Brewed in Dixie

05/11/2023

Opening a bottle of Coronation Ale from Queen Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsHPw-WuRSW/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

05/11/2023

Opening a can of Coronation Brew from King George VI's 1937 coronation.



https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsEzs7lJJq7/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

05/06/2023

In 1910, William Gerst's Donau became the only Nashville horse to ever win the Kentucky Derby.

https://www.brewedindixie.com/gerst-vine-hill-donau/

04/19/2023

The Southern Café. Notice the William Gerst Brewing Company advertisement with the woman drinking the pilsner. Lots of other great beer brands represented.

03/23/2023

Since it is Lent, here is a beer related article...

https://tennesseeregister.com/catholic-monks-had-a-strong-hand-in-the-history-of-brewing-beer/

Nashville Catholics helped develop the city’s breweries

03/21/2023

Four different Penthouse 5-liter beer cans, featured in the book Party Cans. These German cans were short lived, due to a lawsuit from the magazine of the same name.

03/17/2023

Lucky for Saint Patrick

Do visions of shamrocks, leprechauns, luck-of-the-Irish, and of course, green beer, fill your head with planning your St. Patricks Day celebration? Unfortunately for Maewyn (later changed to Patrick) Succat, his life started in an ill-fated manner, rather than with Irish Luck and partying as his namesake holiday is now associated with. Born in Britain in the late 4th Century, Patrick was seized by bandits when he was only 16 years old and taken to Ireland where he was enslaved by an Irish landowner. During this difficult time, Patrick found strength in religion and later claimed that God gave him the strength and the means to escape after six long years of captivity.

Patrick’s escape was a long journey by foot and ship, but he finally found his way back to England and immediately began studying religion for the next few decades. Shortly after being ordained as a priest, Patrick had another call from God: to spread the good word of Christianity to the people of Ireland. Patrick spent the next 35 years preaching in Ireland, where he educated the pagans and baptized hundreds of thousands of Irishmen.

A shamrock was used as a symbol in Patrick’s teachings. The three leaves of the shamrock represented the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all joined together by the stem. Patrick died on March 17, 460 AD, which is now celebrated as St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and the rest of the world. Ireland later adopted Dry Stout as its national drink, which is now commonly referred to as Irish Stout.

03/03/2023

3 years ago, a tornado came through Nashville and broke the Germantown Brewery District historical marker in half.

02/28/2023

60+ year Amstel flat top beer can. Amazingly, it poured with a little head, but obviously tasted horrible...

02/06/2023

"Old Original" beer matt (coaster) from the William Gerst Brewing Company. "Brewed in Dixie" circa mid-to-late 1930s.

01/30/2023

Nashville Brewing Company owner Scott Mertie recently spoke to the SUVCW - Fort Donelson Camp #62 about Nashville's brewing history in the 19th century.

Fort Negley Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War - National Organization The "Friends Of Fort Negley"

01/24/2023

01/24/2023

Happy National Beer Can Day!!!

Although the first canned beer was released in VA (canned in NJ) on January 24, 1935, Nashville didn't can its first beer until 1950.





BCCA - Brewery Collectibles Club Of America

01/13/2023

01/12/2023

Here is a summary timeline of M. McCormack, McCormack & McKee, E. Ottenville, Nashville Beer & Bottling Co., and James E, Hays, as they are all interrelated beer bottling companies.

Please note that these were not breweries, like Nashville Brewing Company and later Gerst Brewing Company. I am also not including Diehl & Lord, as that was a completely separate company with its own long Nashville history. I am not including other bottling companies that did water, soda, etc., just companies that bottled beer.

If anyone has more info, please feel free to share. This is just a summary, I have many documents and ads detailing the history, but just wanted to provide a brief timeline showing the relationships between the various companies. Cheers.

01/11/2023

A great new book is now available called "Beer Menu Sheets" by Andy Prutch.

It includes hundreds of color scans of beer menus, including a Gerst Brewing menu from the 1940s in Nashville!

01/03/2023

The Knoxville Brewing Association (1886 - 1895).

The Knoxville History Project
TN Craft Brewers Guild

12/31/2022

Happy 28th anniversary to Blackstone Brewing Company.

Blackstone Brewing Company originally opened as Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery on December 31, 1994.

28 years later, Blackstone is not only Nashville's oldest craft brewery, but also Nashville's most awarded. Cheers!

12/28/2022

William Gerst's Vine Hill Estate and his 1910 Kentucky Derby winning horse, Donau.

William Gerst Brewing Company Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby Museum

12/25/2022

1939 - The Wm. Gerst Brewing Co. and its Employees wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

12/23/2022

The William Gerst Brewing Company and its Employees wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (1938)

12/20/2022

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the William Gerst Brewing Company. This 1935 ad is promoting Gerst Pale Beer and Gerst Old Style Ale for the holidays.

