Washington Brewery Co


Company Names, addresses, dates1:
  Humphrey & Juenemann 4th East Corner E North (1858-1863)
  George Juenemann, 400 E street NE (1865-1884)
  Mrs Geo Juenemann, 400 E street NE (1885)
  George Juenemann Jr, 400 E street NE (1886)
  Albert Carry, 400 E street NE (1887-1889)
  Washington Brewery Co, 400 E street NE (1890)
  Washington Brewery Co, F cor 5th NE (1891)
  Washington Brewery Co, E,F,4th & 5th streets NE (1892-1917)

Notes:
American Breweries II2 says that the George Juenemann brewery started circa 1850. I found "J. Juenemann" listed as a tavern owner in the 1855 DC city directory, but no other indication of a brewery in directories before 18581.
In the 1858 through 1863 directories it was called Humphrey & Juenemanns. I don't have any information about Owen T. Humphrey. George Juenemann was born 1823 in Prussia, and became the sole owner of the brewery about 1864. In later years, the brewery was called Juenemann's Mount Vernon brewery.
Albert Carry was born 1852 in Hechingen Germany. In 1886 he bought Juenemanns Brewery on 4th St NE for $90,000. 3
In 1890 it became the Washington Brewery. Newspaper ads from 1905 list their beers as Bock and Sparkling Ale. A 1906 ad lists "Imperial Export", and a 1914 ad lists "Crystal" (light) and "Ruby" (dark) beer.


Bottles:

washington_01 (enlarge) These 4 bottles are roughly identical except for color - they are 4 different shades of amber. Leftmost bottle is a dark amber; rightmost bottle is honey amber (basically yellow), and the middle bottles are shades in between. They are 9.5" crown top bottles embossed:
front: WASHINGTON BREWERY COMPANY / (pic of George Washington & eagle) / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON, D.C.
washington_02 (enlarge) These are embossed the same as the above bottles, but again have different colors. Left is clear, middle is aqua, and right is sun-colored-amethyst. They are 9.5" crown top bottles embossed:
front: WASHINGTON BREWERY COMPANY / (pic of George Washington & eagle) / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON, D.C.
washington_07 (enlarge) This bottle is the same as the above bottles, except that the embossing is higher-up on the bottle (about 1.25 inches). It's a 9.5" aqua crown top embossed:
front: WASHINGTON BREWERY COMPANY / (pic of George Washington & eagle) / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON, D.C.
washington5 (enlarge) This is an 11.7" amber blob top bottle embossed:
round slugplate: WASHINGTON BREWERY COMPANY / REGISTERED / WASH, D.C.
bottom: J.BROS. / 50
washington_04 (enlarge) This is a 9.2" Sun-colored-amethyst crown-top embossed:
front shoulder: WASHINGTON BREWERY CO. / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON / D.C.
washington_05 (enlarge) These are 9.5" machine made amber lady-leg crown-tops.
The left one is dark amber and is embossed:
shoulder: WASHINGTON BREWERY CO. WASHINGTON / D.C.
The right one is light amber and is embossed:
shoulder: WASHINGTON BREWERY CO. WASHINGTON / D.C.
heel: CONTENTS NOT LESS THAN 12 FL. OZS.
bottom: 1916
washington_03 (enlarge) This bottle is a 9.7" Sun-colored-amethyst crown-top embossed:
front: W. B. CO. / WASHINGTON, D.C. / REGISTERED
washington_08 (enlarge) This is a 9.5" tall, amber, lady-leg crown-top, embossed:
round slugplate: WASHINGTON BREWERY CO. / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON, D.C.
washington_06 (enlarge) These are similar to the bottle above, but they don't have slugplates. Left is 9.3" tall and embossed:
front: WASHINGTON BREWING CO. / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON, D.C.
Right is 9.5" tall and embossed:
front: WASHINGTON BREWERY CO. / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON, D.C.
washington4 (enlarge) This is a 9.1" aqua BIM crown-top embossed:
front: WASHINGTON BREWERY COMPANY / REGISTERED / WASHINGTON, D.C. / THIS BOTTLE / NOT TO BE SOLD


Other Items:
mug_01 Enlarge This is a cermic mug (side & front view shown). It's 4.5" tall, 3" in diameter at the base, and it's marked with a picture of George Washington over an eagle above the words "Washington Brewery Co".
washington_09 Enlarge This is a combination bottle-opener and cork-screw (shown in the open and closed view). It says:
large letters horizontally: DRINK / Washington Brewery / Company's Beer.
small letters horizontally: W R O DECAPITATOR PAT MAR 1 1910 / A W STEPHENS MFG. CO. WALTHAM
small letters vertically: THIS WIRE LIFTS CROWN CAPS
juenemann_ad1 Enlarge This is an 1880's ad for Juenemann's Mount Vernon Brewery. Note that I've seen his name spelled with an "eu" and a "ue". I go with "ue" because that seems more common.
carry_ad1 Enlarge This is an 1880's ad for Albert Carry's Mount Vernon Brewery.



1 Boyd's Directory for the District of Columbia (various years)
2 American Breweries II by Dale P. Van Wieren
3 Voice of the Hill p.14



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This page last updated on June 25, 2011.