Greenfield (Milwaukee County)

• The Explorium (2016–present)
• 5300 S 76th St Unit 1450A

Mike and Joan Doble founded the Explorium in 2016 in suburban Greenfield. They were inspired by the first Doble family brewery, Tampa Bay Brewing Company in Ybor City, Florida. In keeping with the theme of exploration and discovery, most of the beers are named after explorers—including Patagonian Hitchhiker, named after the hypothesis that the first lager yeast originated in that region of South America.542

Greenfield Township (Barre Mills) (La Crosse County)

• Valentine Zimmerman (1867–1872?)

Valentine Zimmerman apparently operated his small farm brewery just east of La Crosse for about five years. He first appeared in the excise records in September 1867, having produced two barrels of beer the previous month. In the 1870 census he was listed as a farmer, so it is likely that brewing was a part-time occupation for him.

Hammond (St. Croix County)

• (T. Frederick) Weyhe & Son (1873–79)

Hammond was regarded as a strong temperance village, but still hosted a brewery for about six years. Weyhe & Son appeared in excise records in April 1873, and he produced 121 and 157 barrels in 1874 and 1875. The R. G. Dun & Co. credit evaluator took a dim view of T. F. Weyhe’s financial position (going back to his time in Hudson) and continued: “to crown all he cannot retail any beer in Hammond during the present year, but must ship it all away and sell it wholesale.”543

Hartford (Washington County)

• Nic Metzer (& Co.) (Whitman & Metzer) (1866?–1871?)
• John Huels (1871?–73?)
• Jacob Portz, Hartford City Brewery (1874–1890)
• Jacob Portz Brewing & Malt Co. (1890–95)
• Portz & Werner, Hartford City Brewery (1895–1900)
• Geo. Portz, Hartford City Brewery (1900–1902)
• Joseph Schwartz, Hartford City Brewery (1902–4)
• Joseph Schwartz Brewing Co. (1904–1937)
• 200 East Wisconsin Street

Nicholas Metzer began brewing in Hartford sometime prior to May 1867, when existing excise records begin. While Nic appears in the excise records, it is George Metzer (most likely his brother) who appeared in the 1870 census as the principal, and probably the owner of the property as well. The Metzer brewery produced 400 barrels in 1870 with their horse and three employees, and if the industrial census is accurate, priced their beer at $7.50 per barrel, which was the cheapest in Washington County at the time.

In late 1871, John Huels, formerly a brewer at Huelsberg, purchased the Hartford brewery and ran it at least until early 1873 (he is still listed in the industry directory for that year). Production declined from 314 barrels in 1871 to 245 the next year which may have represented Huels’ declining interest in the brewery. Huels decided to trade the Hartford brewery for the Kiefus House hotel (later the Gasper House) owned by Jacob Portz, and in 1874 Portz took over the brewery.544

Portz expanded production quickly, from 94 barrels in 1874 (during which the brewery may not have been in operation the whole year) to 469 barrels in 1875, and to 700 barrels a year by the end of the decade. In 1876, Portz was charged by two of his workmen that he had failed to cancel tax stamps on the kegs. However, the account in the West Bend Democrat concluded that the workers “got their backs up” and “the whole affair was gotten up to injure an apparently innocent man” out of “personal malice.”545 Portz rented the brewery to Stephen Mayer of West Bend for a short time in 1880, perhaps because Mayer needed extra capacity for his growing business.546

Industry directories do not list any malting operations in the early 1880s, but Portz built a malt house in the mid-1880s and soon this business became just as important as the brewery. When the company was incorporated in 1890, this was indicated in the name of the business. Around 1895, the two businesses were split among Jacob Portz’s sons: Louis and Andrew took the malting plant, and George operated the brewery. George partnered with William Werner for a few years, but later bought out Werner’s interest and ran the brewery alone.

Joseph Schwartz purchased the brewery from Portz in 1901 for $34,000 and began to enlarge the plant and increase production. (The Portz family continued in the malting business.) Schwartz was another brewer who served in the Civil War, in his case, with the 1st Wisconsin Volunteers. In the mid-1910s, Joseph promoted his son Andrew to manager, and left most of the day-to-day operations in his hands. This was a wise decision since Joseph died in August 1917.547 Andrew was not the brewmaster, however, this position was held during the 1910s first by William Frank and after his death in 1914 by William Bauer.548 Among Joseph Schwartz’s innovations was to purchase a delivery truck for the brewery. This particular two-ton KisselKar was the subject of an article in Motor Truck magazine in 1913. It plunged through a stone wall and over a ten-foot embankment into a mill pond, but was hoisted out with a derrick and turned out to have suffered so little damage it was able to make an eighteen-mile trip later that day. This was touted as evidence of KisselKar’s durability as well as proof that the motorized truck could not only replace horse-drawn drays but improve upon them.549

The Schwartz family diversified their business during Prohibition in a spectacular way. The company bought Hartford’s Eagles Park, and began leasing the recreational facilities. In 1928, they built a large octagonal ballroom, which was reputed to be the largest dance hall in the state. “The Schwartz” hosted the bands of Guy Lombardo, Lawrence Welk, Woody Herman and the Dorsey Brothers among others. The era of big name acts continued until 1944, when the ballroom and park became Camp Hartford, a detention facility for German prisoners of war. (The ballroom has since been restored and as of 2017 was called the Chandelier Ballroom.)550

It is unlikely that Joseph Schwartz Brewing Co. was ready to sell beer on the day when beer became legal since they do not seem to have had their license in time, but they began production again during 1933. Sales were never particularly high after Prohibition, typically only a few hundred barrels a month, but in 1937 sales were consistently under 100 barrels a month, and the brewery stopped producing that summer. The Schwartz company went bankrupt, and both the brewery and ballroom were turned over to creditors.551

• Baum & Eckel (1866?–1869?)
• D. & J. Baum (1872?)

Baum & Eckel (later just Baum) are known mostly from excise records. A Jacob Baum boarded with Henry Eckel in 1870, though neither was listed as a brewer. Daniel Baum and his father John were farmers in Wayne Township. While listed in the 1872 directory, this was likely a very small farm brewery.

• Red Brick Brewing Co./Rothaus Restaurant & Brewery (1995–2000)
• 4900 State Highway 175

Red Brick Brewing Co. and Rothaus Restaurant & Brewery was a short-lived brewpub in Hartford, featuring the beers of brewmaster Robert Wilbers.

Hartland, Delafield Township (Waukesha County)

• Christian Christianson (1867–1872?)
• Kaeding & Krause, Bark River Brewery (1872?–77?)

Sometimes listed in excise records under the post offices in Hartland or Hawthorne, the brewery of Christian Christianson appears to have sold its first beer in November 1867. By 1870 he was selling about 100 barrels a year, which made his one of the smallest breweries in Waukesha County. Records of R. G. Dun & Co. show that Christianson was regarded as an honest man, though heavily in debt.

At some point, most likely in early 1872, Christianson sold the brewery to John H. Krause and Frederick Kaeding. The 1873 Atlas of Waukesha County includes an advertisement for John H. Krause as the proprietor of the Bark River Brewery, in which it was noted that he was also a wholesale and retail dealer of beer and liquor, but the atlas fails to locate the brewery on any of the maps. The brewery’s production never seems to have been much more than 100 barrels, and the Dun records suggest that Krause was in and out of business over the next few years. He was probably out of business altogether by 1877 if not before.552

Hayward (Sawyer County)

• Angry Minnow (2004–present)
• 10440 Florida Avenue

Brothers Will and Jason Rasmussen started Angry Minnow in a building constructed in 1889 for lumber magnate Robert McCormick. Neither had any brewery or restaurant experience, but Jason was a homebrewer who gained experience by attending Siebel Institute and working as an apprentice at Great Dane in Madison. The brewpub quickly became popular with vacationers and cabin owners in the Hayward area, many of them from across the border in Minnesota. The brewery started bottling some of its beers in 2006 and self-distributed them in the local area. Around 2012, Angry Minnow added a small canning operation, which helped even out sales during the slower seasons. The canned beers were distributed as far north as Bayfield, and south to Hudson. The cans proved especially popular with customers who wanted to take home the beer they had on vacation.553 Over the last several years, production has grown gradually but steadily, approaching 1,000 barrels in 2016. Jason Rasmussen estimated that Angry Minnow could produce as much as 1,300 barrels “going flat out,” but they had no plans to expand beyond existing capacity.554

• Old Hayward Eatery & Brewpub/Muskie Capital Brewery (2005–2010)
• 15546 Highway B

Muskie Capital Brewery was a sister brewery to Ashland’s South Shore Brewery, and South Shore’s Bo Belanger traveled from Ashland to Hayward (about sixty miles each way) three times a week to brew with Badger Colish and the rest of the brewing team. The fifteen-barrel system enabled Muskie Capital to handle the needs of Old Hayward Eatery and also produce some extra for South Shore. The economic downturn that started in 2008, along with changes in city policies in Hayward made operating two brewpubs impractical, and Muskie Capital closed in 2010.555

Highland (Iowa County)

• Jacob Gunlach & Phillip Gillman (1846?–47?)
• Phillip Gillman (1847?–1860?)
• Charles Gillman (1865?)

According to the county histories, Jacob Gunlach built a log structure that was the first brewery in Highland, and Phillip Gillman started brewing there the next year. It is possible that Gunlach was merely a builder and not a partner in the brewery, since county histories of the late nineteenth century often used that phrase to indicate erecting the structure rather than starting the business. He appeared in the 1850 census as a storekeeper, so may have had a financial stake in the business. The history of this brewery is also confused by the different names given to Gillman. There was a brewer named Philip Gillman [sic] in the 1850 census, but he was located in eastern Grant County, which was quite close to Highland in western Iowa County. But it was William Gillman who was listed as a brewer in Highland at that time (and boarded in the same establishment as Gunlock [sic]).

It is not clear how long this brewery was in operation. It appears in no excise records, industry journals or other records, and the 1865 state business directory lists Charles Gillman, who was brewing in Mineral Point at the time but may have taken control of the Highland establishment. The 1881 county history says only “Eventually the building was converted to other uses, until it burned in 1880.”556

• Peter Seigut & Bros. (1855–1862)
• Topp, Lampe & Imhoff (1863–67)
• Schaffra & Lampe (1867–68)
• Schaffra & Victor (1868–1870)
• Schaffra & Meyer (1870–72)
• John Schaffra (1872–1883?)
• John A. Semrad (1887–1893)
• John A. Semrad & Bros. (1893–1904)
• Semrad Bros. & Pusch Brewing Co. (1904–1920)
• Semrad-Pusch Brewing Co. (1933–1942)
• Foot of Brewery Street

The 1881 county history reported that Peter Seigut and Bros. built this brewery in 1855, which they operated until it burned in 1862. The Seiguts left brewing after the fire, but John Topp, Anthony Imhoff, and the Lampe brothers built a new brewery. For the next few years, the Highland brewery went through the frequent ownership changes often suffered by a small town brewery with a limited market and limited capital. John Schaffra (or Schafer) took the place of Topp and Imhoff in 1867, but the Lampe family interests went to Victor and then to Meyer before Schaffra took the business on alone.557 (No one other than Schaffra was listed as a brewer in the 1870 population census.)

John Schaffra’s time as owner met with mixed success. He had a reputation for brewing good beer, and produced nearly 400 barrels in 1870, but the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports noted that he was personally reliable but was having a hard time resolving his debts. By 1883 he was out of business—although some sources list his term continuing until 1887, it is likely that the brewery lay dormant for at least part of this time since no Highland brewery appears in the industry directories.558

In 1887, John V. Semrad, an immigrant from Bohemia, purchased the brewery with his sons John A., Frank and Joseph. In 1893, the elder Semrad retired and his sons took over the business. Anthony (Anton) Pusch, a refrigeration expert, bought a share of the brewery in 1904, and the company then took the rather long name that would last for almost three decades. John A. Semrad sold his shares in 1912 and moved to a farm near Boscobel, so the remaining brothers carried on the business with Pusch.559 The company introduced a new flagship brand, Old Regulator, which would be revived after Prohbition.

The brewery suffered a fire in July 1901 that inflicted heavy damage, but unlike many smaller breweries, they appear to have had insurance adequate to cover most of the costs.560 The rebuilt brewery included five buildings, two of them over three stories, and employed fifteen men. Business continued to expland. The brewery’s capacity was listed as 40,000 barrels and nearly forty men were employed just before beer production ceased in 1919.

The company was able to survive Prohibition by making near beer and bottling soft drinks. As a consequence, the Semrads and Pusch were ready to make a quick transition to making real beer again. However, one newspaper account claimed that the brewery had never shut down during Prohibition, but another report said that the plant had been shut down and the old plant was torn down and replaced by a new larger one.561 The plant wasn’t quite ready in April 1933, but repairs and enlargements were made during the summer and the newly incorporated and renamed Semrad-Pusch Brewing Co. was soon ready to reintroduce Old Regulator. Among the ways the brand was promoted was with a bowling team called the Old Regulator Beers in the Madison Businessmen’s League.562 Just before the brewery closed, however, Old Regulator was phased out—the brewery letterhead from 1942 only mentions Bohemian Style Highland Beer. While the brewery had a capacity of 50,000 barrels it never approached that volume, and by the end of the decade sales were below 3,000 barrels a year. The brewery was strapped for cash, and could not afford to buy the required revenue stamps more than a day in advance.563 The brewery went into receivership in January 1942, and shut down shortly thereafter. According to a Semrad descendant, the story told by the family is that Blatz bought the bankrupt company because it needed the copper and could not get it through other means because of wartime restrictions. The brewery was later razed, and only remains of the loading dock are left as of this writing.564

Hillsboro (Vernon County)

• Ludwig (& Landsinger) (1858–1874)
• Frederick Schnell (1874–1890)
• Joseph Bezucha (1890–1913)
• Hillsboro Brewing Co. (1913–19)
• Hutter Brewing Co. (1933–36)
• Hillsboro Brewing Co. (1936–1943)
• Wood Avenue, edge of town

Carl Ludwig left his brewing partnership with Otto Kerl in Berry and moved west to start his own brewery in Hillsborough (as it was then spelled) in 1858. The company’s post-Prohibition letterhead proclaimed that their beer was “Enjoyed since 1852,” but there is no evidence to support that early a date in Hillsboro. The first brewery was a small log building, but he later built a more modern structure.565 During at least part of this time, Joseph Landsinger was a partner in the business. Ludwig only sold ninety barrels of beer in 1870 in twelve months of operation, and known production records from the late 1860s and early 1870s show similar small levels. The R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports confirmed his small scale, but noted in 1870 that business was down because “of want of patronage by reason of the hard times” though he was still worthy of credit. However he ultimately went out of business in 1874.566

Frederick Schnell purchased the brewery that year, and either enlarged the plant or better used its existing capacity because he produced 364 barrels in 1875 and 590 in 1878. For the next several years, industry directories listed the brewery’s capacity at 1,500 barrels, and in 1882 Schnell produced 1,300 barrels. In addition to brewing, Schnell also was a brick manufacturer for several years.567

By 1890, the brewery was in new hands.568 Joseph Bezucha was a Bohemian immigrant who was also listed as a farmer in the 1900 census. During the 1890s his business was mostly draught beer shipped to saloons in the area, though he had competition from Hillsboro establishments that were importing Hausmann’s lager from Madison, Reedsburg beer, or bottled brands from Milwaukee. He advertised “Special attention paid to family orders.”569

The Hillsboro Brewing Co. was incorporated in February 1911, mostly by Bohemians from Hillsboro, along with W. H.H. Cash from New Lisbon. Under the new management, the brewery became larger and more modern. The brewery made the switch from ice to refrigeration in 1911 with the installation of a sixteen-ton ice plant installed by the ever-present Vilter company of Milwaukee.570 A comparison of Sanborn maps from 1904 and 1914 shows that bottling facilities were added between those years (the only known paper label prior to Prohibition includes the post-1907 requirements, and the 1911 annual report confirms the existence of bottling operations). While Joseph Bezucha was among the original incorporators, he withdrew from an active role in the business.571 Oscar Ondracek was the brewmaster in 1912, but was succeeded by Edward Geisler in 1913.572 The brewery continued in operation until the government-ordered shutdown in 1919. The corporation disbanded and forfeit their incorporation at the beginning of 1922, and the property was sold in 1923.

After Prohibition, the Hillsboro brewery was reopened by a new corporation, the Hutter Brewing Co. The articles of incorporation allowed for operating a wholesale and retail ice business and left open the door to be a distributor for products of other breweries. The Hutter family lived in Fond du Lac and the only director with an address in Hillsboro was Edward Aman. Brewing began in 1934, but the company struggled. In August 1936, the brewery was reorganized as a new Hillsboro Brewing Co. The principals were all from La Crosse and two of them, G. W. and M. W. Heinrich, gave their name to the new flagship beer, Heinie’s, introduced in 1938.573 The brewery also made Imperial Club and bock and holiday beers, as well as continuing Hutter’s Hillsboro Pale. Some of the beer was shipped to Minnesota, but usually less than two hundred barrels per month. Hillsboro Brewing Co. had problems other than modest sales. The auditors of the Beverage Tax Division had reported in 1937 that the records of the company were in bad shape, and Bechaud’s Inc. of Fond du Lac complained that Heinie’s Strong Beer contained only 4.6 percent abv when the label advertised it as being more than 5 percent. (Hillsboro was allowed to continue using the labels after cutting off the top border that had the offending claim.) The company declared bankruptcy in January 1938, and remained out of business until late 1939.574 The new president of the brewery, Curt Pfeiffer, had been with Mathie-Ruder Brewing Co. in Wausau, and was expected to restore the fortunes of the brewery. Nearly all the employees were new and inexperienced, since those that were with the business before had left to find other jobs. The company produced more than 5,000 barrels in 1940 and approached 7,000 the next year.575 For some reason, perhaps in response to the declaration of war in December 1941, Hillsboro Brewing Co. decided to reintroduce a near beer brand in 1942, and Imperial Club was rebranded as “A Pure Cereal Beverage.”576 This project was not a success, and the brewery went out of business in 1942.

• Hillsboro Brewing Co. (2013–present)
• 815 Water Avenue

Snapper and Kim Verbsky purchased the property at 815 Water Avenue with the idea of turning it into a pizzeria. They decided to add a brewery because Snapper’s dad, Joe, was an avid homebrewer. Just a few days after Joe brewed a batch of porter that he thought was his ideal brew in 2012, he was killed in a car accident. If anything, this made the Verbskys more serious about setting up a brewery in honor of Joe.

The restaurant opened in 2013, and brewing started in 2015. As of 2017, the flagship beers were Joe Beer, based on Joe’s porter recipe, and Hillsboro Pale Ale. They also had six other regular beers and four seasonals. In addition to pizza, the restaurant also features a selection of sandwiches.577

Horicon (Dodge County)

• Paul Deierlein (1858–1882)
• Charles H. Deierlein (1882–84)
• John S. Deierlein (1884–1891)
• Hubbard Street

In late August 1858, the Horicon Argus announced: “We learn that two Germans have purchased brick and lumber and will soon commence building a brewery, on Hubbard street, near the Depot. It will be on a large scale, and will be a good investment.” The Argus remained enthusiastic as the brewery approached its opening: “Paul [Deierlein] is an old brewer, and says he can make as good Lager as any men dare drink. Good for Paul, say we.”578 While the praise for the quality of the beer may have been accurate, the expectation of a “large scale” brewery was not. The business was among the smallest breweries recorded in the 1860 industrial census, representing an investment of just $600 and producing just 150 barrels of beer (selling for $6 each). The brewery never grew very large: producing 175 barrels in 1870 and only seventy-six and seventy-three in 1878 and 1879.

The brewery continued to operate on a small scale through the 1880s under Paul’s second son, Charles, and then his youngest son, John.

• John Grosskopf (1864–66?)
• Herman, Marquart & Co. (1866?–68)
• John Grosskopf (1868–1870)
• Grosskopf & Wolfram (1870–1872?)
• Lawrence Wolfram (1872?–78?)
• John Grosskopf (1878–1884)

John Grosskopf was the second brewer in Horicon, starting his business in 1864 according to the standard county histories.579 The excise records have Herman, Marquart & Co. for the 1867 license year, but it is not clear if they were leasing the brewery temporarily. (Grosskopf was not in the excise records during that year, so it is more likely that Herman, Marquart & Co. operated Grosskopf’s brewery rather than starting a third brewery in Horicon.)

While Grosskopf’s brewery had slightly more capital invested ($1,000) than his rival Deierlein, there was little difference in size. Grosskopf reported an identical 175 barrels in the 1870 industrial census, and nearly identical totals of seventy and seventy-five barrels in 1878 and 1879. Neither Horicon brewery produced much more than was necessary to satisfy local thirsts. The excise records show that Grosskopf had a partner for a few years named Lawrence Wolfram who was listed as a saloonkeeper in the 1870 census.

