The rich brewing heritage that characterized northern Kentucky before Prohibition made a welcome return upon repeal in 1933. By the end of the decade three breweries were operational in Covington and Newport. Brewing continued in these locations until the 1960s and 1980s respectively, when the closure of the Wiedemann plant (1983) shut down the last remaining brewery in Kentucky.

In 1987 malt beverage production returned to the area with the founding of the Oldenberg Brewing Company in nearby Fort Mitchell - the first of several microbreweries to be established in the Greater Cincinnati in the years to come.

The Bavarian Brewing Company

Address: 528 W. Twelfth Street (Covington)
Opened: 1867 (DeGlow & Co. - Julius DeGlow & Charles Best - Brewery)
(Chas. L. Best Bavarian Brewery beginning in 1873)
Modern Origin: Bavarian Brewing Company under William Riedlin, beginning in 1882)
Ceased operation due to Prohibition: 1919
Reopened after Prohibition: 1935
Primary Brands: Bavarian's Old Style Beer, Bavarian's Select Beer, Schott Ale

 

 
Merged with International Breweries, Inc., 1959
(operated as Bavarian Division, International Breweries, Inc.)
Closed: 1966
Primary Brands: Bavarian's Select Beer, FrankenMuth Beer/Ale, IBI Malt Liquor

The Heidelberg Brewing Company

Address: 500/520 W. Fourth Street, at Philadelphia and Bakewell (Covington)
Opened: 1934
Purchased by Bavarian Brewing Company, 1949
Operated as Plant # 2, Bavarian Brewing Company, 1949-1955
Closed: 1955
Primary Brands: Heidelberg Beer, Student Prince Beer/Ale, Heirloom Beer

The Oldenberg Brewing Company

Address: 400 Buttermilk Pike at Interstate I-71/75 (Fort Mitchell)
Opened: 1987
Primary Brands: Oldenberg Premium Verum (OPV), Oldenberg Blonde,
Holy Grail Nut Brown Ale, Oldenberg Outrageous Bock, Pious Pale Ale



 

The Wiedemann Brewing Company

Address: 601 Columbia Street (Newport)
Opened: shortly before 1870, as the John Butcher Brewery
Modern Origin: 1870 (Butcher & Wiedemann Jefferson Street Brewery)
Ceased operation due to Prohibition: 1919
(clandestine beer production 1919-1927)
Reopened after Prohibition: 1933
Primary Brands: Wiedemann Bohemian Special Beer, Royal Amber Beer

 

 

 Merged with G. Heileman Brewing Company, 1967
(operated as Wiedemann Division, G. Heileman Brewing Company, Inc.)
Closed: 1983
Primary Brands: Wiedemann Fine Beer, Royal Amber Beer,
Blatz Beer/Cream Ale and other assorted Heileman labels


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Labels from the collection of the author

Information on the listed brewery operations taken from the following sources:

Timothy J. Holian, Over the Barrel: The Brewing History and Beer Culture of Cincinnati, Volume Two, Prohibition to the Present (St. Joseph, MO: Sudhaus Press, 2001)

Dale P. Van Wieren, American Breweries II (West Point, PA: Eastern Coast Breweriana Association, 1995)