Erie Brewing Company stock certificate c1920 (Pennsylvania)

Uncommon beer brewing piece. Nice vignette of a perched eagle with wings spread. Unissued and not cancelled. Circa early 1920s from issued examples. Measures approximately 11 x 8.5 inches.

The Erie Brewing Company traced its origins to 1847, when Charles Koehler, an immigrant from Holland, opened a brewery at 25th and Holland Streets in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Eagle Brewery was purchased by Jackson Koehler in 1883, which became the Jackson Koehler branch of The Erie Brewing Company in 1899. After NY, PA was the second largest beer producing state.

In 1899, the brewery founded by Charles Koehler merged with two other local breweries (one of them owned by Jackson Koehler, a son of Charles Koehler) to form the Erie Brewing Company.

Its beer was known for being brewed with the "Dutch touch" of legendary Uncle Jackson Koehler, who was depicted as elderly, bald and portly, and who became the trademark for the beer. In the mid-1970s, it was producing about 300,000 barrels annually, but suffered declining market shares.

The firm was managed by descendants of Jackson Koehler until it closed in February 1978. Its labels and recipes were sold to Schmidt's, which brewed the old Erie products in Philadelphia or Cleveland. When the sale to Schmidt's was made, the president of Erie Brewing said "They have Uncle Jackson's secret now." Erie Brewing produced several Koehler brands and it is possible that Schmidt's brewed other Erie brands up until 1987.

In 2018 the Koehler brand was revived when brothers Bruce and Bryan Koehler (not related to the original owners) opened their Koehler Brewing Company brewery in Grove City, Pennsylvania. They had obtained some Koehler trademarks that had been allowed to expire, and former brewery workers provided them with old recipes of Koehler beers.

Modern Erie Brewing

Founded in 1993 as Hoppers Brewpub in Erie’s historic Union Station. In 2003, Cardinal Equity Associates, a venture capital firm, gains majority stock in the company. A major overhaul of brand image and company management begins.

In 2010, with the addition of several new tanks, precision filtration systems, Monobloc Bottling Line, and grain silo, Erie Brewing Co. is poised to comfortably transition to regional brewery status in the next several years.

Product descriptions and images
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