our building originally housed the Jacob Baehr Brewery.

founders JAcob and magdalena baehr were german immigrants who maintained a strict moral code in their establishment: they only employed churchgoing men and only served temperate drinkers.

seven years after opening the brewery, jacob passed away, leaving magdalena with eight children to raise and a brewery to run. she did both admirably: she carried on as “cleveland’s widow brewer,” growing the business considerably over the course of twenty-eight years before selling the business in 1901. one of her sons, herman baehr, became mayor of cleveland.

the cleveland & Sandusky brewing company continued operations here until 1907. for the next several decades, the building was occupied by the reister & thesmacher Co., a metalworks. From mid-century onward, the building saw alternating periods of use and disuse. it was on the verge of being demolished before renovations began in 2014.

we are very fortunate to have many surviving features of this history in our taproom, including original brick, wallpaper and tin. we are honored to return this building to its original use and to share its story (over pints, of course)!