Lehigh Valley

Brewery

Boston Beer Co's Lehigh Valley Brewery

Built by The

F&M Schaefer Brewing Co.

1972-1980

Stroh

1980-1999

Pabst

1999-2001

Diageo

2001-2008

Purchased by

The Boston Beer Company June, 2008, operated as

(below) F & M Schaefer tour booklet, circa late 1970's

[ABOVE] One of three lagering cellars with 2000 barrel capacity tanks and the bottling room

600,000 sq. ft. (14 acres) on 44 acres of property.

1972 capacity of 1.1 million barrels

Phase II expansion (1974) - 2.5m bbl

Final phase (1975) - 5m bbl

Estimated Schaefer cost (1970's) = $60 million

Peak Schaefer production around 3.5m barrels 1978 (Tenth largest US brewing company at the time).

Stroh's Capacity 1980-1990's = 4 / 3.5 million bbl.

Diageo price (2001) = $29.8 million

BBC price (2008) = $55 million (above) Fermenting cellar

BBC Capacity - approx. 2m bbl.

(below) brewhouse

as seen via Google Earth

(above) A Schaefer era postcard click for Google Earth views of the brewery

"The original owners, F & M Schaefer, made it something of a vanity project. They put a lot of money into the masonry, and a lot of little details. You can tell the brewery was designed by thoughtful lager brewers to make high-quality, consistent beers."

--- David Grinnell, VP of Brewing, Boston Beer Company Interviewed in Modern Brewery Age, Feb. 5. 2010

(below) local July 1972 newspaper photo

with the classic Schaefer logo sign and ad

Schaefer Brewing Process Diagram

Below - Stroh era - note their 1982 $30 million addition, to the left of the original brewhouse in artist's rendition, which added new kettles to allow "fire-brewing"

More photos of the brewery through the years, from local PA newspapers

1985 - Stroh continued Schaefer's tradition of offering free brewery tours.

Short-lived Pabst ownership era 1999-2001

(Above) The entrance of the brewery today & BBC's Gambrinus statue

from a series of photos on the PA MBAA website at

http://www.mbaa.com/Districts/Philadelphia/photos/2009_03_27BostonBeer/index.html

http://www.mbaa.com/Districts/Philadelphia/photos/2010_04_16Boston/index.htm

ABOVE PAGES NO LONGER ACCESSIBLE AT MBAA WEBSITE

Stroh's "fire brewing" brew kettles in 1995 and (below) under BBC ownership

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse