THE BEGINNINGS
- Of Bavarian Brewery
THE BEGINNINGS
- Of Bavarian Brewery
ADS - From Newspapers
THE BAVARIAN BREWERY EXHIBITS
& THE RIEDLIN-SCHOTT COMMUNITY ROOM
The Cincinnati area has a proud brewing heritage. One of the most significant vestiges of a Pre-Prohibition brewery that remains in the area today is the historic Bavarian Brewery. In conjunction with its preservation and reuse as the Kenton County Government Center, efforts have been made to connect this former brewery to its interesting past. The brewery was founded in 1866, but has an association with a brewery in the Over The Rhine (OTR) area of Cincinnati from the 1840s. To celebrate this history, exhibits were created on the first and second level of the former Brew House and the Riedlin-Schott Community Room was established on the second floor, as described below.
A Brewery Wall As A Storyboard
Upon entering the Kenton County Government Center, a main attraction is a giant storyboard of the Bavarian Brewery, measuring 30 feet long and several feet wide, resembling a mirror image of the main structure that consisted of the Brew, Mill and Stock Houses. It tells the 150+ year old history of the brewery property with 22 windows, 61 frames and some 90 photos and images with accompanying descriptions. There is also A Tribute to the many men and women who worked at the Bavarian Brewery. It includes dozens of worker photos and there is a Timeline plaque summarizing major brewery and national / global events over more than a dozen time periods. These periods correspond to the History section of this web site. In addition, there is an acrylic board with 18 graphics and a monitor. Next to it is a barrel display exhibiting over 40 brewery artifacts and former advertising memorabilia. Diagrams of the exhibits and the display are below. They were unveiled at the dedication of the Kenton County office complex on November 15, 2019. Experience a virtual tour of the first floor exhibits, which is best viewed on a laptop / desktop computer or tablet. These permanent exhibits and the displays are available for public viewing during workdays (Monday-Friday) from 8 am to 5 pm. It is conveniently located off of I-75 and adjacent to the lobby entrance. To personally view the exhibits, please see Contact / Visit Us for directions to the Kenton County Government Center.
The Riedlin-Schott Community Room & Its Hallway Entrance
For Meetings, Events and Conferences In the Former & Historical Bavarian Brewery
Just as the Bavarian Brewery provided areas (in the former Rathskeller and Tap Room) for the community to meet for special occasions used by different civic groups, companies and families), Kenton County is also providing a space for such uses. It is called the Riedlin-Schott (Community) Room, named after the families that owned and operated the brewery for over 80 years. It is situated on the second floor of the south wing of the Kenton County Government Center, in what was formerly the offices of the Bavarian Brewery. To access the Riedlin-Schott Room, as shown in the photos below, it is necessary to use either of two adjacent elevators from the lobby to the second floor, and then cross an atrium bridge to a hallway. The hallway leading to the Riedlin-Schott Room is across the bridge and past the double doors.
THE HALLWAY to the Riedlin-Schott Room begins where the brew kettle was formerly situated. On one side are a couple display cabinets containing numerous brewery artifacts. Opposite it are 1911 doors from the Brew House made of cypress wood with photos in their windows that show the equipment used on each of the building's five floors for brewing, along with a graphic next to the doors explaining the brewing process. On a wall before passing the employee elevator, there are large aerial photos c. 1950 of the brewery property identifying about a dozen buildings that created the brewery complex.
Views of the display cabinets are shown below. Between the cabinets are a set of doors that lead to a loading dock. It provides an easy way to provide catering to events or custom decorations to the Riedlin-Schott Room.
AN OPEN SPACE in front the Riedlin-Schott Room was the former Bavarian Tap Room. It occasionally serves as a waiting area for the Driver's License Office. However, the chairs can easily be removed and a check-in / greeting table can be placed in front of the room's entrance instead, as shown below.
Exhibits include a couple early 1900 lithographs of the brewery enlarged with a description including the identification of each building and the date it was built. Beside the entrance to the Riedlin-Schott Room are photos and descriptions of the Riedlin and Schott families. A couple barrels in the corner recognize the main brands of the brewery. To the right of the entrance are over 30 newspaper beer ads (chronologically displayed from 1935 to 1966) set in brewery windows from 1911 and made of cypress wood. Additionally, opposite the entrance there is a poster celebrating the renovated property as BrewWorks in 1995. To the right of this poster are two lavatories with multiple stalls and to the left is access to the main hallway entrance, and an employee elevator. The elevator can be used to exit the ground floor next to the exhibits previously described.
