The Aass Brewery company started as a trading company in Drammen in 1834, and delivered, among other things, lumber and shipping supplies, bakery and ran a small brewery and sold grain and malt to the local brewers. The brewery had no packaging and therefore so-called pot beer was sold to residents who took their own bins, buckets etc. (1 pot = 0.96 liters).

The farmer’s son Poul Lauritz Aass worked at Hassel Ironworks before he was 16 years old. In 1852, he left home and went to Drammen for the "pursuit of happiness". In 1860 together with a friend bought the small company with bakery, business, trade and shipping interests, the brewery and all. The joy was however short-lived. The great fire in Drammen in 1866 also hit the small brewery. The two friends separated, and LAURITZ was left, 30 years old, with a pile of debris but masses of enthusiasm.

This was the real start of the company we now know as Aass Brewery. The company was built up again and already the following year, in 1867, the operation was in full swing.

Lauritz, who came from poor circumstances out in the country, was an important person in Drammen. He was Mayor of Drammen in 1895 and 1896, Chairman of the Drammen’s Dramatic Society, and founded both the National Brewery in Oslo and The Brewery Association (1901) and much, much more (including being co-owner of several other breweries).

Lauritz died in 1904, and the company was divided equally among his nine children. This was the beginning of the stock-company P. LTZ. AASSs Brewery, which has been in family ownership from this time and is still operated by the family's fourth generation.