Richard speaks with Kimberly Bender, Executive Director of the Heurich House Museum, about the history of the District’s most successful brewer – Christian Heurich.

Christian Heurich immigrated from Germany to America in 1866 with $200 in his pocket. He opened his first brewpub in Washington, D.C., in 1872 and became the city’s most successful brewer. The Chr. Heurich Brewing Co. was the city’s longest-operating brewery, operating from 1872 to 1956.

Kim tells the fascinating stories of how Heurich built a state-of-the-art, fireproof brewing facility on the banks of the Potomac, which stood for nearly 100 years until it was torn down to become the site of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Art, and how he survived Prohibition to re-open for business after most of his contemporaries had died.

The Heurich House Museum is a strong supporter of local craft beer and the official home of the DC Brewers Guild.