The Virginia Brewing Company was established in 1889 at Roanoke, Virginia by Louis A. Scholz, then the brewmaster from J.H. Von der Horst & Son in Baltimore.  The company has since been reincorporated by a variety of entrepreneurs, all with the same goal: to brew quality craft beer. The chronology below testifies to the successes, struggles, and perseverance of these companies, linked by a brand still making history in Virginia.

1889: Founded by Louis A. Scholz at Roanoke, Virginia.
1907: Won a gold medal for their Pilsener Export at the Jamestown Tercentennial Celebration.
1912: Facility completely rebuilt after a fire.
1916: Closed when Virginia adopted Prohibition.
1933: Reopened at the end of Prohibition.
1936: Brewery taken over by E. Cabell Tudor upon the death of Louis Scholz.
1954: S.B. Huff rented the brewery from Tudor's wife.
1987: Bavarian brewmeister Wolfgang Roth brewed Gold Cup Pilsener at Virginia Beach.
2006: Brewery reestablished by James B. Justice at Winchester.

For most of the twentieth century, the ZeroPak complex, now home to the Virginia Brewing Company, housed a large and prosperous apple-processing company -- also known as ZeroPak. The business of processing apples requires access to truck and rail, warehouses with multi-story open ceilings, large-volume water and drainage, high-voltage electrical connectivity, and commercial refrigeration. As it turns out, so does the brewing of quality craft beer.

We are interested in information on and breweria-related artifacts from the past lives of the Virginia Brewing Company. Contact us.

Original VBC Plant at Roanoke, Virginia