Grosskopf’s brewery found its way into the newspapers twice for crimes committed on the premises, which suggests that his brewery may have attracted a rougher crowd than Deierlein’s. In 1878, one Dan Crowley was killed in a fight at Grosskopf’s brewery, and in 1884 the business was held up by four drunken railroad workers, though the marshal arrived in time to arrest the parties.580 Grosskopf’s brewery disappeared from directories after 1884, and it is possible that the last incident persuaded him to leave the business.

Hortonville, Hortonia Township (Outagamie County)

• Miller & Co. (1871?–1872?)

Miller & Co. were listed as brewers in the 1872 state business directory. They appear in no other sources, but John Miller appears in several records as a saloonkeeper in Hortonville. He may have brewed on a small scale, bottled beer for someone else, or simply been mislabeled in the directory.

• Charles Hoier (1899)
• Hortonville Brewing Co. (1900–1920)
• New Lisbon Plank Road (modern West Main Street/WI 15) near Black Otter Creek

Charles Hoier was a blacksmith prior to opening a small brewery in Hortonville. His brewery began operations in April 1899, but was destroyed by a fire only three months later.581 When the brewery was rebuilt, it was under the auspices of the Hortonville Brewing Co. The new building was depicted in the 1901 Sanborn map as a small frame structure. The company added artificial refrigeration in 1907, and by 1909 the company had constructed a bottling house and a storage shed.582 Hortonville Brewing advertised in the 1910 Directory of Outagamie County, proclaiming: “Our Beer is a Wholesome and delicious Drink.” Orders were “promptly filled” if customers called phone number twelve “with two rings.”583 The company incorporated in Wisconsin in 1916, but aside from adding Inc. to the name, it had little affect on business.584 One of the original incorporators was Joseph Borsche, who served both as president and brewmaster—a rare combination except in the smallest of breweries.

The brewery was in the news when a local drinker (a minor at the time of the episode in 1913) sued for $9,500 damages (perhaps $200,000 in 2018 dollars) because he “imbibed too much of the amber fluid dispensed at the brewery,” collapsed after leaving on a frigid night and ended up having a leg and the other foot amputated due to frostbite.585 The company continued in business through Prohibition, but closed and was razed shortly thereafter.

Howard (Brown County)

• Legends Brewhouse (1998–present)
• 2840 Shawano Avenue

Couples Jay and Julie Gosser and Greg and Ann DeCleene started their first Legends Brewhouse in the Howard portion of Green Bay in 1998. Brewer Ken Novak created a number of different beer styles on the small brewing systems in each location. The other restaurants are the De Pere location and the now-closed Ashwaubenon site.

Hudson (St. Croix County)

• William Montmann (1857–1891?)
• A. & J. Hochstein, Artesian Brewery (1891–1906?)
• Henry M. Singleman Brewing Co. (1906–1910)
• Second and Walnut Streets (to 1866); south bank of Lake Mallalieu east of 2nd Street (after 1866)

Hudson’s first brewery was established in 1857, by William and Henry Montmann, as part of a store, bakery and hotel enterprise in the center of the city. Their property burned in the Great Fire of 1866, and they decided to rebuild on the south bank of Lake Mallalieu, which at the turn of the century was still called Willow River Mill Pond. The plant was run by hand but switched to horsepower sometime after 1870 and had a lagering cave and a saloon to serve patrons. In 1870, Montmann brewed 300 barrels, half as much as his rival Whye, but Montmann had other businesses to look after as well.

Sometime prior to July 1891 Anton and Joseph Hochstein purchased the brewery, and ran it until about 1906. Henry Singleman then took charge, and built capacity to 12,000 barrels per year (though production seems never to have approach that). Around 1910, it appears that Singleman sold out to rival Casanova Brewing Co., because the 1912 Sanborn maps label the building as Casanova Brewing Co. Plant No. 2 (though it was not in operation at the time).586

• J. F. Weyhe (1867?–1869)
• R. A. Gridley (1869)
• Gridley & Weyhe (1869–1871?)

The least known of Hudson’s breweries started prior to 1867, when J. F. Weyhe (or Whye) began production. He appears as a brewer in the 1870 census, though Russell A. Gridley, his business partner, was listed as a (wealthy) farmer, and may have been the money behind Weyhe’s brewing experience. An advertisement in 1869 proclaimed that R. A. Gridley had just purchased the City Brewery and had recommenced the manufacture of lager beer.587 The brewery was not particularly small for northwestern Wisconsin, brewing 600 barrels in 1870.

Some accounts list Weyhe as a predecessor of Louis Yoerg, but most histories claim the two were not the same business and the Hudson Star & Times included a new brewery built by Louis Yoerg among the buildings erected in 1870.588 The reason for the end of the brewery is not clear, but the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports suggested that Weyhe was in financial difficulties. Weyhe may have moved to seek better prospects in nearby Hammond, or may have been trying to avoid creditors.589

• Louis Yoerg (1870–1890)
• George Riedel, City Brewery (1890–96)
• Joseph A. Casanova (1896–98)
• Casanova Brewing Co. (1898–1920)
• Coulee Road

Louis Yoerg was a son of Minnesota’s pioneer brewer, Anthony Yoerg. Rather than stay in the family company, he decided to move east and start a brewery in 1870 in Hudson (even though the census listed him as living across the river in Stillwater, Minnesota at the time). His first brewery was destroyed by fire in 1873, but he rebuilt and equipped the new brewery with steam power in 1876. By the mid-1880s capacity was listed as more than 2,000 barrels per year—far more than his rival, Montmann.

After Yoerg’s death the brewery was purchased by George Riedel, who operated it for a few years before selling it to Joseph A. Casanova. Casanova was a Swiss immigrant who had been employed at a brewery in Stillwater.590 The brewery was destroyed by fire in July 1898, and when it was rebuilt it operated as the Casanova Brewing Co., reflecting the presence of his brother Christopher in the firm. In 1910 the brothers bought out their crosstown competition when they purchased the Singlemann Brewing Co. for $16,500. While reports claimed that the two plants were to be consolidated, the Singleman plant was shuttered and all brewing took place at the Coulee Road facility.591 Casanova Brewing continued to operate until Prohibition, when it switched to a near beer called Caso and a line of popular soft drinks. The building still stands as of Summer 2017, and is occupied by a restaurant and liquor store. The brewery caves are used occasionally for special events.

• Hudson Brewing Co./American Sky Brewing Co. (2012–15)
• 1510 Swasey Street

Greg Harris was an enthusiastic homebrewer who embraced the dream of taking his hobby to the next level. With business help from his wife and co-founder Molly, they began to plan Hudson Brewing Co. They wanted their brewery to stand for something more than just beer, so they decided to honor the service of their grandfathers in World War II and the Korean War by naming the brand American Sky and giving the beers names that paid tribute to military aviation. Tailgunner Gold was named after Molly’s grandfather, who served as a tailgunner in Korea. Most beers featured American ingredients, but Dogfight had a mix of American and German malts, hence the name.

Hudson Brewing Co. opened its taproom, the Hangar, in September 2012. The taproom evoked an airplane hanger, the bar was shaped like an airplane wing and the tasting flight trays were shaped like propellers. The walls were decorated with aviation-related art and objects, as well as photos of military veterans—many brought in by patrons. Greg continued with the flagship brews but also introduced flavorful specialty and seasonal beers, including a chocolate peanut butter stout that was released around Valentine’s Day.592 The Hudson Brewing Co. name was soon dropped and the company took on the name of its beer brands.

In June 2015, the Harrises sold American Sky Brewing Co. to Lucid Brewing Co. Lucid (now North Loop BrewCo), was forced to close the taproom because of licensing issues, which was one of the reasons they were interested in the purchase in the first place. Lucid moved the brewing equipment from Hudson to its Inbound BrewCo taproom in the North Loop neighborhood of Minneapolis.593

• Pitchfork Brewing (2013–present)
• 709 Rodeo Circle

Mike Fredericksen was a long-time homebrewer and former employee of the Northern Brewer homebrew store in St. Paul. As president of the Sconnie Suds homebrewers club, he worked with the Wisconsin Homebrewing Alliance to help rewrite a law preventing homebrewers from taking their beer off the premises where it was made. Partially because of the attention generated by his testimony, he was encouraged to start Pitchfork Brewing Co., which opened with several co-founders in August 2013. Jeff Milleson joined the brewing staff as a volunteer apprentice in 2013, but by 2015 he had been promoted to Assistant Brewer.

The brewery, located in a small strip mall on the edge of Hudson, serves mostly ales and occasional lagers. A noteworthy beer is the occasional French Toast Ale, which is served with cinnamon sugar on the rim of the glass.594

Huilsburg (Herman Township) (Dodge County)

• John Huels (1850–1865)
• August Thielke (1865–1871)
• Eifert & Scharmann (1871–77)
• Johann Heinrich Eifert Sr. (1877–1881)
• Johann Heinrich Eifert Jr. (1881–87)
• South Side of County Road S east of County Road P

John Huels (Hills) arrived in Herman Township in 1847 and began farming. In 1850, he started a brewery, and in 1858 added a general store—thus providing most of the commerce in the small village of Huelsburg (today Huilsberg). According to one county history, he was “a man of many attainments, being a homeopathic physician of exceptional skill besides doing a large mercantile business.”595 In 1860, what was usually called the Herman Brewery produced an impressive 700 barrels of beer with three employees. He sold the brewery in 1865 to his brother-in-law August Thielke, who operated it for several years.596 Production declined through the 1860s, and in 1870 he reported sales of only forty barrels, though the brewery was only in operation for six months (and now employed only one).

Local historian Michael D. Benter has cleared up the previous confusing listings for this brewery. Thielke, probably overburdened by running multiple businesses and a farm, sold the brewery and its associated saloon to Johann Heinrich Eifert Sr. and Heinrich Scharmann Sr. In September 1871. Both were listed as farmers in the 1870 census, and may have had no experience brewing. Other than excise tax entries in 1871 and 1872, this brewery disappeared from the industry directories and only appeared in the 1876 state business directory and the 1884 Bradstreet credit reports, so it was probably run on an extremely small scale and did little more than supply the neighboring saloon. Eifert and Scharmann ran the brewery together until Scharmann sold his share in October 1877 (he died three months later, and may have sold out because of declining health). Eifert operated the brewery until 1881, when he died of a stroke, and his son Johann Jr. took over. He continued the brewery until 1887, when his son-in-law Charles Schott took over the saloon and elected to discontinue the brewery.597

Humbird (Mentor Township) (Clark County)

• Ignatz Gondrezick (1869)
• Andrews & Gondrezick /Andrews, Hay & Co. (1869–1871)
• Ernest Eilert (1871–1885)
• East of Modern County Road F near East Fork of Halls Creek (Southern Border of Section 20, Mentor Township)598

The 1881 history of Northern Wisconsin claims that Andrews and Gunderson erected the Humbird brewery in 1870. However, Gunderson was clearly a misinterpretation of Gondrezick, and excise records show he started production in 1869.599 Gondrezick is included in the 1870 industrial census as having operated for six months of the previous twelve. While no total number of barrels is recorded, information from the excise records and his total sales of $1,500 suggest that he produced about 150 barrels in that time (at a Clark County price of $10 per barrel). The brewery was destroyed by fire in September 1870, which may have encouraged Gondrezick to try elsewhere.600 The early business names appeared at different times in different sources, and seem to have been more differences in reporting than significant changes in ownership. The 1873 American Brewers’ Guide directory indicates that George M. Andrews and Ernest Eilert owned the brewery together at that date, suggesting a more gradual transition than the 1881 history presents.

Ernest Eilert was trained as a brewer in Waukesha County by his father and in 1871 he moved to Humbird to take over management of the brewery (Gondrezick had started a new brewery in Tomah). Like many other brewers, Eilert held political office, serving as a town supervisor for several years. He stepped up production from 73 barrels in 1871 to an average of around 500 barrels a year in the late 1870s.601 By 1884, Wing listed his capacity at 2,500 barrels and indicated that he was bottling some of his beer. The R. G. Dun & Co. reports praised his business acumen and noted that he also owned a farm and other property in the county. They also reported rumors in 1883 that he was planning to buy the brewery in the county seat of Neillsville—rumors that proved well founded, but not until fate took a hand.602 Eilert’s Humbird brewery burned in early 1885, and he moved to Neillsville a few months later.603

Hurley (Iron County)

• Philip Becker, Hurley Brewery (1887–1895)
• Gogebic Range Spring Brewery (1895–96)
• M. E. Lennon, Gogebic Range Spring Brewery (1896–98)
• McGeehan Bros. (1898)
• West Side of Sixth Avenue, North of Gold Street

Hurley was well known for consumption of alcohol, so it was fitting that there was an attempt to establish a home brewery to satisfy the local market.604 Philip Becker, who had previous brewing experience in Ashland, moved east to this thirsty city and excise records indicate that he started paying tax on beer in May 1887. The brewery depicted on the 1888 Sanborn map had a bottling works across the street right from the start. By 1891, the plant had a capacity of 3,000 barrels, and had added new icehouses and a keg washing building. The expansion continued in the mid-1890s with the construction of a new brewhouse, which was connected to the old building by a bridge, along with another new icehouse.

Becker suffered from the wild atmosphere in Hurley at least once, when one of his workers was killed soon after opening. Becker’s biggest problem appears to have been financing.605 The rate of expansion seems to have been more than he could sustain, and the market for local lager beer may have been less than he expected. Hurley was a tempting market for large shipping brewers, who could have undercut Becker on price—the most important factor for the city’s saloonkeepers. The Gogebic Range Spring Brewery (with or without Lennon’s name in the business) was the first company to operate the brewery while it was in receivership.

The end for the brewery came in September 1898, when the brewery became what one headline called “Food for Flames.” The loss was estimated between $35,000 and $40,000, which included five teams of horses that could not be rescued in time. McGeehan Bros., the receivers of the bankrupt brewery, had less than $10,000 insurance, and the building was not rebuilt.606

Interestingly, there is one additional reference to a brewery in Hurley prior to Prohibition. The Winona Republican Herald reported that the president of the Badger Brewing Co. of Hurley had been indicted for liquor law violations, and included the information that fire had partially destroyed the Hurley brewery in December 1919. The fire marshal seized the brewery for the investigation, did not allow the beer to be removed, and after the Volstead Act took effect the next January, brought charges against the officers. This brewery does not appear in any industry publications, and the only known Badger Brewing Co. was in Black River Falls.607 The brewery may have been a wildcat operation—which would not have been out of character given Hurley’s reputation.

Hustisford (Dodge County)

• R. Kamlich (1866?–1868?)

R. Kamlich appears in the excise records in 1867 and 1868. Wanye Kroll has him (spelled Kamlah) listed as the predecessor of Nic Metzer’s brewery, but the two of them appear at the same time in the excise records in different cities, suggesting that they were separate businesses.608

Janesville (Rock County)

• Hodson & Co. (1846?–1853?)
• Main Street near Milwaukee

William Hodson, an important business leader of Janesville, built the first brewery in that city in 1846. As many other pioneer brewers discovered, having a brewery was only part of the process—he also needed to acquire the raw materials, and therefore advertised regularly in local newspapers for several thousand bushels of barley as well as for experienced coopers to make barrels to store and ship the product.609 Hodson advertised yeast for sale at his brewery as well as beer.610 While it was important as a business, Hodson’s brewery was most famous for having been the victim of the first major fire in Janesville, in which the brewery was struck by lightning and destroyed. Hodson rebuilt immediately, and by 1850 the brewery of Hodson & Leach was the third largest in the state outside Milwaukee. It sold $6,500 of beer in 1850, and while the barrel total is not given, if it was sold at the prevailing Wisconsin rate of $4 to $5 a barrel, this would be at least 1,300 barrels. Leach was probably an absentee owner since he does not appear in the local census, but four brewers other than Hodson are listed: William Eggleston, Thomas Boyce, Jasper Sears and Leonard Lampson. None of these men were born in Germany, which is an indicator that English-style ales dominated the market in largely Yankee Rock County. When Hodson encountered financial troubles, his brewery and other properties were sold at a Sheriff’s sale in 1853, but he would return to brewing in Janesville. The 1879 History of Rock County claims that Hodson sold out to the Bunster brothers, but subsequent research has called this into question.611

• John Buob (1853–54)
• Boub & Rogers (1854–1868)
• A. Rogers, Janesville Brewery (1868–1871)
• John Buob & Bro. (1871–1882)
• Gezelschap & Knipp, City Brewery (1882–86)
• Knipp Bros., City Brewery (1886–88)
• Louis F. Knipp, City Brewery (1888–1891)
• Louis F. Knipp Brewing Co. (1891–93)
• Louis F. Knipp (1893–1903)
• Croak Brewing Co. (1903–1920)
• Bower City Beverage Co. (1933–39)
• 500–520 North River Street

John Buob probably began brewing in Janesville in 1853, though some sources place the date later. A later biography stated that he had been brewing in America since 1844. Buob was a native of Switzerland, so came from a lager beer tradition as opposed to the ale brewers who otherwise dominated Janesville. Buob sold a share in the brewery to Anson Rogers, who would soon serve two terms as mayor of the city. For some reason, the brewery was listed in the 1860 industrial census as Buob and Brunbolt, with a production of about 650 barrels of lager. Ads for Buob & Rogers in 1861 announced they were making both ale and lager, perhaps in deference to local tastes. However, they were also looking for a bigger market, since their ads also invited “Country Dealers” (rural saloons and merchants) “to call at this Brewery before purchasing elsewhere as we are determined to deal in such an article and on such terms as cannot fail to be satisfactory.” This partnership continued until 1868, when Buob sold his share and moved to Jefferson to build a flouring mill.612 Rogers ran the brewery on his own for four years, then Buob returned to Janesville and took control of the brewery again. Rogers planned to spend the coming winter in Florida with his daughter in hopes that her health would improve (making them very early “snowbirds”).613

This time, John Buob was joined in partnership with his brother Michael, twenty-one years his junior, who had remained at the brewery with Rogers. An article honoring Michael’s retirement from brewing in 1913 claimed that he had started working at his brother’s brewery in 1857, when he would have been about thirteen years old. Rogers continued to own the building, and the brothers leased the building but owned all the brewing equipment. This became a factor in 1873 when the brewery burned at the hands of a suspected arsonist. (Local residents heard a buggy stop for a moment at the gate about fifteen minutes before the alarm was given, and the fire started in an area distant from the brewkettle, which was the only fire in the establishment.) The insurance arrangements were complicated by the fact that Rogers had insurance on the building, but the Buob brothers had insurance on the contents.614 The new brewery was steam powered including the elevators for grain and keg transport. Fermentation took place in an open vessel (in German, kuhlschiff) in a room featuring windows on three sides that could be opened and closed. The brewery was constructed of brick and St. Peter sandstone, but the smokestack was made in Chicago and shipped to the site on two flatbed rail cars.615 Production at the new facility was among the largest in the state, especially outside Milwaukee. From 1,900 barrels in 1870, sales oscillated between around 1,500 and 2,500 barrels throughout the 1870s, topping 3,100 barrels in 1879. In general, the brewery had a good reputation for quality, honesty and stability, though the Buobs had a large mortgage on the property. John Buob was injured in an accident at the brewery when a large ice block slipped and crushed him at the bottom of a chute, but was able to return to work soon after.616

In 1882, the Buob brothers left brewing (temporarily) and the brewery was rented to Charles H. Gezelschap and Louis (Lewis) F. Knipp for a ten-year term. These two had impeccable brewing credentials—Gezelschap had been a manager at Blatz and Knipp learned brewing at Miller and was most recently with the Milwaukee Brewing Association. Gezelschap stayed in Janesville only a few years, after which Knipp took over. He was joined briefly by his brother William Philip, who later went to a brewery in Huntington, Indiana. Despite the fact that the Dun & Co. evaluator considered the brewery old, small, and unsuccessful, the business prospered under Knipp’s management: a newspaper account related that in 1888 Knipp sold $50,000 worth of beer, which required 19,000 bushels of barley and 12,500 pounds of hops, as well as 200,000 barrels of water (a rare report of water use). Knipp also made improvements to the brewery. He added an ice run to the river, but installed an ice machine in 1893. Knipp built a new fifty-barrel brewhouse in the mid-1890s, but the brewery still did not have its own bottling works.617 An 1896 souvenir publication on the businesses of Janesville reported “The brewery also makes a specialty of putting up fine brands of bottled beer,” but this must have been done by an independent bottler since it could not have been done in an existing room of the brewery without violating federal law.618

Knipp’s more than two decades at the brewery ended in 1903 when the Croak brothers, William and Frank, formed the Croak Brewing Co. Their first major announcement was a half page ad for “special May brew,” which was probably similar to bock. They claimed “every home where good robust health is valued should have in its cellar a small four gallon keg” which could be obtained for one dollar. Interestingly, they noted that it was “by far the most expensive brew that has ever left the Knipp brewery” and the beer itself was still called Knipp’s beer. (Bottled beer was still not available.)619 The brewery continued to advertise Knipp’s beer for at least two years. Finally, in 1906, the brothers installed bottling equipment and launched beers with the Croak brand, which they advertised heavily in the newspaper.620 In an unusual departure from tradition, when Croak released its bock in 1914, it was available in bottles only—it had long been a beer hall specialty and while many breweries bottled bock, very few if any others sold it exclusively by the case.621

As prohibition approached, the Croak brewery debated what to do. As of 1918 they had not yet decided what to do with the buildings, and Frank Croak poured cold lager on any idea that the brewery could make enough beer before wartime prohibition took hold to last through the dry spell. The brewery stopped production on 30 November 1918, though some men remained employed to process the five-month supply of beer on hand.622 The company was reported to be considering making artificial ice, though a later article reported that Croak was now making near beer and Frank Croak stated “I have never even thought of manufacturing ice.”623 The company jumped on the announcement that “war beer” of 2.75 percent strength could be made, though they refrained from actually restarting the brewery despite several notices in the newspaper that “[S]moke will soon be floating from the tall chimney at the Croak Brewing Company.”624 After the Volstead Act took force, there was debate in 1921 over making beer legal in Wisconsin, and Croak Brewing Co. again announced its interest in production. They expected to be issued a permit to brew—and Frank Croak went so far as to resign his position on the Janesville police and fire commission.625 However, these hopes were dashed, and the brewery was forced to stick to near beer.

