The Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League banded together, and in 1903, the Adams Law restricted production in most of the smaller counties in the state. THE FINEST BEERS MADE.”Įven as the brewing and distilling industries were flourishing, the temperance movement in Tennessee was gathering strength and pushing for the complete prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcohol. “Let’s have a ‘CHATT,’” reads one advertisement from 1895, “Imperial Pilsener, Magnolia, Zacherl-Brau. As fast as they grew and as much beer as they produced, demand was such that CBC struggled just to keep up with the thirst of the city. German style beers like the “Magnolia,” the “Faultless Lager,” and the “Muenchner” were sold at wholesalers and saloons throughout the city. “I want to do that someday … you know, just to honor the history.” “They had 12oz bottles and a 32oz that they called ‘Family Size,’” laughed Marcum. They were huge.”ĬBC started by selling beer in wooden barrels, but soon switched over to glass bottles, made at their very own glass plant. “Back then, if you wanted a beer in Chattanooga, you got it there. “They were selling about 150,000 barrels of beer a year in their heyday,” said modern day Chattanooga Brewing Company (CBC) co-founder Mark Marcum. Their facility took up an entire city block of Broad Street, and included a six-story brewing house. The original Chattanooga Brewing Company was founded in 1890 by George Rief, a German immigrant whose family ran the brewery for 25 years until they were finally forced to close under Prohibition. Right in the middle of this whiskey boom, beer brewing was simultaneously making its entrance. By 1886, distilling was the largest manufacturing industry in Tennessee. Between 18, over 30 distilleries operated in Chattanooga, and 98 liquor dealers were listed on public records. Betterton, appeared one after another on bustling Market Street. Whiskey makers like Deep Springs, Chatta Distillery, Star Liquor Co., and E. In the following decades, dozens of distilleries and distributors cropped up in the thriving railroad’n’river town. Kelly & Co., opened in Chattanooga, selling whiskey branded with such names as “Old Milford,” “Golden Age,” and “Mountain City Corn Shuck.” A whole hospitality industry developed in association with the railroad.” This hospitality industry, along with the expanding economy, created a ripe environment for saloons, distilleries, and breweries to thrive.īy 1866, the first recorded distillery and liquor dealer, J. “In the 1870s, the railroad grew to meet the demands of a new and diverse economy that included everything from textile factories to foundries. “Reconstruction began after the Battles for Chattanooga in 1863, as Union soldiers began to rebuild the city’s industries, which laid the foundation for post war industrialization,” explains Chattanooga historian Caroline Sunderland. Then came the American Civil War, which halted the city’s growth, followed by the South’s Reconstruction. When the Western and Atlantic Railroad put Chattanooga on the map in 1850, it set off a domino effect of industrial expansion, and for a few years, Chattanooga was a boom town. Historic bottles on display at the Tennessee Stillhouse, shot on location Yet, as craft brewing and distilling have made a resurgence in Chattanooga, local makers have also helped us rediscover our past. Sadly, this important piece of local history was forgotten with the passage of time. When Prohibition laws restricted the sale and production of alcohol in Tennessee, dozens of local bars, distilleries, and distributers shut down, and evidence of their existence was subsequently destroyed.
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