The original brewery was established by Peter Nagel in 1828 located in Reading, PA located at 931 / 937 Chestnut Street Reading, PA. Peter ran the brewery operation up until he sold it to Nicholas A. Felix in 1845. Nicholas A. Felix purchased the brewing operation and named it the Spring Garden Brewery. In 1874, the name was changed to the Estate of N. A. Felix when Nicholas A. Felix had passed away.
Nicholas A. Felix had a daughter who was married to a Dr. William Deppen. In 1879, Dr. William Deppen took over operations of his late father-in-law’s Spring Garden Brewery. He changed the name of the brewery to “Deppen’s Spring Garden Brewery” it soon became known simply as “Deppen’s”. The name stuck and the men who worked at Deppen Brewery went on to brew some of the city’s most popular beer.
When Dr. Deppen sold his interest in the company around 1900, investors built a new state-of-the-art brewery at near the southeast corner of Third and Buttonwood street. In 1901 they introduced the addition of the Red Stag deer in their advertising. The Deppen Brewery operated all the way up until the beginning of prohibition in 1920.
During prohibition, local notorious racketeer Max Hassel took an interest in the Deppen Brewery and began producing illegal beer along with other regional Pennsylvania breweries including Columbia Brewing Company, Eagle Brewing Company, Fisher Brewing Company, Fuhrman & Schmidt Brewing Company (F&S), Reading Health Beverage (former Reading Brewery), Lauer Brewing Company, Lebanon Valley Brewing Company, Liberty Brewing Company, Rieker Brewing Company, Seitz Brewing Company, and Superior Beverage (formerly Sprenger Brewery). This endeavor propelled Max and made him best known as “The Beer Baron of Berks County” where he ran his bootlegging operation of illegal strong beers and ales.
1933 / Prohibition is Repealed
Happy Days are Here at Last!
Shortly after the end of prohibition they changed the name to Deppen Manufacturing Company. Deppen Mfg Co. continued to produced beer up until 1937 when they ceased operation and closed.
Fast forward to 2019, Kyle Neuheimer, owner of the Oak Brook Brewing Company located in the old Oak Brook Fire Company at 628 Park Ave, Reading, PA revived the Deppen Brewery brand. He began making traditional styles based on what the Deppen Brewery produced 82 years earlier. Deppen Cream Ale was the first beer produced in over 82 years now under the Oakbrook “Deppen Brewery” name. They also produced a limited run of baltic porter and Edinburgh “Scotch” Ale towards the end of 2020, and eventually added a Deppen’s “Special” Beer, Red Ale, and Cream Ale to their rotation in early 2021. All 5 beers are in production and distributed at the Oak Brook Brewery on special bottle release days up.
The beer they made for all!
Deppen’s Extra Old Stock Ale | Deppen’s Extra Old Stout | Extra Stout | Queen Quality | The Deppen Extra Pale | XXX Porter | Bob Ale | Bob Beer | Buzz Beer | Deppen’s Ale | Deppen’s Bock | Deppen’s Dark | Deppen’s Lager | Deppen’s Pilsener | Deppen’s Special Brew | Deppen’s Ale | Deppen’s Beer | Deppens Porter | Deppens Cream Ale | Edinburgh Ale | Queen Quality Porter | Queen Quality Beer | Ramona Ale | Ramona Brew
Below are a few examples of Deppen Brewery advertising items:
Below are a few images of Deppen Brewery as it sits today:
Photographs courtesy of Dave Doxie
