La Crosse (Campbell Township) (Sauk County)

• Fritz Diefenthaler, Bluff Brewery (1856–1871?)
• Highway 16 (Old Salem Road)

Fred Diefenthaler is reported to have started his brewery in Campbell Township, just outside of La Crosse, in 1856. He is listed as a farmer in the 1860 population census, so it is likely that for a time, at least, brewing was a side business. Diefenthaler apparently did not brew enough to qualify for the industrial census in either 1860 or 1870, and in the 1870 population census he was recorded as having the unusual circumstance of owning more personal property than real estate. In fact, one source referred to his brewery as being on the Hauser farm, so Diefentahler may never have owned much more than the brewery itself.906 Diefenthaler’s beer garden, sometimes called “Deutsch Lager Beer Garden,” was a popular spot where visitors could have dinner and fine views of the Mississippi River valley.907 Most sources claim that his brewery ceased production in 1870, and Diefenthaler purchased a farm elsewhere in the county. He advertised regularly in the German-language newspaper Nord Stern from 1857 to 1871, which seems mostly to agree with the other accounts. The records of R. G. Dun & Co. indicate that he was out of business by mid-1873, but they only surveyed businesses every year or so in that region, so he may have been out of business in early 1872. Portions of his brewery cave remain on what is now Wisconsin Highway 16.908 An account written many years later related that “. . . beer was made in the winter and hauled by sleighs to the bluffs along the Mormon Coulee road where large caves had been dug in the cliff side. Many a story was told of the days when large bob sleds carted great loads of beer kegs to these caves, overturning on the way to send the full kegs rolling merrily down the hill side.”909

Lake Delton (Sauk County)

• Pumphouse Pizza (1998–2002)
• 19 West Monroe

Pumphouse Pizza was founded by three college roommates and originally featured local craft beer. However, they were homebrewers who wanted to be able to make larger batches of beer, so they began brewing at the restaurant in 1998. Mark Schmitz (who learned about the hospitality industry while working at Wisconsin Dells landmark Noah’s Ark) became the primary owner in 1999, and the pumphouse theme came from his memories of hanging around a gas station as a youth in Iowa. After a few years at this location, Schmitz decided to expand his restaurant business, and opened the much larger Moosejaw Pizza/Dells Brewing Co. in Wisconsin Dells proper.910

Lake Geneva (Walworth County)

• Geneva Lake Brewing Co. (2012–present)
• 750 Veterans Drive #107

Geneva Lake Brewing Co. was founded by Pat McIntosh, a long-time area resident, who was looking for a change from the corporate world. He brought on his son Jonathan, who had started as a home brewer and then studied at Siebel Institute in Chicago, as head brewer. The brewery, located in a small business park east of Geneva Lake, began production in Spring 2012 and the tap room opened that fall. By November, the brewery was selling 22-ounce bottles of their four regular beers: Cedar Point Amber Ale, No Wake IPA, Narrows Kölsch-style and Weekender Wheat. Geneva Lake beers were available on draught in seventy-seven Wisconsin locations before Thanksgiving of 2012.

As the brewery built a following, Jonathan was able to experiment with new styles of beer, though he brewed Halloween Pumpkin ale during the first few months of operation. In 2013 he brewed a double IPA called Implosion, which was available in 22-ounce bottles in limited quantities at the tap room. Later that year Geneva Lake brewed Imperial Cherry Stout with juice from Door County, which was also offered in bottles. By May 2014, Geneva Lake entered the Illinois market, and that same month worked with Midwest Mobile Canning of Chicago to bring out No Wake and Cedar Point in cans (Boathouse followed a few months later).

