The Koehler Brewery opened in East Nashville in the fall of 2005 with a stove top partial-boil Pale Ale extract kit. It boiled over. It fermented hot. It was a stunning success. Friends of the brewery primarily noted that the beer was free and demanded more. The brewery continues the tradition of free beer today.
The Koehler Brewery
Grain Mill: Motorized MM2-2.0 Monster Mill, with 2 6″ long, 2″ diameter rollers
Mash System: Modified 72 quart Coleman Extreme cooler with Bazooka screen
Hot Liquor Tank: 10 gallon stainless steel Polar Ware kettle with Fermentech 3″ thermometer and 3/8″ stainless steel ball valve
Brew Kettle: 15 gallon stainless steel More Beer modified kettle 1/2″ stainless steel ball valve
Cooling System: Immersion chiller made from 50′ of 1/2″ copper tubing with brass garden hose fittings, pre-chiller made from 25′ of 3/8″ convoluted copper tubing with brass garden hose fittings
Fermentation: 6 gallon ported Better Bottles; Fermentation chamber with digital temperature control
Serving: 8 Cornelius Kegs; Kegerator with digital temperature control
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Comment by Royal 12 March 2008 @ 8:31 pmDid you know there is a very old brewing company in NorthWestern Pennsylvania, around Erie, PA called Koehler Brewing Company. I believe they are no longer an active brewery but they have historical buildings in the area that have Keohler on them.
Comment by AJ 21 December 2008 @ 10:54 pmI am aware of the old Koehler Brewery. I grew up outside Pittsburgh and most of my family still lives in the area, so Erie is relatively nearby. We’re not related to the brewers unfortunately. When I was in High School, my Dad gave me an old Koehler Beer standup poster and lighted sign from a local bar that closed down in the 70s. I still have them. The sign is a metal box with a red glass front and a couple lightbulbs inside. I always want to buy more stuff on eBay, but the cool stuff is always beyond my budget for old beer junk.
Comment by Lee Koehler 21 December 2008 @ 11:24 pmI was looking for a Koehler bier haus in Munich and found your website. It’s always good to find another homebrewer, especially one who shares a last name with me! I suggest you try hoppier beers, I find they usually come out well.
Comment by Dan Koehler 30 November 2009 @ 2:27 amI am originally from Erie, Pa. and used to drink various Koehler brews, but they sold out and closed up. I thought I heard Schmidts of Philly had their recipies but they also have closed. A fine brewing name! Maybe someday I’ll get to sample some of yours. I am in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Comment by Jeffrey Platt 15 December 2009 @ 12:22 amyour brewing system sounds great, i am in the process of building my own. i have been using a friends. he has been brewing since 1991 and he is showing me the ropes.keep the free beer flowing for all friend of your brewery…lol
student-brewer mike rodweller
Comment by mike rodweller 15 January 2010 @ 9:41 amMy family owned the Koehler Brewery in Erie, Pa. No it is no longer functioning and hasn’t been for some time. It shut down in 1978. The building isn’t there anymore either since my family sold the bulioding it had gon into serious disrepair. The bricks started to crumble and pieces were fallingin off and into the street, so it was demolished. they did however kep the Eagle crest and the clock. Here are some sites where you can find some old signs and such with the same signage as above:
http://www.c2i2.com/~adistel/
Side of the building:
http://home.earthlink.net/~mrsfanatic/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/koehler.jpg
Buliding before it was demolished:
http://www.uer.ca/locations/mainpics/norm/22155.jpg
in its hayday:
Comment by Emily 28 February 2010 @ 10:17 pmhttp://www.eriecountyhistory.org/wp-content/gallery/photo-archives/19koehlerbrewery.jpeg
Hello Emily….I am looking for info on the Koehler Brewery. I grew up in erie and remember seeing the building and loving it. I have since moved away and still think back to that amazing building. I am a creft beer lover and would love to talk to you. please email me @ FasterFeet37@aol.com Thanks
Comment by Steve 10 October 2010 @ 1:59 pmHi,
I was up in my attic and found this old bottle of beer. It is a Koehler Pilsener beer 12 oz bottle. It has a 67 on the bootom which I assume is 1967. It is unopened. I googled the beer and it seems that you are the expert. I’m just wanting to know something about it. Does it have any value? Worth collecting?
Thanks
Comment by Clyde Larsen 10 March 2011 @ 8:54 pmIm proud to carry the Koehler name,, I love beer,, Thomas Koehler,6-20-1961 chicago Il.
Comment by tom 31 July 2011 @ 11:32 amsorry for the really bad spelling above sometimes i type too fast.
