German beer hall fills a void - and slakes a thirst

Once upon a time, dating to 1840, German brewing in Philadelphia was a powerful presence; inhalable, in fact: "The air was as nourishing as vaporized bread," the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin noted, bemoaning the smothering hand that Prohibition visited on neighborhoods once populated by stout brewmasters, "titanic drivers in leather aprons," and giant draft horses, and on evenings that had been alive with drinking songs and "the guttural language of Goethe and Schiller."

Caves for cooling German lagers were cut into the banks of the Schuylkill at the edge of Brewerytown, home to 10 breweries. Dozens more dotted Kensington to the east. In the late 1800s a German beer garden (part of the Bergner and Engel brewing complex) stood at the corner of 32d and Thompson, boasting a wood-frame dancing pavilion and an overarching grape arbor to shelter the gathered drinkers.

German bakeries and delis abounded. And eateries and taverns. What is more remarkable is how thoroughly and completely they all disappeared. Schmidt's Brewery at Second and Girard was one of the last to go, at the end of the 1980s. Today it is the site of a trendy apartment complex. (About the same time, the venerable Hoffman House went dark on Sansom Street, putting an end to meals that would start with spot-on steak tartare and finish with a fine Sacher torte that regulars pine for to this day.)

The old Blue Ox Brauhaus in Fox Chase? Gone. Ludwig's Garten, the sour-smelling taproom at 13th and Sansom? Gone, too, a few years ago, the last of the shrinking public venues that specialized in German food and drink.

You could find classic German brews here and there - at Monk's, for one - but it was a little like looking, well, for a kartoffelknodel (a potato dumpling, to you) in a haystack.

So it has been with more than a little anticipation, stoked by a new generation of beer geeks, that the rise of a serious, handsomely crafted German bierhalle called Brauhaus Schmitz has been followed as it slowly took shape on South Street at Seventh.

It's impossible to know how it will fare over the long haul. But it is obvious how hungry people are to give it a try: It opened to packed houses two weeks ago, selling 808 servings of beer (to tables, not counting the bar trade) on its first Thursday night.