The Lemp Brewery Empire
Just about everyone in St. Louis has heard of the Lemp Mansion and the Lemp Brewery. The tragic demise of the Lemp Family has become part of our urban lore. Very few St. Louisans realize that there is more to the Lemp story than ghosts. The Lemp Brewery Empire was actually very large and expanded across St. Louis and into several states. In 1900, the Lemp Brewing Empire boosted net sales of ten million dollars. Adjusted for inflation, that would be just shy of three hundred million dollars in today’s economy. An empire that size is bound to leave its mark on a city the size of St. Louis, and if you look closely you can still find the lost and forgotten pieces of the Lemp Family Empire. In the next three blogs, I will point out
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Louis to a new beverage called lager beer. Before Adam Lemp, nobody brewed beer in St. Louis, and it soon became very popular. Adam Lemp’s storeroom brewery was rather primitive, and the limited space forced him to brew only one product at a time. This altering between beer and apple vinegar probably contributed to his early success. Apple vinegar has antibacterial properties. Now my family comes from a long line of coal miners and moonshiners. A commonly overlooked trick from keeping your moonshine from developing a metallic, penny-like taste is to clean your copper pot on a regular basis. Since most cleaners are poisonous, I was always taught to clean your copper pot with ketchup or apple vinegar. Both products are nonpoisonous and have excellent cleaning properties. Since Adam Lemp was alternating between beer and apple vinegar, he was in effect sterilizing his brewing equipment, which undoubtedly improved the taste of his …show more content…
The oldest buildings of the current Lemp Brewery Complex were built in 1864, but old plat maps, from the early 1840’s, mark the entrance to Lemp’s Brewery Cave. Adam Lemp brewed Lager Beer, which requires time and a constant temperature to ferment. Again in the era before refrigeration, cave storage was really the only means to ferment beer. Cave temperatures typically average between 50 to 60 degrees all year long. Which provides the perfect set of conditions for brewing lager
Louis to a new beverage called lager beer. Before Adam Lemp, nobody brewed beer in St. Louis, and it soon became very popular. Adam Lemp’s storeroom brewery was rather primitive, and the limited space forced him to brew only one product at a time. This altering between beer and apple vinegar probably contributed to his early success. Apple vinegar has antibacterial properties. Now my family comes from a long line of coal miners and moonshiners. A commonly overlooked trick from keeping your moonshine from developing a metallic, penny-like taste is to clean your copper pot on a regular basis. Since most cleaners are poisonous, I was always taught to clean your copper pot with ketchup or apple vinegar. Both products are nonpoisonous and have excellent cleaning properties. Since Adam Lemp was alternating between beer and apple vinegar, he was in effect sterilizing his brewing equipment, which undoubtedly improved the taste of his …show more content…
The oldest buildings of the current Lemp Brewery Complex were built in 1864, but old plat maps, from the early 1840’s, mark the entrance to Lemp’s Brewery Cave. Adam Lemp brewed Lager Beer, which requires time and a constant temperature to ferment. Again in the era before refrigeration, cave storage was really the only means to ferment beer. Cave temperatures typically average between 50 to 60 degrees all year long. Which provides the perfect set of conditions for brewing lager