After Prohibition, the Croaks reformed the brewery under the new name Bower City Beverage Co. While the company name had changed, the flagship beer was still marketed under the name Croak’s Select. Sales in the first few years were about average for a smaller Wisconsin brewery, with some of the beer sold out of state (most likely in Illinois). Business began to decline in 1936, and the last sales were recorded in December 1938. Bower City Beverage sought bankruptcy protection in 1939, and the last remaining brewery in Janesville closed its doors for good.626

• Morshe & Wagoner, Black Hawk Brewery (1856–58?)
• John Roethinger & Co. aka Rock River Brewery (1858?–1865)
• John Roethinger, Phoenix Brewery/Janesville Steam Brewery/Cold Springs Brewery (1865–1878)
• August Lutz & Co. (1872–74?)
• C. Rosa & Co. aka Rosa & Bender (1878–1880)
• W. J. Marshall (1880)
• J. Haiga (1880–81)
• Anna B. Roethinger (1881?–83?)
• Nicholas Kramer (1883–84?)
• John Buob, South Side Brewery (1885–1890)
• Buob Bros., South Side Brewery (1890–97)
• Michael Buob, South Side Brewery (1897–1904)
• M. Boub Brewing Co. (1904–1915)
• Badger State Brewing Co. (1915–18)
• Foot of Main Street & Beloit Road

According to the 1879 History of Rock County, Morshe and Wagoner built the Black Hawk Brewery near the south end of Main Street. After a few years of “unsuccessful work” they sold “the implements” to John Roethinger who built “more commodious quarters hard by.”627 (Even though this probably means the Black Hawk Brewery should be treated as an entirely separate business, local histories cover them together, perhaps because the new “quarters” were simply an addition.) An obituary for Roethinger related that he had worked at breweries in Pennsylvania and Illinois before coming to Janesville about 1857. It is possible that he worked for another firm (perhaps even Morshe and Wagoner) before starting his own business.628 Roethinger first appears in the 1859 city directory and in 1862 his business is identified as the Rock River Brewery. But in early November 1865, his brewery was destroyed by fire. The brewery at the time was rented to John Henry, who owned most of the contents of the destroyed brewery and attached dwelling. The family had to escape through a window, and a young boy was almost left behind.629 Roethinger rebuilt almost immediately, and like many other breweries that rose from the ashes, he named this the Phoenix Brewery. The new brewery employed steam power, so it was also sometimes called the Phoenix Steam Brewery or the Janesville Steam Brewery. (This is not to be confused with breweries that made “steam” beer, mostly in California at this time.) The engine was a twelve-horsepower unit that was only exceeded in size by a few breweries outside of Milwaukee.

Conscious of the diverse tastes of Janesville’s tipplers, Roethinger offered a full range of beer styles. Because he was a German, he brewed lager, but he manufactured ale as well. An 1870 advertisement that announced the release of that year’s “Buck Beer” (bock) also included “Stock Lager, Cream and Stock Ale at the rate of ten dollars per barrel.” (An 1872 advertisement touted his Champagne Ale and Sparkling Stock.) This price was confirmed by the 1870 industrial census, which also recorded that he sold 2,000 barrels of beer and 500 barrels of ale (though a note in the Gazette said he made 2,000 barrels of lager and ale per year).630 Roethinger built a new ice house in late 1870 to help keep up with demand, but even this was not enough, so he embarked on a major expansion in the summer of 1871 in which he added a thirty-horsepower boiler and other modern equipment. Even while touting his modern equipment he also reminded customers that his brewery was the only brewery in the area located by and using water from a spring.631 His emphasis on the water source also resulted in the brewery being called the Spring Brewery or Spring Brook Brewery at various points. The Phoenix name was no longer in use in the early 1870s, but it could have been revived in 1872. In July of that year a fire started in the malt kiln, but the brewery employees had enough fire fighting equipment to douse the flames. However, the fire broke out again with more ferocity and consumed the entire brewery including the stables. The cellars were flooded and while some of the lager was saved, the ale casks were heavily damaged. Roethinger ordered lumber for a new brewery the day after the fire, traveled to Milwaukee to purchase a new brewing kettle and started again.632

After rebuilding the brewery, Roethinger leased or rented the property to several tenants who did not share his brewing talents. Roethinger may also have needed money, since the repeated construction costs must have weighed on him, and the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports indicate he had mortgages on the property, horses and beer. The first tenants were August Lutz & Co., (Joseph Walter was the “& Co.”), who were not considered stable and were out of business by the middle of 1874. Roethinger apparently took the brewery back again, though production was now under 1,000 barrels a year. In 1878, the firm of Rosa & Bender took control, and the Dun investigator suspected that the brewery was “only a blind” for some other more nefarious business, and concluded: “the concern is in bad odor and should not be recommended for credit.” (The sketchy reputation of the saloon at the brewery dated back at least to 1867, when a bartender was shot at by a drunken patron whom he was trying to evict.633) This partnership continued through 1880, but went out of business and was succeeded by W. J. Marshall and then J. Haiga in quick succession.634 Meanwhile, John Roethinger had died in 1879 and the property passed to John’s widow Anna B. Roethinger, who by 1882 produced only lager. Their son George was listed as a beer bottler in the 1880 city directory, and may have assisted with the brewery.

Nicholas Kramer became the manager of the brewery in September 1883 and made a final attempt to revitalize the Cold Springs brewery. He applied for a liquor license for the saloon at his brewery and began making beer. Unfortunately, the brewery burned for the third time in September 1884. The employees were on the second floor, and were unaware of the fire until alerted by a passing farmer. The loss of about $4,000 was not covered by insurance and the Roethinger family involvement came to an end.635

After about two years away from brewing, the Buob brothers returned to the business at a new location. The Daily Gazette announced in November 1885: “The old brewery at the foot of Main street which burned some time ago, has been rebuilt, and to-day is running at its full capacity.” John Buob was solely in charge of the brewery at this point, and Michael remained at the saloon on River Street.636 By 1888, Buob had production back up to 1,400 barrels per year and was the only brewer in Janesville with his own bottling works. The Buob brewery offered a full range of beers, including lager, ale and porter.637

Aside from some name changes as the brewery passed from John to Michael, the Buob tenure was by far the least dramatic of any who occupied the block. There were no major fires or other disasters, and the Buobs were able to keep building their reputation and market. They expanded and improved the brewery campus on a regular basis: Adding new ice houses along with a slide from their own ice pond. In 1901, the employees of Buob’s brewery (along with those of Knipp’s brewery) met to form a union, but there was no significant conflict between labor and management recorded.638 After the formation of the M. Buob Brewing Co. In 1904, Michael retired from active involvement in the brewery and sold part of his interest in the brewery to his son William and to William Hart.

In keeping with the developing American reliance on scientific authority, Buob ran an advertisement in 1911 for their Golden Crown Beer that featured commentary by the brewery’s chemist:

In the first place it may be a surprise to many of you to know that the brewery employs a chemist. My work is to test the water which we use, the malt, the hops, to test beers and also brewing, to see and know that just the proper chemical action takes place at a certain time and that certain other chemical actions are made impossible.

After the usual praise for their beer as a healthful tonic, he added this offer: “A case will be delivered to any responsible party in Janesville. After you have drunk three bottles if you are not perfectly satisfied that the beer is all I claim for it the Buob Brewing Co. will send a wagon for the remaining bottles and you won’t owe a cent.”639

Will Buob continued to manage the brewery until his death in 1912, after which his widow, Mary, took over the firm as administatrix. A year later, the brewery was sold to Nicholas Schmidt, Leo Hucherheidt and Leo Stieher, all of Milwaukee. When Badger State Brewing Co. was organized and took over the brewery in April 1914, Leo Stieher remained general manager, but Peter Meer and Albert Blume were the two other principals.640 Original expansion plans included artificial refrigeration, but the 1915 Sanborn map only shows an expanded system of ice slides. In 1917 Badger State announced plans to increase capacity to 10,000 barrels a year, but this was ill-timed, with Prohibition looming on the horizon.641 The brewery went out of business before Prohibition actually arrived. (A photo of Buob’s wagon and team is found in chapter 4, and a tin sign is pictured in chapter 6.)

• Henry B. Bunster & Arthur W. Bunster (1854–55)
• Lill & Diversy (branch) (1856–59)
• East Side of Main Street between North First and North Second

Based on the often vague locations given in city directories and early histories, some chronologies suggest that the Bunster (Brunster) brothers took over the brewery Hodson’s brewery in 1854.642 However, the research of local historian Robert Biers seems to indicate that the Bunsters built a new brewery as part of Bunster’s Block on the east side of Main Street between North First and Second Streets.643 Henry B. Bunster delegated management of the brewery to his brother Arthur who operated the brewery and a distillery. Bunster also advertised for barley—and because he needed it for two purposes he advertised for 20,000 bushels. Bunster stayed only a short time, and eventually moved to British Columbia where he became a member of Parliament.644 In August 1855 the Janesville Gazette reported that Bunster had sold out to A. W. Parker, who planned to use the building for a machine shop. However, Parker’s plans must have fallen through, because in November 1856, the Lill & Diversy brewery of Chicago advertised that they had leased Bunster’s brewery and malting establishment and would “keep constantly on hand Pale Amber, Brown Ales, Porter, Ale and Lager Bier.”645 The earliest ads imply that the brewery was still in operation, but by 1858 the beer is advertised as the product of the Chicago brewery, though it appears they were still malting in Janesville because they were still soliciting barley. One ad listed prices for the various different grades of beer—which was extremely uncommon at that point in Wisconsin. Following the English system of letter grades indicating strength, barrels of XXX pale sparkling ale or cream ale were $7.50, and XX cream ale sold for $6.50.646 While they soon moved out of the brewery, the city was a promising market for a Chicago ale brewery seeking to expand its reach, so Lill maintained a branch in Janesville until 1870. An ad in the 1862 city directory announced “Cash paid for barley at the North Western Depot,” which was one indicator of a shift in how American agribusiness was conducted. While most breweries bought their barley at the brewery, Lill & Diversy purchased it at the depot, perhaps in part because the barley was to be shipped to Chicago for malting, but also perhaps because more and more farmers were shipping their crops by rail, and this arrangement would be more convenient to both parties.647

The Bunster brewery chronology is further confused by that fact that he appears to have built another brewery across the street which later became Govier & Harvey’s Eagle Brewery. (See subsequent entry.)

• Jacob Singer (1856?–1858?)
• Lots 5–8 Caulkin’s Addition

Jacob Singer’s small brewery was only in operation for a few years in the late 1850s. Singer lost his property at a Sheriff’s sale in late 1858, which may have marked the end of his brewing.648

• A. W. Bunster (1858–1861?)
• Govier & Harvey, Eagle Brewery (1862–1863?)
• West Side of Main Street, “Rear of Big Mill”

The research of Robert Biers seems to have cleared up the apparent overlaps of the Lill & Diversy local offices, the various Hodson brewery sites, and who took over Bunster’s brewery. It appears in 1858 that Bunster opened a new liquor store and brewery across Main Street from the earlier Bunster’s Block.649 It is unclear how long he remained in the brewing business here before leaving for Canada.

In 1862 John Govier and George Harvey advertised that they were brewing “a very superior Ale, which for Purity and Delicacy of Flavor Cannot be excelled.” The 1862 Janesville directory also mentioned porter among their products. They offered three different sizes of kegs, and solicited business from families and taverns alike, and accepted orders either at the renamed Eagle Brewery (which they specifically identified as “formerly Bunster’s brewery”) or at Harvey’s liquor store.650 However, the new business lasted only a short time before the site was sold to Pixley, Kimball & Co. and was converted to a machine shop.651

• Samuel Hocking (1862–66)
• West Main between North First and Second

On 8 November 1862, Samuel Hocking announced to “the citizens of Janesville and vicinity” that he had

commenced the business of Brewing according to the method pursued in the old country, and upon the true and only true theory, that malt and hops are all that is necessary and proper to make good Beer or Porter. And having had thirty years experience in the business, in England, Canada and the United States, he feels confident that he can give entire satisfaction to all who may be pleased to favor him with a share of their patronage, to which end he will exert the utmost skill.

He offered a range of beers including ale, porter, “East India Ale,” and a separate entry for “an excellent article of Ale and Porter for invalids.” He also advertised “Table Beer made to order in any quantity desired.” (To an Englishman of the time, table beer meant a low-gravity beer that would have an alcohol content of between 2.5–3.5 percent abv, intended to be consumed with a meal.)652 He concluded that he made “a superior article of bottled beer, kept constantly on hand.” However, he needed help distributing his stock, since he also advertised for a “good beer peddler with team.” His location was challenging, since he was located next-door to the Janesville agency of Chicago ale brewers Lill & Diversy.653

Hocking’s business apparently did not turn out has he had hoped, because in October 1866 he advertised for sale “[t]he whole fixtures for a small brewery” which included “one Copper Kettle, capacity about 150 gallons, as good as new; Mash tub, Cooler; under back well and work Pump; Barrels; Half and Quarter Barrels; Malt Mill, for hand or horse power; Fanning Mill, &c. Also a lot of Porter bottles, and Boxes to hold two dozen bottles, with partitions; one large bar room Mirror; one Ice Box, two large Stoves, Taps &c. &c.”

Hocking asked that the items be removed before 16 November, apparently because there were other plans for the building.654

• William & Maria Hodson (1875–77)
• 69 North Main Street

William Hodson returned to brewing in Janesville in 1875. He built a new brewery, but needed a partner, one, according to an ad “that could be taught brewing in all its branches, upon the latest known principles of manufacture.” This was important since the new brewery was built “upon the most modern, scientific plan, so as to save labor as well as to prevent acidity in Ales, caused through the influence of electro magnetism.” In a glowing feature, the Janesville Gazette described the new forty-horsepower boiler, the “patent refrigerator,” and “the apparatus for extracting the fine flavor from the hops by giving the ale an infusion of them, instead of a decoction,” and boasted, “We are told that the Hodson brewery is the only institution in the United States that has such a convenience.” Less than a month later, another article reported that Hodson needed capital to expand, allegedly because of high demand for the product, but an ad six weeks later seeking a partner for the brewery also noted that the brewery only had $300 cash to start operations. (A partner bringing in capital of $1,500 to $2,000 was promised a lofty 20 percent rate of return.)655 The brewery went into operation in October, and he planned to “contest the field for the best ale, and being an experienced manufacturer, he will make a demand for his product.”656 However, in December the brewery’s advertisements proclaimed that Maria Hodson (who appears to have been William’s daughter) was the proprietor of the brewery at 69 Main Street. William was still looking for a partner for two reasons: “for in two months since the first barrel of Hodson’s Pale Ale went into the market, in Janesville alone twenty-two saloons are supplied, and over forty private families, with many orders from the country which, from the want of barrels, etc., cannot be filled. Another and more important reason is that the brewer and sole manager of the concern is in his seventieth year . . .” Yet another reason was exposed in a brutally honest advertisement—the firm needed money, since

after paying the Government License, all the cash capital the Hodson Brewery had to start business with was $300, and without any additional help the brewery, with its financial fetters, coupled with the untiring opposition of wealthy brewers, can show the extent of its business and profits by government books and other records, to have been during the past four months upwards of five hundred dollars; had more capital been employed, the business would not have been confined to such a limited circle. . . . annual rental of $500 . . . for the brewery, saloon and residence . . .

It seems that no partner with the desired capital of $1,500 to $2,000 (or $5,000 worth of property) was ever found.657

The Hodson brewery made a special point of the purity of their beer in advertising, emphasizing that no corn was used, because corn, “either yellow or white is an impure article, containing fusel oil which, as the United States dispensary says, is a violent poison. . . .”658

Unfortunately for the Hodson’s they were never able to solve their capital problems. Hodson had no property and the Dun & Co. report of early 1877 listed the ownership as “Maria Hodson and parties unknown.” By the middle of that year, the firm was listed as out of business. There were rumors about “Chicago parties” buying the brewery and building it into “the largest brewery in Southern Wisconsin” but these plans never came to fruition.659

• John G. Todd (1868–1890)
• Fardy & Robinson (1890–91)
• N. B. Robinson & Co. (Robinson’s Ale Brewery) (1891–98)
• N. B. Robinson Brewing Co. (1898–1904)
• Post Office Block (1 East Milwaukee or 16 East Milwaukee)

In 1868, John George Todd purchased a former bakery located in the basement of the post office building. It was an attractive location for a brewery because cellars were already excavated, and “there was a splendid never failing spring of water, of a temperature so cold that in the summer, ice can be entirely dispensed with for cooling purposes.” As a laudatory article in the Daily Gazette put it, Todd began “without capital, but understood the trade, and went in for success.” He began brewing with a three-barrel brew kettle, which he soon replaced with a kettle double that size. With this system, he once produced nearly 1,100 barrels in a year, which meant a full brew every other day—a very high frequency for a brewery of that size.660

Like his ale-brewing compatriots, Todd offered a variety of styles, including “Bitter Beer, Mild Ale, Old Stock and Brown Stout.” He guaranteed his product was “as pure as the best imported English ales.”661 In some ways Todd seems to have anticipated the early twenty-first century brewery taprooms by offering special beers only available on site. At one point in August 1871, he had on draught Pale Stock Ale, XXX Porter, and “Old Stock Ale, brewed October 1869.”662 Todd also brought his ale to local fairs: it was “on exhibition on the grounds of the Southern Wisconsin Fair of 1870” and in September 1873 he closed down his brewery saloon so that his one legally authorized retail outlet could be at the Rock County Fair. Mentions of Todd’s Ale at fairs continue at least through 1883.663 The reputation of Todd’s brewery had by this point extended beyond the borders of Wisconsin. The Gazette reported in 1873: “A firm at Marquette wants to contract with Todd to take all the ale his brewery is capable of manufacturing. Todd will probably not accept the offer as he cannot more than half supply his present list of customery [sic].”664 Perhaps the greatest (and most unusual) testimonial to Todd’s ale was the claim that it had cured a ten-year-old boy of inflammatory rheumatism.665

The 1881 county history made a point of relating that Todd’s ale was made “mostly from Wisconsin hops,” which was important to local boosters. In a biography of Todd in 1879, the Gazette reminded readers: “When we consider that the real wealth in a community is derived solely and directly from the producer and manufacturer, it must not be forgotten that the success of Todd’s Ale and Porter Brewery whilst gratifying to the proprietor, has been proportionately beneficial to the city at large. Three-quarters of the ale manufactured at this brewery is shipped to points throughout this State, Illinois and Michigan.”

