The impressive Heurich House is an important stop on our new Millionaires, Mansions & Moonshine tour.

In today’s Journal entry, we spotlight another fascinating stop on our new Millionaires, Mansions & Moonshine tour. At the iconic Heurich House, we tell stories about a dynamic immigrant turned business tycoon, the art of brewing, massive fires, World War I and spontaneous fermentation. OH MY!

Christian Heurich (pronounced Hi-rick), owned the largest brewery in Washington, D.C. and worked as a brewer for ninety years, living until age 102. The mansion he completed for his family in 1894 stands as one of DuPont Circle’s most famous sites.

Originally from Germany, he was orphaned at 14, and was eventually trained as a brewer in Vienna before immigrating to the United States. After the Civil War, Heurich opened his own brewery in DC (1870) - the beer market had crashed and the land was cheap. After five years he had the city’s largest operation. By 1881 his DuPont area brewery was producing 50,000 barrels of beer annually. In 1892 catastrophe struck - his brewery was almost destroyed by fire. He had grain reserves stored off-site however, and used his insurance pay out to build a massive new facility in Foggy Bottom which could produce 500,000 barrels annually. His flagship brands were a dark Maerzen and Senate Ale.

Heurich provided startup capital for many DC saloons in exchange for exclusive rights to beer sales. He built a bottling facility near the site of his old brewery (alongside his mansion) - all were made of stone to insure they would be ‘fireproof’ (the tower on Heurich’s house is crowned with a salamander; in folklore the creature can ward off flames). He built his house of dark sandstone and wanted it to look like a medieval castle. There are 15 fireplaces, none of which has ever been lit. He had an elevator shaft installed but no elevator - he always took the stairs.

The onset of WWI proved a difficult era for both Heurich and many other German American immigrants who came under suspicion. Many prominent German American industrialists were beer brewers and they felt increasingly besieged as the scope of WWI and the push toward Prohibition continued to grow. Nativist Wisconsin politician John Strange said, “We have German enemies across the water. We have German enemies in this country, too. And the worst of all our German enemies, the most treacherous, the most menacing, are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz and Miller.”

Heurich sensed danger, offering to deliver his beer to local patrons in ‘unlettered wagons’, so they could escape the judgement of neighbors. He was defiant in public statements, however, and he was quoted as saying, “Since the Bible teaches that Christ turned water into wine, I do not have to make excuses for the selection of my trade.”

When Prohibition finally arrived, Heurich survived by producing ice, and non-alcoholic apple cider (some of which spontaneously fermented in the barrel and could not be sold. It was placed in storage. When Prohibition ended, the cider’s 6% alcohol content was too high and couldn’t be sold legally even though booze was back! He had to pour it down the drain).

Amazingly, Heurich never laid any of his workers off, though they were asked to take a paycut. He never considered bootlegging - he was an honest man. Besides, the money was better in gin & whiskey - not Christian’s area of expertise. During the Prohibition era, DC became a city of liquor drinkers. DC’s beer industry was never the same and eventually the brewery went under.

Once marketed as a health drink, beer production was banned during the era of Prohibition and the beer industry in DC has only recently recovered.

Nationally speaking, WWI created a wave of anti-German immigrant sentiment throughout the nation. The fear reached its highpoint when the National German-American Alliance or NGAA (a civic group that during the 1910s had spent much of its energy opposing Prohibition) was investigated by the U.S. Senate. The Senate hearings were a disaster for “wets” (those tho opposed Prohibition) when it was revealed that NGAA funds came largely from the beer barons, and that beer money had secretly secured the purchase of major newspapers in several cities. Ratification of the 18th amendment steamed ahead.

The Brewmaster's Castle