Home  

  Breweries     Calendar of Events     What's On Tap     News     Articles     Links     Contacts

Overview     

Northern Indiana      Central Indiana      Southern Indiana

 South Bend      Fort Wayne      Terre Haute      Indianapolis      Evansville

   


A Brief History of Brewing in Northern Indiana

Also see Fort Wayne and South Bend.

Argos

Argos Brewery

~1873~


"The Argos Brewery is for sale. Eidson and Osborn are endeavoring to purchase it. They mean business." - Rochester Union Spy, March 6, 1873

Columbia City

Eagle Brewery, Schaper & Son, Proprietors

???? - 1879


Walter & Raupfer

1879-1893

Walter-Raupfer Brewing Company

1893 - 1916

(photo courtesy
Bruce Mobley)


"Benjamin Raupfer was born in Baden, Germany, November 3, 1838, was reared and received a good education in his native town. His father, Peter Raupfer, died in 1851, and that fall our subject went to Switzerland and engaged in teaming and selling silks and other goods, continuing thereat until 1865, when he embarked at Havre de Grace on the English ship "Belonia," bound for New York.

After a stormy voyage of twenty-two days, he arrived in safety at his destination and soon after cause to Columbia City, and took charge of an engine, which he ran for three years. He then opened a saloon, which he managed until 1879, when, in partnership with Fred Walter, he purchased the "Eagle" beer brewery, which the new firm enlarged and remodeled, and converted into one of the finest in the country, giving it a capacity of 6,000 barrels per annum, and the product is pronounced to be the best in Northern Indiana.

In 1869, November 9, he married Mary Myers, who has borne him two children, Joseph and William, and the family are highly respected. - History of Whitley and Noble Counties, Indiana Written by Weston A. Goodspeed and Charles Blanchard, published in 1882.

It's possible the Eagle Brewery was owned by Gabriel Moser and produced about 115 bbls annually.


"Benjamin Raupfer was born in Baden, 'Germany, November 3, 1838. His father, Peter Raupfer, died in 1851, when the boy went over to Switzerland and worked at the teaming and selling silks until 1865, when he embarked for the New \Vorld at Havre-de-Grace, in the English ship "Be- lonia." After a stormy voyage of twenty- two days he arrived safely at New York.

He soon after located at Columbia City and ran an engine for three years. He then opened a saloon, which he ran till 1879. He then, with Ford Walter, of Mansfield, Ohio, bought the Eagle Brewery in Columbia City. and at once put life, ability and business tact into the concern and transformed it from a languishing and low rate institution to one of the best of its kind in the country. In September, 1889. Mr. Walter sold his interest to Mr. Raupfer and his brother-in- law, Anton Meyer, who still runs it and holds it in the front rank, fully competing with the large breweries of the cities. It has a capacity of nine thousand barrels per annum. - History of Whitley County, Indiana By Samuel P. Kaler, Richard H. Maring.  1907

The brewery was on Whitley St. near the Blue River.

They bottled beer in amber and green quart bottles and in 12oz electric blue bottles.

William H Morsches, a native of the Rhine area of Germany, became the brewmaster in 1871.


"The brewery property of Messrs. Raupfer and Walter, on the banks of Blue River, is probably one of the most extensive of its kind in Northern Indiana. It is now in the very best of shape, ably managed and is turning out kegs of foaming beer that is said by the followers of Gambrinus to be of the very best quality." - History of Whitley and Noble Counties, Indiana, Weston A. Goodspeed and Charles Blanchard, 1882

Anton Meyer joined the company in 1889 (or 1890) when Walter sold his interest.

George Olueckert (Glueckert?) was the head brewer for many years during the 1910s.


"Jacob Portman, junk and feed dealer of this city, has for a private consideration. purchased the buildings of the Walter-Raupfer brewery, which closed down some time ago. The realty included in the deal, and the buildings six in number, are the brewery building which will be converted into cold storage, with its several miles of pipes: the ice plant, which will be refitted to manufacture ice for the public: the bottling works, which will be dismantled to make room for a coal yard: a malt house, barn an the office buildings. The buildings and realty were owned by the heirs of the late Benjamin Raupfer of this city and the heirs of the late Anton Meyer who now reside in Fort Wayne." - Fort Wayne News, April 5, 1917

Strausser Brewing Company

Before 1882 - probably 1887

William H Morsches, an immigrant from the Rhine area of Germany, moved to Chicago in 1868 where he became a brewer. He moved to Columbia City and became the brewmaster at Walter-Raupfer in 1871.

He later moved to the Strausser Brewing Company and purchased it in 1882. He closed that brewery in about 1888. We have no direct evidence that Strausser was in Indiana.

Crown Point

Krost & Horst John Krost and Joseph Horst had a small brewery in Crown Point that closed about 1873. It produced about 550 bbls at peak.
Julius Korn

Until about 1875

Korn & Berg

~1875 - ~1880

Berg & Berg

~1880 - ~1884

Berg Bros. & Co.

~1884 - 1894

Crown Brewing Company

1894 - After 1910


(photo courtesy
Bruce Mobley)

We've found no concrete information, but it seems to have been started after the Civil War at what is now Pratt & Goldsboro Rds. There is a record of it being in business about 1876.

They made an near beer called Tang during prohibition with the motto "The Most Palatable Cereal Beverage on the Market. With a Taste and Flavor That Satisfies."

They had problems with run-off into a local ditch and some say this is why they closed.

August Koehle worked at Crown in 1876 and "eventually became foreman of the plant." He left in 1880 to open a saloon in Crown Point.