Todd repaired and expanded his brewery in 1874, boosting weekly capacity from twenty-four barrels to 150 and was looking toward the Chicago market and proposed a depot there.666 It was therefore “a source of gratification” to Janesville that Todd was the only ale producer west of the Great Lakes who was showing an increase in sales, and that he was making two-thirds of all the ale in the state.667 The fulsome praise of Todd’s ale continued, as the Daily Gazette proclaimed: “In many instances it has restored the invalid to perfect health and vigor. The proverbial beauty of the women of Janesville and the fine physique of many of the men, is much to be attributed to Todd’s Ale and Porter.”668

Todd introduced a new beer in 1884—India Pale Ale. His IPA was “brewed on the same principle as the celebrated ales of Bass, Allsopp, and others of Burton-upon-Trent, England,” and was “brewed entirely from the finest description of malt, and judicious blending of the hops of the Atlantic and Pacific states.”669 There were very few advertisements of the time that mentioned the origin of the hops used in a beer, and it is interesting to speculate to what degree Todd anticipated the citrus and pine flavors of the “West Coast” IPAs of the early twenty-first century. Demand for Todd’s beer was such that he apparently did not have to solicit orders—he was able to build a comfortable living on the orders which came in on their own, and even these kept the brewery at full production. A biographical sketch at the beginning of 1889 confirmed that “He has acquired sufficient means to carry him through life, and he is willing to let the remaining years pass as easily as possible.”670 In fact, Todd retired in 1890, and sold the business to Norton B. Robinson and Matthew Fardy, who ran the Myers House Sample Room. Fardy, Robinson & Co. ran a liquor business in addition to the brewery, and after a few years Fardy took over the liquor part of the company and Robinson ran the brewery.671 At least early on, they seemed to have maintained much of Todd’s market. A feature in the Gazette announced that Fardy & Robinson were producing India Pale Ale, XXXX Stock Ale, and London Porter, which were distributed in Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa as well as Wisconsin.672

But business must have declined because in 1901 Robinson started a major newspaper advertising campaign to increase sales, during which Robinson’s Ale cost 50¢ a “jug,” could be ordered by mail or phone, and would be “[d]elivered in [a] private buggy direct from [the] brewery.” He also introduced Robinson’s Pure Scotch Ale, which was on sale at only twelve select saloons. However, patrons could order for home use an eight-gallon keg for $2.25 at any of these locations or from the brewery.673 Robinson hedged his bet on ale by becoming the southern Wisconsin distributor for John Gund’s Peerless bottled lager.674 The company received an infusion of new capital in 1902 to add new machinery and establish a bottling plant in Milwaukee, with the funds coming from Chicago and Milwaukee investors, but by this point Robinson was no longer with the company.675 N. P. Robinson Brewing remained in the city directory through 1903, but in 1904 Frank P. Williams of the brewery advertised the company was for sale. The ad claimed it was the “chance of a life time” since “Nothing Pays as well as Brewing.” No experience was necessary since a qualified superintendent was present, and the brewery was for sale only because Williams planned to move away since his wife had asthma.676 It appears there were no takers since the brewery disappeared from the newspapers and industry directories after 1904.

• William Hemming (1879–1883)
• William Hemming & Son (1883–1901)
• William Hemming’s Sons (1901–1912)
• Hemming’s Ale Brewery, George Esser (1912–15)
• Esser’s Ale Brewery (1915–1921)
• 61 West Milwaukee Street (1879–1882); 58 North Franklin Street/106–110 North Franklin Street (1883–1920)

William Hemming, a liquor dealer in Janesville, was bottling beer for several years before opening his own brewery. An advertisement in 1873 announced: “I am bottleing [sic] a fine article of ale and porter, brewed at Todd’s brewery especially for my use. The Quality I Will Guarantee Equal to any imported Scotch imported [sic] ale or porter. The Medical Fraternity can rely upon my bottled ale and porter being perfectly pure and well adapted for the use of invalids. The price I have put down low to bring the article within the reach of all. Orders from families, fishing and pic nic parties executed with promptness.”677

Hemming’s “house brands” faced a crowded market in Janesville, and it is not clear how long he continued to offer it, or how long Todd was able to spare the brewing capacity to make a brand other than his own.

In 1879, the Englishman Hemming started brewing ale and porter himself. He had a liquor store on West Milwaukee Street, and it is possible that he was brewing there.678 (It is tempting to speculate that Hemming started in the former Hodson plant on North Main, but there is no conclusive proof.) Hemming found the existing premises too crowded (which seems to argue against Hodson’s old plant), and in 1882 began contracting with local builders for a new brewery to be erected on Franklin Street at a cost of $3,500.679 The new facility was described as “a model for convenience and built to last,” and the cleanliness of the plant was given special praise. As he opened the new brewery, Hemming brought his son, William J., in as a partner. They continued brewing ale and porter, though an 1889 account suggested “the brewery has not been ran at its fullest capacity.”680 William Hemming died in 1896, but William J. carried on, eventually taking brother John into the business.

In 1899, the property on which the brewery sat was sold to the Howe Brothers. Hemming leased the brewery building and continued to operate it without interruption. In 1912, William J. Hemming retired from brewing and sold the business to George H. Esser (of the Esser brewing family of Cross Plains), and Joseph Esser became the new brewmaster. The business was still run as Hemming’s Ale Brewery through 1914, after which the Essers put their own brand on the company, and in 1915 they began to advertise Esser’s Ale.681 The brewery continued making ale through Prohibition, after which the Essers briefly manufactured near beer. The brewery was sold in 1921 to Heibel Bottling Company of Madison, local bottlers of Coca-Cola and numerous other beverages, and George Esser became manager of the Janesville branch.682

• Gray Brewing Co. (1993–present)
• 2424 West Court Street

The modern Gray Brewing Co. claims a lineage dating back to 1856, when J. C. Gray started a soda water factory in Janesville. His son, C. C. Gray took over the business in the late 1870s, and by the turn of the twentieth century the company had a fine reputation for “ginger ale, soda water, champagne cider, seltzer and various other temperance beverages.”683 However, there is scant evidence that the company ever made lager beer or ale during the nineteenth century. No city directory or industry publication lists them as a brewer, they do not appear in excise records (the taxes applied to weiss beer brewers) and the Sanborn maps from 1895 to 1915 show no evidence of a brew kettle. There is the possibility that they made weiss beer for a limited time, or that they bottled beer for a local brewer.

The modern incarnation of Gray Brewing Co. began production in 1993, and in a fitting nod to local tradition, was among the first of Wisconsin’s new micro- or craft breweries to feature ales rather than lagers. Gray sold just under 2,000 barrels in their first year, which would have been an unheard of first-year total for J. C. Gray in 1856, but was a tiny part of the Wisconsin beer market in the 1990s. In the succeeding years, Gray’s developed a following for their Oatmeal Stout and other English-style beers. In 1997, Gray Brewing was one of several breweries that came to the aid of Wisconsin Brewing Co. after the latter was flooded out: Gray offered their plant to Wisconsin Brewing to brew some batches until their equipment was repaired.684 Gray was one of the first Wisconsin breweries to offer a sample pack, which was one of the few eight packs on the market.685 In 1999, Gray Brewing began offering lager styles for the first time.686 Sales were uneven: over 4,000 barrels in 2000, but under 3,000 the next two years.687 By 2004, Gray had enough following (and enough capacity) to make winter seasonal beers a regular part of the line up, and they were shipping their beer to Connecticut and their sodas to California and Oregon.688 In addition to their own brands, Gray did contract brewing for several other beer companies, including Fauerbach Brewing Co. of Madison and Milwaukee Ale House.689

In 2006, Gray Brewing Co. opened a lavish brewpub in the Madison suburb of Verona, called Gray’s Tied House in a nod to the British tied house tradition. At first they were simply serving beer brewed in Janesville, but soon began to make beer on site.

Jefferson (Jefferson County)

• Stephen Neuer (1852?–1874)
• George Frommader (1870–71)
• Christian Neuer (1874–78)
• Neuer & Georgelein (1878–1880)
• Christian Neuer (1880–82)
• Berens & Stephan, Jefferson Brewery (1882–84)
• Berens Bros., Jefferson Brewery (1885–86)
• Joseph Berens, Jefferson Brewery (1886–88?)
• South Side of East Racine Street opposite North Marion Avenue

Most accounts agree that Stephen Neuer established the first brewery in Jefferson. Neuer came to Wisconsin from Wurtemburg, and worked as a maltster for a short time before moving to Jefferson and starting his brewery.690 His brewery was not large enough to be listed in the 1860 industrial census, but by 1870 his horse-powered brewery made sixty barrels of beer—still the smallest in Jefferson and among the smallest recorded in the census. Early in 1870, Neuer leased his saloon and brewery to George Frommader, who held it for about a year.691 It appears that Frommader and his partners emphasized the saloon rather than the brewery, since no production was reported for 1871, and Neuer only produced thirty barrels after he resumed operation of the brewery in 1872. After Stephen Neuer died in 1874, his son Christian took over and increased production to over 200 barrels in 1874 and 1875.

In 1878, the younger Neuer took on John Georgelein (spelled a variety of ways) as a partner at least through 1880. However, Neuer’s health was failing and he retired from active brewing in 1883 (and died in 1884).692 It is possible that he had leased the brewery during his illness since Western Brewer noted that Berens and Stephan had replaced Neuer in late 1883 and the Jefferson Banner reported that Stephan’s brewery team had a brief runaway in February 1884.693

The final ownership stage of this brewery began when the Berens brothers purchased the brewery from the Neuer estate in February 1885. Throughout the summer the Banner published several notes that the brothers were making improvements to the brewery including new structures. However, it is possible that the improvements were too big a financial strain for the company, because after an appearance by Joseph Berens in Wing’s 1887 directory the brewery disappears from industry sources, and by 1890 the Banner was referring to construction projects by the “old Neuer brewery.”694 The building remained until 1928 when it was razed.695

• Jacob Breunig (1855–1889)
• Kiesling, Mattes & Heinz, lessees (1886–87?)
• Jefferson Brewing Co. (1887–89)
• Joseph Breunig (1889–1890)
• Jefferson Brewing & Malting Co. (1894–1919)
• Northeast Corner of Main and Racine Streets

Jacob Breunig built a small frame brewery in 1855, which by 1860 had grown to produce 400 barrels. Encouraged by this growth, Breunig razed the original brewery in 1863 and built a new brick brewery, along with a new residence, an icehouse, and a “hall for theatrical entertainments.”696 The new brewery was one of the largest in the county and produced 1,000 barrels in 1870. Production dipped under 1,000 barrels during 1871 and 1872, but then recovered and was over 1,000 barrels for the rest of the decade.

Breunig’s business was steady and uneventful for most of his ownership. Despite unfounded rumors that he planned to sell out, Breunig continued to upgrade the plant, and in 1884 it was reported he “has thrown away the old horsepower in his brewery and put in an eight hp steam engine which doubles his capacity.”697 In 1886, he leased the brewery to a stock company comprised of three of his brewery employees: Christian Kiesling, F. Mattes and Hubert Heinz. They continued the business for a few years under the name of Jefferson Brewing Co. (not to be confused with the brewery of that name located on First Street). The brewery Breunig handed over had a capacity of 2,500 barrels of beer and 5,000 bushels of malt per year. Heinz left the partnership in April 1889 to take over the bakery and saloon of Adam Puerner, and shortly thereafter the brewery was sold. The purchaser was Joseph Bruenig, who was a cousin of Jacob and had worked as a brewer in Stillwater, Minnesota. Unfortunately, Joseph died within a year of purchasing the brewery and Jacob purchased the brewery back from the estate. Jacob did not return the brewery to production, and the estate had to sell off the remaining beer before the license expired in May 1890.698

The brewery remained vacant for a few years, and the 1892 Sanborn map showed that the building was being used for storage. The Breunig Block was sold in 1892 to A. Puerner & Son, who made plans to restart the brewery. He consulted in 1892 with Albert Fryer of Chilton who was looking for a new location, but this deal fell through and Fryer remained in Chilton for another year. Puerner then turned to Joseph Beischel, Andrew Kippes and Rudolph Weckwerth to run the brewery. This group operated under the name Jefferson Brewing and Malting Co. and by the end of 1894 had the malt house up and running, and had their first beer on sale in April 1895.699

The tenure of Jefferson Brewing & Malting Co. was generally uneventful except for steady improvement to the premises as practical. They installed a new thirty-five-barrel kettle in 1904, and artificial refrigeration in 1911. The refrigeration plant was hailed as a major innovation since it was a newer type using carbonic anhydride rather than ammonia, which eliminated many of the dangers involved with the latter compound. The system also saved the brewery from having to procure 1,200 tons of ice every year and doubled storage capacity. All this new equipment required upgrading the boiler from 40 hp to 80 hp to handle the load.700 Shortly thereafter, Beischel bought out Weckwerth’s shares and continued the business under the existing name (Kippes had left the business earlier). The change in ownership was recognized the next year when the brewery released Beischel Beer. The brewery’s bock beer was also sold under the Beischel name.701 Even though Beischel was the name identified with the brewery, the real estate was still owned by the A. Puerner & Son Co. The brewery continued until the approach of Prohibition in 1919, when Beischel retired. Beischel and Andrew Kippes died within a month of each other in 1938, two years before local beer returned to Jefferson.702

• Christian Illing (1856?–1860?)
• Henry Lang (1860?–1873)
• Danner & Heger, City Brewery (1873–1880)
• Rudolph Heger, City Brewery (1880–1908)
• R. Heger Malt & Brewing Co. (1908–1919)
• Saxon Brewing Co. (1936–39)
• Perplies Brewing Co. (1940–1953)
• (Third Street, Corner of Mechanic) 114 North Center Avenue, later 1008 Center (as Perplies)

While a few later histories focused on praising local businessmen credit Henry Danner and Rudolph Heger with starting the City Brewery, its true origins lay almost a quarter of a century earlier. Christian Illing was listed in the 1857 state business directory as a brewer, but may have been there earlier. American Breweries II lists Illing as continuing through 1862, but there was no sign of him in the 1860 census, whereas Henry Lang (Lange/Long) was present as a brewer with $1,000 of real estate, so it is likely that he had taken over by this point. Lang’s output was not particularly large in 1870, only eighty-eight barrels, but it is possible that he was already exiting the business, since his entry for the annual brewery excise tax in May 1871 was deliberately crossed out, and there was no production record in the 1873 American Brewers’ Guide for the previous two years.

The standard county histories claim that Henry Danner (Donner) and Rudolph Heger purchased the brewery from Lang in the fall of 1873. Their ownership gave the business an immediate boost, and production jumped from 245 barrels in 1874 to 438 the next year to 714 by 1879. By 1879, the History of Jefferson County reported: “four hands are employed in conjunction with the proprietors, who prepare their own malt, and turn out about one thousand barrels of foaming lager annually” (though the thousand barrel figure should be taken as an enthusiastic estimate compared with Salem’s more reliable figures). The beer was shipped to nearby Cambridge, Johnson’s Creek and Fort Atkinson, as well as numerous accounts in Jefferson.703

In 1880, Danner sold his share in the brewery to Heger, who continued with the brewery until his death in 1913, and whose name remained on the firm until Prohibition. Interestingly, despite Heger’s Prussian origins, the industry directories list his brewery as producing ale and porter through the mid-1880s and do not list him as a lager brewer until 1887. Heger does not seem to have been an active brewer himself since several brewmasters or foremen were mentioned in the press and it is possible that the style of beer depended on the hired brewmaster. The most important of these was the brewmaster in 1887, Conrad Birkhofer, who was a lager brewer and would later gain fame as the brewmaster at Minneapolis Brewing Co. (later Grain Belt) and then at the Conrad Birkhofer Brewing Co. in Minneapolis.704 (A photo of Heger’s Pioneer Brew label appears in chapter 2)

Heger’s brewery was in the news more often than most breweries, and it was for a mix of positive innovations and unfortunate events. Heger built a new stone and brick brewery in 1887, which also brought favorable mention to the local craftsmen who provided the labor and material. Heger had one of the first two private telephones in the city in 1888, the other being in the county clerk’s office. The beginning of the city water system dated to 1893 when Edward Mueller was awarded a franchise to construct a water pipe leading from Heger’s brewery to other customers. The water was an important part of Heger’s beer which won the second place award at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair for purity. The company purchased one of the first delivery trucks in the area, and the Garford vehicle “was satisfactory to the Co.”705

Unfortunately, Heger Malt & Brewing Co. was also the site of several industrial accidents. Several workers caught limbs in machinery, John O’Conner fell down a flight of stairs and Peter Berens fell forty feet down an elevator shaft (but survived). The most ghastly of the accidents occurred when Fred Zobel was shellacking the inside of one of the large casks, and lit a candle after the electric light stopped working. The fumes ignited and badly burned Zobel and Marten Wagner, who tried to pull Zobel from the cask. Zobel died the next morning.706 Another fire in 1902 provided the trial run for the city’s new fire whistle (which was said to be unusually shrill) when a fire started in the barrel pitching room. A less common environmental hazard (for breweries) was reported in 1891 when the “horrible stench from Heger’s hog pen at the brewery” threatened to close the East side school.707

Of course, the biggest threat to the brewery was the onset of Prohibition. Even before the 18th Amendment took effect, the brewery complex was turned into a plant to process dairy products, and the top floors of the brewhouse were removed.708

Hopes for the return of local beer to Jefferson were evident as soon as beer was legalized. In June 1933, the Banner reported that George Held of Milwaukee was preparing to renovate the buildings and commence brewing. These plans fell through, and in in 1935, the city encouraged the St. Lawrence Distilling Co. to make use of the old Heger facility. This project failed to gain traction, either, and the buildings remained vacant. In 1936, Saxon Brewing Co. was incorporated in Jefferson County (though by Milwaukee area directors) to operate the brewery. While Saxon did produce a limited amount of malt tonic, there is no evidence they made any beer, and they never appeared in the state production or stamp sales figures.709 (A photo of the Saxon malt tonic bottle is at the end of the introduction to the brewery section.)

In 1940, Emil Perplies, formerly of the defunct Kenosha Brewing Co., succeeded in renovating the brewery and actually bringing beer to market. His draught beer appeared just before Thanksgiving that year, and bottled beer was available early the next year. Perplies announced that he would use local Ladish Malt exclusively, as well as the finest ingredients of all types. The company was still using wooden kegs at least through 1943, because there was another fire in the pitch room that year.710 Production was low at first, but Perplies experienced the largest war-era increase by percentage, jumping from about 5,000 barrels in 1943 to nearly 20,000 by the end of the war. (The 20,000 figure is impressive, since capacity was listed in a 1944 brewery directory as 12,000 barrels.) Unfortunately, the company was charged with selling some of this increase at prices exceeding the maximum wartime limits, as well as increasing the price by eliminating quantity discounts and by reducing the quality of the beer.711

The dramatic wartime surge gave the owners confidence to install new equipment in 1947 (the old equipment was shipped to a brewery in Rotterdam). However sales plummeted to pre-war levels almost immediately and the brewery was struggling. Things were made worse when Ernest Perplies was arrested in 1947 for larceny involving a complicated scheme of charging taverns desperate for any beer an advance and then failing to deliver the beer. A fire in August 1953 was the final straw for the company, which went out of business shortly thereafter. Emil Perplies applied in 1972 to open a small brewery at 114 Center Street, but this was an era when breweries were closing, not opening, and anyway his application was denied by the City Council. The old brewery, since converted into apartments, burned in 1973, and the remains were razed immediately thereafter.712

• Ernst Swellingrade (1860?)

Ernst Swellingrade was listed as a brewer from the 1860 population census. He had $2,000 worth of real estate, so it is less likely he was merely an employee. His listing in the census was fairly close to that of Stephen Neuer, so it is possible they were partners briefly.

• Chas. Hasslinger (Mick & Hasslinger) (1869–1870)

The firm of Mick(?) and Hasslinger appeared in excise records in August 1869, but by next May the business is under Charles Hasslinger alone. Hasslinger (as Hustinger) was included in the 1870 industrial census as a brewer of 150 barrels—which was not much, but still ranked third among Jefferson’s five breweries.

• F. J. Schatz (1866?–67)
• John Kemeler (1867–1872?)
• East Racine Street

While it is not clear when F. J. Schatz started brewing, it was after 1860 and prior to August 1867, when he sold his brewery to Bavarian native John Kemeler (or Kemmeter).713 Kemeler appears in the excise records from October 1867 until October 1872, but his brewery was too small to be included in the 1870 census of industry. The 1870 population census shows a brewer named Christoph Miller living very near Kemeler, but it is not clear if Miller was a partner of Kemeler, an employee, or if he had his own brewery (which is possible since he had $1,000 of real estate). Statistics in the 1873 industry directory suggest that Kemeler may have ceased production during 1872, since his production dropped from eighty-seven barrels in 1871 to twenty the next year. An obituary printed in 1900 claims he conducted the brewery for over twenty years, but since he was a saloonkeeper after the brewery disappeared from the records there is a chance he still brewed some beer for sale at his own saloon.714

• Schmidt & Co. aka Jefferson Brewing Co. (1892–95)
• East Side of First Street, North of Dodge Avenue, Across from the Rail Depot

The second company to do business as Jefferson Brewing Co. was started by Charles Baireuther (previously a brewer in nearby Aztalan), who had recently purchased the hotel across First Street from the Chicago & Northwestern depot. In 1891, he began “a large addition to the building, in order to have ample room for brewing.” Construction continued through the next year, but when the brewery opened, it was under the management of Schimdt & Co. and called the Jefferson Brewing Co. (though it was often referred to as the Baireuther brewery). The Banner reported that the company was growing rapidly, but in September 1893, Adam Schmidt was badly injured in a runaway accident, and he apparently decided to retire from brewing. The brewery was sold to Hugo Graf of Milwaukee, who had been employed by Pabst. On taking charge of the plant he ceased brewing and made it the site of his Pabst distributorship.715

Johnstown (Rock County)

• M. D. Waters (1856?–1858?)

M. D. Waters is known only from the 1857 and 1858 Wisconsin state business directories. The 1857 Rock County gazetteer confirms there was such a person in Johnstown, but did not provide any information about whether he was a brewer or not.

