PART 1, SEE PART 2 BELOW

 

Hudepohl Brewing Company

 

The Hudepohl Brewing Company was founded in 1885 by Ludwig Hudepohl II and George Kotte in Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, Ohio during a time when a heavy influx of German immigrants fueled the development of a brewing industry that at one time, included more than 40 breweries in nearly every city neighborhood.

 

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Just ten years later, Cincinnati had become known as the beer capital of the world, and residents at the time drank more beer per capita than residents of any other U.S. city, an average of 40 gallons a year. Nearly 95% of that beer was brewed in Cincinnati.

 

It's original location in Over-the-Rhine soon gave way to a larger facility in on 5th Street in Queensgate, which was originally operated by the Herman Leckman Brewing Company. The Queensgate site dated to 1860.

 

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In 1946, Hudepohl constructed a new brewery along Sixth Street to replace its aging facilities. It was designed by Felsberg & Gillepsie Architects. Several decades later, in 1982, Hudepohl purchased the Christian Moerlein Brewing Company, one of the nation's largest. Four years later, Hudepohl merged with the Schoenling Brewing Company to form Hudepohl-Schoenling.

 

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Schoenling Brewing had opened on Central Avenue in 1933. The brewery at 1625 Central Parkway was constructed by the Schoenling and Lichtendahl families for their respective breweries.

 

In 1987, Hudepohl-Schoenling closed Hudepohl's brewery at Sixth Street in favor of expanding the Central Parkway location. The iconic plant, located in the Queensgate district, featured a 170-foot smokestack bearing Hudepohl's name.

 

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Since then, Hudepohl-Schoenling sold their Central Parkway location to Samuel Adams. I know that some in Cincinnati sincerely regret this, and will disavow any Samuel Adams products, but there is a bit of local ties in with this. Heading the purchase of the Central Parkway brewery was Boston Beer President Jim Koch, a Cincinnati native whose father in 1946 was a brewing apprentice for Hudepohl, and whose recipe for Samuel Adams Boston Lager came from Cincinnati. The recipe for the Boston Lager belonged originally to Koch's great great grandfather, who made it in a brewery in St. Louis and called it Louis Koch Lager. The recipe was discovered in 1983 in an attic at the Indian Hill residence of Koch's father when the younger Koch came home for Christmas.

 

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Hudepohl later exited the beer industry and focused on the Tradewinds Beverage Company, selling iced teas and juices.

 

In 2002, the original home of Hudepohl along 6th Street, was sold at a sheriff's sale to Pete Bigelow, part of a group of investors known as the Keene Group. They began looking for a developer for possible conversion into offices and loft apartments. After not being able to obtain financing for the project, the property was sold in October 2004 to Hudepohl Square.

 

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Hudepohl Square announced intentions to restore the site into a mixed-use office, light industrial and residential complex, and selective demolition began on the property soon after. To generate buzz for the project, Hudepohl Square listed the building's 17-story smokestack up for auction on eBay, but it drew no offers.

 

Plans for the redevelopment were put on hold by the proposed rerouting of Interstate 75 in conjunction with the replacement of the Brent Spence Bridge.

 

In January 2007, the deteriorated condition of the Hudepohl brewery drew the ire of the Buildings and Inspections Department, who condemned the complex, stating that it was in "a partial state of demolition and excessive deterioration." It has sat in this condition since.

 

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Goodbye!

 

You can find more history and photographs at my article on Abandoned. Now... for part two...

Part Two!

 

Hit this place up with Seicer for our first exploration of 2009. Closed and abandoned since 1987, this brewery once made the most popular beer in the city:

 

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Have a Happy Hudey, Flavor's on the Way!

 

If you want to see more photographs, read about the history of the brewery and our "tour," check out www.queencitydisco.com

 

 

Wow!  Priceless shots fellas.  Very nice!    I hope this can be salvaged, but it looks pretty beat down.

So sad! What are the plans for the site? Will it be demolished?

Wow!   Priceless shots fellas.   Very nice! I hope this can be salvaged, but it looks pretty beat down.

 

That's actually because of the selective demolition for redevelopment, of all things.

Good job, guys. Love the narrative and the photos are sweet, too. Didn't know Cincinnatans were butt-hurt over Sam Adams, understandable, but you're missing a good beer.

Thanks for the Cincinnati-beer-history lesson. I knew all the names (and have sampled all the beers), but didn't know all the connections and lineage.

Love the retro Cincinnati clock.  The pictures are amazing as always you two.

Is someone sensing...*NIGHTCLUB + BAR/RESTAURANT + HUSTLER's!!!*

 

Any...one? :(

Wow, what a history we have here.  It seems Portland is just a modern day Cincinnati.  They have a streetcar system (almost) as good as what we used to have way back when, and now they have the title of microbrew capital of the country or something like that, when we used to be one of the largest beer producers in the whole world.  How times have changed...

The oldest part of what you see was "selectively demolished" over the course of what seemed like 15 years.  Everytime I drove by it from the mid 1990's on, it seemed someone had hand removed just a few more courses of the bricks.  The big gaping section missing from the middle is what I am talking about.  I assume you see the brick arched rathskellar-like remains of this original portion of the structure in some of those pictures in the basement. The old section looked to be from 1860-1880's era construction, and was quite decorative in its' brickwork.  i was so pissed watching it slowly disappear for a decade and a half. They tore down the best part!

Great shots! Weren't there more like 125+ breweries at the peak (not 40)?  That number sticks in my mind.....

i love that cellar cold storage cooler shot. it's not often seen, yet as iconic of classic old breweries as the smokestack or anything else.

Awesome vaulted ceilings down there!

How do you find and get into these places? It looks dangerous. Have you ever gotten hurt?

How do you find and get into these places? It looks dangerous. Have you ever gotten hurt?

 

A lot of research and reading the news. A lot of the times we just drive/bike/walk around too. Currently Sherman's been working on following old rail lines and documenting those, a lot of times we find abandoned things along the lines. Really, it's all kind of random unless we've been researching a place for awhile. As far as getting hurt, I don't know about Sherman, but I've never been physically hurt. I'm typically pretty cautious. I have ripped my jeans on many occasions, though.