Notice the labels on the 2nd image both have the U-Permit and Internal Revenue Tax Paid listed. This was required by breweries in the years following Prohibition (1933-1935).

12/16/2022

1942 Merry Christmas ad from the William Gerst Brewing Company. Notice the "Buy War Savings Bonds" statement at the bottom, as this was during WW II.


TN Craft Brewers Guild

12/12/2022

Nashvillians had another reason to celebrate the holiday season in 1933, as Prohibition was over!

This William Gerst Brewing Company ad is from December 1933.

12/05/2022

Happy National Repeal Day!

On December 5, 1933, the United States officially ended its 13-year "experiment" of National Prohibition.

While Prohibition officially ended December 5th, Tennessee was able to sell 3.2% beer earlier in the year (May 1, 1933).

This photo shows William J. Gerst, III (aka Bill Gerst), the grandson on founder William Gerst, selling the first case of Gerst Beer! Cheers!

William Gerst Brewing Company


TN Craft Brewers Guild

12/02/2022

Today is William Gerst, Jr.'s birthday! The son of William Gerst, he was born in Cincinnati on December 2, 1870.

He worked at the William Gerst Brewing Company for a number of years and became the head brewer. This picture of his brewing diploma is dated Aug 15, 1904.

He died in Nashville on February 7, 1919. He is buried at the Gerst family plot in Cincinnati. His son, William "Bill" Gerst, III, founded the Gerst House restaurant on 2nd Ave in 1955.

https://www.mbaa.com/about/history/HeritageChair/Pages/GerstJr.aspx

12/01/2022

With Saturday's Winter Warmer beer festival being held in Morgan Park this year, we wanted to share a little history about the Germantown location...

Morgan Park was once home to Fred Leitenberger's beer and horticulture gardens. Leitenberger also operated the City Brewery, one of four small breweries operating in Germantown in the 1860s. The property was later donated to the city snd has been a park for the past century.

It is exciting to think this beer festival is being held at the exact same location where Nashvillians enjoyed beer and music over 150 years ago!



The Winter Warmer
Rhizome Productions Inc.
TN Craft Brewers Guild
Nashville Scene
Nashville Post

11/30/2022

Arthur Redmond is advertising for Barley for his Brewery at Mill Creek as noted in this 1815 ad from the Nashville Whig.


TN Craft Brewers Guild

11/30/2022

Barley Wanted - T.M. Burland of the Nashville Porter and Ale Brewery. June 27, 1815.

Ironically Nashville's first brewery was located on the same land tract as Blackstone Brewing Company today.


TN Craft Brewers Guild

11/30/2022

1857 and 1860 ads for "Barley Wanted" from the owners of the Tennessee Brewery.

After the Civil War it was known as the Springwater Brewery. The brewery was located near modern-day BNA.


TN Craft Brewers Guild

11/30/2022

Map indicating where the four (4) 1860s breweries were located in Historic Germantown.

Germantown Nashville Brewed in Dixie

TN Craft Brewers Guild

11/30/2022

Two 1867 ads for "Barley Wanted" from the Jacob Stifel, the founder of the Nashville Brewing Company


TN Craft Brewers Guild

11/29/2022

In 1890, Christian Moerlein of Cincinnati purchased the Nashville Brewing Company. He sent his head brewer, William Gerst, down to Nashville to run the brewery.

Moerlein-Gerst operated the Nashville Brewing Company for several years until Gerst took full ownership in 1893.

-Gerst

11/29/2022

The Tennessee Temperance Movement and National Prohibition forced the William Gerst Brewing Company to search for other revenue opportunities.

With the launch of Gerst Bottling Works, the brewery got into making non-alcoholic "near" beer and sodas. Here are 3 post-Prohibition painted label soda bottles manufactured and distributed by Gerst.

Music City Brewery Collectibles Club

11/24/2022

Happy Thanksgiving from the William Gerst Brewing Company. NOVEMBER 1944

11/20/2022

City Cafe in Monteagle, TN. In addition to the William Gerst Brewing Company beer sign over the window, there are slso signs for Red Top and Schlitz Beer.

11/13/2022

Germantown brewery District

Erected in 2018 | Marker Number 179

Germantown was home to many 19th-cen. European immigrants who brought their trade skills to Nashville, including brewing. By 1865 Germantown was home to 4 breweries:

North Nashville Brewery (C. Kreig);
Rock City Brewery (F. Kuhn);
Cumberland Brewery (J. Ritter); and
City Brewery (F. Leitenberger).

By the 1870s all of these breweries had closed due to the success of J. Stiefel's S. Nashville Brewing Co. and shipments from Midwestern breweries via iced rail cars and riverboats.

11/11/2022

Happy Veterans Day!
Cheers to all the men and women that have served our country.

(William Gerst Brewing Company self-framed cardboard sign - circa early 1940s)