Cumberland Brewing Company

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The Cumberland Brewing Company is a former American brewery in Cumberland . The company was founded in 1877 and closed in 1969 .

history

In 1849 Michael Fesenmeier, born in Württemberg , emigrated to the USA, where he settled in Huntington and ran a farm. In addition to farming, Fesenmeier also ran a small brewery. As the demand for Fesenmeier's beer grew, he decided in 1877 to open a new brewery in Lindnersville near the city of Cumberland in the neighboring state of Maryland . In the year it was founded, the brewery produced around 279 barrels of beer.

At the end of the 1870s, Fesenmeier's sons Michael L., John J. and Andrew took over the management of the brewery. He himself and his fourth son, George, looked after the Huntington farm. However, son Michael left the family business shortly afterwards when he was offered a job at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis . In 1888 the Fesenmeiers started producing lager beer .

In 1889, after only one year at Anheuser-Busch, Michael L. returned to Cumberland to buy the Cumberland Brewery from his father with a group of investors and his brother Andrew. On January 1, 1890, the company was officially registered as the Cumberland Brewing Company of Allegany County, Maryland : investor James Clark became president, Andrew and Michael L. Fesenmeier became the first master brewers. In order to increase the production volume and henceforth to specialize more in lager, the old brewery complex was closed and the Cumberland Cotton Mill was converted into a modern brewery. Up until 1891, 22,000 barrels were brewed here annually. Company founder Michael Fesenmeier died two years later.

In 1899, the Fesenmeiers and their brother-in-law John Kearney bought the old American Brewing Company in Central City, near Huntington. John J. Fesenmeier and John Kearney took over the management of this brewery. This brewery operated from then on under the name West Virginia Brewing Company . John Fesenmeier became the brewmaster of the same. The brothers Michael, Andrew and George stayed in Maryland.

From 1896 to 1912, the production volume grew with the constant expansion of the brewery in Cumberland: piece by piece, new facilities and buildings were added to the complex.

With the beginning of Prohibition , the brewery operations of the Cumberland Brewing Company and the West Virginia Brewing Company ceased. Shortly before, the West Virginia Brewing Company's facilities had been relocated to Cumberland. After the death of John J. Fesenmeier, his brother Michael L. Fesenmeier, master brewer in Cumberland, took care of the operation of the brewery in Huntington, which had been converted into a packaging company, during Prohibition. Andrew Fesenmeier, second master brewer in Cumberland, also died during Prohibition.

With the end of Prohibition, Michael L. Fesenmeier returned to Cumberland and became President of the Cumberland Brewing Company on March 25, 1933. He died a year later, on July 28, 1934.

Both family breweries, in Cumberland and Huntington, struggled with the restrictive local and state laws on alcohol consumption, which differed in the adjoining states, despite the end of Prohibition. Kentucky and Ohio allowed beer to be sold with full alcohol content, while West Virginia only allowed low-alcohol beer. In addition, some counties in Kentucky decided to stop the sale of alcoholic beverages despite the end of Prohibition ("dry counties"). Residents of these counties had to cross the state line into Ohio to buy Fesenmeier beer.

The Cumberland Brewing Company operated as an independent brewery until 1958 when it was acquired by the Queen City Brewing Company , also a Cumberland-based brewery. However, they continued their brewing operations independently of the Queen City Brewing Company. It continued to have a presence in the West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, Cumberland and Baltimore markets. In May 1961, the Cumberland Brewing Company began producing various lemonades under the "Carousel" brand in addition to beer.

The Cumberland Brewing Company closed in April 1969. Their brands were added to the portfolio of Queen City Brewing Company and most of the brewery complex was demolished. The Queen City Brewing Company in turn was acquired by the Iron City Brewing Company in the 1970s .

The brewery in Huntington, which in the meantime traded as Fesenmeier Brewing Company , fared no better: Although it retained its independence, it too had to bow to the competitive pressure built up by nationally operating companies. She closed in 1971.

In November 2014, a microbrewery of the same name was founded in Cumberland.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Comox Valley Echo: Craft brewery and lounge opening in Cumberland ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 20, 2014  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.comoxvalleyecho.com