In total, the hallway, including the open space, has six exhibits with accompanying descriptions, more than 50 photos and images along with over three dozen artifacts in the two display cases.
THE RIEDLIN-SCHOTT COMMUNITY ROOM features original brick walls, high ceilings, several large windows with excellent natural light, industrial style lighting, special beer lights (using 60 Pre-Prohibition embossed bottles), three original neon signs and two specialized fluorescent signs. Below and between these signs are photos of the Brew and Mill house from 1911 to 1957, which show the specific location in these photos of where the graphics are now displayed. These walls are shown in the photos below.
In addition, on the north wall of the community room there is a display case containing Pre-Prohibition items (before 1919) including; a painting in a hand carved wood frame of the brewery's founder - William Riedlin, a Vitrolite sign for Bavarian Beer, an original Bavarian Brewing Co. keg lid, a Bavarian Rathskeller ashtray, group photos with Riedlin from the early 1900s and several beer steins - most from the former Bavarian Tap Room. Further, a Resolution of Respect and biography of Riedlin is in a frame next to the display case. Also on the north wall is an original c. 1900 wood cellar door with a photo of the cellar from the same period, two metal fermentation doors, and 11 barrel lids - one for each of the proprietors over 100 years. The east wall is perfect for presentations with two mounted 65" monitors. A podium and / or a cart-mounted monitor can be place between them. Photos of the display case and both the north and east walls is below.
Overall, the room contains 9 exhibits with 17 photos, five signs, a display case with numerous artifacts, 11 barrel lids celebrating the proprietors of the brewery, and 3 cellar doors. You can also experience a second floor virtual tour of the hallway and the Riedlin-Schott Room, which is best viewed on a laptop / desktop computer or tablet.
USING THE RIEDLIN-SCHOTT ROOM. The Riedlin-Schott Room measures about 50 feet wide by 50 feet long and contains approximately 2,500 square feet. The room capacity is 136 people with tables and chairs, 292 people with chairs only (no tables) and 350 people standing (no tables or chairs). However, it can also accommodate much smaller groups of just a dozen or two.
For presentations, the room is equipped with three 65" wall mounted monitors, one cart-mounted 65" monitor, a podium with a built-in microphone, a blue-tooth enabled microphone, two 20-foot wired microphones, a microphone table stand and Bluetooth connectivity to podium speakers. Guests may connect to the guest WI-fi network and wirelessly connect to and present from a variety of devices or an HDMI cable on any monitor. All of the monitors are "smart" and can accept USB storage devices for presentations.
Alcohol can be served at this venue. The room set-up can be:
i) Conference / Classroom / Boardroom Style with rectangular tables,
ii) Banquet Style with round tables,
iii) Auditorium Style with mostly chairs, or
iv) a Custom Set-Up. For example, one side can have a bar and tall tables for a social hour while the other side has tables and chairs, or just chairs, for an event or seminar.
The room can also be used for Trade Shows or Fairs with a separate table for more than a dozen different individuals, groups or vendors. For more information, including pricing and rental terms, please download the Welcome Packet for this room.
FOR ASSISTANCE to schedule this unique and historical room along with its hallway for a meeting, conference or event, please call 859-991-5661, and refer to the Welcome Packet noted above.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
L. Ried Schott
Behringer-Crawford Museum
Downing Displays
Jack Gore, Architect
Kenton County Fiscal Court
Photo Credits: Kenton County Public Library, Behringer-Crawford Museum and the Schott Family Collection, William P. Schott, L.R. Schott, Bob Hebbeler, Robert Musson and Gary Schmeh.
These permanent exhibits were provided through a collaboration of of those acknowledged on the sidebar and a generous donation of one of the decedents of the former owners and operators. The Behringer-Crawford Museum is the curator of the exhibit and displays. They have responsibilities to maintain the exhibits, supplement the artifacts on display and rotate them periodically. The display cabinets have been designed to their artifacts can be changed relatively easily. Therefore, to improve and modify these artifacts, any donation or loan of such items related to the Bavarian Brewery would be greatly appreciated. They can be provided to the Behringer - Crawford Museum (info@bcmuseum.org).
The background photo is of a Storyboard and a Timeline for the Bavarian Brewery,
covering the property history for over 150 years.