Crown Brewing grew quickly, going from about 1500 bbl capacity to 20,000 near the end.


"Crown Point, Ind - A beer war is on in this city between the Peter Hand brewery, of Chicago, the Valentine Blatz company, of Milwaukee, and the Crown Brewing company, of this city, owned by L. Sonnenschein Co of Chicago. Beer is a barrel, cheaper than the regular price. The Crown brewery people will give away their beer if forced to it by the opposition." - The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Aug 24, 1895

The Northwest Indiana Photo Gallery has more clues: "The Crown Brewing Company, incorporated in 1895, brewed and bottled beer at their location on West Goldsborough in Crown Point for 15 years. They moved to Hammond in 1910 partly due to an environmental problem caused by draining the hops into Beaver Dam Ditch. Part of the building is still standing."


(Photo courtesy of Margaret Stanley)

Crown Brewing Co.

2008 - Present

Started by Three Floyds' brewer, Jim Cibak. Crown is not technically a brewpub, rather a brewery with a tap room that also sells beer to a pizza restaurant adjacent.

Huntington

Boos & Phaler

1869 - 1890

Huntington Brewery

1890 - 1900

Started by Jacob Boos and George Phaler. Boos became the sole proprietor in 1869. In 1887 it made from 2,000 to 5,000 barrels annually depending on who's report you see.

Sold in 1890 to Carl Lang. The brewery burned on October 18, 1900 and was not rebuilt. At that time it was "one of the oldest breweries in the state" according to the Fort Wayne Sentinel.

Lang sold the brewery to Hoch and Knipp (below) for $45,000 but had to sue them to get the money after they paid him only $5,714.20.

(photo courtesy Bruce Mobley)

Hoch & Knipp

Huntington Brewing Co.

1901 - 1918

Founded by German immigrant Hoch who moved from the family brewery (Duluth Brewing and Malting Company) in Duluth, MN.

Another brother had founded Gierow & Hoch Brewery in Chilton, WI, in 1893.

The partner was William P. Knipp

After closing the brewery for a time in 1908 when the county went "dry", they reformed in Fort Wayne for a period and re-opened the Huntington brewing facility in 1911. Lager was shipped to Fort Wayne for "storage".


"According to an article in the Huntington News-Democrat evening, the Commercial club of this city has been seeking for some time to the Huntington Brewing Company to move to this city. This, denied by officials of the brewery who state that the question is the first thing they had regarding the project. The News-Democrat, after springing this declaration, goes on to say that Messrs. Hoch and Kneipp (sic), owners of the establishment, do not care to move from Huntington, despite the fact that that place is dry. Instead of moving, it is declared that they have purchased land west of this city Wabash railroad, where they will erect an immense modern cold storage plant. The plan is for the brewing company to manufacture its beer in Huntington and then ship it to the cold storage plant here. From this place it will be sent out to the different places where the customers live." - Fort Wayne News, Feb 12, 1910


"BREWERY MEN SENTENCED
Escape Jail Sentences, However, and Pay Fines

HUNTINGTON, Ind June 12  - Hoch and William P. Knipp, proprietors of the Huntington Brewery, today were sentenced to thirty days in jail each for illegal sale of liquor, though Judge S E Cook suspended the sentence on their showing that they employed a number of men about their plant who would be thrown out of employment if they were deprived of their liberty." - Indianapolis Star, June 13, 1911

During prohibition, the brewery was converted to the making of caffeine, tannin, soaps, and chemicals.

(photo courtesy Bruce Mobley)

The City Directory for Ft. Wayne, 1877, lists the Herberg Bros. Brewery. This is listed in The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 as J. & A. Herrberg with a capacity of 1500 bbls and closing about 1885.

There was a Yerman & Eisele that sold bottled beer. Don't know when except it was pre-prohibition.

There is some evidence that there was a Huntington Brewery in Goblesville about 7 miles north of Huntington.

Kendallville

W. Seifert & Co.

A.C.F. Wichmann

Henry C. Paul

1867 - about 1885


"Albert Christian F.(Friedrich) Wichmann, superintendent of brewery, came to America in 1849, with his parents, from Prussia, his native country. They located in Cincinnati, where our subject leaned the cabinet-maker's trade. After working at it there two and a half years, he came to Fort Wayne, where he pursued his calling about the same length of time. After a short period in Logansport, Ind., he returned to Fort Wayne and remained until January, 1864, when he came to Kendallville, engaging in the furniture trade until 1867. For several years, subsequent to this period, he worked at different things - principally book-keeping.

In 1877, he bought one-half interest in the brewery with William Seifert, which they conducted until the death of Seifert in September 1879, when Mr. Wichmann became the sole owner, and which he has conducted up to the present time, being now, by a subsequent change in proprietorship, manager for the owner, Henry C. Paul, of Fort Wayne. This brewery was built in 1867, by Louis Schwartzkopf and Geo. Aichele, subsequently becoming the property of Francis J. Beek, Seifert and Heinike, and the parties mentioned above." - Counties of LaGrange and Noble, Indiana, Historical and Biographical Illustrated, F.A. Battey & Co., publishers, 1882.

A. C. F. Wichmann is pictured above with his wife, Elizabeth. He was born in Lychen, Brandenburg.They had 9 children, all living to maturity. Son Hermann Wilhelm Theodor Wichmann worked at the brewery. At peak, production never exceeded 1,000 bbls per year.

John George Kratzer

1870s

The City Directory for Ft. Wayne, 1877, lists John G. Kratzer as a brewer. The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 lists J. Geo. Kratzer's brewery with a capacity of 115 bbls. that closed about 1875.
Joseph Becker

1850s


East Lake Brewing Co.

