Philipp Schillinger Brewing Company

Birmingham's first brewery, and a family business in the most literal sense. An 1887 near-contemporary history of the city calls Philipp Schillinger senior proprietor of the 'Birmingham Brewery' and says he built the works in 1884 — with August as treasurer and city-trade manager, Louis as brewer, general manager and superintendent, and Erwin as secretary in charge of bottling. Four Schillingers, four jobs, one brewery. It ended in 1908, when state prohibition ended alcoholic beer in Alabama. A 2000 newspaper claim that the firm later changed its name is preserved here as a conflict rather than adopted, because one late report is not enough to redraw a lineage.

1. 1884
   Philipp Schillinger builds the works

   Named senior proprietor of the 'Birmingham Brewery' in an 1887 history of the city.

2. 1908
   Closed by prohibition

   State prohibition ends alcoholic beer production in Alabama.

Sources

1. recordProbable

   Brewery record compiled in Tally's Alabama master, Pass 17 — Blount and outer north-east reconciliation (research workbook), which cited https://archive.org/download/jeffersoncountyb00dubo/jeffersoncountyb00dubo.pdf for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.

   Tally's Alabama master, Pass 17 — Blount and outer north-east reconciliation (research workbook) · Compiled with ChatGPT web search under the Tally's workbook protocol · 2026-08

   CommercialMedium reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 2026-08-19
2. historyProbable

   Dated events as recorded in Alabama Pass 17: 1884, 1908.

   Source not recorded — this claim needs one.

   Reviewed 2026-08-19

Only the claims above are sourced. Everything else on this page is the archive's own research and has not yet been tied to a document — which is worth knowing rather than hiding.