Du Bois Brewing Company

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The Du Bois Brewing Company is a former American brewery in DuBois . The company was founded in 1897 and closed in 1972 . The Du Bois Brewing Company was one of the few breweries in the USA that never came under suspicion of violating prohibition laws.

history

The German emigrant and brewer Frank Hahne moved to DuBois in 1896 to set up a brewery. Although there was initially local opposition to his plans, an agreement was reached between Hahne and the DuBois Chamber of Commerce. The following year, the Du Bois Brewing Company was founded on South Main Street. The architect responsible for the construction was AD Orner. The brewery complex included a brewery, power station, ice house, office building and a boiler house. The larger of the two chimneys of the brewery was long considered a symbol of the city. One of the main reasons for DuBois' choice of location was the high water quality: In order to protect it from pollution, Hahne bought almost nine square kilometers of the area that surrounded the local water reservoir.

The brewery had a brew kettle in which up to 300 barrels of beer could be brewed at once - a relatively large amount for the time and company age. Since one was confronted with supraregional demand early on, some train wagons of the Buffalo, Rochester, & Pittsburgh Railway Company were bought in 1899. In 1905 four products were offered: Hahnes Export, Du Bois Würzburger, Du Bois Budweiser and Hahnes Porter. Due to the brewery's continued growth, branch offices were established in Buffalo and Newark , but the headquarters were still in DuBois.

At the height of its success, the company had to prepare for the beginning of Prohibition. Like many other breweries, the workforce was reduced and the production of low-alcohol beer ("near beer") and soft drinks kept in the market. As a second pillar, the H&G Ice Company, an industrial manufacturer of ice cream, was founded in the immediate vicinity of the brewery. The company's founder died in 1932: his son, Frank Hahne Jr., took over the management of the brewery and his daughter Maria became vice-president.

Since the Du Bois Brewing Company was one of the few breweries in the USA that was never suspected of disregarding the prohibition laws, it was given license number G-2, which enabled it to resume brewing immediately after the end of prohibition . Within a short period of time, the small workforce who ran the brewery during Prohibition increased from 20 to 108. On the day brewing resumed, the company had orders for three million bottles of beer.

In 1967, Frank Hahne Jr. sold the brewery to Pittsburgh Brewing Company for $ 1 million after his only child and potential heir passed away. The brewery remained in operation for five years under the terms of the sales contract before it closed in May 1972. At that time the company employed around 100 people.

After the brewery closed, the site was used by various companies. Most of the brewery complex was demolished in 2003, including the chimney that characterizes the cityscape.

Legal dispute with Anheuser-Busch

The use of the brand name "Budweiser" caused a long-running legal battle between the Du Bois Brewing Company and Anheuser-Busch , who claimed the name for themselves. The Du Bois Brewing Company was of the opinion that Budweiser is not a brand name but refers to the Budweiser brewery in the Czech Republic.

The first lawsuit was filed in 1908, but was withdrawn the following year due to the deteriorating health of the Anheuser-Busch company founder, Adolphus Busch .

In 1940 Anheuser-Busch sued again. The case went through several courts, but the Du Bois Brewing Company emerged victorious after several years.

It wasn't until October 31, 1970, 65 years after the brand was launched, that Du Bois Brewing Company was banned from using the name. In compensation, the new owner, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, was paid $ 1 million in compensation.

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