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Heurich Recreates Most Popular Historic Beer

At the height of its success, the Chr. Heurich Brewing Co. was the largest non-governmental employer in DC, and certainly a household name.  Now, the brewery’s history is shared via the Heurich House Museum, which serves as an event space and museum collection to share the story of the brewery and some of the culture of DC during its heyday.

On November 16th, the Heurich House will unveil a new exhibit that pulls from over 1,000 items including bottles, cans, signs, and branded objects of every kind from the brewery’s lifespan, 1872-1956. 

The exhibit, HOME/BREWED: What remains of the Chr. Heurich Brewing Co. and what it means for DC history is part of a collection that was accumulated over 40 years by local collector Jack Blush, and the Heurich House Museum hopes to acquire it and keep it on permanent display.

This large collection of “breweriana” is especially important as much of the Chr. Heurich Brewing Co. history was lost in a fire in 1938. 

“Heurich’s brewery operated over 83 years through two centuries and three wars and reflected local tastes,” says Kimberly Bender, Executive Director of the Heurich House Museum. “We are very excited for the potential of this collection to help us better understand where DC came from and where it is going.”

The coolest part? Concurrently with the exhibit, the Museum is in the process of recreating their most popular beer from the past, Senate, a beer that has not been tasted in over sixty years.  The process for bringing back Senate is elaborate — it involves rediscovering a long-lost recipe and enlisting one of the nation’s foremost fermentation scientists — so get excited to taste it next Spring.