Lemp Brewery
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| Private | |
| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
| Successor | Falstaff Brewing Corporation |
| Founded | St. Louis, Missouri, United States (1840) |
| Founder | Adam Lemp |
| Defunct | 1920 |
| Products | Beer |
The Lemp Brewery was a beer brewing company established in 1840 in St. Louis, Missouri that was acquired by the Griesedieck Beverage Company in 1920, which subsequently became the Falstaff Brewing Corporation. The brewery complex property consists of 27 buildings on a 13.7-acre (0.055 km2) site in the Marine Villa neighborhood. St. Louisian Steve DeBellis has been the owner of the Lemp Brewing Company trademark since 1988.
Johann Adam Lemp was born in 1798 in Eschwege, Germany, and two years after his arrival in the United States in 1836, he moved to St. Louis. He sought to make his fortune by becoming a grocer; however he abandoned this dream when he realized his grocery store was more popular for its lager beer than for its groceries. In 1840, Adam Lemp closed his grocery and opened a brewery and saloon, then known as the Western Brewery. During the 1840s, Lemp moved the brewery to a larger complex in south St. Louis and began training his son, William J. Lemp, to take over the operations. The elder Lemp died in 1862, with his estate being valued at $20,000.
William J. Lemp then took over the brewery and purchased the property that would become the Lemp Brewery complex in 1864. This property at 3500 Lemp Avenue, still stands in St. Louis today.
After the implementation of Prohibition in the United States in 1919, the Lemp Brewery was unable to continue its beer brewing operations, and its near beer product (known as Cerva) was not profitable. In 1920, the Lemp Brewery's factory complex and brands were sold to other beer brewing companies.
The brewery is built upon a complex of natural caves which were once used for the lagering of beer by early German brewers. Underground caves are naturally cool, which was especially attractive to brewers before the advent of refrigeration. Several breweries were built atop these natural caves, which were altered to suit their purposes. Stone arches and brick ceilings prevented water seepage and uneven cave floors were paved with brick. In addition to being used for the storage and lagering of beer, such naturally cool places were sometimes employed as beer gardens, places for entertainment.
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Wikipedia