Breweries in Northern Kentucky (NKY)

From the Mid-1880s until Prohibition in 1919

Consolidation in the NKY brewing industry gradually occurred more than a decade after the Civil War, as noted in Section 1A. By the mid 1880s there was only one brewery in Newport and five breweries in Covington. However, before Prohibition there were only three breweries remaining in Covington, and one brewery in Newport, as disccused in the following.

 

NEWPORT, KY.

• Wiedemann. Even though Newport had up to three breweries in the 1870s, through a merger and acquistion, Wiedemann became the only brewery in Newport by 1882 as described in Section 1A. However, the situation in Covington, which had twice the population and Newport, was more competitive, and it there were more breweries, as described in the following

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​COVINGTON, KY

The areas the breweries in Covington operated between the mid 1880s and Prohibitioin in 1918 were basically in the same areas before, except there was no brewery in Area D. (However, that would change with the only new brewery built in NK directly  after Prohibition.) Just before Prohibition, only three breweries in Covington remained in Covington; one each in areas A, B and E. All of these had been by 1866 or earlier and is discussed below. Please note that an ownerhsip summary for each brewery site is also shown before the Mid-1880s, providing a complete list of brewery names and owners in Covington for a specific site. It is accompanied by a map identifying each of these sites.

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A. Downtown Covington

• A1a - The Covington Brewery aka Peter Jointe Brewery; 1837-1842.

  • A1b - (Karl/Charles) Geisbauer Brewery; 1845-1866.

  • A1c - Geisbauer Brewery aka Covington Brewery 1866-1877.

  • A1d - Geisbauer Brewery (Lewis Geisbauer); 1877-1880.

  • A1e - (John Brenner) & (John) Seiler Brewery; 1880 - 1884.

  • A1f - John Brenner Brewing Co. In 1884, after Brenner acquired the interests of Seiler, this firm was established on the oldest brewery site in Covington, beginning in 1832. This ended a partnership that lasted only four years due to some disagreements. With Seiler's departure, Charles Fink, born in Wuerttemberg, became the brewmaster and superindendent. Their main brands were IXL Lager beer, Golden Spray Export,  Brenner's Domestic Lager and sesonal bock beer. In 1885 the company built a five-story brew house and mill. In 1888 the company was incorporated and Brenner purchased the former Lexington Brewery (See B2) to use for its malting operations. In 1893 after Brenner's death, his wife was in control of the brewery until she died shortly afterwards in 1897.

  • A1g - John Brenner Brewing Co. Fink became in charage in 1897, but died in 1899. His son became vice-president and the new president was A. J. Lauer.

  •  A1g - John Brenner Brewing Co. By 1907 the brewery was losing money and it fell into the control of a groupl of prominent Milwaukee malt dealers. The brewery was then headed by Theodore Van Hoene and Fred Weiss, but neither were able to make the firm profitable.  In 1911 in went into receivership.

  • A1h - Philip Jung Brewery aka New Kentucky Brewing Co. Philipp Jung, acquired the Brernner Brewing Co. in bankruptcy in 1911. He began his career at Foss-Schneider and who was the nephew of Daniel Jung of Jung Brewing in Cincinnati. Jung founded the Milwaukee base Jung Brewing in 1896. However, died later that same year in 1911. He was succeeded by his son, Philipp, Jr. with John Armleder as V.P., H. McLean as secretary and Augene Asimus as Treasurer. The brewery operated stoped brewing due to Prohibition in 1918 and liquidated its equipment in 1920. The building had a desirable infil and downtown location, and was razed in 1928 for the Covington Hotel. 

  • A-2  Gerke Brewing Co. In 1886, this new brewery was built at Fourth and Court Streets by a brewery from Cincinnati. But it remained for only three years before relocating to the Licking River Area. (See below.)
     

​B. Lewisburg - West of Covington

• B1a Lewisburgh Brewery, located one lot line no

  • B1b - Lang & Knoll Breweries.

  • B1c - John Seiler Brewery. In 1884, when Seiler and Brewer parted ways, Seiler acqauired the former Lewisburgh Brewery, also previously owned by Lang & Knoll. Seiler was born near Heidelberg, Germany, in 1833. He arrived in Cincinnati in 1854 and operated a successful ice busines for many years, before he moved to Covington in 1879 and became involved in the Covington Brewery. By 1889 the brewery was producing 20,000 barrels annually. However, in 1890 a fire destroyed much of the brewery, including the newly installed ice plant and refrigeration machingery. The brewery fell into receivership by 1892 and became controlled by B.F. Graziani and Theodore Sehlhorst.

