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Ice Before Refrigeration

Lager is a cold beer. It ferments cold, it rests cold for weeks, and for most of its history cold was not something a building had — it was something you cut from a lake in January, hauled down a mountain, or dug into a hillside for. Where there was ice, there was lager. Where there was not, there was ale, or steam beer, or a brewery that shut for the summer. 90 records in the archive say so in their own words, and 9 of them were, by name, ice companies.

Before the machine

The plainest sentence in the archive about it belongs to a Nevada City brewery. Emile Weiss's brewery on the Grass Valley Turnpike, the record says, made about 150 gallons of lager a day from April to September— and “that seasonal window is the whole story of brewing lager before refrigeration: you made it while it was cold enough and stopped when it wasn't” (Weiss' Brewery, 1861). Down the same street, Simon Hieronimus brewed steam beer for eighteen years — “California's own style, brewed without ice” — and Anchor made the same style famous, born of San Francisco brewing with no refrigeration at all.

Elsewhere the answer was to go underground. Beneath Plzeň run nearly twenty kilometres of thirteenth-century sandstone cellars where Pilsner Urquell is still poured from oak at 6–7°C. In Wisconsin a limestone beer cellar was built at Rockdale in 1851 for no other purpose, and its restoration began in 2021. In New Hampshire, Walker, Blake & Co. put up a five-storey brick lager brewery at Cold River with major ice storage and reached fifteen thousand barrels a year by 1880. The cold was the capital.

The brewery that sold ice

When the ice machine arrived, the brewery that bought one became the coldest building in town, and towns wanted ice. So the company names changed. SFU's timelines carry Victoria's first brewery through a spell as Victoria Brewing and Ice (1891–93); Nelson's became Nelson Brewing & Ice Co. from 1899 to 1904, with an underground creek-cooled cellar; Rossland's first brewery carried the name Ice Spring. A 1912 Alabama Supreme Court case proves Capital Brewing & Ice made and sold both in Montgomery. In Albuquerque the Southwestern Brewery and Ice Co. never brewed again after Prohibition, and its ice and distilled-water business ran on until 1997 — the cold outlived the beer by seven decades. The pattern reaches Patras and Little Rock; the list at right is every record whose name says it.

It ran the other way too. Mobile Brewing survived Alabama's prohibition as an ice and cold-storage company, and Edmonton Brewing & Malting's first brewhouse at Rossdale, outgrown in 1913, was used afterwards as an ice house — one of only five sites in the archive with a recorded building status, and it stands.

Ice companies, by name

The machine

Britain's first lager brewery, Wrexham, founded by two German immigrants in 1882, nearly failed on the one problem lager cannot forgive — a warm cellar — until Robert Graesser solved it with mechanical refrigeration and took the company. In 1909 the Bakersfield Brewing Company let a contract for a bottling house sized for fifteen thousand barrels and a thirty-three-ton refrigerating machine. And Adolphus Busch built Anheuser-Busch into the first brewery to ship pasteurised beer nationally in refrigerated railcars — at which point the geography of ice stopped deciding where lager could be sold, and started deciding who could sell it everywhere.

The north, still

The oldest constraint has not gone; it has moved. There is no road to Iqaluit, so every sack of malt and every keg gasket for NuBrew arrives on the summer sealift “during the brief ice-free window”, or by air. Everything that goes into a pint at NWT Brewing in Yellowknife is hauled up Highway 3 or across seasonal ice roads. And in Hokkaido, Abashiri brews Okhotsk Blue with actual winter drift ice, which is the only record in the archive where the ice is an ingredient rather than a condition.

Dated evidence in the events layer

  • 1939-03-28 · Photograph now catalogued as RC18757 records a utility plant, ice plant and brewery scene.

    Orlando, Florida

  • 1972 · City Archives preserves 1972 Leslie Street fermenting and aging cellar drawing sets titled with both Labatt and Bavarian nomenclature. record ↗

    Strong site-continuity/production-infrastructure evidence.

  • 1997 · Later ice/distilled-water operation ultimately ceased; brewing had never restarted after Prohibition. record ↗

  • undated · Rockdale Beer Cellar restoration begins

    WHS 2025 update says restoration began in 2021, including removal of more than 50 cubic yards of debris and reconstruction of entrance/approach stonework.

    CamRock County Park, Rockdale, Wisconsin

  • undated · Purpose-built Cold River lager brewery erected

    Walker, Blake & Co. built a five-story brick lager brewery with major ice storage; output reached about 15,000 barrels annually by 1880.

