STANDARD BREWING CO. - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

STANDARD BREWING CO. was founded in 1904 by Stephen S. Creadon and John T. Feighan. In 1905 they located their plant in an old flour mill at 5801 Train Ave. on Cleveland's near west side, where they produced Old Bohemian beer and, later, in recognition of their Irish heritage, Erin Brew. During Prohibition, Standard manufactured near-beer, soft drinks, and ice cream. With repeal, it became one of the fastest-growing brewing companies in the country. Although Standard confined its market to a 50-mi. radius of Cleveland, its profitable trade caused it to continuously expand plant capacity. After World War II, Standard initiated a 6-year, $5 million expansion program. It added a new cold-storage and fermentation plant, and in 1950 opened a new bottling and canning plant, raising capacity to more than 550,000 barrels annually. Standard claimed to be the first brewery in Ohio to introduce flat-topped cans. In 1950 the brewery employed 400 and broadened its market to include southern Michigan, western Pennsylvania, and New York, in addition to northern Ohio. In 1961 Standard sold out to the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co. of New York, then 7th nationally in sales volume. Only 3 years later, however, the New York brewer found production in Cleveland uneconomical and sold the Train Ave. brewery to C. Schmidt & Sons, Inc., of Philadelphia. Schmidt continued production there until 1972, when it relocated to the CARLING BREWING CO. facility on Quincy Ave. The name Erin Brew was resurrected in 1988, however, when Craig Chaitoff and David Lowman formed the Cleveland Brewing Co. to market a new beer locally under a familiar name. Although their product was brewed in Pittsburgh, one of its backers was Edward Feighan, great-grandson of Standard's cofounder.

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