Category:Neuweiler Brewery

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<nowiki>Neuweiler Brewery; brewery in Pennsylvania, United States of America</nowiki>
Neuweiler Brewery 
brewery in Pennsylvania, United States of America
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LocationPennsylvania
Heritage designation
Map40° 36′ 39.96″ N, 75° 27′ 29.16″ W
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Wikidata Q7003226
NRHP reference number: 80003554
LoC HABS/HAER/HALS place ID: pa1866
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The Neuweiler Brewery was the largest of the three major Allentown Breweries. It was also the youngest.

Benedict Nuding built the Germania Brewery at Seventh and Union streets, which opened in 1875 with a capacity of 4,000 barrels. Louis Neuweiler came to Allentown in 1891. Neuweiler hooked up with Benedict Nuding, and they traded under the name of Nuding-Neuweiler Brewing Company. The capacity was increased to 20,000 barrels a year.

In 1900, Neuweiler bought out Nuding and it became the Neuweiler Brewery. In 1906, he took his oldest son, Charles, into the business that became L.F. Neuweiler & Son. The Seventh Street location was too small for expansion, so in 1911 the Neuweilers purchased 4.5 acres at Front and Gordon streets. It got its water from an underground lake 900 feet below. Neuweiler opened at this location on April 28, 1913. That day, son Louis P. entered the business and its name became Louis F. Neuweiler & Sons, a name it would retain until 1965. Neuweiler's truly was a family operation. Charles Neuweiler sometimes drove the horse-drawn wagon to Bethlehem loaded with barrels. The women in the family kept the books.

On February 25, 1919, Pennsylvania ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, which made the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol illegal. During Prohibition, Neuweiler was forced to shut down the production of beer and to destroy what it had in its beer vault. In 1923, Neuweiler began to produce "Purity", a "Near Beer" that contained less than 1/2 of 1% alchohol. Over the next few years, it produced other near beers named Port-R, Frontenac Pale and later Canadian Pale. In December 1929, Louis F. Neuweiler passed, and the company was taken over by his son, Louis P. Neuweiler. In the early 1930s, Charles Neuweiler turned down an offer to buy the brewery for $500,000 from gangster/bootlegger Arthur Flegenheimer, aka Dutch Schultz. According to son Theodore Neuweiler, his father said, "We have always made honest beer," and ordered Schultz off the property.

On April 7, 1933 as a result of the Cullen-Harrison Act, low alchohol beer, no more than 3.2% alchohol was allowed to be brewed and sold, and the near beers were discontinued. Initially Neuweiler Capuziner Beer was made available, and as production ramped up, Neuweiler Cream Ale began to be produced in a 3.2% alchohol strenth. Full repeal of the Volstead Act and the Eighteenth Amendment took place in December 1933, and the return of normal-strength 5% to 7% alchohol beer was sold beginning in 1934 which allowed the stronger Neuweiler Bock Beer along with Neuweiler Port to be re-introduced. At first, the post-Prohibition years were good for Neuweiler's. Its slogan "nix besser," none better, was shared across the community and a wide variety of beers and ports were produced and sold. But by the early 1960s it found itself trapped between the growing market share of the beer giants of the Midwest and the growing preference for its lighter product.

On August 25th, 1967, the Neuweiler Brewery filed for bankruptcy protection and attempted reorganization under a trustee. The brewery operation continued, although staff was considerably reduced. On May 31, 1968, the brewery was ordered shut down in bankruptcy court, and Neuweiler's closed its doors for the last time, $800,000 in debt. During the next year, there were several attempts to sell the brewery intact so production could resume, but those came to naught. Finally the building was sold for storage, and during 1970 and 1971 the various brew-making equipment was sold off leaving an empty shell of a structure.

Today, the entire complex remains in a deteriorating state, abandoned for decades.

Operated as:

  • Benedict Nuding, Germania Brewery, 1875-1891
  • Nudig Brewing Company, 1891-1905
  • Louis F. Neuweiler & Son, 1905-1913
  • Louis F. Neuweiler & Sons, 1913-1925
    • Brewery operations shut down during Prohibition in 1920, production of non-alcoholic beer began in 1923 and continued until 1933.
  • Louis F Neuweiler's Sons, 1925-1965
  • Neuweiler Brewing Corporation, 1965-1968

Subcategories

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Media in category "Neuweiler Brewery"

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