Stag Beer

Griesedieck Brothers Beer is a historic St. Louis beer brand that has been reintroduced after years of absence. The Griesedieck family once owned three St. Louis-area breweries, Griesedieck Brothers Brewery, Griesedieck Western Brewery Co. in Belleville, Illinois (producers of Stag Beer) and the Falstaff Brewing Corporation, producer of Falstaff Beer.

German immigrant Anton Griesedieck brought his family brewing tradition (dating from 1766 in Stromberg, Germany) to St. Louis in about 1866. He owned a series of breweries, employing his four sons, including Henry Jr. and Joseph "Papa Joe," and nephew Henry L. Griesedieck who would later found Griesedieck Western Brewery Co. The four sons established the National Brewery Co. in 1891, which later became part of the Independent Breweries Company in 1907. Henry Jr. ran IBC for four years until he quit to help his five sons Anton, Henry, Raymond, Edward and Robert found Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Co. in 1911. GB made non-alcoholic beer and soft drinks during Prohibition, but closed its doors by 1920. For the next 13 years, the Griesedieck Brothers would anxiously bide their time before they could once again brew what would become the most popular beer in St. Louis.

After prohibition ended, the heirs of Henry Jr. kept Griesedieck Brothers while the heirs of Papa Joe ran Falstaff. Starting in 1947, Griesedieck Brothers sponsored the St. Louis Cardinals radio broadcasts with Harry Caray until the Anheuser-Busch brewery bought the team in 1953. Shortly after Anheuser-Busch bought the team, it renamed Sportsman's Park as Busch Stadium and introduced Busch Beer. This new beer was sold at new low prices and significantly dug into Griesedieck Brothers sales.

When Edward Griesedieck, the last remaining original Griesedieck Brother died in 1955, the company looked at its options. In 1957, Griesedieck Brothers was sold to its cousins at Falstaff and production under the GB name stopped almost overnight. The Griesedieck brewery, at that point, was the most updated brewery in the nation, with production over 1,000,000 barrels per year. Falstaff thus moved all production into the former GB plant.

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