By the mid 1800's, German-style lager beer had become all the rage
among beer drinkers in America. Very different from the
English-style ales that predominated in the U.S. previously, lager
beer neccessitated a different brewing method. Those brewers
manufacturing lager beer in the 1850's often could not keep up with
demand and by the 1860's a brewery boom was underway. Literally
hundreds of breweries emerged all over the United States. Into this
brewing climate came a young German immigrant named Alois Bube. He
had been a brewing apprentice in his homeland. Alois secured a job
at, and in 1876 bought, a small brewery in Mount Joy, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania.
Bube's Brewery as it stands today is the result of Alois Bube's
life work. He expanded his small brewery several times and built a
Victorian hotel attached to his brewery to save his beer and
accommodate overnight guests. By the turn of the century, he had a
very successful business and his reputation as a good brewer and
decent businessman had spread far and wide.
Mr. Bube died suddenly in 1908 at age 57. He had built up enough
wealth that although his brewery closed just prior to Prohibition
in 1920, members of his family were able to live here until the
1960's, changing nothing and doing little things with the
buildings. As common as breweries similar to this one would have
been in the late 1800's, Bube's Brewery is the only one of the
hundreds of "lager era" breweries that still stands in almost
completely intact condition in the United States today. Restoration
of the complex began in 1968 and continues today.
A brewery of this era would have put most of its beer in barrels
and a shop maintaining them would have been an integral part of the
brewery. Bube's cooperage was referred to as the "Cooper's Shed"
and that is still its name today.