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    Nashville Brewing
    Nashville Brewing
    Nashville Brewing
    Ebook204 pages48 minutes

    Nashville Brewing

    By Scott R. Mertie, Patricia Gerst Benson and John J. Gerst Sr.

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    About this ebook

    Known for country music, antebellum homes, the Parthenon, and Civil War battlefields, Nashville also has a rich brewing history that spans 100 years. Several breweries were established in the late 1800s, but the William Gerst Brewing Company alone endured into the 20th century and even survived Prohibition. Once one of the largest breweries in the South, Gerst brewed its last batch in 1954, leaving Nashvillians unable to enjoy locally brewed beer until the dawn of the recent microbrewery revolution. Nashville Brewing offers readers a pictorial account of the William Gerst Brewing Company-an important but almost forgotten part of Nashville history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439633564
    Nashville Brewing
    Author

    Scott R. Mertie

    Scott R. Mertie has been interested in the brewing industry since he started collecting beer cans as a six-year-old. As he became older, Scott expanded his hobby to include brewery advertising and home-brewing. Upon moving to Nashville in 1992, Scott visited the Gerst Haus restaurant and noticed vast amounts of breweriana displayed on the walls that once promoted the restaurant's namesake a century earlier. This started his fascination with the William Gerst Brewing Company and the brewing history of Nashville.

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      Book preview

      Nashville Brewing - Scott R. Mertie

      her.

      FOREWORD

      BY PATRICIA GERST BENSON

      When William Gerst, my great-grandfather, arrived in Cincinnati in 1866 from his home in Alpirsback, Germany, little did he realize the impact this voyage would have in fulfilling his dreams to study the art of brewing, nor could he have imagined the economic stability his brewing interest would bring to the city of Nashville. At one time the company produced 200,000 barrels of beer annually and employed hundreds of people.

      A man of varied interest, William Gerst pursued his love of horse racing and breeding on his farm in Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee. On May 10, 1910, this passion paid off with a winner of the Kentucky Derby. Donau, his bay colt Thoroughbred, carried the Gerst colors of red, white, and blue to victory in the 36th running of the derby. To this date, his horse has been the only horse owned by a Tennessean to win this respected race at Churchill Downs.

      When I was in my teens, I developed a special friendship with my grandmother, Elizabeth Schneider Gerst, the wife of August Gerst, son of William Gerst. I recall with great fondness her many stories of life at Gerst camp where the men fished, hunted, and played cards until the wee hours. She and her sister, Josie, who married Albert Gerst, provided authentic German dishes for these occasions, some of which are still listed on the menu of the Gerst Haus restaurant.

      It has been over 100 years since that voyage my great-grandfather took, and there is still an interest in his life, times, and vocation. Antique shops and the Internet are frequented by many people searching for Gerst memorabilia and that link to the past. It is with great appreciation that I applaud the efforts of historians such as Scott R. Mertie for preserving the memories and facts of this area. It is from the past that we strive to make a better future for our generations.

      —Patricia Gerst Benson Chocowinity, North Carolina

      FOREWORD

      BY JOHN J. GERST SR.

      William Gerst is my fourth cousin, twice removed. Our families were originally from the town of Balingen, which is located in Schwarzwaldkreis, Wurttemberg, Germany. The Gerst name is considered to be of Swabia (German Schwaben, Latin Suevia) origin. Swabia, with its (former) capital at Augsburg, was a medieval duchy in the lands now forming southwestern Germany. The term Swabia nowadays is used in a more restricted way and does not refer to the whole area once encompassed by medieval duchy. It is related to the custom of speaking Swabian dialect, which is prevailing on the territory of Wurttemberg, in the area of the Danube (till the Lake Constance, or Bodensee, and the Rhine) called Oberschwaben and the region between Iller and Lech, called Bavarian Swabia.

      William’s grandfather, Johannes Gerst, immigrated to the town of Alpirsbach in or about 1910. Later Johannes Gerst married Frederika Roth on February 2, 1814, in Alpirsbach.

      Patricia Gerst Benson and I have corresponded over the years, and we have been sharing many family pictures and records pertaining to the Gerst family history. We are sixth cousins, once removed. Scott R. Mertie contacted Patricia because he was writing a book about the history of the William Gerst Brewing Company located in Nashville, Tennessee. Since I was very successful in researching the Gerst family in the United States and Germany, she recommended that Scott contact me in order to provide him with some valuable documentation.

      We commend Scott R. Mertie for wanting to preserve our family’s brewing history in text for future generations to read and enjoy. At the present time, it should be noted that members of the Gerst family can still be found living in the towns of Alpirsbach, Balingen, and Stuttgart.

      —Jack Gerst Marlton, New Jersey

      INTRODUCTION

      From the ancient Samarians fermenting bread to make ninkasi, to chicha being made high up in the Andes, to the rice beers of the orient, to the European ales of the middle ages, beer has been a part of human civilization for thousands of years. German, Irish, and other European immigrants brought their customs and traditions with them to the United States, along with their rich brewing knowledge.

      Jumping forward to the mid-1800s, the brewing industry was just starting to develop in the southern part of the United States. Many German families immigrated to Nashville during this period, as Nashville was a booming river city, and jobs were prevalent for skilled laborers.

      Nashville’s first brewery began operations in 1859 but quickly ceased production two years later due to the Civil War. Once the war ended in 1865, several breweries started to begin brewing beer in downtown Nashville. These breweries kegged their beer and delivered it by horse and wagon to saloons nearby. Several other wholesalers would receive large barrels of beer by rail from breweries in the Midwest to be kegged and bottled on-site.

      By 1890, there was only one brewery left in town. This was operated by William Gerst and his decedents for the next 64 years. The

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