Cumberland Brewing History

If you were asked to name the most American drink on the market, odds are it would be some sort of beer. But before the days of bottles and cans of big beer brands flying off the supermarket shelves, beer was being brewed in homes as a declaration of independence—and as a cautionary health measure. As it became a staple around the country in the mid-1800s, one city rose to prominence in the beer brewing industry: Cumberland, Maryland.

American beer traces back to the pre-American Revolution era. It gained popularity in New England but quickly spread around the country, with the first brewery in Maryland being established in Annapolis in 1703. A large contributor to beer’s popularity was its safety as a beverage; it was a better bet than drinking water due to the fermentation process killing off bacteria, especially as cholera was running rampant. Many women added home brewing to their list of domestic duties, including America’s first First Lady, Martha Washington. As the American Revolution began, it was drastically cheaper to make beer at home than to import European spirits, ushering in a departure from European life and a move toward a new American tradition.

By the mid-to-late 1800s, German immigrants were introducing their biergarten traditions to the American brewing scene. The new developments in brewing lager beer exploded the industry’s growth, bringing the number of breweries in the country to more than 4,000 by 1873. [1]

Cumberland’s development into a brewing powerhouse dates back to the Civil War—the city was a major artery for Union forces along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad route connecting Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. The Confederacy attempted to attack the rail lines and ports in Cumberland many times, but they were unsuccessful.

Due to Cumberland’s importance to the Union war effort, many soldiers occupied the city. They were thirsty, and the German brew masters who had moved to the area earlier in the century were there to meet their needs. Their biergarten traditions thrived, and breweries were full to the brim of both soldiers and townspeople.

Peter Hinkle was one of the first brew masters to get their start in the Cumberland area. Hinkle landed in Allegany county, starting his brewing business in 1862 at the age of 60. After his passing, the business was taken over by his oldest son Henry, who innovatively began brewing lagers in the natural caves near the property.

The Hinkle family soon faced competition from other German-style breweries who were capitalizing on conflict-driven clientele. Bartholomew Himmler, assisted by his sons and a friend from Holland, Henry Turner, opened their brewery on North Mechanic Street, close to Hinkle’s place and in the thick of soldier traffic. One exceptionally notable brewer, Paul Hugo Ritter, worked as a brew master and traveled from Ohio to Washington, D.C., before purchasing some smaller breweries in the Cumberland area. He was known for brewing lagers, a skill he learned by studying brewing in Germany. But as much fortune and luck as he had in the industry, he also suffered some cruel twists of fate. His Cumberland brewery burned down not once but twice—the first time in 1888, and again six years later. Although he recovered from the first incendiary incident, the second fire was the nail in his legendary brewing coffin, and “some of the best lager in Cumberland” was lost in the ashes. [2]

The Cumberland brewing scene is still very much alive today—as are the brewing arts throughout the state of Maryland. Baltimore is a major hotspot for craft beer festivals put on by groups like the Brewer’s Association of Maryland. If you are sticking to suds in Allegany County, 1812 Brewing has its roots in history; it is located in a repurposed barn built in 1812 and has an outdoor patio with a view of the Maryland mountain landscape.