Terry Briggs drove by the old Kuebler Brewery site every day for years.
There’s no brewery there, just weeds and rubble. But something about the site on Route 611 along the Delaware River intrigued him.
“And I kept looking at it, looking at it, looking at it. I always felt where it was, right across from the river, that it had potential,” Briggs said.
Briggs hopes to put a hotel on the site someday. He unveiled his plan in April 2018 to build the Easton attraction and restore the man-made cave the Kueblers once used to store beer.
It took more than a year, but Briggs completely excavated the cave.
“This is unbelievable. The structure just takes my breath away every time I come in here,” Briggs said from inside.
The cave cuts back about 80 feet into the hillside. An arched tunned about 18 feet high opens into a chamber Briggs called the “rotunda,” which is about 25 by 35 feet.
The cave is a comfortable 52 degrees year round, which is why the brewers stored beer there before electric refrigerators.
“It’s 25 degrees outside, wind blowing. You come in here, it’s 52,” Briggs said. “Summer, 90 degrees, humid as hell out there. You come in here, it’s 52 and you’re happy.”
If beer can chill out in there, so can people in search of a “mini destination,” Briggs said.
He would like to see food or beverages served in there. In fact, he’s looking for a local winery to partner with him. The winery’s vintages could be stored and served in the cave. The winery could keep the business there before the hotel goes up and after it’s built, Briggs said.
The winery would be responsible for improving the cave and paying an engineer to make sure' it’s structurally sound.
Breweries have operated at the site at 300 S. Delaware Drive since the 1800s. Kuebler started around the turn of the century and folded in 1953.
When the brewery closed, debris from the demolition was shoved into the cave, Briggs said.
He spent months cleaning it out with a front-end loader.
“My first day I spent about five hours and I got about 15 inches,” Briggs said.
Having it cleared out makes him appreciate the effort it took to get it built in the first place.
“I just can’t get over that men did this. And back then when they did it, there weren’t any big backhoes. I don’t know how they did it,” Briggs said.
Briggs spent three years teaching math and science until he realized he wanted a different career path. He’s a landlord and developer. He owns Briggs' Tavern, which opened earlier this year, closed for six months due to the pandemic and was to reopen Friday, Sept. 25.
Sketch plan for the Grand Riverview Hotel, proposed on South Delaware Drive in Easton.Courtesy Portner and Hetke Architects
There’s no timetable to build the hotel. Briggs plans to call it “The Grand Riverview Hotel.” A sketch plan calls for five floors, 93 room and 126 parking spaces over two tiers. A bar adjacent to the cave is called “The Vathskeller.”
He wants to pay homage to the Kuebler Brewery and to his home city of Easton through the project. He saved some of the bricks he excavated with hopes of building a wall somewhere with materials originally used on the site.
He had at least one offer from a hotel chain, but is waiting for the right deal from the right developer or hotelier.
“It’s my dream. My dream,” Briggs said.
Newspaper ad for the former Kuebler Brewery in Easton.File photo
The Kuebler Brewery, shown in 1895, was built along the Delaware River in Easton. Kuebler became the city’s biggest brewer, producing 100,000 barrels a year in 1913. Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society
Terry Briggs found a handful of Kuebler Kub bottles at the site of the former Kuebler Brewery on South Delaware Drive in Easton.Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com
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September 28, 2020 at 06:30PM
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Easton beer cave is cleared out for the first time in 67 years. Some day you may sip wine there. - lehighvalleylive.com
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