Not a brewery

Joseph Becker, a German immigrant, had a brewery was on the west side of Bixler Lake (possibly at 920 Minor St.). They cut ice from the lake.


"KENDALLVILLE, Ind., May - East Lake Brewing company, the distributing agency for the Berghoff Brewing company, of Fort Wayne, has operations two weeks ago. Net Drake notified his customers in this city that he would be unable to furnish them with the Berghoff beer on account of the other firms making such inroads on the Berghoff business that it was no longer profitable for him to handle it, and that they would have to get it direct. Joseph Becker, the former owner of the company, has served notice on Mr. Drake of the intention of foreclosing the same. The Berghoff company also holds a mortgage on the property but It Is not known what they will do in the matter." - Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - May 3, 1908

Kokomo

Half Moon Restaurant & Brewery

2007 - Present

A brewpub started by a native of Kokomo on the extreme south side of the City, along US31. The brewer is John Templet.

Brass Monkey Brewing Co.

2008 - 2009

Started by local homebrewer Andrew Lewis, it is located in the basement of the Sycamore Marketplace in downtown Kokomo. Using cut-open beer kegs as brewing vessels, his 10-gallon batches make the Brass Monkey the smallest licensed brewery in Indiana.

All sales are through the bar in the Marketplace.

Because of the small brew run Brass Monkey quickly became known for non-traditional beers that change frequently.

Brass Monkey closed overnight when the Sycamore Marketplace food court closed.

La Porte

Nicholas Bader Brewery

Puissant & Dick

J. W. Russert

Crystal Spring Brewery

Guenther and Zwereck

1856 - 1918

First known as Nicholas Bader Brewery.
Sold to J. B. Puissant in about 1860. Capacity 850 bbl.
Sold to Dick & Klaiber in about 1875. Capacity 2,000 bbl.
Becomes Puissant & Dick in 1880.
Sold to John W. Russert in 1887. Capacity 5,000 bbl.
Sold to Guenther Bros. in 1896. Capacity 7,000 bbl.
Becomes Guenther & Zerweck in 1911.
Closed at the start of Prohibition.

The 1890 La Porte city directory lists Crystal Spring Brewery located at the southwest corner of Lake & Tyler. John W. Russert, proprietor. Russert was a 38-year old immigrant from Germany who had just come to America.

Became the Guenther Bros., Crystal Spring Brewery aka Guenther Bros. Brewing Co. in 1896. Zerweck must have joined the firm as it was renamed Guenther and & Zerweck in 1911.

The Indiana Gold name was used by Evansville Brewing on their Sainsbury line of beers. There is no evidence that this is a continuation of the G & Z name.

Brick Road Brewery

Back Road Brewery

1996 - Present

Originally named the Brick Road Brewery but changed due to trademark problems.

Owner and Head Brewer: Charles Krcilek
Motto: Take a Back Road home

  

A brewery existed in La Porte before 1831 north of the courthouse in an area called "Ten Mile Strip". The town's streets weren't laid out until 1833.

Mathias Kreidler, an immigrant from Wittemburg, Germany, had a brewery in La Porte from 1869 - 1871.

G. Noll bottled Schlitz beer in La Porte in the 19th century. (below)

E. Lindstrom bottled Blatz beer in La Porte around the turn of the century.

(photos courtesy Bruce Mobley)
 


"The LaPorte agency for the justly celebrated Schlitz beer is one of the oldest agencies the company has, having been established in 1872 by Michael Noll, father of the present proprietor. For more than thirty years this product of Milwaukee's great brewery has stood the test of constant use in this vicinity and it has steadily grown in popularity and never failed in excellence. ... After assisting his father in the agency some years he engaged in the bottling business on his own account in 1887 and five years later assumed the wholesale business for this city and neighboring towns, in which he has built up and now enjoys a large trade in bulk and bottled beer. In 1892 he erected the commodious building now occupied by him at Washington and Clay streets. He has the exclusive agency for the Schlitz Milwaukee beer and supplies the saloon trade with bulk and bottled export beer, having also a very large family trade in bottled beer, which he delivers promptly as desired on telephone or other orders. The beverage he handles is reputed the world over for its purity and flavor and is a prime favorite for table and family use and in the general trade." - History of LaPorte County, Indiana, and its Townships, Towns and Cities, Jasper Packard, 1876

Then there is this passage about another bottling plant, C. W. Kipphut, who bottled Crystal Spring beers. It mentions Guenther Bros. which came into existence in 1896 but this history was written in 1876. Historical research can be both frustrating and fun but we have no answer for this conundrum.


"The consumers of beer in La Porte who have used the product of Guenther Bros'. Crystal Spring Brewery have never been disappointed in its quality as a palatable and healthful beverage, and those who have relied on C. W. Kipphut to serve them with this brew have never had their confidence misplaced. At his bottling works at 509 Main street, phone 360, he has it in pints and quarts and delivers it promptly in any part of the city in bottles of either size. He handles the Guenther product exclusively and has a large and growing family trade for the Excelsior brand. ... Mr. Kipphut has had long experience in the business in which he is engaged, having been seven years under John C. Wilhelm for the Cream City Brewery and three years for himself in his present establishment." - History of LaPorte County, Indiana, and its Townships, Towns and Cities, Jasper Packard, 1876

The Cream City Brewery mentioned may be an establishment in Milwaukee.

