Johann Frederick August Thieme was born in Weimar, Thuringia, Germany. He emigrated to America and settled in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. In 1862 he bought a controlling partnership in John Wagner's brewery at the corner of 4th and Union Streets in Lafayette. Under their proprietorship the firm became a dominant regional brewery. Thieme died in 1891 and Wagner died in 1904 and their children carried on the business through Prohibition. The brewery emerged upon repeal as the Lafayette Brewery and they brewed their Ye Tavern Beer until 1952 at which time it closed down for good. Their flagship recipe and label were then sold to the Warsaw Brewery in Illinois, who produced the beer until the late 1960s.

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Associated Breweries