Griesedieck Brothers beer

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Griesedieck Brothers Beer is a historic St. Louis beer brand that has been reintroduced after years of absence. The Griesedieck family once owned three St. Louis area breweries, Griesedieck Brothers Brewery, Griesedieck Western Brewery Co. in Belleville, Illinois (producers of Stag beer and Falstaff Brewing Corp., producer of Falstaff Beer. Family descendants and cousins Ray and Alvin Griesedieck III and Stephen Butler have provided draft beer under the name Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Corp. to three dozen area restaurants since 2002 and plan to supply bottled beer in fall 2006 to bars, restaurants and supermarkets.

German immigrant Anton Griesedieck brought his family brewing tradition (dating from 1766 in Stromberg, Germany) to St. Louis in about 1866. He owned a series of breweries, employing his four sons, including Henry Jr. and Joseph "Papa Joe," and nephew Henry L. Griesedieck who would later found Griesedieck Western Brewery Co. The four sons established the National Brewery Co. in 1891, which later became part of the Independent Breweries Company in 1907. Henry Jr. ran IBC for four years until he quit to help his four sons Anton, Raymond, Edward and Robert found Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Co. in 1911. GB made non-alcoholic beer and soft drinks during prohibition and acquired the Falstaff brand name in 1920 from William J. Lemp Brewing Co., which went out of business. After prohibition ended, the heirs of Papa Joe ran Falstaff while the heirs of Henry J. kept Griesedieck Brothers. Griesedieck Brothers sponsored St. Louis Cardinals baseball until after Anheuser Busch bought the team. Falstaff acquired breweries all over the country and bought Griesedieck Brothers in 1957 but quit making beer under the GB name in 1960. Falstaff's peak production year was 1966 at six million barrels, declining thereafter. Paul Kalmanovitz purchased the company in 1975 and moved the headquarters to California. Pabst acquired the Falstaff brand, but quit production in 2005. St. Louisan Steve DeBellis resurrected the Griesedieck Brothers label in 1987 but the project ended in 1991 when his contract brewer went out of business. Ray Griesedieck, son of Henry A. Griesedieck, the last president of Griesedieck Brothers, incorporated Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Corp. in 1992

The original Griesedieck Beer was an American lager. The current incarnation is a pilsener beer.