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Category:Horlacher Brewery

Horlacher Brewery was the second-oldest of Allentown's major brewers.

The brewery was started in 1866 by James Wise at Fourth and Hamilton Streets. His brewery was known as the Allentown Brewing Company. Fred Horlacher took over the business in 1882. Horlacher's son, Frederick, moved the business to North Third and Gordon Street in 1902 and renamed it Horlacher. Horlacher was popular for its Nine Months Old "Perfection Beer" ale, specially aged to withstand long-distance deliveries, and its Nine Months Old lager. It also made and bottled porter, sarsaparilla and mineral waters.

On February 25, 1919, Pennsylvania ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, which made the production, transportation, and sale of alcohol illegal. During Prohibition, Horlacher was forced to shut down the production of beer and to destroy what it had in its beer vault. In the immediate years of Prohibition, Horlacher struggled for survival and at first made near-beer, a beverage with 1/2 of 1% alchohol content called a "Cereal Beverage". Later it manufactured a line of soft drinks known as "Pure-Ox". In April 1933, the Cullen-Harrision act allowed Horlacher and other breweries to begin brewing 3.2% alchohol beer. In December 1933, the 21st Amendment passed which repealed Prohibition and the 3.2 beer production ended and beer with normal alchohol levels was again brewed.

Starting in the 1950s, along with its own brands of beer, Horlacher produced beers for various supermarket chains and other labels under license. For a while in the early 1960s, it produced "Patio Beer" for Hess Brothers, which was sold in its Patio Restraunt" Beginning in the early 1970s, some higher-alcohol beers were produced which were trendy at the time, also the brewery would return to its past and produce some vintage beers from its past on a limited basis.

However, these innovations failed to stop the trend of buyers of national beer chains and Horlacher closed its doors in 1978 along with decline of other local breweries. It was the last of the major breweries to go out of business in Allentown

Operated as:

  • Allentown Brewing Company, 1866-1902
  • Horlacher Brewing Company, 1902-1921
  • The Horlacher Company, 1921-1933
    • Brewery operations shut down during Prohibition in 1920. Issued permit for non-alcoholic beverages began in 1923 and continued until 1933.
  • Horlacher Brewing Company, 1933-1978

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