    Cold River / Walpole

The ledger, in the records' own words

Every record that mentions ice, refrigeration, a cave or a cellar, grouped by what it describes, with the sentence in which it does. A record can appear under more than one heading. Most of the cellar entries are modern barrel programmes — the word survived the technology.

the brewery that sold ice · 15

  • Southwestern Brewery and Ice Co.Albuquerque, New Mexico · ?–

    Later Rankin/Loeb control and the Western Brewery and Ice Company rename require dedicated corporate chronology.

  • Southwestern Brewing Co. (Albuquerque, 1883–1887)Albuquerque, New Mexico · ?–

    Entity-separation correction: do not merge the 1883–1887 brewery with the later Southwestern Brewery and Ice Co.

  • Victoria Brewery / Victoria-Phoenix Brewing Co.Victoria, British Columbia · 1858–1954

    SFU Archives dates the lineage: Victoria Brewery 1858-1891, Victoria Brewing and Ice 1891-1893, Victoria-Phoenix 1893-1954.

  • Pajaro BreweryWatsonville, California · 1860–closed

    A 1906 Santa Cruz Weekly Sentinel report still refers to the Pajaro brewery plant in Watsonville during discussion of a possible purchase for a new lager brewery/ice plant, providing later continuity/site evidence.

  • Phoenix Brewery / Phoenix Brewery Co.Victoria, British Columbia · 1868–1893

    1891-1893; it merged with Victoria Brewing and Ice in 1893.

  • Mobile Brewing CompanyMobile, Alabama · 1891–1915

    The corporate operation later survived in ice/cold-storage businesses.

  • Revelstoke Brewery — Oliver Allen north-bank siteRevelstoke, British Columbia · 1891–closed

    Museum reports ales/porter and a lager brewery with 150-ton ice house by 1894.

  • Sheffield Brewing CompanySheffield, Alabama · 1891–1909

    By 1903 the veteran brewer William Meyer had briefly taken over the Sheffield Brewing & Ice Co.

  • Riesterer / Nelson Brewing historical lineageNelson, British Columbia · 1893–1928

    (1893-97) → Nelson Brewery (1897-98) → Nelson Brewing & Ice Co.

  • T. S. B. Wine & Brewing Co.Penn Yan, New York · 1896–

    Type: Historical wine and brewing company / production brewery. Status: HISTORICAL - PRODUCTION VERIFIED 1896; LIFECYCLE ENDPOINTS UNKNOWN. Pass 153: the cold-s

  • Nelson Brewing and Ice Co.Nelson, British Columbia · 1899–closed

    Ice production and underground/creek-cooled cellar are part of the site's historical engineering story.

  • Elkhorn Brewing Co.Greenwood, British Columbia · 1900–closed

    Historical newspaper-derived evidence describes 15-barrel/day output, cellar/ice house, bottling house and ownership transition after Hartinger retired from partnership.

  • Capital Brewing & Ice CompanyMontgomery, Alabama · 1905–1915

    Separate Montgomery beer-and-ice manufacturer proven by a 1912 Alabama Supreme Court case, which states the company manufactured and sold beer in Montgomery and held a malt-liquor manufacturer license.

  • Naoussa Brewery / Georgiadis & Co. Ice and Refrigeration IndustryCentral Macedonia, Greece · 1912–

    The Georgiadis brothers founded an ice factory in 1909 and expanded into brewing in 1912 under the Naoussa name.

  • Steele Hall BrewingTrussville, Alabama · 2023–2026

    Opened in spring 2023 in the former Slag Heap brewery / historic Trussville Ice House building.

natural and imported ice · 4

  • Weiss' BreweryNevada City, California · 1861–closed

    That seasonal window is the whole story of brewing lager before refrigeration: you made it while it was cold enough and stopped when it wasn't.

  • Anchor Brewing Co.San Francisco, California · 1896–2023

    Fritz Maytag bought a failing Anchor in 1965 and revived Steam Beer — a genuinely American style, born of San Francisco brewing without refrigeration — decades before anyone used the word craft.

  • Abashiri BeerAbashiri, Hokkaido, Japan · 1998–open

    Famous for wildly colored beers, particularly 'Okhotsk Blue,' which uses local blue seaweed and actual winter drift ice.

  • Nevada Brewery (Nevada City)Nevada City, California · ?–closed

    Steam beer is California's own style, brewed without ice — and here it is running in a Sierra foothill town for eighteen years under one family.

the machine · 4

  • Anheuser-BuschSt. Louis, Missouri · 1852–open

    On Eberhard Anheuser's death Busch became president, and built the brewery into the first to ship pasteurised beer nationally in refrigerated railcars.

