DC Museum Exhibits City’s Once Most Famous Brewery

Heurich House Museum is showcasing an exhibit on the storied history of the Christian Heurich Brewing Co. named after Christian Heurich, D.C.’s most prominent brewer of his times.

The exhibit opened on Friday at 1307 New Hampshire Ave in the museum’s Carriage House Gallery.

Over 1,000 items, including bottles, kegs, advertisements, pictures of employees and other relics collected over 40 years by local collector Jack Blush are on display at the exhibit. The museum is hoping to raise $300,000 to acquire the whole collection and display it permanently.

“We knew that the best way for us to honor the things would be to put an exhibit up. This stuff tells the story of the brewery, which was the thing that really touched every life in Washington D.C,” said Kimberly Bender, the executive director of the museum.

Christian Heurich ran the brewery for 83 years after moving to D.C. in 1872. The brewery soon became a household name in the District and Heurich was the largest non-governmental employer and landowner in the District at one time. He died in 1956.

Public tours and other tasting events like home-brewed happy hours are also planned during the exhibition run.  Next year, the museum will showcase recreation of brewery’s “Senate” beer brand.

The museum is working with Oregon State University’s fermentation science program for making the most historically accurate version of the recipe, said Bender.