sad day- Olde Heurich Brewing went under-

[northzax]

It is with immeasurable sadness and disappointment that I inform you that, after 20 unprofitable years, The Olde Heurich Brewing Company has discontinued brewing operations, and will cease sales of its beers to its distributors, effective with the last of our shipments to our distributors in February.

These shipments will provide our distributors with up to one month's final inventory that will allow each of them and our retail customers time to plan transitions and arrange final purchases of what will now likely become an eBay item. Accordingly, I expect that Foggy will disappear from the market by the beginning of April.

It was with pride and a great sense of history that I
chose to resurrect my family's grand local brewing tradition in the
national capital area in 1986. My hope and inspiration was that it
would be supported accordingly so that we would be able to build a
brewery in Washington.

Though with a handful of wonderful exceptions for which I
am very grateful, sadly and unlike many other craft beer markets, the
Washington area's heritage beer seems to have been viewed more as a
commodity, and we never came anywhere near the sales needed to build a
brewery.

As our predecessor, the Chr. Heurich Brewing Co., learned
by the time it had to close in 1956 for similar reasons, the
Washington area is unique among major urban centers in its relative
lack of a hometown spirit, and as a native Washingtonian this is
something that is deeply and personally disappointing.

Certainly I could have chosen to do things differently and
embraced more forceful marketing methods, but given many other craft
beers' success without this, and though perhaps naively, it was
important to me that my beers be embraced and appreciated because of
their consistent high quality and intrinsic cultural and historical
importance, and not simply because of consumers' vulnerability to mass
marketing.

Another disappointment and mea culpa is that I was rarely
able to focus exclusively on growing the beer business because over
the years other obligations and choices, similarly to my grandfather,
led me to pursue eleemosynary activities. But I cannot say that I
regret this, as they served a greater good, and are things of which I
am proud.

While Olde Heurich, Foggy Bottom, our other brands, and
our beers will live on in a brewpub as part of an inn I am developing
on the shores of Lake Champlain, for the second and final time the
Washington metropolitan area will lose its heritage beer.

I want to thank you and all of our customers over the past
20 years who did embrace and support Washington's heritage beer, for
which I am personally grateful...I will always take heart and
reassurance from this that I did accomplish more than simply spending
a helluva lot of money to make sure I had great beers to drink!

Gary F. Heurich, President
The Olde Heurich Brewing Company
Washington, DC

[Skinner]

1. Bummer.

:(

[bottomofthehill]

2. Did you ever drink the stuff?

Going out of business may not have been as terrible as you think.