Birmingham Brewing Company (1889)

This article is about the 1890s business. For other uses, see Birmingham Brewing Company.

The Birmingham Brewing Company was a beer producer operating in Birmingham's Southside from 1889 to 1893.

The business was incorporated on May 27, 1889 by W. I. Rushton. The two brick brewery buildings were constructed for $100,000 at 22nd Street South between Avenue D and Avenue E. The brewery began producing in May 1890, using the Rochester vacuum fermenting process. The company sold its product through a network of brewery-owned saloons and through the Solomon & Levi wholesale company. Competition and economic conditions held the brewery's output to less than 8,000 barrels per year, about half their designed capacity of 15,000 barrels.

A business depression affected the brewery in 1891. Another depression, triggered by a coal miners strike in 1893, forced the company into bankruptcy. Morris Adler & Company was appointed receiver of the property. The brewery remained idle until the Alabama Brewing Company purchased and improved the property in 1897.

References

• "The New Brewery" (March 26, 1890) The Weekly Age-Herald - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
• Birmingham Beverage Company. (n. d.) "The History of Brewing in Alabama"