Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BEER CITY
Milwaukeewastheplacethatgaverisetothestereotype.KingGambrinus,themyth-
ical Flemish king and purported inventor and patron of beer, would no doubt have
called the city home.
THE RISE
The first brewery in Milwaukee wasn't started by a German—it was Welshmen who
founded the first, along the lakefront, in 1840. Germans got into the act not much
later with Herman Reuthlisberger's brewery in Milwaukee—and bang! In 1844, Ja-
cob Best started the neighborhood Empire Brewery, which later became the first of
the megabreweries, Pabst. The same year saw Milwaukee's first beer garden—that
all-inclusive picnic/party zone with lovely flower gardens and promenades so essen-
tial to German culture—open, two years before the city's charter was approved. The
next half-decade saw the establishment of the progenitors of Milwaukee's hops her-
itage—in order, Blatz, Schlitz, and the modern leviathan, Miller.
Without question, the primary beer spur was massive immigration. Most influen-
tial were waves of German immigrants, who earned Milwaukee the nickname “Ger-
man Athens” bythe 1880s.Further,whenthe government levied awhiskey tax of$1
per barrel, tavern patrons immediately began asking for beer instead.
Location was another factor in Milwaukee's brewery success; Wisconsin was a
worldagriculturalplayerinherbs,hopsamongthem.Inaddition,Milwaukee'spleth-
ora of natural ice gave it an edge over other U.S. brewers. The Great Chicago Fire
of 1871 helped by devastating virtually all of Milwaukee's competition. The city be-
came famous for production and consumption; by the Civil War, there was one tip-
pler's joint for every 90 residents—and
during
the war, the breweries doubled their
production yet again. At one time, there were nearly 600 breweries in the state. This
led temperance crusader Carrie Nation to declare in 1902, “If there is any place that
is hell on earth, it is Milwaukee. You say that beer made Milwaukee famous, but I
say that it made it infamous.”
Thebrewers'vastwealthallowedthemtoaffecteverymajoraspectofMilwaukee
society and culture; ubiquitous still are the brewing family names affixed to philan-
thropicorganizations,culturalinstitutions,andmanybuildings.SopopularwasPabst
beer that it could afford to place real blue ribbons on bottles by hand; so pervasive