Logansport

Logansport Brewing Company

1866 - 1894

Columbia Brewing Company

1894 - near prohibition

K.G. Schmidt Brewing

1935 - 1951

(photo courtesy Bruce Mobley)

August Frost founded this brewery in 1866 on the north side of High St, west of Fifth. He sold it some years later to John Hurbner who sold it to John Mutcheler who renamed it the Logansport Brewing Company. Eugene Prager was the president and manager in 1890. The Binz family seems to have been in charge later.

The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 lists the owners as:

August Frost
Sold about 1870 to Jacob Klein. Capacity 650 bbls.
Sold about 1875 to John Mutschler. Capacity less than 500 bbls.
Became Logansport Brewing Co. in 1889. Capacity 10,000 bbls.
Became Columbia Brewing Co. in 1894. Capacity 12,000 bbls.

According to the Logansport Weekly Pharos, Logansport Brewing was sold in 1894 to Ferdinand Krebs; Mrs. Binz three sons Frank, August, and William; and George Schmidt. In September of 1894, August Binz resigned as bookkeeper.

John G. Kelp was the first manager of the Columbia Brewing Company when it was re-formed in 1894. By 1913 it had been greatly enlarged with an ice plant, 45 employees, and produced 25,000 barrels of beer that year.


"WON HER CASE ONLY TO DIE
"

"Mrs. Bertha Kelp, wife of John G. Kelp, head of the Columbia Brewing Co., died suddenly Friday morning about 3:45 o’clock at her home 623 Miami avenue, Logansport, aged 51 years. The news of her death came as a great shock to many people, as they did not know she was ill. Mrs. Kelp had been ailing for some time, but she was not forced to her bed until Monday. She had been suffering with typhoid fever and death was the result of a sudden change for the worse, which is peculiar of the disease.

"- - - at Winamac Thursday at midnight when she was given judgment against the Chicago & Erie Railroad Company for personal injuries sustained in the auto smash-up near Rochester, Aug. 12, 1910. The ink on the court docket was only dry about three and one-half hours when Mrs. Kelp passed away. - - - She was awarded a verdict of $5,000, but the attorneys for the railroad company asked for a new trial. Thursday the arguments were made and the presiding judge overruled the motion, signing the docket at the close, which was midnight Thursday." - Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, March 16, 1912.

The K. G. Schmidt Brewing company of Chicago was owned from the 1860s until prohibition by the Schmidt family, Kaspar and his son George K.

George was appointed City Controller of Chicago in 1928 but when he lost the mayoral election against "Big Bill" Thompson in the 1932s he moved to Logansport. During prohibition he refurbished the closed Logansport Brewery and, in 1935, re-opened it as the K.G. Schmidt brewery with his sons G.K. Junior (secretary) and Ernst (vice president).

George K. died in 1939

It was located at 412-426 High Street.

This division went bankrupt around 1950. The ensuing court case involved Schlitz Brewing and wasn't settled until after 1978.

Also see The Hunt for G. K. Schmidt if you're interested in duck decoys.

Other, older breweries


"BREWERY INDUSTRY OF THE PAST
Probably the first brewery erected in Logansport was built in 1847-8 by Jacob Kline, near the northeast corner of Ninth and Erie avenue. This was only a small affair however, and a few years later he removed his establishment to the north bank of the Wabash river, between Second and Third streets, where he continued in business until about 1865, when he abandoned the old plant and erected a much larger brewery on the hill on Fifteenth street, north of the canal, now Erie avenue. This was successfully operated until in the seventies, when it was abandoned and later the building torn down.

Charles Luy, about 1855, started a brewery on Columbia street, west of North Sixth street. He also built a large brick residence just west of the brewery, now known as the Borges property. Mrs. Borges, being his only child, occupied this house for many years and until her death. Mr. Luy soon after sold out his brewery to Gotleib Schaefer and Frederick Markert, who soon found it was not a paying investment and it passed into "innocuous desuetude." - History of Cass County Indiana, 1913

The United Brewery Workers Union No 78 was organized in Logansport in 1892.

Michigan City

Kimball

1840s?

According to Carter H. Manny Jr, his great-great grandfather, Christian F. Kimball, had a small brewery at the foot of 7th St on the north side of Michigan St. This was possibly in the 1840s. His older sons operated the brewery.
P.H. Zorn Brewing Company

1871 - 1935

Dunes Brewery

1935 - 1938


(photo courtesy Bruce Mobley)

Philip Zorn Jr., an immigrant from Wuerzburg, Bavaria, was the manager of the Busch & Brandt Brewery, Chicago (Blue Island, IL), in the 1850s until 1871. He moved to Michigan city and established his own brewery in 1871 and it passed to his son, Robert Zorn, who's house is open to the public at 225 E. 9th St. Philip also was a councilman and founder of the Citizens Bank of Michigan City.

The brewery was on Michigan Blvd (now US 35) between 8th and 9th Streets. There was a spring-fed well in the building that supplied brewery water.

Philip's second son, Charles, worked in the brewery also. Philip Zorn Sr. was a brewer in Germany until his death in 1849.

Robert Zorn sold the business sometime before 1919.

Made between 10,000 and 15,000 bbls annually. Made soda pop during prohibition.

The Zorn Brewing Company morphed into the Dunes Brewery after Prohibition making Pilsenzorn, Grain State, and Golden Grain brands. This may have been influenced by a court action against the Zorn Brewing Company in Sept, 1935 on the charge of selling to unlicensed companies.

The office building and some of the brewery were transformed into office spaces and are now abandoned. Note the modern skylight on the roof.

The building now occupied by Weidner's Tavern, on West 9th St. was once the stables.

Duneland Brewhouse

1997 - 2004

Brewpub in an ex-Sambo's Restaurant building that became a Rock Lobster and then Duneland.

