“Philadelphia’s Breweries on the Schuylkill” (Rich Wagner, Beer Historian)

The Schuylkill River is known as one of the nation’s oldest industrial rivers and one of the industries that thrived along its banks has been brewing. And nowhere along the course of the river were there more breweries than in Philadelphia: from Robert Smith’s India Pale Ale Brewery near the Girard Avenue Bridge to Hohenadel in East Falls and Liebert & Obert in Manayunk, the Schuylkill River has been home to some of the city’s most memorable breweries. Rich will feature views from early maps and photographs the breweries and their advertising to bring to life the rich brewing heritage of “Philadelphia’s Breweries on the Schuylkill.”

About Rich Wagner (Beer Historian):

Rich’s interest in brewing began in 1980 with a summer vacation camping and visiting Pennsylvania breweries for tours and hospitality. The landscape between stops was littered with the industrial skeletons of long-closed brewing plants. Over the next seven years he visited approximately four hundred brewery sites throughout Pennsylvania and found something to photograph at about half of them: everything from complete factory complexes to foundation walls and lagering cellars dug into the sides of hills.

He began researching the state’s brewing history and self-published guidebooks and conducted tours in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, the Lehigh Valley and the central region from Reading to York.

In addition to his guidebooks Rich is the author of Philadelphia Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Cradle of Liberty (The History Press 2012) and a frequent contributor to a number of publications aimed at the craft brewing industry and breweriana collectors.

This is a free event, space is limited! Register today.