Junction City (Portage County)

• Central Waters Brewing Co. (1998–2007)
• 701 Main Street

Cofounders Jerome Ebel and Mike McElwain decided to make their homebrewing hobby a profession, and in 1996 purchased a building in Junction City. The site was selected at least in part because it was in the middle of their intended sales territory. In the early years, the capacity was 300 barrels a year, but the popularity of their early beers, especially Mud Puppy Porter, encouraged them to expand. The brewery began distribution in spring 1998 with draught beer, and then added 22-ounce “bomber” bottles. The first beer to be packaged in 12-ounce bottles was Y2K Catastrophe Ale, an American-style barleywine.716

In 2001 the brewery was sold to Paul Graham and Clinton Schultz, both of whom had been working at the brewery. Central Waters began its highly regarded barrel program at this location in 2003, which started with a bourbon barrel stout and was crowned with a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival for their Bourbon Barrel Cherry Stout in 2006. Central Waters also started an associated brewpub in Marshfield (see separate entry). In 2006 the company broke ground on a new brewery in Amherst, and began production there in 2007. (See Amherst for the history of Central Waters since 2007.)717

Kaukauna (Outagamie County)

• Peter Dedrich (1856?–58?)

Dedrich appears to have had a short-lived brewery in Kaukauna.718

• Michael Kline (188x?-86)
• Helf Bros. (1886–1891)
• Helf & Brill (1891–95)
• Jacob Helf, Buchanan Brewery/Kaukauna Brewery (1895–97)
• Helf Bros. Brewing Co. (1897–99)
• Jacob Helf & Co., Kaukauna Brewery (1899–1908)
• Jacob Helf Estate, Kaukauna Brewery (1908)
• Katie (Mrs. Jacob) Helf, Kaukauna Brewery (1908–1912)
• South Side of 10th Street, two blocks west of Hendricks Avenue South

The older of the two Helf family breweries in Kaukauna (Buchanan Township) was started by Michael Kline (probably Michael Jr., who was listed as a farmer in the 1880 census) sometime in the 1880s. Some sources list him in partnership with Adam Hilz for a short period. Around 1886, Peter and Jacob Helf moved from Fond du Lac to take over the small brewery. The brothers remained together for several years, but soon began the moves that make it difficult to untangle the history of the breweries. Sometime around 1891 the brothers split up and Jacob went into partnership with John Brill at the Tenth Street location.719 (The company was still named Helf Bros. on the December 1890 Sanborn map.) Helf and Brill continued through at least 1895, when their brewery was totally destroyed by fire.720 The brewery was rebuilt, and in 1897 a new company was formed, Helf Brothers Brewing Co. (this time Jacob and John C.)721 This partnership was dissolved in February 1899 and Jacob remained at this brewery and John moved to the North Kaukauna brewery “which for some time has been idle.”722 The building was struck by fire again in 1898, and again was rebuilt. The 1900 Sanborn map shows a much smaller brewhouse complex, since the malt was made at the Desnoyer Street location, but a larger racking room for keg beer and a new bottling house in what had previously been labeled a pop manufactory. In 1906, the brewery had a capacity of 5,000 barrels per year. Jacob Helf died suddenly in January 1908, and the brewery continued only a short time under the administration of his widow, Katie.723 By 1913 the buildings were vacant, and were torn down shortly thereafter.

• Helf & Ristau, City Brewery (1893–97)
• Helf Bros. Brewing Co. (1902–6)
• Regenfuss Brewing Co. (1906–1934)
• Electric City Brewing Co. (1934–1947)
• 729 Desnoyer Street

After the first Helf Bros. partnership in the Tenth Street brewery broke up, Peter Helf joined with Charles Ristau, a liquor dealer, to establish the City Brewery in the north part of Kaukauna. According to the 1894 Sanborn map, the brewery used a windmill to pump water, which was unusual at this late date. This partnership lasted for about five years, at which point Ristau went into the hotel business and the brewery apparently lay idle.724 When the second Helf Bros. partnership dissolved, John C. Helf moved to this location. The Sanborn map of 1900 indicates that this plant was used only for malting, but refers to it as Helf Bros. Brewing Co., which seems to indicate that the brothers had combined their efforts again. (It is also listed in the 1900 industry directory as Helf Bros.)

At some point prior to 1906, the brewery was put back into operation at a capacity of 3,000 barrels a year and a bottling house was added to this site. In 1906, John Regenfuss purchased the brewery and expanded its capacity to 8,000 barrels. (The 1911 county history says he bought the brewery from Peter Helf, which could mean either that he still owned the property from the 1890s, or that John and Peter were the Helf Brothers in this brewery, though American Brewers’ Review of April 1906 states only that this was the former Peter Helf brewery. Western Brewer inaccurately reported that Regenfuss had purchased the Jacob Helf brewery in South Kaukauna.)

John Regenfuss was a trained brewer, and had worked at Walter Bros. Brewing Co. in Menasha prior to his arrival in Kaukauna. He made several improvements to the brewery including a new brew kettle in 1909 and a brick addition to the plant in 1910. An announcement of the expansion noted “Mr. Regenfuss is a great believer in home trade and has stated that all of the material used in the building will be purchase in Kaukauna and all the labor will be done by home contractors.”725

Later in the dry years, Regenfuss Brewing also acted as the local agent for Atlas Special Brew from the Atlas Brewing Co. of Chicago.726 John Regenfuss died in September 1932, so was unable to see his brewery return to operation a year later.

The brewery retained the name Regenfuss Brewing for a short time, but then changed to Electric City Brewing Co. There was still a Regenfuss presence at the brewery, however, since Leo Regenfuss was employed as an assistant brewer until the brewery closed. In addition, John’s brother Jacob came to the brewery in 1906 and remained until 1945.727 The brewery returned to the Pearl Foam brand name from before Prohibition for a short time, but also sold Electric City lager and Pilsner Club. In 1938, they introduced a new flagship beer, Mellow Brew. Like most other Wisconsin breweries of the era, they made bock beer in the spring and offered a Winter Brew under different names. Electric City shipped a small amount of beer to Michigan in addition to their Primary Wisconsin market.728

During the war years, Electric City continued to produce beer, but was charged in 1945 with violating wartime wage and price controls by granting an unauthorized wage increase to its employees.729 In 1946, the brewery was sold to W. R. Hansen of Birmingham, Alabama. His purpose in purchasing the brewery was not clear, though since it was announced that president Arthur Jones would continue as manager of the business and Hansen would “act as sales manager for the southern territory,” it was likely that Hansen was trying to secure a supply of beer for Alabama during the postwar transition period.730 The brewery remained in operation until early 1948 when it closed for good.

Kenosha (Kenosha County)

• Joseph Spicer, Southport Brewery (1842–1854)

• J. M. Hughes (1854–1858?)
• “On the bayou east of the Durkee House”

During the period before Southport became Kenosha, the Southport Brewery of Spicer & Co. began production in late 1842, and advertised the next January that they were prepared to sell ale, strong beer and family table beer. In addition to ale, they also sold yeast to households and paid cash for barley. By 1850 Spicer was producing 550 barrels a year, which sold locally at $5 per barrel. The brewery burned in March 1851, and the reports referred to it as the old brewery and claimed it was unoccupied.731

In May 1854, Spicer sold his brewery for $3,100 to J. M. Hughes, who was described as “a wealthy and well known brewer and business man of Cleveland, Ohio.”732 Hughes continued to operate the brewery long enough to listed in the 1857–58 Wisconsin business directory.

• Conrad Muntzenberger (1847–1873)
• Muntzenberger & Co./Engel & Muntzenberger (1873–75)
• A. Muntzenberger (1875–1884)
• Muntzenberger Brewing Co. (1884–85)
• New Era Brewing Co., aka Milwaukee Malt Extract Co. (1885–89)
• Griesbach Brewing Co. (1890–93?)
• 6 North Main and Water Streets

Conrad Muntzenberger left Milwaukee for what was then known as Southport in 1847 and started a new brewery, which was sometimes erroneously called the first brewery in the city (or even the first outside Milwaukee). It is possible that these accounts meant the first lager brewery outside Milwaukee, but even this is not certain. By 1850, his brewery produced more beer than any brewery outside of Milwaukee except for the Keyes brewery in Madison (which produced 3,000 barrels to Muntzenberger’s 2,000). The company grew quickly, but then leveled off instead of following the trajectory of the Milwaukee firms that had grown at a similar rate during the period before the Civil War. Muntzenberger seemed satisfied with a steady level of production—as late as 1879 his production remained right around 2,000 barrels per year. Muntzenberger had an 8-hp steam engine in the mid-1850s, making his one of the first steam-powered breweries in the state, but technological advance did not necessarily mean constantly expanding capacity, at least in this case.733 The Muntzenberger family contributed to the advancing technology of the industry as well: Conrad’s son Adolph invented a barrel washer which was patented in 1873 and adopted quickly by major brewers throughout the country.734

In addition to his brewing enterprise, Conrad Muntzenberger was said to have “amassed a fortune” in real estate, was “considered the most influential Democrat in southern Wisconsin” and was a great booster of education.735 Muntzenberger scaled back his involvement in the brewery in 1875 when his son Adolph and William Engel took over the brewery (which carried on for a time as Muntzenberger & Co.) for the last few years of lager brewing, the firm went under Adolph’s name.736 (A Muntzenberger label is shown in chapter 2.)

In 1885 a new era began for the brewery when the Milwaukee Malt Extract Co. bought the Muntzenberger plant to produce their patented New Era Beer. Headed by a group of Milwaukee brewery suppliers including Charles Kiewert and Otto Zwietusch, Milwaukee Malt Extract Co. was to manufacture the beer patented by Zwietusch and Dr. Charles H. Frings under the name of New Era Brewing Co. (so New Era owned the recipe and Milwaukee Malt Extract brewed it under license, but it was all the same people). Conrad Munztenberger was brought into the firm as a director, and his brewery was taken over by the new company and dedicated to making the new product.737 The company appears to have attempted to market the product in states that had enacted prohibition laws such as Iowa, but they ran into difficulties when the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway refused to carry the product on the grounds that it violated Iowa liquor laws. Ultimately, the Iowa court agreed that it was a malt liquor and therefore contraband, and could not be carried by railroads in the state whether it was intoxicating or not.738 New Era Beer was sold as far away as Georgia, though it continued to result in prosecutions on the grounds that it was still beer.739 The company was reorganized in 1890 as the Griesbach Brewing Co. with an infusion of new capital and new directors, though Otto Zwietusch was still among them and its product was still New Era Beer.740

The end of brewing in pre-Prohibition Kenosha came in 1893 when the Griesbach Brewing Co. building was destroyed by fire. Arson was suspected, especially given that the harnesses of the fire apparatus had been cut.741

• Gottfredson & Gunnerman (1858–1859?)
• Jacob G. Gottfredson (1859?–1877)
• J. G. Gottfredson & Son (1877–1889)
• Main Street, foot of Union

Jacob G. Gottfredson conducted a variety of establishments during his varied business career in Kenosha. He started making vinegar, then ran a cigar store for a while, then started a brickyard (the latter two he continued to run during his brewing career). In 1856, he bought a share of a malt house, and in 1858 he opened his brewery on Main Street. The Kenosha Tribune & Telegraph praised the “large brick building erected last season by Messrs Gunnerman & Gottfredson. Its architecture is in the modern style; the building is designed for a Brewrey [sic] and has all the modern adaptations for that purpose.”742 In addition to confirming that Gottfredson had a partner in the early years of the brewery, the article also implies that some breweries occupied buildings not designed for that purpose. Apparently the first building was inadequate, since it was reported a few months later “Gottfredson & Gunnermann have removed their Brewery building, on the north side of the creek, and commenced the erection of a new one on the site of the old one.”743

While his volume data is missing from the 1860 census, the total revenue suggests Gottfredson sold around 1,000 barrels during the previous year. Like his near neighbor Conrad Muntzenberger, Gottfredson never grew much beyond the scale reached in the early 1860s. The highest known production level for the brewery was just under 1,300 barrels in 1874. The last time Gottfredson appeared in a brewing industry directory, his capacity was only 3,000 barrels, which would have been plenty to supply a small local market, but an anomaly for a large city located halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Gottfredson advertised ale during the mid-1860s, but by the 1870s he was listed in industry directories as a producer of lager only (though he may have continued a small ale trade without emphasizing it).744

The brewery suffered a fire in 1876, but it did not touch the brewhouse itself, just the barn and the icehouse. Damage was reported as $1,000 and “two roast pigs,” which indicated that, like many other breweries, the Gottfredsons kept livestock at the brewery.745 The brewery burned again in June 1889, and while the insurance covered the loss, it appears that this provided the Gottfredson family with the incentive to leave the brewing business.746 A portion of the building was later used for the local Pabst agency, which was managed by Frederick J. Gottfredson.

• John Engelhardt (1860?)

John Engelhardt is listed in the 1860 population census as a brewer. It is possible that he worked for either Gottfredson or Muntzenberger (whom he lived relatively near) but the fact that he was listed as having $1,000 in real estate makes it a reasonable possibility that he operated his own brewery for a time. He also may have been a predecessor of N. A. Brown.

• N. A. Brown (1860?–1866)
• Montagne & Graff, aka Brown’s Ale Brewery (1866–68)
• Stanley & Griffin (1869)
• Michael Griffin (1869–1870)
• John Gunnerman (1870–72)
• Harrington & Heitmann (1872–1873?)
• Between Maiden and Lake

N. A. Brown was listed as a brewer in the 1860 census, though because he reportedly had no real estate he may have been employed at another brewery (perhaps Engelhardt?), or could have been the manager of a brewery he was leasing or renting. By the mid-1860s, R. G. Dun & Co. reported that he had slowly recovered from large debts and by 1866 was doing a large business. In 1866, he sold out to William Montagne. Even with the new ownership of Montagne and Graff, the old name Brown’s Ale Brewery was sometimes still used in newspapers, and the name of John D. Montagne appeared in excise records.747

During 1868, the brewery of Montagne & Graff (spelled here Montague and Groff) was seized by federal revenue officials on a charge of fraud, most likely improper handling of revenue stamps.748 The litigation produced an impressively long case title that was a typical inventory for a brewery of the period: “The United States of America against steam engine, boiler and gearing, seven large mash and workin [sic] tubs, copper still, warm and fire place, one pump, ale in tubs in brewery, one malt mill, one and one half bales of hops, ice house and contents, thirty-two barrels of ale in brewery, office and contents, furniture and safe, one double wagon, one single wagon, one hundred and twenty-five empty barrels, two horses, brewery building in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin . . .”

According to a report, most of the fixtures were purchased by two former employees to restart the brewery, but they appear to have sold them again to other parties.749 Michael Griffin, a former soda water manufacturer, took over the brewery with a partner named Stanley, though Griffin’s ownership was short and the Dun investigator was skeptical at best about his reliability, once calling him “an ugly customer.”750

The 1870 population census and excise records indicate that John Gunnerman (or Grunnerman) was the next owner of this brewery. (This Gunnerman may have been Gottfredson’s founding partner.) His brewery burned in May 1871, and reports indicated that arson was suspected.751 The final known owners of this brewery were John Harrington and Clement Heitmann (or Hightman), who brewed 100 barrels in 1872, but disappear from the records after that.

• William F. Martin (1900?–1905?)

William F. Martin was listed as a lager brewer in the 1900 and 1905 industry directories. These directories were sometimes out-of-date, but seldom if ever included a listing for a business that was not actually a brewery. However, William F. Martin was listed in the 1900 census and the 1903 city directory as a soda manufacturer, and a scan of Kenosha newspapers shows no evidence of lager brewing.

• Wisconsin Brewing Co. (1933–36)
• Kenosha Brewing Co. (1936)

The Wisconsin Brewing Co. was incorporated in April 1933, one of many businesses to be formed in the immediate wake of the legalization of beer. The articles of incorporation authorized the company to “make, manufacture, compound, brew and prepare bock beer, lager beer, schenk beer, Weiss beer, and all other kinds and varieties of beers or brewed liquors of an alcoholic content not to exceed 3.2 percent by weight, all in conformity with the laws of the United States of America. . . .” While most of the language was standard boilerplate, the presence of “schenk beer” indicates an interest in an older style which was lower in alcohol and therefore clearly under 3.2 percent. Production started in October 1933, but they apparently never bottled anything other than lager.752 Known production was never more than 900 barrels a month, but there was a significant drop during the summer of 1935 and the company ceased production by November. The company also encountered legal difficulty with the State of Wisconsin, which discovered that Wisconsin Brewing Co. was illegally transferring revenue stamps to Manhattan Brewing Co. of Chicago, which was selling them to Best Brewing, also of Chicago. This was of particular concern to Wisconsin officials, since Manhattan Brewing was generally thought to be controlled by Chicago gangsters.753

In 1936, Emil Perplies restarted the brewery as the Kenosha Brewing Co., and started to produce Old Kenosha Brew.754 Perplies hoped to expand his market beyond Kenosha, and to that end he advertised for Danish and Italian speakers to act as representatives in Racine.755 However the company encountered labor troubles in June 1936, when bottle house employees walked out in a dispute over hours and wages. The company announced that beer would be shipped to Milwaukee to be bottled in a union shop there, and then shipped back for distribution.756 However, the stress on the company caused it to close for good in August 1936.

• Brewmasters Pub, Restaurant & Brewery (1987–2004)
• 4017 Eightieth Street

Brewmasters was the sixteenth brewpub to open in the United States, and the first in the Upper Midwest. Its story is told in more detail in chapter 10.

• Brewmasters Pub—Parkside (1996–2004)
• 1170 Twenty-second Avenue

Jerry Renzy opened the second Brewmasters Pub in a building that had formerly been the Pub and Grub bar and a barbeque restaurant. The Parkside location had a brewing system almost twice as large as the original location, but both had about the same number of beers on tap at any given time. The two locations generally coordinated their brewing and recipes, but had a few beers that varied by location.

• Rustic Road Brewing Co. (2012–present)
• 510 Fifty-Sixth Street

Greg York founded Rustic Road Brewing Co. in 2012 after more than ten years experience as a homebrewer. He selected Kenosha because he saw promise for the revitalization of the downtown area and wanted to be a part of the growth. The nanobrewery started with a small German brewing system and four fermenters. York selected Southport Wheat as his flagship beer to pay tribute to the earliest days of Kenosha and because of Wisconsin’s historical importance as a wheat producing state. Most of the beer is consumed in the brewery taproom.757

• Public Craft Brewing Co. (2012–present)
• 716 Fifty-eighth Street

Matt Geary was exposed to the craft brewing scene in Kenosha ten years before he started Public Craft Brewing Co.—his wedding reception was catered through Brewmasters Pub, the first brewpub in the Upper Midwest (see the Brewmasters entry). After graduating from Kenosha’s Carthage College, he worked at various jobs in the area and homebrewed in his spare time. He eventually started putting together a business plan, took the Concise Course at Siebel Institute in Chicago, and eventually began brewing an American pale ale on 4 July 2012. While Public Craft has a taproom, the majority of beer is sent to area restaurants and taverns.758

Public Craft introduced canned versions of flagships Bits & Pieces IPA and K-Town Brown in late 2016, and regularly releases firkins of special beers in their taproom and at beer festivals. The taproom features music played from old vinyl records on Tuesdays, and encourages patrons to design their own coasters on the blanks provided.759

• R’Noggin Brewing Co. (2016–present)
• 6521 120th Street

Brothers Kevin and Jeff Bridleman started as homebrewers. They opened R’Noggin in 2016.

Kewaunee (Kewaunee County)

• William Blackwell (1856?–58?)
• Adolph Ebel (1860–64)

William Blackwell appears as a brewer in Kewaunee in the 1857 state business directory. It is possible that his brewery was the predecessor of the Adolph Ebel brewery, because according to local papers Ebel does not fit into the Kewaunee Brewery timeline. Neither Blackwell nor Ebel are in local newspapers or the 1860 census, so the status of their brewery is uncertain.

The early history of brewing in Kewaunee is further confused by a report in the Kewaunee County Enterprize [sic] in 1860 that “. . . the large, new three story building built last season by Mr. Duchoslaw for a brewery and cabinet maker’s shop, has recently been purchased by Mr. Metzner with the intention to put into operation a bakery . . .”760 It is possible that Metzner’s plans did not go through, since the Kewaunee Brewery started up shortly thereafter. It is also possible that Ebel took over this building for a short time.