In 2004, the owners sold the building to Texas Corral and the brewing ended on October 3, 2004.

Shoreline Brewery & Restaurant

2005 - present

Brewpub in downtown Michigan City. Opened by Sam Strupeck, previously the brewer at Aberdeen in Valparaiso.

Mishawaka

John Wagner

1839 - ????
1849 - 1868

C. Dick & Bro.

1870 - 1875

Dick & Kamm

1875 - 1880


Kamm & Schellinger Brewing Company

1880 - 1918


Kamm's Brewery

1933 - 1951

John Wagner founded some say a distillery, others say a brewery, in 1839. After a few years the site was converted into a furniture factory and Wagner moved to Illinois. He returned to Mishawaka and started another brewery which he ran from 1849 until 1868. He sold it at that time and retired.

Bought by Clemens Dick in 1870 and renamed C. Dick & Bro.

Purchased by an immigrant from Wurtemberg, Germany, Adolph Kamm, and Clemens Dick in 1870. Kamm had been a brewer in Delphos and Toledo, Ohio and in Fort Wayne.

Renamed when Kamm's brother-in-law, Nicholas Schellinger, also from Wurtemberg, bought Mr. Dick's interest in 1880. It was incorporated in 1883 with a captal of $65,000.

The brewery complex had it's own maltings, cooperage, and charcoal production (for filtering). A 723ft deep well was drilled in 1906 but usable water was not found. Water continued to be obtained from the St. Joseph River.

The brewmaster around the turn of the century was a German immigrant named Frederick Trippel.

K&S's brands before Prohibition included Pilsner Light, Export Dark, Standard, Special, and Copper Full Bodied Beer. The motto was "Challenge the World".

In 1907 it is reported that they brewed 33,000 barrels of beer.

During prohibition they made soft drinks and distilled water.

In 1927 the Schellinger family left the company.

Kamms is reputed to be the first in Indiana to brew after prohibition.

By 1950 it had a 300bbl brewing size with an annual capacity of 280,000 bbl. C. J. Kamm was the owner.

Closed in 1951 after a fire in 1950. The facility is still standing and is now a shopping center on the south bank of the St. Joseph River.

Post-Prohibition brands included Arrow, Export Dark, Premona, Bock, and Light.

more info - more info

The 1868 Mishawaka Business Directory lists two brewers: P. Poppendyck and John Waggoner; both on Vistula Blvd.

The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 lists a brewery owned by Louis H. Van Dinter which closed in 1900. It never made more than 500 bbls in any one year.

Mishawaka Brewing Company

1992 - Present

Founded by Tom & Barbara Schmidt. Tom Schmidt ran for mayor of South Bend in 2003. Tom's son Rick was the first brewer and his wife, Tami, the manager.

The original brewpub building at 3701 N Main was closed in Dec, 2008. Sales continue at their tap house, The Pub, at Grape and Cleveland Rds. Beer production was moved to an extension brewery they had already built in Elkhart.

Just Brew It

1997 - 2000

A brew on premises (BOP) where people could buy malt, hops, adjuncts, yeasts, and brew their beer in the store's equipment.

They also brewed specialty beers in small batches and provided custom labeling for weddings, anniversaries, etc.

In 1998 they moved to a larger location and opened a short-lived brewpub.

Owner: Jeff Nicholas.

Granite City Food and Brewery

2008 - Present

Brewpub. One of a chain based in Minnesota. Located in the University Park Mall at Grape Rd. and University Dr.

Munster

Three Floyds Brewing Company

1996 - Present

Founded by Michael Floyd and his sons, Nick and Simon.

Opened in Hammond but moved to Munster in 2000. Started as a regional brewery and added an on-site pub in 2005.

Peru

George Rettig & Son

Previous to the Civil War - 1865

Rettig & Cole

1865 - 1878

James O. Cole

1878 - 1905

Peru Brewery

1905 - closed by local option prohibition


(photo courtesy
Bruce Mobley)

James O. Cole was a gold prospector in California in the 1850's. He found enough to buy into the Rettig brewery and have a family fruit farm in South Peru (annexed by Peru in 1914).

The firm of Rettig & Cole is referenced in official documents in August 4, 1877 as owners of land that through which a ditch would pass. Production was large for the time at 6,940 bbls peak.


"Last Friday noon we made a little run over to Peru and returned in the evening. - - - On our drive we expected to take in Col. Sol. Hathaway, of Indianapolis, one of the rock-ribbed Hoosier newspaper men, but after putting himself outside of one of Bob Pelkey’s ten pound dinners it was thought unsafe to subject him to a shaking up behind Kratzer’s careering steeds. From the water works we drove across the river to Omer Cole’s (formerly Rettig’s) mammoth brewery, where it is said the purest and best beer in Indiana is manufactured."  The Rochester Sentinel, February 7, 1879

Franklin J. Blair was killed in an explosion at Cole's Brewery on July 18, 1885.

George Rettig is listed as having "interests in brewery, pork packing & real estate" in 1888 according to the book "Here We Live Over the Last Fifty Years", Peru and Miami County, 1885-1935 by Patricia Jones Settle.

The Cole Brewery was unionized by 1891 but that union disbanded that year. An effort to re-form the union was attempted in 1901.

There is reference to J.O. Cole being the proprietor of Peru Brewery in 1905. By this time production was up to 12,000 bbls annually.

The Cole brewing operation ended with prohibition. By that time the family had a traveling circus and also continued the Cole Bros. Natural Spring Water using the same spring that supplied the brewery.

Cole Porter, born 1891, was given his his mother's maiden name (J.O. Cole's daughter).

