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Washington, DC, Tradition Since 1873 |
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Beginning
in 1934 and on into the 1950s, it pioneered the use of sports as
a marketing vehicle for beer. Heurich Brewing fielded baseball and
basketball teams that played in the mid- Atlantic industrial leagues,
earning over 20 trophies. Such was the emphasis placed on these
sports teams, that the Heurich Brewers baseball team took the Industrial
League title in 16 out of 20 years. During the 1950s, Heurich Brewing
also sponsored Washington, DC's, professional baseball team, the
Washington Senators. |
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Heurich
actively ran his brewery until his death in 1945 at the age of
102. Renowned as the world's oldest brewer, and patriarch of the
American brewing industry and of the Washington business community,
Heurich earned a reputation for quality beer and business leadership
during his 88 years in the brewing trade in Europe and America.
Upon the elder Heurich's death in 1945, his son succeeded him
as president. Christian Heurich, Jr., operated the brewery until
industry consolidation and competition led him to cease brewing
operations in January 1956. In 1961-62, the buildings were razed
to make way for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts and for the approaches to the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge to
Virginia. Heurich, Jr., and his two sisters donated a portion
of the brewery land to the Kennedy Center in memory of their parents,
and established the Christian Heurich Family as one of the Founders
of the national cultural center.
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Coming full circle, Heurich, Jr.'s,
son, Gary F. Heurich, represents the third generation of his family
to be actively engaged in the brewing industry, and, continuing
another Heurich family tradition, he is one of the pioneers of
the renaissance in American craft brewing. He began selling his
first beer in Washington, DC, in 1986 at a time when there were
only 36 craft brewers in the United States. By the end of the
20th Century, there were over 1,300, and for the first time in
our country's history, the United States had more breweries than
any other country, including Germany.
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