  • John Hauck Brewing CompanyCincinnati, Ohio · 1863–

    An 1894 regional history describes the Central Ave/Dayton St plant as nearly five acres with 300,000-barrel annual capacity and two 150-ton ice machines.

  • Wrexham Lager Beer Co.Wrexham, Wales · 1882–open

    It was rescued by industrialist Robert Graesser, who solved the brewery's cellar-cooling problem with mechanical refrigeration and took full ownership.

  • Bakersfield Brewing CompanyBakersfield, California · ?–closed

    Awarded a contract for a complete bottling house within its brewery, with equipment sized for 15,000 barrels and a 33-ton refrigerating machine, and expected to put its beer on the market the following summer.

the north, still · 2

  • Nunavut Brewing Company (NuBrew)Iqaluit, Nunavut · 2014–open

    Every sack of malt, every keg gasket and every replacement part comes in on the annual summer sealift during the brief ice-free window, or by air at a price that makes you think twice.

  • NWT Brewing CompanyYellowknife, Northwest Territories · 2015–open

    Everything that goes into the beer — grain, hops, cans — is hauled thousands of kilometres up Highway 3 or across seasonal ice roads, which makes a 112-seat brewpub in Old Town Yellowknife a genuine feat of logistics before it is anything else.

caves and cellars · 56

  • Brauberger zu LübeckLübeck, Germany · ?–open

    The medieval cellar dates to 1225, but that date is preserved as building/site history rather than a brewery founding date.

  • Brauerei Langnau / GugolzLangnau am Albis, Switzerland · ?–1869

    Type: Local Langnau history says Johann Jakob Gugolz established the beer brewery in 1869/70 with a dedicated brewery building, vaulted cellar, brew kettle and coolship.

  • Brauerei SchanzenbergZürich-Oberstrass, Switzerland · ?–1842

    The complex included malt kiln, brewhouse, fermenting and storage cellars; a fire destroyed the western wing in 1851.

  • Brauhaus Zum Alten DessauerDessau-Roßlau, Germany · ?–open

    Current first-party brewery page documents its own brewhouse, fermentation cellar with five 4,500-L tanks, lager cellar and keg-filling station.

  • Craft-U-BreweryKrasnoyarsk, Russia · ?–open

    Brewery opened in 2010 in buildings/cellars of the historic 19th-century brewery site and remains publicly active in 2026.

  • Kereru BrewingUpper Hutt, New Zealand · ?–open

    Type: Official current cellar door at brewery site; brewery operation active.

  • Păcurari / Zimbru historic breweryIași, Romania · ?–

    The old Păcurari cellar survives as heritage evidence.

  • Papenburger Landbier / Die Bierbrauer TS OHGPapenburg, Germany · ?–open

    First-party and Emsland tourism sources explicitly state the raw materials are delivered, stored and brewed there and the finished beers mature in the brewery's own cold cellar.

  • Sturmbräu / Sturmhaube SyltKampen (Sylt), Germany · ?–open

    Current house brewery in the cellar of the Sturmhaube at Riperstieg 1.

  • Three Boys BreweryChristchurch, New Zealand · ?–open

    Type: Official site current brewery/cellar door and states locally owned and operated brewery.

  • St. GeorgenBräu ButtenheimButtenheim, Landkreis Bamberg / Upper Franconia, Germany · 1624–open

    First-party site documents its own spring water, Franconian malt, traditional cellar maturation and broad current lineup including two alcohol-free beers.

  • Brauerei SchwechatSchwechat, Lower Austria, Austria · 1632–open

    Anton Dreher took control in 1836, and in 1841 introduced Schwechater Lagerbier: the first pale bottom-fermented lager on the European continent, cold-lagered in ice-filled cellars, first tapped at the Kohlkreunze tavern in Fünfhaus.

  • Mahrs BräuBamberg, Upper Franconia / Bavaria, Germany · 1670–open

    A legendary Franconian brewery famous for its ungespundet cellar beer perfectly served in an ancient tavern.

  • Gröninger PrivatbrauereiHamburg-Altstadt, Hamburg, Germany · 1793–open

    Current Hamburg house brewery and beer cellar.

  • Brouwerij RodenbachRoeselare, West Flanders, Belgium · 1821–open

    The sourness comes from time and wood rather than anything added, which means the cellar itself is the recipe — you could copy the process exactly and still not make this beer anywhere else.

  • Pilsner Urquell (Plzeňský Prazdroj)Plzeň, Czechia · 1842–open

    Below the city run nearly 20 km of 13th-century sandstone cellars where unfiltered Urquell is still poured from hand-pitched oak barrels at 6–7°C.

