Pennsylvania Breweries History: McSorleys Brewery John McSorley founded the bar(McSorley's Old Ale House) in 1854, patterning it after a public house in Ireland and calling it the Old House at Home. He changed the name in 1908, after his old signboard blew down. John McSorley, who died in 1910 at the age of 87, put his son, Bill, in charge of the bar about 1890. Bill guided it in the years it became famous, finally selling it in 1936 (he died in 1938). First John and then Bill McSorley personally opened the bar each morning and closed it at night. It was their custom to gather patrons at closing time and buy the final round. In 1934 Bill McSorley sold the Fidelio Brewery the right to brew and sell McSorley's Cream Stock Ale. The Stroh Brewing Company next recevied the rights to makes the McSorley's Ale sold at the bar and throughout the mid-Atlantic states.