WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES APRIL 20, 2017 27 OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS ‘Weiss’ beer, church building and gangsters: Brewing up some Bushwick history BY THE OLD TIMER [email protected] @RIDGEWOODTIMES For those who enjoy the fun of local history, we will share the story of a Brooklyn brewery owner and how two local parishes got their names. Just to add a dash of spice, we will mention a police raid that led to the brewery owner’s being summoned to testify in court and drop the name of a famous gangster. Our story begins in 1866 and involves Leonhard Eppig, who was joined by Hubert Fischer in founding a brewery at 24 George St. in Bushwick. Eventually, Fischer left and Eppig continued as head of the operation, known as Leonhard Eppig’s Germania Brewery. Looking through our files, we found some interesting information that originally appeared in the “Our Neighborhood the Way It Was” column in the Nov. 28, 1985, issue of this newspaper. In 1884, the Schwaben Volksfest held an outing at Euler’s Broadway Park in Brooklyn. At that time, they had a law in Brooklyn that lager beer could not be served on Sunday, but that the milder “weiss” (white) beer was permissible. The police raided the park, claiming that lager beer was being served. The following day in court, the judge called Leonhard Eppig, owner of the Leonhard Eppig Brewery at 24 George St., Brooklyn, who had supplied four kegs to the Schwaben Volksfest, to testify. Eppig testified that he had supplied a “special” beer. Lager beer was then aged fi ve to six months, whereas weiss beer was aged two weeks. Although Eppig did not not state that he had supplied lager beer, neither did he state that he had supplied weiss beer. The Commissioner of the Alcoholic Beverage Board concluded that lager beer had been supplied and he revoked Euler’s license. Eppig was a wealthy man and a very religious one—as well as a major benefactor of the church. When the Roman Catholic parish was started nearby on Jeff erson Street, it was named St. Leonard’s — in honor of Leonhard Eppig’s son. When another parish was started on Bleecker Street near the brewery, it was named St. Barbara’s, to honor Eppig’s daughter. Leonhard Eppig died in 1893 and he is buried in a large tomb in St. John Cemetery, along with some of the other German brewers who were Catholic. His son, Leonard, succeeded him in running the company. When National Prohibition went into eff ect in 1920, he ceased operations at the brewery on George Street. During Prohibition, which lasted until 1933, it was illegal to commercially brew beer with an alcoholic content that exceeded one-half of 1 percent. Breweries that remained active were able to do so as “cereal beverage” producers. The former Eppig brewery became the Interboro Cereal Beverage Corporation. Reportedly, the operation was headed by Jacob Levy with Arthur Flegenheimer — more notoriously known as gangster Dutch Schultz, “the Beer Baron of the Bronx” — as an associate. Later, aft er the repeal of Prohibition, the plant was acquired by the Ehret family, who had operated the Hell Gate Brewery on 92nd Street between Second and Third avenues in Manhattan — at one time, regarded as the largest brewery in the U.S. Ultimately, the former Germania Brewery on George Street was purchased by Schlitz, known as “the beer that made Milwaukee famous.” Schlitz operated the brewery until 1973. As for “weiss” beer (or weissbier), it has experienced a certain increase in popularity in this country in recent years. Two of the more popular brands of German-style (as opposed to Belgian-style) weiss beer are Paulaner and Franziskaner. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the July 9, 2009, edition of the Ridgewood Times. If you have some history of Our Neighborhood that you’d like to share with us, write to The Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. Any mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you upon request. Photo courtesy of Alexandra Mosca The tomb of Leonhard Eppig at St. John Cemetery in Middle Village. Photo via PropertyShark This site on George Street in Bushwick was once the home of Germania Brewery. Photo via Wikimedia Commons The mugshot of Arthur Flegenheimer, aka Dutch Schultz, the notorious Prohibition-era gangster. Photo via PropertyShark St. Barbara’s Church in Bushwick, which Leonhard Eppig helped to build.
RT04202017
To see the actual publication please follow the link above