Its the kind of product launch most entrepreneurs can only dream about.
Wiedemanns Special Lager went from four to 300 locations in one year, and on the anniversary of the rebirth of the Geo. Wiedemann Brewing Co., its owners are promising an even bigger future for the beer.
Jon and Betsy Newberry said they will start looking for a location in Newport that would be suitable for brewing -- first on a small scale producing kegs, eventually expanding to include a bottling facility.
From the start, that was our intention, said Jon Newberry, co-owner with his wife of the new Geo. Wiedemann Brewing Co.
The original Wiedemann was founded in Newport in 1870 and enjoyed a long brewing history at Sixth and Columbia streets. The facility was family owned by George Wiedemanns descendants until the 1960s, when the family sold it to Wisconsin-based Heileman Brewing Co.
The Newport brewery produced more than a million barrels of beer in a year and in its height employed about 800 people, Newberry said, but it closed in 1983. The Wiedemann name was sold and production moved to the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. until 2007, when the name was was dropped.
The Newberrys hosted a Wiedemanns Special Lager ceremonial keg-tapping last year at Pompilios in Newport. There, they introduced their lager different from the original Wiedemanns beer.
Rick Wagner, a great-great grandson of George Wiedemann, tapped the beer and has been watching the resurgence of the family name in beer ever since.
He will be at a first anniversary celebration at 5 p.m. Friday, again at Pompilios. The Italian restaurants bar came from the original Wiedemann brewing facility.
Theyve done a remarkable job, said Wagner, of East Walnut Hills. The whole family is cheering for them. Its great that theyve resurrected the brand.
The Newberrys recently opened an office at Sixth and York streets, and Jon Newberry said they hope to start brewing in the city in 2014, although he hasnt yet worked out details.
We plan to begin brewing again in Newport, hopefully getting underway next year, although we do not have a site yet, Newberry said.
Well probably start off doing draft beer in Newport and then add a bottling facility as volume picks up.
Don Tolzmann, president of the German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati, sees the Newberrys plan as an exciting historical venture. I think if they open a brew pub in Newport it would be the continuation of such a great tradition of brewing, Tolzmann said. It would be a big hit.
Jon Newberry said his concept is a brewery with a tap room, where people could stop in and enjoy the beer, but he is not inclined to go with a full-scale restaurant or bar because it could take away from local taverns and restaurants sales of Wiedemanns Special Lager.
When the Newberrys venture started last year, their beer was available only in draft and served at four local businesses.
Coaches Corner on Sixth Street in Newport was one.
People like it especially the people that remember it from the last time around, said Midge Brewer, who owns the restaurant and bar with her husband, Terry Brewer. The young kids are liking it, too.
Listermann Brewing Co. in Cincinnati originally brewed Wiedemanns Special Lager, and Newberry credits its owners with helping him come up with a new recipe for a fine Bohemian beer.
Fast forward to this year: About 300 locations grocery stores, restaurants and taverns across the region are selling Wiedemanns Special Lager.
Since May, the beer has made its way across the river, where it is available at 186 of those locations, Newberry said.
Wiedemanns Special Lager has been brewed and bottled by Stevens Point Brewery in Stevens Point, Wis., since December. Listermann Brewing Co. continues to brew other Wiedemann beers. The latest craft beers are Wiedemanns Royal and Wiedemanns Oktoberfest.
Rich Ritchie, owner of Herb & Thelmas Tavern in Covington and an expert on Wiedemann Brewery history, said the new Wiedemann and the old have little in common in taste, but hes OK with that.
I drink the new beer. Its a craft brew now. It used to be a working mans beer, Ritchie said. I admire these people doing it a new-generation beer, catered to the America of today.
Newberry, a long-time business reporter in the area and fan of Wiedemann and Bohemian beer, jumped at the chance to restore the beer after learning the Wiedemann trademark was available.
Danny Gold, buyer of craft beer for Party Source in Bellevue, sees the new Wiedemann going a long way literally. Weve had great success with it, right from the start, he said. People lined up at Party Source the first day Wiedemanns Special Lager arrived on a truck and waited for staff to unload it and put it on the shelf to be sold.
That was a fun and neat response, Gold said.
Party Source also ships beer, and Gold said Wiedemanns Special Lager is popular outside the region.
Weve shipped it all the way to Washington state, he said
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