is built mostly of brick, with iron
roofs, and the arrangements and conveniences are better than formerly.
The brewery is
complete in every department, and has capacity of making ten thousand
barrels of beer annually. Last year Mr. B sold nearly 4,000 barrels,
and paid the Government $1 each for the privilege. The best material
is used for the manufacture of the beverage, the best barely,
California hops, &c. A very convenient elevator is arranged in the
main building, and grain and other articles are speedily and safely
hoisted and lowered from and to the different floors and cellars.
Mr. B has expended a
large sum of money and may be considered among the large manufacturers
in the city. The large and deep cellars connected with this brewery
are stored with lager made during the cold weather and it will be kept
cool during the summer months by being completely surrounded by ice.
The ice house at the brewery contains about 609 tons, and another on
the Jeff railroad above the city contains fully 1,000 tons." - New
Albany Ledger Standard, Feb 21, 1877 |
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"The New Albany Brewing Company do business on East Tenth, between
Market and Spring streets, and it is one of the busiest places in the
city. In the reorganization of this Company, Messers. Charles Burger,
and Herman Kirhhoff, of Cincinnati, are added to the firm. Mr. Burger
is a gentleman of considerable wealth and becomes president of the
company. Mr. Kirhhoff assumes the responsible position of Secretary
and Treasurer. Mr. Julius Gebhard, one of the most experienced brewers
in the Western Country, takes the position of Superintendent. It is
not necessary to state that under this efficient management the New
Albany Brewing Company will enjoy a liberal patronage and justly rank
among the leading breweries of Southern Indiana. Mr. Frank Gebhard, a
young man of genial social disposition, continues the new firm and his
many good traits of character will add to the already growing and
prosperous business of the company….
During the past few
days the business of this firm has increased wonderfully, and the
superior quality of beer turned out it gradually gaining them an
extensive shipping trade. Their sales embrace the city and extend all
over Southern Indiana. A large and improved refrigerator has been
placed in the cellars and many other needed improvements have been
made, which combine to afford them the necessary facilities to compete
with the leading breweries in this section the country.
The New Albany
Brewing Company is brewing now a superior lager beer for which on
imported hops and the best quality barely malt is used. There is a
large and increasing demand in New Albany and the surrounding country
towns for such a fine quality beer." - New Albany Daily Ledger, Aug
7, 1886 |
The capacity of the brewery
at this time was about 3,000 bbls. The plat map at right is from 1886.
Andrew Schlosser bought the brewery in 1888
and renamed it the National Brewery. (In 1899 he tried again with the
State
Street Brewery, below.)
Thanks go to Ted Fulmore of New Albany for
this detailed information - part 1,
part 2,
part 3 |
Spring
Brewery
Spring Brewery
1865 - 1902
Engel & Nadorff Bros.
1902-1907 |
Opened in 1865 by Andrew Sohn.
Located on Upper Vincennes between Locust and Chartres. Inherited by Louisa
Sohn in 1874. Made about 440 bbls annually. Frank Nadorff acquired it in 1877 and Threcy Nadorff inherited it
in 1884. She evidently sold some interest to Peter Engel in 1891 and the
brewery became Engel and Nadorff Bros in 1902 before closing in 1907.
Maximum capacity was 3,000 bbls.
The Nadorff family still owns the Anheuser
Busch distributorship in the area. |
City
Brewing
(Jeffersonville)
City Brewery
Henry Lang, Prop.
1875 - 1880Kirchgessner & Seng
1880 - 1884
City Brewing Co.
1884 - 1899 |
Henry Lang Jr. started this brewery in 1875. Sold to
J. Kirchgessner and Seng in 1880, it became the City Brewing Co. in 1884
(some sources say 1893), 20+ years after the original City Brewery became
Paul Reising Brewing (above).
Located on the northwest corner of Graham and Maple Streets in
Jeffersonville. It had a maximum capacity of 3,000 bbls.
(photo courtesy
Bruce Mobley) |
State
Street Brewery
State Street Brewery
1888 - 1918 |
Opened by Terstegge & Co. on
the west side of State St. opposite Green. Peak production was less than 500
bbls. annually. Owned by Frederick S.
Risoff (1890-1893), Bochardt & Edward Birk (1893-1898), Edward Birk
(1898-1899), Andrew Schlosser (1899), Veit Nirmeier (1899-1914), and finally
named the State Street Brewery in 1914 or 1915. |
Modern Era
| Silver Creek Brewing Company
1999 - 2001

|
Jeff
Compton and Michael Borchers bought
Tucker Brewing Company
in 1999. Moved Tucker's equipment to a new location in Sellersburg. They
continued to use the Tucker brand name.Silver Creek bought the Oldenberg Brewery in Ft. Mitchell, KY, in
Sept 1999 after it declared bankruptcy. It continued the operations at
Oldenberg until April, 2000.
They sold the Tucker equipment to New
Albanian Brewing Company where Borchers became the brewer. |
|
New Albanian Brewing Company
2002 - Present |
Brewpub attached to Sportstime Pizza (1987), an
ex-Noble Roman's, and Rich O's Public House (1990). Founded by Roger and Amy
BaylorUses the brewing system from
Silver Creek Brewing Company / Tucker Brewing Company (below). The first
brewer, Michael Borchers also brewed at Silver Creek Brewing Co.
more info |
Copyright 2004, 2006, Bob
Ostrander
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