Comment by Emily 28 February 2010 @ 10:19 pmHi, I’m the Chief Engineer at the Naval Park here in Buffalo, and while we were cleaning a compartment on the USS Little Rock, we found two empty Koehler Beer bottles that had been left in the overhead in a berthing compartment. The ship was decommissioned in 1976 in Philly and brought here in 1977 and since they have no dates on them the bottles could have been stashed where they were found for 35 years. So now they are going to be on display here at the park. Thought you’d be interested.
Comment by John Branning 17 February 2011 @ 11:04 amWhile employed in Milwaukee WI, a friend brought me a case of Koehler Beer which he purchased in Erie, PA. I still have the original case and seven empty bottles. I seem to recall a saying “Brewed with Uncle Jackson`s Dutch touch”. I wonder if there is any interest in my case and bottles?? I can e-mail pictures.
Comment by Manfred Koehler 3 March 2010 @ 6:24 pmmy grandfather was brew master of Koehler Beer. We come from 4 genrations.
Comment by david kern 13 March 2010 @ 10:38 pmHi David, My name is Jason Kern, and I am doing some research on my family history. I wonder if somehow we are related, I was told that one of my Great Grandfathers was a Brew master at Koehler. If you could, email me and maybe we can find the connection and share some history.
Comment by Jason Kern 3 February 2011 @ 2:31 pmjkern11@gmail.com
Comment by Jason Kern 3 February 2011 @ 3:01 pmThat is so cool…=) I love beer,, I have not been able to have tried a Koehler beer yet..
Comment by tom 31 July 2011 @ 11:24 amIn the 1960′s, I worked in the first drive-thru, In Masury, Ohio. At three quarts for 89 cents, Koehler Beer was the best selling, best tasting, beer in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Masury, Ohio and surrounding areas. Miller beer had few sales. It always sat in the cooler so long it turned a sickening gold color. Winston was the most popular cigarette. But like Koehler beer it suddenly went down hill. Some said Kohler beer’s taste changed because of the water used from the polluted Lake Erie. It may have been because of the mercury scare of Lake Erie also. It’s a shame a really good beer that quenched the thirst of steel workers every day after a hot days work, went away.
Comment by Ronald K. Myer 18 March 2010 @ 10:04 pmThe same thing happened to Black Label. Winston cigarettes went downhill when cigarette companies started putting in additives like ammonia, sugar, and nicotine to make people addicted. The taste never was the same.
I used a Koehler beer tap for a gear shift in my soon to be published book Chasing Capone’s Vault.
Another Erie native. I grew u with Koehler beer in my house, and eventually began borrowing it from my parents. I would kill for a taste of that beer to decide whether it was as good as I recall, or if I was just a thirsty young man back then.
Not clear to me, are you brewing any of the original Koehler beers at this time?
Comment by Mark Fachetti 1 December 2010 @ 7:41 pmMark,
I’m just a home brewer with Koehler as a last name. I don’t have any connection to the old Koehler Brewery in Erie, or access to any of their recipes. My family is all from Western PA (Beaver County), but I don’t believe we are related to the brewery Koehlers.
Now if anyone out there knows some old Koehler recipes, I’d love to hear about it, and I’d definitely brew them.
Through this blog I did get a hold of some hop rhizomes (I believe they are Tettnang, but it’s just a guess) that supposedly grew at the old brewery building from someone who worked there in the 70s before the brewery closed. I hope it’s true, but either way I have them growing in my yard.
Comment by Lee Koehler 2 December 2010 @ 9:16 amHey dude we have the same awezome last name. Yeeehhaaa
Comment by Jackie 29 April 2011 @ 6:03 pmHAVING GROWN UP IN ERIE,PA.. I LOVED THE SMELL AND TASTE OF KOEHLER LAGER…I MOVED TO FLORIDA IN 1976…EVERY TIME SOMEONE CAME TO VISIT THEY WOULD BRING ME MY KOEHLER FIX…IT WAS SAD WHEN THEY CLOSED NOT JUST FOR THE BREW BUT ALSO FOR THE WORKERS THAT LOST THIER JOBS…
Comment by bill robie 14 June 2011 @ 2:57 amErie is my home town and i worked at the Koehler Brewery in 1964. The brewery itself was on the west side of State Street and the bottling plant was across the street on the east side. When the brewery was originally built it had a large carved wooden eagle on the roof that supposedly came from Germany. That eagle was obtained by the local Eagles club (FOE)and sat in the lobby of the club for years. My sister and i used to climb on it. It was that big. The FOE is gone and the eagle has disappeared. I’d love to know where it ended up.
Comment by michael senger 19 July 2011 @ 2:22 pmCan you get koehler beer anywhere?
Comment by tom mccombs 20 July 2011 @ 8:52 pmMy Dad was just talking about this beer over Christmas dinner. He was saying that ‘its not around anymore’. One of many small PA beers that I used to get an occasional sip from as a kid which are no longer ‘around’.
Comment by Jason 25 December 2011 @ 12:04 am