• Berni & Zimmerman, Kewaunee Brewery (1859?–1860?)
• Ulricker & Zimmerman, Kewaunee Brewery (1860?)
• Arndt & Wenger, Kewaunee Brewery (1860?–62?)
• Deda & Wenger (1862–64)
• Deitloff & Wenger (1864–65?)
• Brandes & Wenger (1865?–66)
• Charles Brandes, Kewaunee Brewery (1866–1882)
• Frank Nuhlicek, Kewaunee Brewery (1882–88)
• Mach & Langer, Kewaunee Brewery (1890–1902)
• Anton Mach, Pilsen Brewery (1902–7)
• Anton Mach Estate, Pilsen Brewery (1907–9)
• Mach’s Pilsen Brewery, Mrs. Catherina Mach (1909–1916)
• Pilsen Brewery, Raymond Rauch (1916–1920)
• Kewaunee Brewing Co. (1933–1942)
• Southwest Corner of Ellis and Dodge Streets (324 Ellis)

One history of Kewaunee County claims that the first brewery there was that of Stephen Berni, started in 1859.761 But not until June 1860 did Stephen Berni and Julius Zimmerman announce in a newspaper ad that their “brewery is now in complete operation, and that they are now prepared to furnish the best quality of Lager Beer, in any quantity at the lowest prices.”762 Zimmerman was in the 1860 population census, but not Berni. Instead, Zimmerman’s partner at the time of the census (which would have been very nearly the same as the ad) appears to have been Joseph Ulricker, who lived next door and owned an equal $1,000 of real estate. But a year later, it was “Messrs. Arndt & Wenger of the Kewaunee Brewery” who announced that their new cellar was now filled with “lager beer for the summer months.” J. Peter Arndt (Arendt) purchased Zimmerman’s share in the brewery late in 1860 and “Pete” received rave reviews from the editor of the Kewaunee County Enterprize for his lager.763

Ownership of the Kewaunee Brewery continued to change rapidly. The Enterprize noted in March 1862 that the brewery had recently changed hands, and “Messrs. Deda and Winger [sic] . . . will be able to supply all demands with Ale and Beer not anywhere surpassed.”764 It is interesting that ale was mentioned specifically, though it is possible since Kewaunee was a port city that some of the mariners preferred ale. Deda was also proprietor of the Wisconsin House, and sometime around early 1864 seems to have returned to the hotel business full time (for the moment). Wyta Stransky, another local businessman, stepped in to provide the capital for Wenger, though this arrangement was also short-lived. A few months later, the names in the Kewaunee Brewery ads are Deitloff & Wenger.765 Sometime in late 1865 or early 1866, hotel owner Charles Brandes (or Brandis) purchased Deitloff’s share of the brewery. (The Robt. Jos. Binger listed in the R. G. Dun credit evaluations of 1865, is almost certainly a misinterpretation of Wenger.)766

At this point, a business change occurred that confused most previous chronologies of Kewaunee breweries. In June 1866, Brandes sold the Steam Boat House hotel “to attend to his Brewery, Flouring and Lumbering business.” A few days later, Joseph Wenger sold out and joined a partnership to build another brewery in the city (see the Bavaria Brewery).767

Brandes was literally a survivor—he was one of only six to survive the 1852 wreck of the steamer Atlantic on Lake Erie.768 (Brandis had also served on the Sea Bird when it was commanded by Captain Frederick Pabst.769) Near disasters followed Brandes on shore as well. The brewery suffered a freak accident in 1868 when lightning struck the cellar during a storm and about forty barrels of beer were burst open. As one newspaper lamented, “What a pity.”770

Brandes produced almost 500 barrels in 1870, which sold for $10 per barrel. His production remained between 400 and 500 barrels for the rest of the decade. In 1882, he sold his brewery to Frank Nuhlicek, who operated it for the next several years. In 1890, Nuhlicek sold the brewery to fellow Bohemian Anton Mach for $7,500.771 Mach and his partner, Joseph Langer, continued the brewery until Langer sold his share around 1902, after which Mach renamed the brewery in honor of the brewing capital of his homeland. In 1906 Mach began to expand the brewery, planning to add a bottling house and steam power, but he died in 1907 and his widow Catherina (Katie) took over control of the brewery, assisted by her sons Anton Jr. and Joseph. The Mach family eventually sold the Pilsen Brewery to Raymond Rauch for $13,500.772 Rauch operated the brewery until Prohibition.

After Prohibition, the Kewaunee Brewing Co. was reformed, but using the old Pilsen Brewery site rather than the old Bavarian/Kewaunee Brewing Co. site (which has further confused some previous chronologies). They rehired Raymond Rauch to be brewmaster and got going as soon as possible, but they were still not ready for the first day of legal beer. To satisfy their customers, they imported beer from other cities. The first batch of their own beer was put on sale 5 May 1933—after the first eighth-barrel keg was delivered to the mayor of Kewaunee. The first beer was draught only and bottled product was not available until an all-new $20,000 bottling plant was completed.773 The brewery had trouble making all their equipment work in the early months of production—at one point the boiler failed and a “huge threshing machine” was moved in, and this contraption provided enough steam to run parts of the plant one at a time.774 The brewery eventually packaged beer in sizes ranging from both 6-ounce and 7-ounce up to 64-ounce “picnic” bottles. Hopp Brew, named after company president Charles Hopp (rather than any particular hoppy character, though the similarity of names was fortuitous), was available on draught in Kewaunee and surrounding counties.

Kewaunee Brewing Co. encountered many of the ups and downs typical to most small town breweries, or small town businesses in general. They supported community organizations by sponsoring the team and donating a set of new jackets for the Kewaunee entry in the county baseball league.775 The brewery had to appeal to the city council in 1936 to get chickens housed next to the brewery removed so their odor could not ruin the beer.776 Kewaunee Brewing closed for good 1 November 1942.777 The building was put to other uses including bottling soft drinks and remained largely intact through 2012, but was subsequently razed. (A photo of the Defender Beer label is in chapter 7.)

• Lutz & Wenger (1866–67)
• Lutz, Lorenzo & Co. (1868)
• Charles Deda, Bavaria Brewery (1868–1885)
• Charles Deda & Son, Bavaria Brewery (1885–86)
• Bergman & Deda, Bavaria Brewery (1886–89)
• Wallner & Deda, Bavaria Brewery (1889–1893)
• Wallner & Holniak (1893–95)
• Kewaunee Brewing Co. (1895–1916)
• Beardsley Street and River Road

While American Breweries II has Lutz & Trottman and a Mr. Ritter as the first proprietors of the Bavaria Brewery, the Kewaunee County Enterprize indicates clearly that Lutz and Wenger (Winger) started a new brewery in 1866.778

This would fit with the records of R. G. Dun & Co., who have Wenger and Lutz first appearing in late 1866, but in 1867 Wenger died, and by 1868 the business was insolvent.779 The excise records indicate that a new firm called Lutz, Lorenzo & Co. commenced operations in February 1868, but they apparently only operated the brewery for a few months. Trottman was actually a brewer at Two Creeks, twelve miles south of Kewaunee.

Charles Deda returned to brewing when he acquired the brewery in 1868. He named it the Bavarian Brewery, even though he was listed as an Austrian in the 1870 census (and a Bohemian in 1880). He was not included in the 1870 industrial census, but his production in the 1870s slipped from 458 barrels in 1874 to under 300 barrels in 1878 and 1879, though he exceeded 500 barrels in 1882.780

Charles Deda brought his son into partnership in 1885, which was fortunate since he died later that year. The younger Deda had brewing experience, but entered partnerships with experienced brewmasters. One of these was Fred C. Wallner, who came to Bavarian Brewery in 1887 and became a partner shortly thereafter. Wallner’s travels were remarkable even for an occupation in which brewers trained in multiple breweries and moved around to get better situations. He trained as a brewer in Deggendorf, Bavaria, and started with Philip Best in 1881. After his time at Bavaria Brewery, he went to Bethesda Brewery in Waukesha, then to Walter Bros. in Menasha. However, his next move was to Cerverceria la Perla in Guadalajara, Mexico, then to Olympia Brewing Co. in Washington and by 1912 he arrived at Sacramento Brewing Co. in California.781

Under Wallner’s direction, the brewery started building a malt house in 1891, and upgraded some of their other buildings. In January 1892, the frame brewhouse was totally destroyed by fire, and the three employees who slept in the building had a narrow escape. After the fire, the Wallner and Deda considered building their new brewery in De Pere, but decided instead to rebuild in Kewaunee.782 The Milwaukee Sentinel noted in 1894 that William Willinger of Manitowoc had purchased an interest in the Bavarian Brewery, and he formed a new company with Wallner and Thomas Holinak. However, in November that same year, the Sentinel reported that the Bavarian Brewery, “which has been in financial straits for some time past,” had failed. It was sold at a sheriff’s sale for $5,300 the following April.783

In 1895, Kewaunee Brewing Co. was reorganized and incorporated, with Charles Brandes Jr. (whose father was with the earlier Kewaunee Brewery) among the original incorporators. Prior to 1905, the malt house was converted into a bottling plant. Starting in 1906, the Bohman family took over ownership of the brewery, with Joseph, Barbara and Mary Bohman serving as officers of the company. Joseph’s son Joseph J. Bohman was the brewmaster during most of this period.

In 1915, the Bohmans sold the brewery to out-of-town investors—Theodore Klett lived in East Troy and Emma and Louis Kretschmer were from Milwaukee. The evidence suggests that brewing ceased sometime in 1915, and that the brewery did not return to production.784 The Kewaunee Brewing Co. was dissolved, and the building lay vacant before being razed.

Kiel (Schleswig) (Manitowoc County)

• Gutheil & Bro. (1858–1880)
• Gutheil Bros. (1880–87)
• Modern 23050 Highway 57

While accounts differ, it is likely that Bernhard and Ferdinand Gutheil established their brewery just outside of Kiel in 1858. According to one history, they delivered beer with a horse-drawn wagon to the nearby villages of Louis Corners, St. Nazianz, Millhome and St. Anna. In 1866 Ferdinand moved to Chilton to start a brewery there, and brother Louis, late of the 9th Wisconsin Infantry, was brought into the partnership. While they were not large enough to be included in the 1860 industry census, by 1870 they were making 250 barrels a year. Production dipped in the early 1870s, but by 1879 the Gutheils were making an impressive 670 barrels per year.785

An account by long-time Kiel resident John Schroeder recounted “Neither of the two brothers did the brewing, but depended upon hired help. They used to have one braumeister who made excellent beer . . . but always they made the beer too good for the price they asked. There was never much profit left for the owners.” Schroeder also provided valuable details about beer drinking in the 1880s: “They used to have various-sized glasses, too. There was the largest size, called the Plattdeutscher Schmitt [schnitt], and the square Mecklenburger Schmitt. Five of the large ones was all I could drink. . . .”786 There is no evidence that either of the breweries in Kiel malted their own barley.

According to Schroeder, the Gutheil brothers gave up the brewery when Louis was became County Clerk in 1887. (It was still listed in an 1891 state business directory, but those were often out of date.) There is a William Haak listed as a brewer in the 1888 state business directory who may have taken over the brewery for a short time, but this is the only reference to him, and he moved to Sheboygan shortly after, so even if he did take over the brewery, his term was brief. It is possible but less likely that he started his own brewery, or he may have been a distributor rather than a brewer.

• John Dimler (Deumler) (1859?–1872)
• Modern 28 East Fremont

John Duseler [sic] was listed as a brewer in Schleswig Township in the 1860 census. Since he had $2,000 of real estate it is likely that he was operating his own brewery at this point, though one history of Kiel claims he did not start brewing until 1869. (This is clearly inaccurate since R. G. Dun & Co. have him in their records in 1867.)787 An old resident, John Schroeder, remembered in 1927: “The beer that Dimmel [sic] made was the best that was ever had in this vicinity . . . It was better than the best that ever came from the Gutheil brewery. The reason for that was the water Dimmel used was softer.”788 The 1870 industrial census reported production of 150 barrels, but this dropped sharply over the next few years: to seventy barrels in 1871 and thirty-seven barrels in his final year of operation. One local history recorded: “A few aged residents of our town remember coming in with their father to visit the Dimlers who then distributed samples of the old braumeister’s art. However, competition of other breweries and the difficulties encountered in distribution made the Dimlers sell their building. . . .” Schroeder claimed that “Henry” Dimler encountered financial trouble when he went into debt to build a new cellar. Dimler’s brewery was also the site of a stabbing in April 1872, which may have been the final straw. The brewery was sold to Dr. Carl Dreher, who turned it into a medical office and drug store; it later became Riverside Grocery.789

Kossuth (Francis Creek) (Manitowoc County)

• Joseph Kobes (1867?–1875?)
• Adam Warm (1870?–1874)
• Anna Warm (1874–77)

Wayne Kroll lists Joseph Kobes as the founder of this brewery.790 The R. G. Dun & Co. records first mention Kobes as a brewer in 1867, and continues to report on the brewery through 1875. The reports note that by July 1880 Kobes has moved out of the country and the brewery is run down entirely and abandoned.791 This data makes it difficult to state conclusively that the Kobes brewery and the Warm brewery are the same business, however it is possible that Kobes was the owner and Warm was the brewer. (Warm does not appear in Dun, which suggests he could have been an employee.)

Adam Warm is listed in the 1870 industrial census, though with only fifty barrels produced he was among the smallest brewers in the state. In the next years his production barely exceeded thirty barrels a year. Adam Warm died sometime around 1874, and his widow Anna operated the brewery for a short time. It remained a small operation, peaking at fifty-one barrels in 1875. After this point, she disappears from the industry records and is listed in the 1880 population census as retired.

• Anton Chloupek (1867?–1880)
• Mathias Dolegal (1874?–1876?)
• Frank Jentsch? (1883–1884?)

Anton Chloupek owned a flour mill and feed business in addition to his brewery. He is first mentioned as a brewer in the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports in 1867, but may have been brewing earlier. By 1870 he was brewing 300 barrels of beer, and was over 200 barrels the next two years. Dun claims that he sold out in 1874 to focus on his flour and feed business but does not name the purchaser. It was most likely Mathias Dolegal, as he was listed as a brewer in Kossuth in Schade’s 1876 directory, though no production was recorded in 1874 or 1875 (which was not inconsistent with a purchase in late 1874). The brewery reportedly burned in December 1874, which means that Dolegal may have spent at least part of 1875 rebuilding.792 He is not in excise records or those of R. G. Dun & Co., and in the 1880 census he is listed as a farmer, but lived close to Anton Chloupek. It is possible that he was the one that took control of the brewery for a few years. Chloupek returned to the brewery late in the decade, though production was 192 barrels in 1878 and only 96 the next year. In 1880, Chloupek lost his business to a flood that washed away most of his buildings. Anton Chloupek died before the end of the year, and while his son Adolph took the property, there was no brewery to continue.793

Frank Jentsch (Jeutsch) was listed by Western Brewer as a new brewer in December 1883. Wayne Kroll lists Jentsch as a continuation of Chloupek’s firm, though that means he would have had to build a new brewery.794 Jentsch appears as Jeutsch in the Wing’s 1884 directory (which would have been compiled in 1883). Jentsch also could have been another interpretation of Franz Rank.

• Franz Rank (1879?–1880?)

Wayne Kroll lists Frank Rank as a brewer in Kossuth, but there is little information about his business.795 It is possible that he may have succeeded to the Kobes brewery, though the Kobes brewery had been reported as abandoned at that point. Franz Rank and Franz Jentsch may also have been different interpretations of the same name.

La Crosse (La Crosse County)

While La Crosse had the advantages of rivers, river bluffs with natural caves, rail links and lots of Germans, many other cities had these as well. What made this mid-sized city punch well above its weight class in the international brewing market was the presence of several talented brewers with enough capital to expand their breweries at the right time. The water in La Crosse was excellent brewing water, but other cities shared this as well. The La Crosse brewers were aggressive in expanding both their plants and their markets. The names Michel, Gund and Heileman were known throughout the Upper Midwest and beyond, and no city of similar size had so large a market. The home market was not trivial, either: in 1887, La Crosse granted licenses to 140 saloons.796 Throughout Western Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and beyond, La Crosse beer was used as a comparison point in the same way as Milwaukee’s. A brewery in Eau Claire was praised in 1865 with the compliment “the article that comes from his brewery is pronounced to be equally as good as the celebrated La Crosse beer.”

By the late twentieth century, La Crosse–made beer was shipped around the world, and many regional favorite brands were owned and brewed by the G. Heileman Brewing Co. in a city where breweries had been among the largest employers since just after the Civil War. While Heileman (later City Brewing Co.) dominated the local industry as well as the skyline, in the twenty-first century new craft breweries have been attracting customers to their taprooms—some located just steps from where their nineteenth century ancestors were located.

• Jacob Franz (France), Eagle Brewery (1850?–1862)
• Franz & Mueller, Eagle Brewery (1862–67)
• Kappes & Mueller, Eagle Brewery (1867–1870)
• Geisler & Hagen (1868)
• Kappes & Hofer, Eagle Brewery (1870–75)
• John Hofer, Eagle Brewery (1875–78)
• Franz Bartl (1886–1904)
• Franz Bartl Brewing Co. (1904–1920)
• George Kunz Company (1933–37)
• Louis Ziegler Brewing Co. (1948)
• Ziegler’s Old Fashioned Brewery of La Crosse, Inc. (1948–1950)
• 1201–1217 La Crosse Street

Jacob Franz started the Eagle Brewery, the first in La Crosse, perhaps as early as 1850. Another local story holds that Franz, in partnership with Dr. Gustavus Nicholai, placed beer on the market in 1854, just ahead of John Gund, whose first batch of yeast failed to ferment.797 Very little is known about the earliest years, since La Crosse newspapers devoted very little space to local businesses other than advertisements. Production in 1860 was 150 barrels, more than anyone except Gund or Michel. By 1870 the Eagle Brewery was one of the smallest in La Crosse by production, and much smaller than the rest in terms of capital invested—only $1,600 compared to the tens of thousands of dollars sunk in by their rivals. This lack of capitalization was probably related, either as cause or effect, to the frequent changes in ownership. In 1862, Fred Mueller sold his butcher shop and joined Franz in the Eagle Brewery. Around 1867, Franz moved to Sioux City, Iowa and leased the brewery to Peter Kappes (Mueller remained at the brewery). The excise records include a single reference to Geisler and Hagen, who may have rented the brewery for a short time during this transition in late 1867. The Kappes and Mueller partnership lasted only two years, after which Mueller went into the retail liquor business.798 Kappes then took over, and was joined in 1871 by John Hofer, who appears to have been employed in the Zeisler brewery in 1870. Hofer and Kappes rented the brewery for a few years until they finally purchased it from Franz sometime in 1874. The next year Kappes left the firm and Hofer continued alone for a few more years. Neither Kappes nor Hofer had much capital available, and Hofer was apparently in substantial debt from buying the brewery. Sometime in 1878, Kappes went out of business and the Eagle Brewery was apparently vacant for some time, since it was absent from industry directories from 1879 to 1884.799

The Eagle Brewery was resurrected by a veteran brewer, Franz Bartl. Like many other brewers, Bartl was well traveled: his first American brewery experience was in Ohio, he then went to Menasha, and then arrived in La Crosse. Even then, he kept moving around: he was foreman of Zeisler’s brewery for five years, then he moved up to a similar position at Gund Brewing, and then went to the smaller Peter Bub Brewing Co. across the river in Winona, Minnesota. He returned to La Crosse in 1884 and for the first time became proprietor of a brewery. (There is some dispute as to which year Bartl actually started brewing at Eagle. It is possible that he bought the brewery in 1884 but did not have it ready for production until 1886.) Bartl quickly expanded the plant, and by 1890 the Eagle Brewery had a capacity of 10,000 barrels per year, about ten times what it had been. An industry directory claimed that he offered bottled beer as early as 1887, but no bottling works were confirmed in local sources until after 1896, when Bartl was one of the incorporators of Eagle Bottling works, which bottled Eagle Brewery beer.800 At one point, Bartl apparently considered purchasing the nearby Onalaska brewery and putting it back into commission. However, like most plans around the Onalaska site, it came to nothing.801

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Bartl was well established and had a steady local trade. He offered two brands of bottled beer in 1907, Premium Brew and High Grade.802 Both of his sons were trained in the business: Joseph attended the Wahl-Henius Brewing Academy in Chicago, and Edward traveled to Bohemia to work at his uncle’s large brewery there.803

After Prohibition law, the Bartl family held on to the brewery, but leased it in 1931 to George Kunz to brew wort. Kunz already had a wort plant in his former brewery in Manitowoc, so he apparently found the wort business worth expanding.804 When Prohibition ended, Kunz converted the facility back to beer, received a brewing permit in October 1933, and began business as the George Kunz Company. Kunz used local labor to recondition the brewery, and signed an agreement with the local brewery workers’ unions. Hourly wages ranged from 50¢ to 85¢ for a forty-hour week. At first only draught beer was available, but there were three brands: Hoffbrau, Dortmunder and Extra Pale.805 Eventually LaX Club lager and Alt Brau bottled beers reached the market. This venture only lasted until 1937. While the brewery was closed, the equipment was maintained just in case it could be reopened.

