Evans Brewing and the Pump Station
The Name
Our full name, C.H. Evans Brewing Company at the Albany Pump Station, seems a bit cumbersome to some people. There is a reason for this complex appellation: The family of Cornelius H. Evans, proprietor, owned the original C.H. Evans Brewing Company. The moniker “Albany Pump Station” denotes the historic building in which the microbrewery and restaurant reside. The full name, while quite descriptive, is also quite a mouthful. Most people just refer to us as “The Pump Station.”
The Timeline
Have we really really been brewing for 225 years? Not continuously. Evans ale was brewed in America until Prohibition. A non-alcoholic substitute called Checona was brewed in the meantime, but the company eventually closed its doors.
In the Mid 1990s, C.H. “Neil” Evans IV (A direct descendant of C.H. Evans) restarted the present brewing operation under the same name.
The Building
The Albany Pump Station consists of two adjoining buildings. The first building was completed in 1874, the entire structure being completed and put into service in 1895. Total floor space is 13,000 square feet and the roof trusses are 40 feet above the floor.
The Pump Station drew water from the Hudson River and pumped it under Clinton Avenue to Bleecker Reservoir, which is now Bleecker Stadium. In 1927 the pump station moved over 7 billion gallons of water. In 1932 the Alcove reservoir was put into service and the Pump Station ceased operation.
There are two, massive, overhead cranes which are still in place today. These cranes, completed in 1906 and 1909 and used for pump engine repair, are each able to lift 20 tons. We used these cranes to install the fermentation and serving tanks above the main bar.
Comments are closed.