[SunkenCiv]

German lager beer came to America with the German immigrants in the 1840s, tasting a lot better than American ale. Refrigeration enabled the breweries to make a uniform product all year round. Brewing was the first activity in the northern states to use mechanical refrigeration extensively, beginning with an absorption machine used by S. Liebmann�s Sons Brewing Company in Brooklyn, New York in 1870. Commercial refrigeration was primarily directed at breweries in the 1870s and by 1891, nearly every brewery was equipped with refrigerating machines.

The Impact of Refrigeration | Barbara Krasner-Khait

[henbane]

Commercial refrigeration was primarily directed at breweries in the 1870s and by 1891, nearly every brewery was equipped with refrigerating machines.

And the first "reefers" carried that beer across the Nation.

Anheuser-Busch was one of the first companies to transport beer nationwide using railroad refrigerator cars.