The oldest brewery in every state

Yeah, I believe that was after a change in ownership, when VV was purchased by the owner of The Chapter House (and another brewpub in Syracuse), James Clement, and became part of his Empire Brewing Co. He eventually changed the name of VV to Clements Brewing Co.

As for the beer - don't think I ever had it after the buyout (I'd been to the Chapter House as well, but likely before their brewpub era) but IIRC Michael Jackson gave the original Vernon Valley brewery a positive mention in one of his early books.

Wait a minute - I can probably find it.
From New World Guide to Beer © 1988

But good beer or bad beer, it still pre-date The Ship Inn (which I stopped going to a decade or more ago, since they always seemed to be out of my first and second choices...).

 

What's with the "What to drink"? I will drink what I want!!!

 

"Sorry, that just kicked. Would you like to try our Strawberry Asparagus Cream Ale, brewed with real cream?"

 

With a sprinkle of Nutmeg? Hand it over!

 

In MN it would be August Schell Brewing since 1860.
It is the oldest family owned brewery in the U.S.
Interestingly...The oldest family owned business in the U.S. is the Zildjian Cymbal Co.

 

Here are 4 young women who disagree with that claim (as would most people, including the Marti family).

 

I don't understand your claim.

 

Is it not pronounced Yingling?

 

Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the US, not MN.

 

Oops.

Hey, the Marti family is Schell Brewing and the statement made that it's the oldest family owned brewery in the US is incorrect.

 

Sorry. It's the 2nd oldest family owned brewery in the US next to Yuengling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Schell_Brewing_Company

 

I think the stumbling block word here is 'family owned'. I always knew Yuengling was the oldest brewery in the US still in operation, I just wasn't aware until now that it was family owned. I thought Schell's was the oldest family owned and I'm incorrect. Schell's is certainly not the 1st brewer from MN but they lay claim to be the oldest brewery still brewing in MN. Cheers!!

 

I will just say that I LOVED their Burton Ale!!

 

Here's the Heritage Oak in New Ulm. This tree on S. German St is where the layout for the town began. It's way older than Schell's brewery!

 

I've had a beer from most of those... Vinos? in Arkansas heard differing rumors, but not enough to drive to Little Rock & confirm or deny if they are still open.

 

I've always been curious about the claim for Willimantic in Connecticut. From what I've read, I don't think they actually started brewing their own beer for sale until they opened in the post office location in 1997 but I believe BAR in New Haven was already selling their own beers in 1996. Obviously some articles like this trace Willimantic to their very first deli location in 1991 or their second location in 1994, but even in that case BAR also first opened as nightclub in 1991.

I'm also not sure why New England Brewing never counts. Yes I get the ownership of the brand and location changed hands in 2001/2002, but Atlantic Amber for instance was still produced before and after that change.

 

Yes I also would have assumed the answer would be New England Brewing Company. Not sure why it isn’t?

 

Actually quite sad.

 

Yeah, it gets back to the (tired) old topic of what is a "Craft brewery" and what is "Craft beer". Sure, Anchor was unique in the period between Repeal and the first new craft brewery, New Albion. Its flagship beer was an unusual style (though it is not true that it was the only steam beer brewed after Prohibition) but up until Maytag bought into the brewery, it was adjunct-brewed and their "Dark" beer was simply made by adding caramel coloring to the regular Steam. So, was it a "craft" beer simply because of an unusual fermentation process using lager yeast?

And there were numerous small breweries and breweries that brewed relatively rare styles (stock ale, IPA, brown stout) and all-malt beers.

I think it's sort of ahistorical to start applying the "craft" term to US breweries other than Anchor that existed before the mid-1960s. I mean, we've seen Anheuser-Busch claim to have started as a "craft brewery" in the 1850s. Some current Yuengling promotion suggests that they started out as a "craft" brewery because their first beers were top-fermented common beer, ale and porter. Which, of course, wasn't too remarkable in 1829 in the US, since lager yeast had yet to make it across the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The topic of "What is Craft Beer?" is a very vexing matter.

Maybe the 'answer' is contained in the below article? Or maybe not?

https://www.morebeer.com/articles/What_Is_Craft_Beer

Cheers!