Others The 1886 Miami Business Gazette lists a Hinton & Co. as brewers and wholesale ice.
 


"Andrew Baldner once operated a brewery on Canal street, about a square east of Broadway, and at one time it was one of the prosperous business enterprises of Peru. Like the old water power woolen mill and the distillery, it has disappeared and scarcely a trace of these early industries remains to show where they stood. - History of Miami County, Indiana, 1914

Plymouth

John Hoham

~1858 - ~1885


"John Hoham, an old and honored citizen of Plymouth, was born in Alsace, Germany, in the city of Strasburg, June 17, 1820. In September, 1831, he left home and began working on a farm, and in 1840 came to the United States, landing in New York city after a voyage of fifty-six days. From that city he went to Lyons, N. Y., near which place he found employment on a farm at $100 a year, and after remaining there one year he found similar employment near the city of Buffalo, where, in addition to farm work, he was also engaged in the lumber business. He then came west, and in September, 1844, located in Marshall county, Ind., purchasing a farm of eighty acres in the old Indian reserve at Lake Maxinkuckee, in Union township. He was the first one to purchase real estate in that part of the county, and for one year lived entirely alone in the little log cabin which he had erected upon his land. In 1845 he was married to Mary Moller, a native of Germany, but living at that time in Fulton county, this state, where the marriage took place. He continued to reside on his farm for eight years, in which time he added to his original purchase, becoming the possessor of 160 acres of land. He disposed of his farm in 1852 and purchased a farm of 200 acres in West township, 125 acres of which he cleared and put in cultivation and resided upon the same for a period of about five years. During the years 1854-55 he was joined by his friends and relatives from the old country, his father and mother having died in Germany previous to that time. In October, 1857, he purchased three acres of land one mile southwest of Plymouth, to which he at once removed and upon which he erected the first brewery in Marshall county. He continued the brewing business and in connection with the same carried on farming and stock-raising quite extensively for a period of ten years, when he sold the brewery to his brother-in-law and partner, John Klinghammer, who continued the business, Mr. Hoham remaining possessor of the outside property." - History if Indiana, Special Edition for Marshall County, 1890

John Klinghammer was born in the Alsace region of France and emigrated to the U.S. By 1874 he was living in Plymouth and had a management roll in the Hoham family brewery, having married Magdalena Hochheim of the Hoham family.

Klinghammer's daughter, Mary, married Jacob Weckerle, a local saloon keeper, and he joined the business. It produced 1,585 bbls of beer at peak.

The Hoham Mansion (pictured) on Ind 17 on the southwest edge of Plymouth has a cellar dug in 1857  in the yard under 9 feet of dirt. Down there are two rooms, each 70 by 20 feet with high vaulted roofs and dirt floors. Brick vats in these rooms were made for storage of a lager beer made in this private brewery. These rooms were also reportedly used as part of the Underground Railroad.

Others We've seen an amber bottle, purportedly from the 1890's, for sale on eBay that is embossed "Henry Stien, Plymouth IND".

Rochester

Eidleman?

Haslett

???? - 1870?


"Dissolution Notice is hereby given that the partnership heretofore existing between John B. Eidleman and Geo W. Haslett, in the brewery business in Rochester, has, by mutual consent, been dissolved.... Either member of the late firm are authorized to settle." Rochester Standard, Januarv 6, 1870

Possibly this is the same person involved in this story:


"John Adleman, the brewer, and one of his employees, were arrested Saturday for stealing meat from Jake Rannels and chickens from James Elliott." Rochester Union Spy , January 12, 1872

Rochester Brewery

1873? - 1876

Metzler Brewery

1876 - at least 1886

This brewery may have had a gap in operations sometime between 1877 and 1879.


"We have trustworthy information to the effect that the Rochester Brewery is now making a first-rate article of beer." Rochester Union Spy, Thursday, Julv 24, 1873


"John B. Metzger (sic), of Wabash, has bought the old brewery at this place and having refitted it throughout will begin brewing beer next week." - Rochester Sentinel, November 4, 1876.

Metzler was also a pharmacist in town.


"The Rochester Brewery is now supplying its several customers with what is pronounced good beer at less than city rates. By all of the home trade patronizing the Rochester Brewery it is estimated that at least $10,000 will be kept within the borders of Fulton county." - Rochester Sentinel, Saturday, January 13, 1877


"Mr. Metzler, proprietor of the north end brewery has secured a good lot of thick ice from Lake Manitau." - The Rochester Sentinel, January 11, 1879

Lake Manitau is in Rochester, IN.


"The Rochester Brewery is in operation again turning out some fine beer." The Rochester Sentinel, August 2, 1879

A story is told in the Rochester News-Sentinel about people stopping at the Metzler Brewery in 1886 (located in a triangular plot north of the Erie Railroad tracks and between them and Monticello road, west of Main Street).

There are also 3 distilleries listed in Rochester around 1900, George Harlan and Co., Metzler Brewery, and S. Wagoner & Co.

Valparaiso

George Hiller The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 lists a brewery owned by George Hiller that closed circa 1885. It had about 1,000 bbl capacity.
Aberdeen Brewing Company

2000 - 2004

Brewpub. Opened May, 2000. Started by the Emig family of Lafayette Brewing Company. Purchased by Skip Bosak in 2002.

The lounge bar comes from a basement saloon in Hammond, Indiana and dates to the late 1800s.

The Aberdeen Brewing Company quit brewing in the summer of 2004. The brewing equipment went to the Mishawaka Brewery for a second plant in Elkhart.

The brewer, Sam Strupeck opened Shoreline Restaurant and Brewery in Michigan City in 2005.

Wabash

Phillip Alber This small brewery was run by Phillip Alber (below) before 1866.
F. A.  Rettig

1853 - 1866

Rettig & Alber

1866 - 1896

Wabash Brewing Company

1896 - 1909+


(photo courtesy Bruce Mobley)

Franz Anton Rettig, an immigrant from Neideringelheim or Hesse-Cassel, Germany, formed a partnership with Wintz Stanley in 1853. At least part of this business was a brewing concern located on the Rettig homestead.

Rettig & Alber was founded by Franz Rettig and his brother-in-law, Phillip Alber, an immigrant from Furstenhum, Lichtenstein.

Rettig was a brewer in Germany before emigrating and subsequently in Lititz, PA. He had previously been in a Wabash brewing business with Wintz Stanley, brewing in a shed behind the Rettig home.

Alber had also been a brewer in Wabash with a smaller brewery.


"Barbara Alber Foust remembers the brewery owned by her father Jacob: 'I can sure picture that dark, damp old cellar with the big casks and little electric lights on cords from the ceiling. It was a scarey place to go. Of course, we usually only went inside the big doors and to the left where the keg of beer was cold and so were the glasses. I never took out-of-the-family friends in there, but I liked a glass of beer.

'I can remember helping Papa once in a while to put labels on bottles. They were folded a certain way and placed on top of a wooden case which was painted with glue. I got so I could pick them up and put them on pretty quick-like.

'The kegs were washed on the ground floor outside on the wooden floor. The big cooking kettle was on the second level and we climbed the steep hill on the north of the building. There was a road going up there.' " - History of Wabash County, Indiana, 1976

This brewery reached 20,000 bbls annually. It was at 225 N. Cass St. and covered 2.5 acres. Rettig died in 1896 and Alber continued to run the brewery as the Wabash Brewing Company. Born in 1818, Alber was still active in the brewery in 1901 and died in 1906. Son, Jacob Alber continued the brewery after Phillip's death.

The building became the Wabash Packing Company. We could find no reference to a connection between Franz Rettig and George Rettig of Rettig & Cole in Peru.

In 1909 Albert Weber of Fort Wayne purchased the Wabash Brewing Company name and seemingly some facilities in order to sell beer in the dry Wabash County. At that time, beer produced in a dry county could be sold there if brought back into the county from a wet one. This plan was blocked by the Prosecutor in Wabash.


"GETS AROUND THE LAW
THE WABASH BREWERY SELLS THROUGH FORT WAYNE MAN.

People Wanting Home Beer Send Orders Here and Delivery is Then Made.

The recent decision of the supreme court, construing the Beardsley law as preventing Indiana breweries from retailing beer, hit the Wabash Brewery rather hard, but through a clever scheme, in which Albert Weber, of this city, acts as agent, the concern expects to still retain its large Wabash trade and not suffer at all as a consequence of this decision. Under the new plan Wabash parties are to give their orders to Mr. Weber, who is the proprietor of the Weber hotel here, and he, in turn, will deliver the goods in Wabash free of charge.

The plan has been broached to the Wabash customers of the company In the following advertisement Inserted in the newspapers there: Wabash Beer For Sale. Since the decision of the supreme court, holding that a brewery cannot sell to a customer, I am buying and will continue to buy beer of the manufacture of the Wabash Brewing company in bottles and cooperage. I am prepared to sell such beer at my licensed place of business at Fort Wayne to you if you should see fit to favor me with your orders which will have my attention. All goods will delivered to you In Wabash free of charge, for delivery. I Have employed Sam Snyder to solicit and collect for me In Wabash. Thanking you In advance for any favors, I beg to remain, Yours respectfully, ALBERT WEBER, Fort Wayne" - Fort Wayne News, Dec 21, 1909

In 1915 the Indiana State Board of Health approved Nectar Foam produced by the Wabash Brewing Co. as a legal Temperance Beer, having no alcohol. The company does not seem to have continued after Prohibition.

Others

???? It's known that a series of illicit breweries were set up in northwest Indiana to provide beer for the Torrio and Capone organizations in Chicago during prohibition. Not much is known about locations or dates.
Auburn A defunct brewery building on north Main St in Auburn was converted to a weaving factory in 1865.

The 1868 Business Directory for Indiana lists a Bender & Co. brewery in Auburn.

Bremen Hugo Wolff had a brewery of 1,000 bbl capacity that closed around 1885 according to The The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 - M. Friedrich & D. Bull
Decatur The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 lists two breweries that closed around 1875. It doesn't list company names but the owners were John Dozenbach and Theodore Roiver. Dozenbach's was quite small and Roiver's wasn't much bigger with a 550 bbl capacity.

The City Directory for Ft. Wayne, 1883, lists the Henry Meyer Brewery.

Hammond


"The former Hammond Brewing located at 548 State Street, West Hammond, has been sold by the Puro Products Co. to Frank Rossello ..." - Lake County Times, Aug 30, 1923.

This was probably built in 1909 and owned by an Illinois corporation. The brewery was seized by the Federal authorities in June, 1921 for selling beer of over 4% alcoholic content.


There seems to have been a Great Lakes Brewing Company near Hammond in 1935 through 1938. This might have been a distribution house.


The Three Floyds Brewing Company of Munster was originally set up in Hammond in 1996 but moved in 2000.

Ligonier The original Ligonier Brewing Co. went by the wayside before 1875.

Andrew Walder ran the brewery until 1892, producing about 1,000 bbls annually.

Drecther & Co. had it until 1896 when Charles Franke bought it. He closed it in 1899.