  • B1d - C.P. Lang & Co. aka Phoenix Brewery. In 1895, after the brewery was utlimatedly restored after the fire, it was renamed as the Phoenix Brewery, after the mytical bird that arose from the ashes. B1e - Covington Brewing Co. In 1896, this brewery was renamed. (This enterprise should not be confused with the Covington Brewery located in Area A.) It operated until about 1904.

  • B1f - Covington Star Brewery. Around 1905, new ownership in the brewery included Bernard Lemke, who modified the name of this brewery by adding the word "star." In 1912 the operations were taken over by H.F. Blaze and John Merriman. In 1919 John Mersmann became president, but the brewery closed for good later that year. 

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• B2a - Duhme & Co.; 1860+

  • B2b - H.H. Kurre & Co Brewery; 1866-1868.

  • B2c - John H. Herzog & Co. Brewery; 1868-1873

  • B2d - Herzog & Amon; 1874-1876

  • B2e - John Henry Steinriede; 1876-1878

  • B2f - Steinriede & (Henry) Werming; 1878-1881

  • John Brenner Malting. This brewery was converted for malting by Brenner in 1884. It was closed in 1890.

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D. Northwest Covington

• 367 & 369 W. Pike Street. Bavarian Brewery / Bavarian Brewing Co. This brewery was situated just a couple blocks to the east of Lewisburgh. Part of this brewery site was on land that formerly belonged to the Western Baptist Theoldogical Institute. After beginning in 1866 and established as the Bavarian Brewery in 1870, this brewery strugled and hand several owners, as mentioned in Section 1A and in Period 1. Ultimately it was acquired by John Meyer and William Riedlin in 1882. However, in 1889 the brewery was incorporated as the Bavarian Brewing Co. under the ownership of William Riedlin. Bavarian was the only brewery in Covington that did not have a change in ownership for about 30 years - from 1889 until the begining of Prohibition.

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C. Licking Iron Works Area - Northeast Covington

Some smaller breweries located in this area near the Licking Iron Works operated in the 1860s, but they had all closed by the 1870s. However, a couple other breweries emerged in this area a couple decades later for a relatively short time, as noted below.  

• At 19 E. 11th St. Gerke Brewing Co. In 1889, this brewery was relocated from downtown Covington and only operated for a few years.

• Herancourt Brewing Co. In about 1904, this brewery began operating close to the above noted brewery at 26 W. 12th St. near the Licking River. It apparently only operated for a year or two.

The two breweries noted above, Gerke and Herancourt Brewing Co.'s, were Cincinnati brewers trying to open operations in Covington. Apparently, these Cincinnati brewers found it very difficult to open a new brewery in Kentucky and their operations were unsuccessful.

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BEFORE PHOHBITION

During the beginning of the 20th Century there were four breweries operating in Covington. Besides the Bavarian Brewing Co., they included the John Brenner Brewing Co., the Covington Brewery and the Gerke Brewing Co. In 1918, just before Prohibition, only three breweries were operating in Covington; the Bavarian Brewing Co., the Philipp Jung Brewery (formerly the John Brenner Brewing Co. / New Kentucky Brewery) , and the Covington Star Brewery (formerly the Covington Brewery / John Seiler Brewery). As indicated above, unlike Bavarian that had the same ownership for the 30 years before Prohibition, the other two breweries remaining in Covington before Prohibition had changed ownership about three or four times during this period. Through the expansion program Bavarian initiated from 1902 to 1913 (see Period 4), Bavarian became not only the largest brewery in Covington, but in Kentucky. (Please refer to the background image.) Despite some writings that indicate the largest brewery in Kentucky was Wiedemann Brewing Co., Bavarian's neighbor in Newport, it appears that before 1918 the annual production for Bavarian was over 50,000 barrels more that Wiedemann's approximate 150,000 barrels annually. Wiedemann greatly expanded its facilities in the 1890s, but Bavarian modernized their facilities 10 to 20 years later, evidently making it more modernized and uptdated. Even though there were a few other brewers in Cincinnati that were larger than Bavarian before Prohibition, it appears Bavarian was around the fifth largest. This seems to be often overlooked by Cincinnati beer historians. However, the improvements made to Bavarian plant shortly as noted made it more feasible to reopen the Bavarian Brewery after Prohibition, as compared to other more outdated breweries not only in Covington, but in Cincinnati and elsewhere.

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