The historic region known as Lancaster County Pennsylvania is home to an almost never ending stream of interesting landmarks, cultural attractions, historical sites and tourist destinations. With its rich native history and dutch settlments, the tapestry known as Amish Country is as colorful and interesting as the quilts they’re known for. One interesting gem located at the corner of North Market and Frank Street in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania hadn’t even been on my radar until it was brought to my attention as a must see location. Bube’s Brewery certinly did not disappoint my thirst for local culture and history.
As lager swept the United States in the mid 19th century, winning favor amongst americans for it’s brite crisp flavor and longer shelf life, a German immigrant named Aloise Bube saw an opportunity to seize his piece of the American pie with his own family’s lager recipe. By the end of the 1870’s Bube’s Brewery of Mount Joy, Pennsylvania was in full swing producing some of America’s favorite lagers.
In time when secret recipes were the bread and butter of these young enterprising companies, Aloise Bube began his brewing process in private. The Brewery, specifically the small fermentation room on the second floor, was built to Aloise’s very particular specifications, just large enough to hold 6 custom made 310 gallon fermentation barrels standing approximately over 6ft wide and 10ft tall. His custom designed system would filter the finished product from from these barrels down to the ground floor bottling room or the underground caves which would store the product until it was needed.
The natural caves underground, referred to as the catacombs, remain a steady 54° and are ideal for storing the German style lager. The caves were eventually expanded to hold thousands of gallons of lager. The beer was then lockered away in more enormous barrels made by Bube’s personal barrel maker by the name of Cooper, who’s name is still adorns the upstairs dining room that was once his workshop. A custom dumb waiter designed for bringing keg sized barrels of beer from thr caves to the main floor still resides just off of the reception area in the Bottle Works casual dining area adding amazing interest and is a highlight of tours.
Today Bube’s Brewery is home to the Bube’s Microbrewery. Sadly, as it was in those days, Aloise’s famous recipes died with him, but the Bube’s Bottleworks American Pub and the Catacombs continues to offer a top quality variety of beer as well as fine dining and specialty events such as medieval feasts, pirate uprisings and other unique occasions. The lounges in the Victorian hotel host private parties and murder mysteries. The winter of 2022 Bube’s saw the reopening of the Bube’s art gallery where local artists are hosted on monthly basis. Fall brings haunted ghost tours, elaborate halloween events and sideshows. With an imporessive full schedule of events, there’s always something extraordinary going on at Bube’s Brewery.
My personal take: if youre looking for a flavorless run of the mill dining experience Bube’s Brewery is not for you. If you want an experience full of color, design, history, flavor, stories, sights and sounds then they’re a definite must on the itinerary. There’s enough to see to make it a full evening or even a long weekend should you stay in one of their uniquely themed hotel rooms.
For a full list of events, tours, menue and showtimes visit their website here.
Also visit me, Amy Dee, on June 25th, 2022 from 6-9pm, when I will be Bube’s Gallery Artist of the Month showcasing a variety of pieces from my travels and sharing stories from the road.