  • Bixel BreweryColumbia, California · 1854–closed

    Structure survives: TCHS supplied photographs on 2026-08-22 and identified the standing brick building as the Bixel/Columbia brewery — brick walls to eaves height, a partially collapsed timber roof, and a coursed stone footing consistent with Kelly's account of a limestone fermentation cellar.

  • Uerige Obergärige HausbrauereiDüsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia · 1862–open

    First-party history dates the brewery to January 4, 1862, when brewer Wilhelm Cürten bought the Bergischer Hof and installed brewing equipment in the cellar/rear buildings.

  • New Ulm BrewerySt. Joseph, Missouri · 1865–

    1915 source says brewery cellars were still intact at that time.

  • Wrexham Lager Beer Co.Wrexham, Wales · 1882–open

    It was rescued by industrialist Robert Graesser, who solved the brewery's cellar-cooling problem with mechanical refrigeration and took full ownership.

  • Kalispell Malting and Brewing CompanyKalispell, Montana · 1894–

    Office/bottling and beer-cellar portions survive.

  • Nelson Brewing and Ice Co.Nelson, British Columbia · 1899–closed

    Ice production and underground/creek-cooled cellar are part of the site's historical engineering story.

  • Elkhorn Brewing Co.Greenwood, British Columbia · 1900–closed

    Historical newspaper-derived evidence describes 15-barrel/day output, cellar/ice house, bottling house and ownership transition after Hartinger retired from partnership.

  • Brasserie d'OrvalVillers-devant-Orval, Belgium · 1931–open

    The beer itself is unique among Trappists — dry-hopped and refermented in the bottle with wild Brettanomyces yeast, so it transforms in the cellar over months.

  • Ancienne Brasserie des ArdennesCharleville-Mézières, Ardennes / Grand Est, France · 1936–closed

    Buildings converted to brewery at beginning of 20th century; Henri Masse was master brewer until 1936; later activity appears limited to beer depot from the 1960s Ardennes tourism heritage record documents brewery conversion, master brewer, workshops, cellars and later depot use Owner or parent as recorded: Historic operator/ownership unresolved.

  • Brouwerij de HemelNijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands · 1983–open

    It brews from the ground floor and cellars of the Commanderie van Sint Jan, a twelfth-century building that was once a monastery for knights.

  • Brauhaus Ernst AugustHannover, Germany · 1986–open

    First-party site says brewing has operated there since 1986; the brewery was expanded in 1995 and current tours cover the brewhouse, fermentation/lager cellar and filling area.

  • Nasu Kogen BeerNasu, Tochigi, Japan · 1996–open

    Legendary for their 'Nine-Tailed Fox' vintage barleywine series, meant to be cellared and aged for decades. Legendary for their Nine-Tailed Fox vintage barleywi

  • Russian River Brewing CompanySanta Rosa, California · 1997–open

    Russian River launches under Korbel Champagne Cellars.

  • Ratsbrauhaus Hann. Münden / Köhler's Bräu GmbHHann. Münden, Germany · 2003–open

    Eisenbart beer is brewed in four variants in the historic cellar.

  • Red Duck BeerBallarat, Victoria, Australia · 2005–open

    First-party site identifies a small independent Ballarat brewery and cellar door; Easy Tiger page states the brewery began in 2005.

  • Seven Sheds BreweryRailton, Tasmania, Australia · 2008–closed

    Contemporaneous trade reporting documents a Railton brewery from 2008 and the final cellar-door customers in 2025 after 17 years.

  • Meiers LebenslustHannover-Mitte, Germany · 2012–open

    First-party current brewery page says the brewhouse stands in the restaurant, the fermentation/lager cellar is visible through the floor, and brewing occurs every Friday.

  • Wiens Brewing CompanyTemecula, California · 2012–2021

    A contemporaneous BeerAdvocate thread quotes the brewery's Instagram announcement that it would close May 1, 2021; current Wiens Cellars remains an operating winery, so winery survival is not treated as brewery survival.

  • Cellarmaker Brewing Co.Berkeley, California · 2013–open

    A hop-forward powerhouse that acquired The Rare Barrel in 2022, expanding their massive portfolio of IPAs and sour ales. Official site identifies current Oaklan

  • The Rare BarrelBerkeley, California · 2013–2022

    Cellarmaker says it officially took over The Rare Barrel in 2022, keeping the production staff and Berkeley space going. Preserve The Rare Barrel as a historica

  • EmmanualesSheffield, England · 2014–open

    After hiatus and a Walkley cellar phase, Emmanuales moved/upscaled again in 2025-26 using a kit formerly owned by Middle Child Brewing and originally used by Verdant.

  • New Oberpfalz BrewingGriffith, Indiana · 2014–open

    22, 2014; expanded cellar building in 2022; current beer ordering active.

