Lion Brewery, Inc.
Lion Brewery, Inc, is the operator of the Lion Brewery, located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which was founded in 1905. A "heritage brewery", it is one of only 10 United States pre-Prohibition breweries that has independently and continuously operated since the repeal of Prohibition. It produces beers under its own Lionshead brand, and contract brews beer for other companies. History Early history: 1905 to 1933 The Lion Brewery traces its origins to 1905 when the Luzerne County Brewing Company was organized and ground was broken on its four story brick brewery located at 700 North Pennsylvania Avenue, Wilkes Barre. The brewery was built on land acquired from Delaware and Hudson Company in 1905. The land was purchased for one dollar on the terms that the company would build a brewery capable of producing per year in just the first year and sell each barrel for no less than a dollar a piece. If the terms were not met, the land would return to the Delaware and Hudson Company. The brewery formally opened May 25, 1906, and was especially designed to brew Bohemian and Bavarian Beers. Its beers included a pilsner and a porter brewed under the Edelbrau name, and Munchner Bock Beer. Luzerne County Brewing Company went into bankruptcy in May 1908 but continued to operate under a receiver. In 1911, the company was reorganized as Lion Brewing Company. In 1912, it began marketing Lion Beer, which included a pilsner and a bock. After the arrival of Prohibition in 1919, the Lion Brewing Company produced near-beers called Buck-O and Gold Label. The company struggled to survive, and after its president was charged in 1923 with violation of prohibition laws, went into receivership. The brewery was then purchased by the Malt Beverage Company, the president of which was Charles Gibbons. The brewery operated until 1928, when it was raided by Federal agents and was again closed for making high-alcohol beer. Ownership After Prohibition Ends: 1933 to 1993 The brewery remained closed until the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, when it was purchased by The Lion, Inc., a company owned by two sets of brothers: Henry, Ted, Morris and Louis (Laffe) Smulowitz along with Philip, Leo, and James Swartz. When the brewery resumed operations in the summer of 1933, Charles A. Gibbons was plant manager as well as Secretary Treasurer of the company. The brewery had an annual capacity of 200,000 barrels at that time. The beer it initially produced was marketed as Lion Beer. In 1936, in order to avoid confusion with other similarly named brands, it changed the name of its beer to Gibbons beer (named for Charles Gibbons), which became its flagship brand, and included lager, ale and porter varieties. For most of the next 40 years, the brewery traded as Gibbons Brewing Co. The Lion Brewing Company underwent many changes during the ownership of the Smulowitz and Swartz families. In the 1940s, brewery officials sensed changing tastes and successfully introduced the first lighter bodied beer in Northeast Pennsylvania. Post-Prohibition,