(photo courtesy Bruce Mobley)

New Haven The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 lists the Strasbourg Brewing Co. in New Haven with a capacity of under 500 bbls. Closed about 1905.

(photo courtesy Bruce Mobley)

Plymouth We've seen an amber bottle, purportedly from the 1890's, for sale on eBay that is embossed "Henry Stien, Plymouth IND".

The Hoham Mansion (pictured) on Ind 17 on the southwest edge of Plymouth has a cellar dug in 1857  in the yard under 9 feet of dirt. Down there are two rooms, each 70 by 20 feet with high vaulted roofs and dirt floors. Brick vats in these rooms were made for storage of a lager beer made in this private brewery. These rooms were also reportedly used as part of the Underground Railroad.
 


"John Hoham, an old and honored citizen of Plymouth, was born in Alsace, Germany, in the city of Strasburg, June 17, 1820. In September, 1831, he left home and began working on a farm, and in 1840 came to the United States, landing in New York city after a voyage of fifty-six days. From that city he went to Lyons, N. Y., near which place he found employment on a farm at $100 a year, and after remaining there one year he found similar employment near the city of Buffalo, where, in addition to farm work, he was also engaged in the lumber business. He then came west, and in September, 1844, located in Marshall county, Ind., purchasing a farm of eighty acres in the old Indian reserve at Lake Maxinkuckee, in Union township. He was the first one to purchase real estate in that part of the county, and for one year lived entirely alone in the little log cabin which he had erected upon his land. In 1845 he was married to Mary Moller, a native of Germany, but living at that time in Fulton county, this state, where the marriage took place. He continued to reside on his farm for eight years, in which time he added to his original purchase, becoming the possessor of 160 acres of land. He disposed of his farm in 1852 and purchased a farm of 200 acres in West township, 125 acres of which he cleared and put in cultivation and resided upon the same for a period of about five years. During the years 1854-55 he was joined by his friends and relatives from the old country, his father and mother having died in Germany previous to that time. In October, 1857, he purchased three acres of land one mile southwest of Plymouth, to which he at once removed and upon which he erected the first brewery in Marshall county. He continued the brewing business and in connection with the same carried on farming and stock-raising quite extensively for a period of ten years, when he sold the brewery to his brother-in-law and partner, John Klinghammer, who continued the business, Mr. Hoham remaining possessor of the outside property." - History if Indiana, Special Edition for Marshall County, 1890

John Klinghammer was born in the Alsace region of France and emigrated to the U.S. By 1874 he was living in Plymouth and had a management roll in the Hoham family brewery, having married Magdalena Hochheim of the Hoham family.

Klinghammer's daughter, Mary, married Jacob Weckerle, a local saloon keeper, and he joined the business. It produced 1,585 bbls of beer at peak.

Warsaw According to YesterYear In Print about Warsaw of 1862-1863 "A fanning mill, a brewery, and two foundries were in Warsaw about this time."

Lang & Randels built a brewery in Warsaw in 1864.

William Augustine had an ice house on North Lake Street from 1865 to 1869 as well as a brewery.


The Warsaw Daily Times of October 19, 1901 says "That old church edifice after the Warners left his county and settled in Iowa became the frame-work for the first brewery and the only one that Warsaw ever had." This does not describe what church or where it was located.


The Old Jail Museum in Warsaw has a "blob-top" bottle of Athrope beer bottled in that town sometime around 1910.

Waterloo A defunct frame brewery building, north of the creek in Waterloo was moved across the street and converted into a house in 1882.
Elkhart County Waterford Mills, south of Goshen on the Elkhart River was first settled in 1833 as Waterford, Indiana. By 1843, the family of Cephas Hawks operated a sawmill, woolen mill, a store, a tannery, an ashery, and a brewery. Filmmaker Howard Hawks is descended from this family.

In October, 1905, Frank Wickwire organized the Elkhart Brewing and Ice Company ($150,00 capital stock) with the object of building a brewery in Elkhart.


The Mishawaka Brewery (above) opened a brewing and bottling plant in Elkhart in 2006. It is located at 2414 Lowell St.

Lake County


"The Walker Burt Brewing Company are erecting their ice house and several sheds on Second Street next to the Michigan Central railroad tracks." - The Lake County Times - Fri, Dec 6, 1907

Starke County There seems to have been a Northern Brewing Company and a Lion Brewing Company. Possibly in Starke County.


"HADLEY, 0. J. On December 24, 1904, appellees Luken and Voght filed a complaint against appellant, John Hopp, and numerous other parties not named in this appeal, to quiet title to certain land in Starke county. ..... The cross-complaint of Hopp, upon which the judgment appealed from is based, shows that there is a cause of action still pending and existing between Hopp and Kasch, the Northern Brewing Company, and the Lion Brewing Company. These defendants have never been defaulted, have never answered, or pleaded in any way to said cross-complaint. ..... Appeal dismissed." - Lake County Times, Aug 30, 1923. - Reports of Cases Decided in the Appellate Court of the State of Indiana, 1910

A Lion Brewing Company may have opened in Jan, 1904 with $65,000 of capital stock.


A North Judson Brewery is referred to in Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900 by Timothy Horton Ball, 1900.

McCormicks Guide to Starke County by Chester A. McCormick, 1892 references the North Judson Brewing company.

The trade journal Ice and Refrigeration says the North Judson Brewing Co. bought a 15-ton Linde refrigerating mashing in 1897.

Wells County The Register of United States Breweries 1876-1976 lists a brewery in Vera Cruz owned by Samuel Gehring. Closed before 1875. Production was only 100 bbls annually.

Copyright 2004, 2006, Bob Ostrander