  • Newbridge BreweryBilston / Wolverhampton, England · 2014–open

    Five-barrel plant incorporates six original Grundy cellar tanks.

  • Blindman BrewingLacombe, Alberta · 2015–open

    Barrel-aging and sours out of Lacombe, which is not where anyone expects a serious cellar programme.

  • Kainui Brew CoKerikeri, New Zealand · 2015–open

    Type: Official history proves a farm brewery near Kerikeri with first commercial beer in 2015 and expansion in 2017; exact production street address is not inferred from the separate cellar-door tasting address.

  • Last Rites Brewing Co.Cambridge, TAS, Australia · 2015–open

    Production began June 2015; cellar door opened July 2015.

  • Wayward Brewing Co.Camperdown, NSW, Australia · 2015–open

    In an old Sydney wine cellar, fiercely independent and known for their crushable Raspberry Berliner Weisse.

  • Speciation CellarsGrand Rapids, Michigan · 2016–open

    Type: BREWERY / MIXED-FERMENTATION CELLAR / TAPROOM.

  • denver'sWolfenbüttel, Germany · 2017–open

    Current city tourism classifies denver's as a brewery with its own brauhaus and cellar.

  • National Jürgens Brauerei GmbHBraunschweig, Germany · 2017–open

    Current physical craft brewery in the historic lager cellars at Rebenring 31.

  • Tinker Tailor BrewingPlimmerton, New Zealand · 2017–2019

    Type: 2019 contemporaneous profile verifies a 2400 L working production brewery and cellar door at 18A Ulric Street; 2021 trade reporting states Tinker Tailor closed in 2020.

  • Brauzimmer GbRBremen-Neustadt, Germany · 2018–

    Meininger's CRAFT documented Brauzimmer as a registered brewing project using a converted cellar in a Neustadt private house in 2018.

  • Heinder Naturtrüb GbRHeinde / Bad Salzdetfurth, Germany · 2018–open

    Current physical brewery and open brewing cellar at Wallmodenweg 1.

  • Mabby Brewing Co.Trefforest, Wales · 2018–open

    Cellar brewpub founded by Matt and Gabby Otley in 2018 at the Otley Arms, supplying the pub and selected outlets.

  • HandgebrautesSüderwalsede, Germany · 2020–open

    April 2025 regional reporting documents Matthias Körner producing Handgebrautes onsite after moving from the earlier Bendingbostel cellar operation, with six regular beers and regional supermarket/restaurant distribution.

  • Fuhrberger BrauereiFuhrberg / Burgwedel, Germany · 2021–open

    First-party site says a dedicated brewery with separate brewing and fermentation cellar has operated in Fuhrberg since 2021, using four fermentation tanks and a small filling setup for bottles and kegs.

  • Wolgaster Braukultur e.V. / Rathauskeller BrauereiWolgast, Germany · 2022–open

    The association says it has brewed Wolgaster Bier there since January 2022; current 2026 pages list recurring open-cellar brewery tours and fresh bottled beer.

  • Brauerei RoppeltStiebarlimbach, Hallerndorf / Landkreis Forchheim / Upper Franconia, Germany · ?–open

    First-party site confirms self-brewed beer, cellar operation and Hausbrauerbier tradition; municipality lists Roppelt among the five continuing community breweries.

  • Enterprise Brewing Co.San Francisco, California · ?–open

    Current first-party site identifies active SoMa brewery/taproom and a live house tap list. Current SF Beer Week profile places it in the former Cellarmaker spac

  • Frisby BrewingRancho Mission Viejo, California · ?–open

    Current first-party site says Frisby Cellars expanded into craft beer production and identifies its Rancho Mission Viejo location as a production winery and brewery where both wines and beers are produced.

What this page cannot tell you

  • When each brewery got its machine. Two records in the archive date a refrigeration plant. The year a brewery stopped cutting ice is the single best proxy for its industrialisation, and almost no master has asked for it.
  • The ice harvest itself. Where the ice came from — which lake, which mountain, which railway — is in the sources behind these records and not yet in a field.
  • Germany. Nineteen German records mention a cellar; none yet mentions the ice that filled it, and the Franconian cellar culture is a Take of its own waiting for a master to carry it.

Know an ice house that was a brewery, or a brewery that sold ice? Tell the archive.

Method: a record “mentions” ice when its note, Tally's Take or timeline contains ice, refrigeration, cave or cellar; an ice company is a record whose name or text carries “Brewing and Ice”, “Ice Works”, “Ice Factory” or “Ice Spring”; excerpts are the record's own sentence. Figures regenerate with every build.