After remaining idle for several years, the facility still referred to locally as the Bartl Brewery gained a new lease on life in 1947, when it was purchased from Joseph A. Bartl and Edward Bartl by Robert D. Hamilton of Los Angeles, a beer distributor on the West Coast. He already owned the Ziegler breweries in Beaver Dam and Fort Atkinson, and immediately began renovations in La Crosse to brew beer for the western market. Among his planned additions was a new bottling plant, though these plans were delayed and ultimately shelved.806 Production started in September 1948, and employment increased from twelve to twenty-one hands in 1949, with a peak of twenty-eight during the busy summer season.807 The beer was sold under the Ziegler name, and used the same label designs as brews made at the other two breweries. While much of the beer was shipped to the West Coast, some of Ziegler’s “Old Fashioned Lager Beer” was advertised and sold in the local market. However, the venture was not a financial success. The brewery ceased production in 1950, and the plant now known as Ziegler’s Old Fashioned Brewery of La Crosse was sold at sheriff’s sale in August 1951.808 (Labels for the La Crosse branch were essentially the same as those used by other branches of Ziegler Brewing.)

After the sale, the plant was used by Independence Bottling Co. The brewery remained standing until 1971, when it was demolished to make way for a gas station.809

• John Gund, La Crosse Brewery (1854–58)
• Front and Division Streets

John Gund was the son of a hop and tobacco farmer in Baden, Germany, and was trained in the old country as a brewer and cooper. Prior to arriving in La Crosse, he was employed in the Dubuque brewery of Anton Heeb, and at two different breweries in nearby Galena, Illinois. In 1854, he moved to La Crosse and built a small log brewery and a home at the corner of Front and Division streets.810 Starting in December 1854, he advertised that he had “established at this place a BREWERY, for the manufacture of ALE and BEER which he shall keep on hand cheap for cash.”811

Even at this early date, the brewery served as a center for German culture: the Turners met for their gymnastics in the yard of the brewery.812 He operated this brewery for four years before partnering with Gottlieb Heileman to build the City Brewery on Third Street.

• Charles & John Michel, La Crosse Brewery (1857–1882)
• C. & J. Michel Brewing Co., La Crosse Brewery (1882–1920)
• La Crosse Breweries, Inc. (1933–1956)
• 700 block of Third Street

According to local accounts, Charles Michel left Germany in the 1840s to avoid spending three years in the army. His brother John joined him shortly thereafter, and they started a business as builders in Philadelphia. They went to California during the Gold Rush, but as builders rather than miners. After returning east to be closer to the rest of their family, they then went to Chicago, and then to Davenport, Iowa. In early 1856, they decided to move up the river to St. Paul, but since the ice was not fully out, they were compelled to stay in La Crosse, and ultimately decided to remain there. They started as builders, but realizing that existing breweries were not able to meet the demand, they decided to enter the brewing trade.813

By 1860, La Crosse Brewery was the largest in the city and one of the largest in the western part of the state. The Michels sold 1,200 barrels in 1860 and 3,000 barrels by 1870. Michel’s steam plant produced fourteen horsepower—again, more than almost any brewery outside of Milwaukee. The Michel brewery was an important landmark and tourist attraction. An 1863 traveler recounted during a trip along the Mississippi River, “While enjoying this drive, we were taken to the brewery of the Messrs. Mitchell [sic], which partly supplies La Crosse with a finely flavored lager.”814 The Michels used caves in Mormon Coulee to store their finished beer until they were able to dig cellars under the brewery.815 After the end of the Civil War, the Michels poured money into updating the brewery, investing the then enormous sum of $12,000 in 1866 alone.816

A feature article from 1879 proclaimed the brewery had a capacity of 15,000 barrels per year, and was running at full production. Their hops were purchased “from California and Bangor, Wis., mostly from the latter place.” Among the brewery equipment listed in the article were an eighty-six-barrel brew kettle, a sixty-eight barrel kuhlschiff (open cooler), fourteen seventy-eight barrel fermenters and 128 twenty-two-barrel conditioning vats in the cellar. The brewery used 3,000 tons of ice each year to cool the thousands of kegs resting in the cellar. The company had twenty-seven employees, twelve of whom were employed in the bottling room where they were at work “washing, filling, steaming, corking, cooling and labeling some fifteen barrels a day, 48,000 bottles a month.” This passage is important because it shows not only that Michel was bottling at this early date, but also that the process included pasteurization (steaming) and all the modern features of the most advanced Milwaukee breweries. The article claimed that at this point the product of Michel and other La Crosse breweries “is shipped mostly to Minnesota, and westward.”817 In addition, the Michel family home was one of the first in La Crosse to be heated by steam, since piping could be run easily from the brewery next door.818 The C. & J. Michel Brewing Co. was incorporated in April 1886, with a capital stock of $150,000, and C. F. Fischer joined the Michels as principal incorporators.819

Like most breweries, Michel Brewing Co. was subject to fire, like the one in early 1897 that caused $8,000 of damage. Michel’s financial situation was such that they were able to keep insurance payments up, so this loss was completely covered.820 However, the fire of September 1897 was so great that insurance of $150,000 was only enough to cover half the loss. Everything was destroyed except the office and part of the engine house, along with 5,000 bushels of barley and 12,000 barrels of beer. The disaster also put 150 employees out of work, though it is likely that some were employed to rebuild the brewery.821

Michel Brewing Co. started exporting beer to Minnesota very early, and was distributed in South Dakota at least by 1885 if not earlier. The company had a sizeable presence in Southern Minnesota, where the railroads made shipping from La Crosse easy. Michel advertised regularly in Minnesota newspapers, though the ads were smaller and had less variety than those of Gund or Heileman. Most ads had simple sketches of people serving the beer in various settings with praise for the beer’s delicate qualities. In 1900, ads for Michel’s Perfection Beer claimed it was “Good Any Time . . . for Clubs, Hotel Bars, Buffets and Fastidious Families.” When Elfenbrau was introduced to export markets in 1910, the company emphasized the cleanliness and modern washing equipment of the brewery, and claimed the brand was “Wholesome as Sunshine.”822 With these ads Michel was consistent with most other brewers, who focused on health and sanitation to blunt the criticisms that had brought about the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.

Michel’s established market was a reason it was one of the biggest prizes in the La Crosse brewery trust that was floated in 1899. In this scheme, the three largest breweries, Michel, Gund, and Heileman, would each brew either for home trade, export, or brew ale only, and the smaller breweries in the city (and Hussa Brewing Co. in Bangor) would be closed and used for storage. While articles of incorporation for a La Crosse Brewing Co. were filed with the Secretary of State of Wisconsin, the plans were dropped after about a year.823

In 1907 the company built an all-new brewhouse across the street from the first location, and the original plant was used for office and storage space. Because construction started during the “Panic of 1907,” funding could have been a problem, but twenty-seven year-old Carl Michel went to see banker Charles Dawes of Chicago (later famous for the “Dawes Plan” that helped stabilize European economies during the 1920s), who provided the necessary capital.824 The new brewery increased the company’s capacity from 75,000 to 300,000 barrels per year, keeping Michel among the largest breweries in the region. The company was licensed to do business in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa, and in 1910 they expanded to Montana.825 Michel’s regional importance was such that they were one of the breweries cited in a national ad campaign by Schlitz (Gund was another), in which Michel’s use of a cardboard case cover to protect the beer from light was used as proof that Schlitz’s brown bottles were superior.826

Some later accounts claim Michel made near beer early in the dry years, but no labels are known. Even before Prohibition took full effect the company changed its name to La Crosse Refining Company, and switched to malt syrup products, which required new equipment for manufacturing and packaging. Since sugar prices had risen during World War I their original plan was to produce maltose syrup, which was more like table sugar. However, sugar prices dropped again after the war so they brewed a “straight malt syrup.”827

As the return of legal beer approached, La Crosse Refining prepared to reconvert the plant and president Carl Michel announced at the end of March 1933 that they would take immediate steps to prepare the brewery for making 3.2 percent beer. These steps included new refrigeration equipment and expansions to the bottling line. The company planned to reintroduce two classic labels, the former Michel flagship Elfenbrau, and the famous Peerless beer formerly brewed by Gund Brewing Co. Luckily, the renamed La Crosse Breweries, Inc. was able to bring back former Michel brewmaster Ernst Chitel to recreate his old recipe, and to hire Louis Sliberschmidt, the former brewmaster at Gund, to supervise the return of Peerless. Brewing began later in 1933, and soon bottled Elfenbrau and Peerless were on sale again.828

La Crosse Breweries tried to keep pace by updating equipment as possible. They added a canning line in 1948, and installed a new bottling line with capacity of 240 bottles per minute in 1949.829 The brewery sponsored the La Crosse Mohawks baseball team of the Western Wisconsin League and changed the name to the Peerless Mohawks in 1953.830 The company reentered much of its former export market, and by 1954 Peerless was sold in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and North Dakota as well as Wisconsin.831 While the brewery produced over 63,000 barrels in 1953, this was not enough to run the brewery efficiently, and was a drop in the tankard compared to the half million barrels made a few blocks away at Heileman. Matters were made worse by a strike in June 1955 by workers at the brewery over the decision by management to save money by using a local distributor instead of delivering beer with its own union employees. The strike was settled after a few weeks when the brewery decided to self distribute again, but the brewery was in too precarious a position to suffer any economic shock.832 La Crosse Breweries finally succumbed to competition and declining sales in 1955. Potosi Brewing Co. acquired a license to brew and package Peerless beer.833 The 1907 brewhouse survived until 1997, when it was razed.834

• Gund & Heileman (1858–1872)
• Gottlieb Heileman, City Brewery (1872–78)
• Johanna Heileman, City Brewery (1878–1890)
• G. Heileman Brewing Co. (1890–1999)
• City Brewing Co. (1999–present)
• 1018 Third Street

When Gottlieb Heileman first arrived in Wisconsin, he stopped first in Philadelphia, and then went to Milwaukee. While in the Cream City, Heileman was partner in a bakery, rather than a brewery. When he moved to La Crosse in 1857, he worked for a few months in Charles and John Michel’s brewery before leaving to get married. He returned to La Crosse and joined with John Gund in his new brewery.835 The partnership of Gund and Heileman would help establish La Crosse as one of the leading brewing centers of the continent for generations.

The City Brewery brewed one thousand barrels in 1860, the first year for which figures are available—a good showing for a two-year-old brewery. While the 1870 industrial census is illegible in places, the entry that appears to be the Gund & Heileman brewery produced 2,600 barrels, among the largest in the state. The brewery had advanced from what was listed as “horse and hand” power in 1860 to a twelve horsepower steam engine a decade later. A few years later, Gund & Heileman produced over 4,100 barrels, a total which, if accurate, made them the largest brewery in the state outside Milwaukee. The brewery was so profitable that in 1870 Heileman was able to build his family a new residence reminiscent of an Italian villa. (The house remains on the brewery property as of 2017 and has been used for offices since 1960.) The brewery employed twelve men at this point, and while Gottlieb’s wife Johanna served meals to the unmarried workers, as was typical at the time, she insisted that the wives of married workers take care of their own husbands.836

In 1872, the partners decided to dissolve their partnership. The reasons why are not clear, but local legend holds that Gund and Heileman flipped a coin to divide the assets, which included the brewery and the International Hotel and Saloon. Heileman reportedly won, and took the brewery.837 Gund went on to start a new brewery, his third, and would soon outproduce his ex-partner. Production at Gottlieb Heileman’s City Brewery was still among the best in the state, but he lost ground as Gund became established. The City Brewery suffered its biggest loss when Gottlieb Heileman died in 1878, at age fifty-four. Johanna Heileman took charge of the brewery, aided by several family members including her brother-in-law Reinhard Wacker and her son-in-law Emil T. Mueller. The business was stabilized under their able leadership and began to grow again. The brewery was not incorporated until 1890, and even then, Johanna was still very much in charge and her sons-in-law were the other major stockholders. (A second personal tragedy struck the Heileman family in August 1895 when Henry Heileman took his life after a period of poor health and depression at age twenty-six.)838

G. Heileman Brewing expanded their market in the same way as most of their rivals—through the sale of bottled beer. The local German-language paper Nord Stern included a mention of bottled beer, the Weiner (Vienna) brand, which was a common brand or style for many breweries to bottle before Prohibition.839 The brewery also had an Export beer in bottles, though at this time it simply meant that it was shipped beyond the home market, rather than outside the United States. Heileman adopted the porcelain swing top bottle closure in 1887, and packaged Weiner in these new bottles. The company introduced Golden Leaf beer in 1899, and this remained the flagship beer until it was supplanted by Old Style Lager. Old Style was first known as Old Times Lager, but another brewery claimed the name infringed on their brand, and Heileman made the change that created a label famous for most of the century.

Heileman does not seem to have advertised widely or regularly until around 1905, when it launched regular campaigns in multiple markets. Old Style ads touted it as “The Medalless Beer,” a clear swipe at rival Gund who mentioned their 1904 medal in nearly every ad.840 (However, an ad campaign in 1907 used a device that looked suspiciously like a medal.) Like its rivals, Heileman also boasted of the health-giving properties of the beverage, claiming “There is more strength and nourishment in one pint bottle of Old Style Lager than there is in a quart of common beer. That is why it is called the beer with a ‘Snap’ to it.”841

Heileman opened its first agency outside La Crosse in 1885, in Glencoe, Minnesota, about fifty miles west of Minneapolis. It soon had five agencies in South Dakota, one in North Dakota, ten more in Minnesota, and two in Illinois.842 But the success of Old Style led to significant expansion. Old Style could be found in nearly every state as well as in parts of Canada and the Caribbean, in part because beer could be shipped by rail to customers who were not served by a local distributor. However, there were agents for Heileman all over the country, including in some unlikely places. The company expanded its reach into the south, particularly Texas, where by 1916 they had distributors in Fort Worth, Austin, Beaumont and San Antonio. When Atlanta went dry in 1916 (though with many loopholes), Heileman advertised in the Atlanta Constitution that their “Georgia Patrons” could order their beer from wholesalers in Chattanooga, Memphis, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tampa and New Orleans, as well as distant Key West.843 To the west, E. S. Allbritton’s Old Style Lager Distributing Company was located in Salt Lake City (the Mormon prohibition of alcohol was not enforced strictly until 1921). Old Style was even available in St. Louis.844

Old Style’s national fame led to numerous imitators using old and style in the name (though some of those accused of copying the name probably arrived at their brand name independently). While the company sued for brand infringement in at least one case, in general they took the approach that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. In a series of ads in 1914, Heileman claimed “there are 28 imitations of Heileman’s famous Old Style Lager” and announced they had added a “crimson triangular corner” to the label as a guarantee of authenticity.845

However, Heileman’s national presence only increased the company’s exposure to prohibitionist forces. As noted above, the onset of prohibition in markets like Atlanta limited possibilities for growth and created added costs to serve remaining markets. When Clay County, Minnesota, went dry, Heileman closed their agency in Moorhead, as did Gund, Blatz and several Minnesota breweries. However, the Moorhead depot supplied North Dakota and other points west, so this affected more than just northwestern Minnesota.846 As the reality of national prohibition grew, G. Heileman Brewing prepared to cut its losses. Newspaper advertising was cut back dramatically, and the company introduced “New Style Brew,” which still had Old Style’s “Snap.” The remaining beer on hand was sold until 1 March, and then lager brewing operations stopped.847 Heileman and Bartl both made plans in 1921 to manufacture beer if laws were changed to allow light beer for medicinal purposes, but no such change in the Volstead Act was forthcoming.848

G. Heileman Brewing Co. was among the most active manufacturers of alternative beverages during Prohibition. They produced a line of sodas all of which bore the Old Style name, continued sales of malt tonic, and malt syrup (which was actually manufactured by Blatz in Milwaukee). Their near beer products, including the suspiciously named Spike introduced in 1922 (pictured in chapter 6), sold moderately well at first and were distributed in fourteen states from Michigan to Wyoming. However, sales dropped to 20,000 barrels, a small fraction of the 140,000 barrels of non-alcoholic products sold in the pre-Prohibition year of 1917. To make matters worse, a 1931 fire destroyed three warehouses and damaged a fourth, causing $50,000 in damages that the struggling business could ill afford.849 Legal beer could not return soon enough for Heileman.

As one of the 218 breweries around the nation that had managed to continue making near beer through 1932, they were in an enviable position to resume production of real beer. Conversion of equipment began in November after the election of Franklin Roosevelt, and Heileman was among those whose plants were besieged at midnight on 7 April 1933 when shipments of Old Style could resume. Initial demand was overwhelming, with orders coming from as far away as Boston and Los Angeles and even the former markets in the Caribbean. The brewery was operating eighteen hours a day and still could not keep up with demand. Sales in the first three days alone were around 2,500 barrels, which made the brewery an attractive target for safecrackers, who struck the company about two weeks later and got away with almost $2,000 in cash and checks.850

The rush exposed the fact that the brewery needed significant expansion and upgrading. However, the Heileman family was short of cash and the company needed a fresh infusion of capital. The family sold out and the Chicago brokerage house of Paul H. Davis and Co. turned the business into a public company with a mix of La Crosse and Chicago residents as directors. The Davis company remained the major stockholder at first and planned an expansion program to boost capacity from 150,000 to 250,000 barrels per year. The company was listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange, but the new owners pledged to employ only La Crosse residents.851

The years after repeal brought two important new members to the Heileman family of products. The first was a new beer, which brewmaster Jake Gehring first made for a company picnic in 1934. This “special” (and stronger, at 6 percent) brew proved so popular that it was introduced to the public in the fall of 1934 as Special Export in brown bottles with yellow neck labels. The other new introduction was canned beer. Heileman was an early adopter of Continental Can’s cone-top style can, but the company was not happy with the can lining or the amount of air that could be trapped in the cone, so they changed to flat top cans, though not until 1950. These products, and the continuing success of Old Style in packages from eight ounces to half-gallon picnic bottles, resulted in sales of 272,638 barrels of beer in 1935. Their market included thirty-seven states, but the home market was not neglected. Heileman built the Bier Stube in La Crosse, which was a tavern styled after a Dutch inn.852

The pressures of World War II forced G. Heileman Brewing to cut back in several ways. The market shrank to eighteen states, mostly because of restrictions on transportation of anything other than military supplies. Limited access to raw materials forced the company to decrease the amount of hops in the beer, though this change proved popular and remained in place after the war.853 (Additional information about Heileman during the war is included in chapter 7.)

G. Heileman Brewing was one of the breweries in position to take advantage of the post-World War II building boom. In the years after the war, it doubled the capacity of the brewhouse, installed a new bottling line, and launched a $1.5 million project to build new storage cellars. The company’s product line included dried grains and yeast as well as its famous beers, and provided work to more than 500 employees.854 There were occasional setbacks, such as a strike in 1948 and another warehouse fire in 1950, but in 1953, Heileman produced over half a million barrels of beer, which placed it far ahead of any non-Milwaukee brewery—the next largest was Fox Head in Waukesha, which barely topped 100,000 barrels.855 But the 1953 figures included a boost from increased sales due to the strike that year in Milwaukee, and production stagnated for the next few years. The directors of the company named Roy E. Kumm president in early 1957, a move that was to propel the company to new heights over the next decades.

While the rebranding of Old Style was important to Heileman’s recovery and growth, the key was Kumm’s plan to bring the company into the top five of American brewers by buying additional breweries for their capacity and brands. The first was the Kingsbury Brewing Co. with its three plants, but many more would follow. The new brands were typically acquired to fill holes in the low cost portions of the product line up, and eventually the House of Heileman (as it began to be called in 1963) would brew nearly 400 different labels during the period from 1960–1999. Heileman supported the increased capacity with new sponsorships, particularly in the lucrative Chicago market where they sponsored broadcasts of the Cubs and Bears, and placed Old Style on sale in Wrigley Field.856

Kumm and his successor, son-in-law Russell Cleary, also diversified the company by acquiring bakeries and manufacturing companies, several of which were purchased to keep the business in the La Crosse area. The company continued to buy bakeries and snack food companies until the late 1980s, and eventually became the fifth-largest baking company in the nation.857 G. Heileman company was very much a La Crosse company, and its local sponsorships demonstrated their commitment to the community. They were involved with everything from charitable events to curling bonspiels. Heileman also played a vital role in the development of La Crosse’s famous Oktoberfest. Brewery tours were a regular feature of the Fest, and entertainment often featured national acts like the Louis Armstrong Orchestra.858

Roy Kumm died in 1971, but he had prepared his son-in-law, Russell Cleary, to take over the business. Cleary embarked on a nationwide program of brewery acquisitions, which included Associated Brewing and its three breweries in 1972 for $17.5 million. The prize in this acquisition was the former Jacob Schmidt brewery in St. Paul, which quickly became the second most important brewery to the House of Heileman after the La Crosse plant. By this point, Heileman was the eighth-largest brewery in the country, and further acquisitions would push the company into the top five. The corporation moved from the Chicago Exchange to the New York Stock Exchange, but with that came increasing attention to growth and the bottom line, and the impatience of investors in a business that is not always steady or predictable. Thanks to expansions at the St. Paul and Newport, Kentucky breweries, by the end of the 1970s, sales were over eleven million barrels and the company moved into a new headquarters building.859

Unfortunately Heileman, with its collection of aging breweries, was now competing on an international level in a cutthroat industry. However, while earnings were up, sales were essentially flat from 1984 to 1986, so the board of directors created a “poison pill” plan to discourage hostile takeovers. The brewery moved to take over the brands of the Christian Schmidt Brewing Co. in Philadelphia in 1987, continuing the strategy of growth by buying other labels, but this time did not include the Schimdt brewery in the deal, since the company already had enough capacity.860 G. Heileman Brewing Co. was acquired by Australian financier Alan Bond just before the October 1987 stock market crash. (The story of the takeover and collapse is told in more detail in chapter 9.)

