Samuel Carpenter, an English coffee trader, lands in Philadelphia and decides to build a brew house over an underground spring said to have the finest water quality in the city of Philadelphia.

Samuel Carpenter’s brother Joshua, a brewmaster, assisted in the opening of the brewhouse naming it Tun Tavern®. The word “Tun” is defined as a measured cask of liquid or a specific sized barrel.

The first meeting of St. John’s Lodge takes place in Tun Tavern® and America’s first Grand Masonic Lodge is born. Benjamin Franklin becomes its third grand master. Franklin also becomes a frequent visitor of Tun Tavern®, along with other notable colonials.

Tun Tavern®’s proprietor, Thomas Mullen, expands Tun Tavern® due to the high volume of customers. Peggy Mullen, wife of Thomas, discovers that by thinly slicing and grilling beefsteak, then serving it on a bread roll, she could produce a delicious, satisfying meal. She sells these sandwiches by the thousands. Thus, the first Philadelphia cheesesteak is born. Tun Tavern® is renamed “Peggy Mullen’s Red Hot Beef Steak Club at Tun Tavern®”. Tun Tavern® is frequented by such notables as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and Ben Franklin, and sometimes the entire first and second Continental Congress. Tun Tavern® becomes known whimsically as “The Governor’s Club”.

At the urging of John Adams, the Continental Congress passed a resolution on November 10 creating two battalions of strong and able-bodied seafaring men to defend the port of Philadelphia during the upcoming revolution with England. The group is named “The Continental Marines”, today known as the United States Marine Corps. Samuel Nicholas is named its first Commandant. The Continental Marines are formed and recruited at the Tun Tavern®.

Tun Tavern® Brewing Company is established by Montgomery Dahm, named after the tavern and the beloved place of the United States Marine Corps. A central marketing theme for the bottled Tun Tavern® lager is created around the history of the Tun Tavern® and the people who were part of its legend. Tun Tavern®’s beer is handcrafted with all natural ingredients and pure natural spring water keeping the high quality standards of the name Tun Tavern®.

The first Tun Tavern® Brewery and Restaurant is opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey across the street from the new Atlantic City Convention Center. The Tun Tavern® will continue the legendary theme of the original Tun Tavern®. Founder Montgomery Dahm chose Atlantic City because it is a vibrant city with great potential. Tun Tavern® will continue to create the nation’s finest handcrafted beers and be the hub of great ideas and actions for the next hundred years.