Beer in Milwaukee
[5][6] MillerCoors, the city's largest brewery, produces 10 million barrels of beer a year.
The Milwaukee River was an important waterway for these early thriving businesses as well as ice that helped maintain proper temperatures for lager.
Due to the turmoil wrought by the revolution taking place in Germany, several beer giants emigrated to the United States including Jacob Best, Valentin Blatz, Franz Falk, and August Krug.
[3][1] By 1885, the major brewing industry in the city consolidated down to nine (Best, Blatz, Cream City, Falk, Gettelman, Jung & Borchert, Miller, Obermann, and Schlitz),[14] although a smaller, tenth establishment, Gipfel Union Brewery, which opened in the early 1840s, remained in operation into the early 1890s.
[21][23] During this time period, the company was managed by Philip Best's sons-in-law Frederick Pabst and Emil Schandein.
The company's flagship brand Best's Select won awards in the 1870s (Gold Metals at Philadelphia's Centennial in 1876 and Paris' World's Fair in 1878).
[21] After winning another gold medal at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, Best's Select was renamed Pabst Blue Ribbon in 1898.
During this time period, beer was shipped by the company throughout the United States, Mexico, Central America, and Brazil.
A fire destroyed the brewery in 1872, however Blatz rebuilt it with larger capacity and by 1875 sold 65,000 barrels of beer.
During this time, Blatz produced 365,000 of barrels of beer annually and was the third largest brewer (behind Pabst and Schlitz) in Milwaukee.
[28] By 1886 the company was shipping their beer throughout the United States, East Indies, Sandwich Islands, Mexico, and South America.
This gave the new company a brewing capacity of 200,000 barrels of beer annually which was enough to compete with Blatz for third position within the hierarchy of brewers in the city.
By 1887, it had become the fourth largest and by 1888 (when the named changed to Frederick Miller Brewing Company), the brewery had a capacity of 80,000 barrels of beer.
By 1876, Gettelman became sole owner of the company by buying out Schweickhardt's son-in-law Charles Schuckmann, who had bought his portion from the brewery's founder a few years prior.
By the end of the 19th century, Pabst's beer could be found in almost every major city in the United States.
[22] Several factors contributed to Milwaukee's brewing industry to become world renowned[10] including its close proximity to Chicago in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire, and the aggressive business styles of the beer barons that emerged during those formative years leading up to its worldwide status.
[48][49] During this time period, Milwaukee was home to four of the largest breweries in the world (Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz, Miller).
These establishments provided music, dancing, sports, and leisure and were found throughout the United States, but particularly so in Milwaukee.
Unfortunately, due to these establishments, the Prohibition movement was designed to confront the disreputable saloons where prostitution and gambling were seen as major problems.
[50] In 1934, after the eighteenth amendment was repealed, Schlitz retained its position as the top beer producer in the world.
During these years, Schlitz and Pabst began expanding their operations nationally by purchasing production facilities in other cities within the United States.
[21] In 1950, Schlitz was the number one brewer in the country with Pabst fourth, Miller eighth, and Blatz ninth.
In 1953, the six breweries in the city (Schlitz, Pabst, Miller, Blatz, Gettelman, Independent) went on strike for 76 days.
[47] In 1967, Schlitz changed its brewing process to accelerate fermentation which was not well received by the public due to perceived reduction in quality.
[41] In 1976, Schlitz suffered another blow to its image when its Memphis and Tampa plants made "flaky" or "hazy" beer due to production problems.
[59] By 1977, Miller Brewing Company jumped from the seventh-leading national brewer to number two behind Anheuser-Busch in a matter of eight years.
[60] Pabst and Heileman both made bids to purchase beleaguered Schlitz, but ultimately sold to Stroh Brewing Company in 1982.
[59][14] In 1985, Randal Sprecher, former supervisor at Pabst Brewing Company, opened the first brewery in Milwaukee since the end of prohibition.
[24] In 1986, Heileman built a brewery in the Milwaukee area so that Blatz beer production could resume in the city for the first time in seventeen years.
[67] Miller has the city's largest brewery and produces ten million barrels of beer annually.