As the company dealt with the debt, it began to shed assets. The Evansville brewery was closed in 1988, and most of the bakery holdings were sold off that year, along with the Machine Products division. The Belleville, Illinois brewery was closed in September of that year. Sales were declining, and in early 1989, the modern brewery in Perry, Georgia was closed. Brewery closings resulted in several hundred employees losing their jobs at each facility, but it was not enough to reverse the company’s falling fortunes. The plant in St. Paul was closed down in January 1991, despite the fact that Heileman had invested more than $45 million in modernizations since 1972. The brewery was down to five plants (Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Baltimore and La Crosse) and employment was down to about 2,500 workers.861

In 1993, the banks that owned Heileman sold the company to a Dallas-based investment firm, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, Incorporated. The new company, faced with the reality that sales had dropped from 17.5 million barrels in 1983 to 8.9 million, and that market share dropped from 10 percent to 4.5 percent, asked Russell Cleary to come back as an advisor. But by 1996 the company was bankrupt again, and was purchased by Stroh Brewing Co. of Detroit. Stroh operated the brewery for three years, but Pabst and Miller bought out Stroh in 1999, and the brewery in La Crosse was closed in August.862

After a few false starts (covered in chapter 9), the brewery was saved by local investors and reopened for production before the end of the year as City Brewing, a tribute to its original name from the 1850s. Most of the brewery’s brands bore the City name, with a few taking the name of the host city. The company also did a significant amount of contract brewing. Platinum Holdings ran into financial difficulties, and in September 2000, a new company was formed—CBC Acquisitions, which purchased the brewery with help from an employee ownership plan. In the first year after the CBC purchase, employment at the brewery jumped from a few dozen to 250. Over the next several years, employment climbed back to over 500 workers, about what it was during the 1990s. The contract business was so lucrative that City Brewing was able to purchase the old Rolling Rock brewery in Latrobe, Pennsylvania from Anheuser-Busch in 2006 and the former Schlitz plant in Memphis from Coors in 2011, which was renamed the Blues City Brewery.863 But the breweries own brands had trouble making headway in a crowded market, so over time the brewery shifted to brewing beers under contract almost exclusively. There were occasional attempts to offer their own brands, such as the Golden Leaf series in 2006-7 and the La Crosse Session Series Amber Lager in 2013, but these were typically a drop in the barrel compared to total production: in 2006 City’s own brands represented 32,000 barrels out of a total of 1.6 million.864 However, in 2016 one of these contract brews returned a bit of the history to the La Crosse plant. Pabst Brewing Co., which by this point owned the Old Style brand, introduced Old Style Oktoberfest and had it produced in La Crosse, where the former Heileman brewmaster, Randy Hughes, was still employed.865 As of this writing, City Brewing Co. LLC employs about 500 in La Crosse, and has capacity to produce seven million barrels at the home plant.

• Ignatz Furst (1856?–58?)

Ignatz Furst is so far only known from the Wisconsin business directories of 1857 and 1858 (and 1858 was mostly a reprint of the previous edition). He was not mentioned in any other sources. It is possible that he could have been a predecessor of either L. Betz or L. Schuster who are mentioned in the 1860 industrial census, but no link has been found to this point. He later started a brewery in nearby Sparta.866

• Gustavus Nicholai (1857?–1860?)
• Near Southeast Corner of Second and Pearl Streets

According to local historians, Dr. Gustavus Nicholai, former partner of Jacob Franz, began brewing near the corner of Second and Pearl Streets.867 There is an entry in the 1860 industrial census for a brewer named Gustavus whose last name is illegible. This brewer produced 100 barrels with two men and a horse.

• L. Schuster (1859?–1860?)

L. Schuster started brewing in La Crosse sometime prior to 1860. In that year’s industrial census, he was shown to have brewed 100 barrels of beer with two hands in a horse-powered brewery.

• L. Betz (1859?–1860?)

L. Betz is listed as a brewer in the 1860 industrial census. At that point he was one of the smallest breweries in La Crosse with production of 100 barrels per year. His brewery was powered by horse and employed two men.

• Zeisler & Nagel, Plank Road Brewery (1867–69)
• George Zeisler, Plank Road Brewery (1869–1890)
• Geo. Zeisler & Sons, Plank Road Brewery (1890–1902)
• 718 North Third Street

One account claims that the Plank Road Brewery was started as early as 1861, but most sources place the date at 1867. The Hoffman article which put the date at 1861 conceded that the brewery was not fully complete until 1867, at which time its capacity was 1,500 barrels per year. Otto Nagel left the partnership in 1869, and Zeisler carried on alone.868

In January 1874, Zeisler’s brewery was destroyed by fire, with a loss of $18,000. He started rebuilding immediately, planning a grand reopening on July 4th, but the brewery was struck by lightning and suffered another fire that luckily only ruined part of the building and set back reconstruction plans.869

While not as important nationally as some of its local rivals, the Plank Road Brewery was still a popular spot in La Crosse. It had a summer biergarten and dance hall that operated through the 1880s when Zeisler built his paper mill and turned the dance hall into a paper storage warehouse.870

The Plank Road Brewery was victim of yet another fire, its fourth significant blaze, in December 1882, which did significant damage to the brewery and malt house. However, he rebuilt quickly, and the R. G. Dun & Co. continued to rate him as a good credit risk despite his losses.871 In 1893, saloon owners in La Crosse proposed starting a stock company to operate their own brewery, and it was rumored that the plan was to buy Zeisler’s brewery rather than build a new one. While a few such saloonkeeper breweries were formed around the state, this one never got beyond the rumor stage.872

After the brewery closed, it was purchased by the La Crosse Plow Company, which was later acquired by Allis-Chalmers. It was eventually converted into a tire warehouse.873

• John Gund, Empire Brewery (1873–1880)
• John Gund Brewing Co. (1880–1920)
• Ninth and Mormon Coulee Road (Modern South Ave/US Highway 61)

John Gund dissolved his partnership with Gottlieb Heileman in 1872, but his purpose was to run his own brewery, not to leave the beer business. The new brewery was farther from the center of the city, and Gund had several acres on which to build. The new Empire Brewery grew quickly—brewing over 1,500 barrels in its first full year. By the end of the 1870s it was over 6,000 barrels, second in the city only to Michel and twelfth largest in the state. Even as the brewery grew it continued some of the practices more common to smaller breweries in smaller cities. Gund raised turkeys on the premises, which made news in 1878 when one was struck by lightning and killed.874 John Gund Brewing Co. was among the first breweries in Wisconsin to incorporate, though it was still very much a family firm, with John Gund Sr. and sons George and Henry as the officers. George left the firm in 1882, and was replaced by John Jr.875

To secure the market for their beer, John Gund Brewing Co. joined their rivals in establishing a system of icehouses and agencies throughout their expanding sales territory. An ad for an agent handling Gund in 1893 boasted: “More La Crosse Beer is sold in Northwestern Iowa than all other brands put together.”876 Ads for Peerless, “the Beer of Good Cheer” appeared in newspapers in Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Montana as well as in Iowa and Wisconsin. While many of the cities Gund targeted either had no brewery or not enough capacity for the market, Gund had agents and even tied houses in major brewing centers such as Minneapolis. In 1908 Gund owned twenty-two saloons in Minneapolis, more than Pabst or Miller and more than twice as many as G. Heileman’s nine.877 Distant customers were still able to obtain premiums from the brewery: in 1901 interested parties could order “a handsome lithograph booklet describing the brewery free on request”; the next year they could send 15¢ for a “pack of fine playing cards.”878 Peerless was even available in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which indicates that Gund Brewing was willing to do the extra legal work to export to another country. Gund also made sure to control important saloon locations—in 1905 they snapped up the former John Walter saloon on Pearl Street for $6,000, a considerable amount for a small property but not for a prime location.879

Gund’s newspaper advertising was much more like the Milwaukee national giants than it was like that of a regional brewery. Rather than having a single small ad that repeated from issue to issue, or a handful of rotating ads, Gund produced major ad campaigns with as many as forty different ads emphasizing a particular theme. The 1906 campaign focused on health and purity—not a coincidence with the popular agitation for pure food and drug legislation at the time—with quotes from medical experts (many of them German) about how wholesome pure beer was. The next year the health claims continued, but focused on the quality of ingredients. An ad from 1908 included copy typical of the claims made for beer at the time: “Doctors all agree that for nursing mothers nothing equals the juices of barley and hops. A pure malt and hop beer produced healthy blood, stimulates the digestive organs and feeds the whole human organism. . . . [Peerless] It’s alive with health and goodness, and deserves to be your home beer.”880 Ads cited the awards won by the brewery, especially the Gold Medal earned for purity at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. (The medal earned at the 1900 Paris Exposition is pictured in chapter 5.)

Two campaigns stood out for their scope and imagination. In 1905, the company ran a series of at least sixteen ads featuring “peerless” figures in politics, industry, and war. Many were figures well known: Edison, Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt. Others assumed readers were informed on national and world politics: Mayor John Weaver of Philadelphia, Governor Charles S. Deneen of Illinois and Premier Arthur Balfour of the United Kingdom. Much more unusually, two ads featured the Japanese heroes of the Russo-Japanese War. One boasted that “Field Marshall Oyama is a peerless strategist and John Gund is a peerless brewer. . . . Oyama has outclassed his foe in the art of war, John Gund has outclassed his rivals in the art of brewing.” Oyama’s sketch, and that of Admiral Togo, portrayed their features as much less oriental for Gund’s midwestern audience.881 Even more elaborate was the series of ads that began in 1912 featuring a run of more than forty multi-panel cartoons featuring “Brur Badger” (sometimes spelled “Bre’r Badger”) who engaged in a variety of exploits with his forest friends to promote Gund’s Peerless beer. Readers were urged to “Clip these Peerless cartoons. You will want the entire series.”882

Increasing business meant frequent expansions for the brewery. In 1884 Gund added a third icehouse with capacity of 7,000 barrels, which at forty-two feet high and seventy-one by sixty-six feet in area, was bigger than the entire original brewery. Gund was also an early adopter of technological improvements—the brewery was equipped with the second telephone line in La Crosse.883 As one of the largest breweries in the region, Gund Brewing Co. was sometimes rumored to be involved in merger or trust combinations. In 1890, the press announced that Gund’s brewery and John Orth Brewing Co. of Minneapolis had been purchased by English capitalists and were to be merged into “Minnesota and La Crosse Breweries Company, limited.” This announcement was speculative at best, though later that year Orth combined with three other Minneapolis breweries to form Minneapolis Brewing and Malting Co. (later Grain Belt).884 Increasing production also required increases in staff of all kinds. In 1905 the La Crosse Tribune printed two very prominent help wanted ads placed by Gund: one seeking a “Bright young man” and the other looking for “Girls for Bottling Works.” Apparently they did not receive enough female applicants, because a week later the ad was amended to included boys and girls. The bottling works they would be employed in were among the most modern in the country. Designed by leading brewery architect Louis Lehle, the facility was powered by electricity rather than steam, and as a consequence could be laid out in an efficient manner without being limited by the need for belts driven by a central steam engine.885

The brewery, now with a capacity approaching 100,000 barrels a year, was the victim of a spectacular fire in September 1897, which destroyed most of the brewery complex, partially due to inadequate water pressure from the city water works. The source of the fire was subject of much speculation, such as a blaze in one of the brew kettles, but was never definitely determined. John Gund had a team at work clearing debris only five hours after the fire was first discovered, and rebuilding plans were put in place the same day.886 Water continued to be a concern for the brewery and the city, especially as brewing capacity increased. In 1905, Gund Brewing finished a large water project which enabled the brewery to pump more than five million gallons per day, more than a million gallons above the needs of the entire city. This freed up millions of gallons of city water for other businesses and residences.

Like many other large breweries, Gund acquired saloons and depots throughout their territory. However, there were risks associated with holding more properties. For example, in April 1906, a hotel and saloon in Muscoda owned by Gund burned, causing a significant financial loss.887 Gund Brewing seems to have had limited success in following the example of their Milwaukee rivals in establishing a chain of hotels, though they did attempt to purchase a property in Janesville.888 Prohibition was a growing threat to Gund’s property as well. Attempts to establish lucrative agencies or tied houses were dependent on the often-changing desires of local voters. In 1907, Gund Brewing spent $4,500 on a saloon in the small town of Hanska, Minnesota, only to have the town vote dry the next year.889

John Gund Sr. had built an enviable reputation around the nation and in La Crosse. Upon his death in 1910 after a long illness, all the breweries and saloons in the city were closed on the day of his funeral. His sons were also respected members of the community. George was the first treasurer of the Board of Trade and was first president of the La Crosse Baseball Association in 1887. Henry was a member of the first Board of Park Commissioners. John Jr. was a city alderman, was a director of the United States Brewmasters’ Association and director of the Inter-State Fair held in La Crosse.890

While Gund Brewing kept making beer right up through Prohibition, the Gunds showed little interest in staying in business to make other products. While some sources claim they never made near beer, advertisements and artifacts exist for Peerless Brew, though ads only appeared for a few months in 1920, and the experiment was dropped quickly. After the brewery closed the plant was used for other purposes. Milwaukee Corrugating Company and Swift and Co. took over part of the facility, while the stables were used as an armory by the 120th and 121st field artilleries until 1960.891 Some of the steel tanks were sold to La Crosse County and used for storage of road oil.892 The Gunds of La Crosse joined relatives located in Ohio, where, among other things, they operated another Gund Brewing Co. Later generations owned the Cleveland Barons NHL hockey team and Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball team as well as the San Jose Sharks NHL team.893 A few buildings remain as of 2017: the bottling works at 2130 South Avenue were converted into apartments and added to the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 2008. The stables across the street were added to the Registers in 2016.894

• G. F. Voegele & Bro., North La Crosse Brewery (1887–1898)
• Voegele Bros., North La Crosse Brewery (1898–1900)
• Jacob L. Erickson, North Side Brewery (1900–1901)
• Jacob L. Erickson, Monitor Brewery (1901–1920)
• 210 Mill Street

The press in Wisconsin took note in 1886 that “La Crosse is to have still another brewery.” This turned out to be the North La Crosse Brewery, though the early reports claimed that the twenty-five barrel per day brewery would make weiss beer, when in fact the Voegele brothers are known to have made only lager. The machinery was reported to cost $3,000 and “the vats in the building used in the making of beer have a capacity of sixty barrels each,” though this seems more likely to refer to fermentation or conditioning tanks rather than the brew kettle, which would have been rather large for such a brewery.895

Jacob Erickson, who was in the lumber business, purchased the bankrupt brewery from the Voegele brothers in 1898. Soon after, he changed the name to Monitor Brewery, for the street that ran just south of the brewery.896 Erickson was not a brewer himself, but employed Georg Neukomm, a brewmaster with almost thirty years experience. Erickson expanded the territory of the brewery to include the surrounding area and southern Minnesota.897

As beer was about to return in March 1933, Walter Erickson, manager of the La Crosse Malt Company, announced plans to reopen eventually but these, like many such plans in the heady days after beer returned, never came to fruition.898

• Emil G. Kohn, South Side Brewery (1896–99?)

The South Side Brewery of Emil Kohn started operations in 1896. Shortly thereafter, a “low lived vandal” broke in and destroyed nearly $500 worth of beer. The intruder reportedly tampered with six vats of twelve barrels each, spoiling the contents in a way not specified in the papers.899 Kohn was not in the 1900 city directory, so it is likely he had moved by then, though La Crosse brewery historian Tye Schwalbe contends that he may still have been in business as late as 1900.900

• Warninger & Houthmaker, La Crosse Bottling Works and Berlin Weiss Beer Brewery (1896–1906?)
• 518–520 South Third Street

La Crosse Bottling Works grew out of a small business started by Gust Carl in the late 1860s. He sold the business to Huelsch Brothers in 1890, and they in tern sold it to George H. Warninger in 1891. He and August Houthmaker operated the bottling works and a weiss beer brewery for about a decade a few blocks from Heileman’s massive brewery. Their ads in the city directory announced they were “[M]anufacturers and importers of fine Belfast aromatic ginger ale, soda water, ciders, natural mineral waters, Weiss beer, Beasley’s porter, etc.” While they clearly were importers of porter, they appeared in the industry directory of 1900 as brewers of weiss beer, so they can be included in this list with confidence. In 1903 they dropped their names from the company and the firm was simply known as La Crosse Bottling Works. Houthmaker left for the Pacific Coast, but Warninger carried on for a few more years. By 1905 the company was no longer in brewers’ directories, and the 1907 La Crosse city directory entry no longer included the Berlin Weiss Beer Brewery part of the business name. However the product list still included weiss beer, which they still may have made themselves since they already had the equipment and it was not an expensive product. By this point Warninger was still listed in the directory as the proprietor of the business, but under the firm’s entry he was not listed among the officers. A few years later Warninger was manager of People’s Ice & Fuel Co., though Houthmaker had returned and rejoined La Crosse Bottling. La Crosse Bottling continued in business for several more decades at the same location.901

• Black River Brewery & Pub (1995–96)
• 200 Main Street

Black River Brewery & Pub occupied part of Historic Powell Place, a three-story Victorian commercial block in downtown La Crosse. It brewed its own house beers for a few years until the business was replaced by Doc Powell’s. The new business needed more room, and the brewing equipment required modifications, so it was removed and Doc Powell’s had its house beers brewed by Sioux Falls Brewing Co. in South Dakota.902

• Bodega Brew Pub (1996–98)
• 122 South Fourth Street

Located in the popular La Crosse night spot Bodega, the Brew Pub made some house beers on their half-barrel system for a few years. Pearl Street Brewing moved into Bodega in 1999 and brewed there for several years before moving to their current location.

• Pearl Street Brewing Co. (1999–2004)
• Pearl Street Brewing Co. (2006–present)
• 122 South Fourth Street (1999–2004); 1401 St. Andrew Street (2006–present)

Joe Katchever and his father, Tony, started Pearl Street Brewing Co. in the basement of Bodega Brew Pub in 1999, making it a true brewpub for several years. At first the vast majority of the beer brewed on the 6 ½ barrel system was sold at Bodega, but eventually Joe began selling extra kegs to other bars. The basement brewery proved too small for a true commercial operation, so the Katchevers began looking for a larger space, preferably in La Crosse. They ended up moving into the former La Crosse Footwear building. The company had been famous for rubber boots, which ended up providing the name for one of the popular beers, Rubber Mills Pils. The new brewery was ready to go in 2006, using equipment from New Belgium Brewing Co. in Colorado by way of Port Washington Brewing Co.

The new brewery has plenty of space for a taproom and events, and there are several major events each year. The brewery has made an effort to practice environmentally responsible brewing techniques, and regular events feature encourage cycling and recycling. The brewery also grows their own hops, features a public hop-picking each fall, and brews their Harvest Ale using only these hops.

The Downtown Brown Ale (now known as D.T.B. Brown Ale) was an early favorite at the Bodega location, but the new location has allowed Katchever and his team to brew lager styles and to offer around a dozen seasonal and limited release beers. Among the most notable are an Imperial IPA called Dankenstein and Smokin’ Hemp Porter, made with cherrywood smoked malt and toasted Canadian hemp seeds, which is released only on draught every April 20. Other brews have explored sour styles, such as Pearl-iner Weisse, or 17-Up Anniversary Gose, based on the tart and salty beer of Goslar, Germany. The brewery started bottling in 2007, and their market has expanded to include Southern Minnesota as well as most of Wisconsin.903

• Turtle Stack Brewery (2015–present)
• 125 Second Street South

Turtle Stack Brewery opened in June 2015 with seven beers on tap in the tasting room. Brewer and part owner Brent Martinson was a homebrewer who also had previous experience at Water Street Brewery Delafield. The brewery is located in the former La Crosse Clock storefront, which was remodeled extensively for the brewery.904 The name came from the many turtles that may be seen on logs in the Mississippi River Valley, but also the Dr. Suess book Yertle the Turtle. When a turtle king orders his subjects to create a higher throne by stacking themselves into a tower, one brave turtle rebelled against authority and burped, which caused the throne to collapse. As the brewery’s website proclaims:

Without choice there is no freedom. By providing a variety of well-crafted beers we hope to empower the masses and invite people to join the ever-growing ‘stack’ of craft beer enthusiasts fighting for freedom of choice by demanding more flavorful beer options.905