Beer Halls

Throughout history, people have gathered in public places to drink beer and converse. But in post–Revolutionary War America, the beer hall, both the term and the institution, fell into disfavor. It became unfashionable for large numbers of people to drink beer socially, and beer was associated with idleness. That all changed in the middle of the nineteenth century, when waves of German immigrants arrived. Beer and a place to drink it were essential to their community life. The towns in which Germans settled soon had breweries and, later, beer halls similar to those in which they had drunk back home. The Germans were uncomfortable in “American” taverns, by which they usually meant Irish bars: dark establishments patronized exclusively by men. Germans viewed drinking places as extensions of the home. Their beer halls were well lit and filled with large tables where groups, often working-class families, drank together and ate traditional food, such as sausages, sauerkraut, Bismarck herring, rollmops, and sauerbraten.