Part 3 of a three-part series on History Books for the Holidays
by Paul A. Tenkotte
Special to the NKyTribune
“Wiedemann, Wiedemann Beer. Part of the good life in the valley is Wiedemann Beer.”
This advertising jingle still rings loud and clear in my brain. Throughout my childhood, this catchy little slogan, with an even catchier melody, played on local radio and television stations.
Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann—Cincinnati’s premier, and one of the nation’s most well-known, experts on all things German American—has just released his latest book. Entitled George Wiedemann: Northern Kentucky’s Beer Baron, the Man and His Brewery, this 97-page work is a welcome and affordable Christmas gift for history- and beer-lovers alike.
George Wiedemann was born in Eisenach, Saxony-Weimar, in today’s Germany in 1833. In 1854, he immigrated to the United States, living at first in New York City and in Louisville, before moving to Cincinnati. He was employed at Franz Eichenlaub’s brewery in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills, and then moved to Newport, Kentucky in 1870.
In Newport, Wiedemann became a partner with Johannes Butscher in the Jefferson Street Brewery. In 1878, Wiedemann purchased his partner’s share. Next, he acquired the old Constans Brewery in Newport, where he erected a malthouse. In the late 1880s, Wiedemann built a massive new brewhouse at 6th and Columbia Streets in Newport, followed in 1893 by a Samuel Hannaford & Sons-designed office addition.
The passage of the Volstead Act in 1919 and the subsequent beginning of Prohibition ended Wiedemann Brewery’s legal beer production. However, as Tolzmann outlines, the brewery was raided by federal officials for illegal beer production. Carl Wiedemann, a grandson of the founder George, served a partial sentence in a federal penitentiary before being released on probation.
After the end of Prohibition, Wiedemann Brewery resurrected its brewing operations. By 1955, still in family hands, it was producing 850,000 barrels annually. However, the era of family-run breweries was quickly coming to an end.
Large brewing conglomerates emerged in the postwar years, buying up family firms. In 1967, the Heileman Brewing Company purchased Wiedemann’s. Brewing continued at the Newport plant until May 1983.
Sadly, the elaborate Wiedemann Brewery in Newport was demolished between 1988 and 1990. After the Wiedemann trademark became available in 2006, Jon and Betsy Newberry acquired it. Today, Wiedemann’s is again available as a local craft beer.
Paul A. Tenkotte (tenkottep@nku.edu) is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Public History at NKU. With other well-known regional historians, James C. Claypool and David E. Schroeder, he is a co-editor of the new 450-page Gateway City: Covington, Kentucky, 1815-2015, now available at your local booksellers, the City of Covington, and online sellers.
