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.

Courtesy of Bube's Brewery

http://www.bubesbrewery.com/index.htm