National Capitol Brewing Co


Company Names, addresses, dates1:
  Richter & Schonborn, bet 13th and 14th east, D & E south (1863)
  Herman H. Richter, D south nr 14th SE (1864-1866)
  Francis J Adt, 13th and D SE (1875-1882)
  John D. Guethler, D between 13th and 14th SE (1883-1886)
  Eisenmenger & Rabe, 1345 D between 13th and 14th SE (1887)
  Henry Rabe, D between 13th and 14th SE (1888-1890)
  National Capitol Brewing Co, 1337 to 1353 D SE (1891-1917)

Company Names, addresses, dates from an alternate source4:
  Richter, 13th, 14th, D & E Sts SE (1850-1870)
  Alexander Adt, 13th, 14th, D & E Sts SE (1870-1873)
  F J Adt, 13th, 14th, D & E Sts SE (1873-1882)
  John E. Guethler, 13th, 14th, D & E Sts SE (1882-1884)
  Eisenmenger & Rabe, 13th, 14th, D & E Sts SE (1884-1886)
  Henry Rabe, 13th, 14th, D & E Sts SE (1886-1890)
  National Capitol Brewing Co, 1337/53 D St SE (1890-1917)

Notes:
 As shown above, my directory searches came up with some slightly different dates than what is in American Breweries II. In both cases, it shows that there was a brewery at that location for many years.
In 1905, 2 of their beers were named "Diamond" and "Munich". 2
A 1914 newspaper ad lists their address as 14th & D st SE and their phone number as Lincoln 507.
Albert Carry teamed up with Robert Portner and opened the National Capitol Brewing Co in 1891. F.H. Finley & Son bottled their beer. 3

Bottles:

nat_capitol (enlarge) Left bottle is amber and right is aqua. Both are 9.5" crown tops marked:
front: NATIONAL CAPITOL BREWING CO / WASHINGTON D.C.
back: EHE CO
bottom: 335
nat_capitol_02 (enlarge) This bottle is the same as above (9.5" crown top) except it's Honey Amber colored. It's marked:
front: NATIONAL CAPITOL BREWING CO / WASHINGTON D.C.
back: EHE CO
bottom: 335


Other Items:
adts_01 Enlarge This is an advertisement from a circa 1880 newspaper. Brewery.
rabe_1887 Enlarge This is an advertisement from the 1887 book "Washington Hisorical sketches of the Capital City of our Country", by John P. Coffin. The book says that Rabe was in the employ of G.W. Junnemann for 22 years, and that he partnered with Mr. Eisenminger and built he larger brewery located on D street between 14th & 15th SE in 1886. It said the capacity of the brewery in 1887 was 30,000 barrels per year.5



1 Boyd's Directory for the District of Columbia (various years)
2 Advertisements in the Washington Star newspaper between 1905 and 1914
3 The Shortest Dynasty 1837-1947 by Michael Gaines
4 American Breweries II by Dale P. Van Wieren
5 Washington Historical sketches of the City of our Country by John P. Coffin




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This page last updated on March 30, 2008.