Geneva Lake Brewing has continued to offer draught-only seasonals such as their Oktoberfest Ale.911

Lake Mills (Jefferson County)

• Tyranena Brewing Co. (1999–present)
• 1025 Owen

Rob Larson founded Tyranena Brewing Co. in 1998. The company’s name (pronounced tie-rah-NEE-nah) comes from the waters of nearby Rock Lake, which contain a number of underwater pyramids possibly built by a Mississippian culture of early people from a village at nearby Aztalan. One of the original beers, Stone Tepee Pale Ale, was named after these structures, and most of the brands are named after local landmarks, pioneers, or legends. Rocky’s Revenge brown ale is named after a lake monster supposed to inhabit the depths of Rock Lake. Headless Man Amber Alt, the first brew made by the brewery, is named after an effigy mound built by native peoples centuries ago.912

The best-known Tyranena beer, Bitter Woman IPA (named after a nineteenth-century Lake Mills spinster), exemplifies how Larson and his brewers diverged from the dominant theme of most early Wisconsin craft brewers—a focus on hop-forward aggressive beers. (Bitter Woman and variations on that theme are pictured in chapter 10.) One problem encountered by Tyranena and others focusing on hoppy beers was that the hop shortage of 2007-8 meant increased prices and inability to get certain hops that were key to their recipes. As the shortage eased in 2009, they were able to bring back hoppy specialty beers.913

Another innovative beer was Rocky’s Revenge: originally brewed as a schwarzbier (dark German lager), it was reintroduced as a brown ale with part of the batch aged in bourbon barrels, an early entry in what became a flood of barrel-aged beers during the next decade.914 Larson also launched a series of limited-release brews called “Brewers Gone Wild!” which was billed as “A Series of Big, Bold, Ballsy Beers.” The first was “Who’s Your Daddy,” a barleywine-style ale. Despite its well-earned reputation for hoppy beers, Tyranena also offered well-made German seasonals like Maibock and Oktoberfest.

Despite recurring problems with equipment chronicled in the occasional e-newsletters, Tyranena showed steady growth as the hop heads of Wisconsin found the beers: from 811 barrels in their first full year of 2000, the brewery topped 1,000 barrels the next year. The brewery approached the 2,000-barrel mark five years later, and topped 3,000 barrels in 2009 as their market expanded in Minnesota and into Illinois. Production reached a new high of 5,392 barrels in 2014.915

During its nearly two decades of operation, Tyranena has become a social center for Lake Mills and the surrounding area. The Oktoberfest Bike Ride, the Beer Run, the Dog Wash and other events draw large crowds, and the tasting room hosts live music many Saturday nights. The tasting room frequently features draught-only specialty beers. As of 2017, Tyranena employed four full-time and one part-time employees in the brewery, another four full-time staff members in sales and the office, and about twenty part-time workers in the tap room.916

Lancaster (Grant County)

• Charles B. Angus (1898–1904)

Charles B. Angus was a bottler in Lancaster, but local historian John Dutcher has discovered references that suggest he may have also brewed his own beer.917 It is possible that he, and possibly his successor N. J. Tiedemann, manufactured weiss beer, which some people did not consider as true beer and therefore did not report its makers as brewers.

Lawrence (Westfield) (Marquette County)

• Dahlke Brewing Co. (1934–1943)

Otto Tiegs and Bob Pirie uncovered the history of this rare post-Prohibition brewery that did not start before the dry years. Gustav Dahlke got started in business by providing electrical power in Marquette County. In 1933, Dahlke feared that the poor economy might force businesses and households to cut back on their use of electricity, so the return of legal beer provided a different path to profit. While neither he nor anyone else in the family had any experience in brewing (and some members were teetotalers), he began construction on land near Lawrence owned by Dahlke that featured an artesian well to supply all the brewery’s needs. (The brewery is typically listed at nearby Westfield, since Lawrence had no post office.) After a protracted construction period that included four injuries to workers (including Dahlke), the brewery was ready in early 1934.918

Dahlke was unable to afford new equipment, so he attempted to buy a used brewhouse and other machines. Gustav’s son Harvey was in charge of most of the purchasing and negotiation. After several deals fell though, the Dahlkes were able to purchase some of their needs from Kewaunee Brewing Co. Other equipment had to be purchased new. Finding a brewmaster was easier. Gustav Kuenzel, once owner of Stevens Point Brewery, was happy to move back to Wisconsin and take over the new business. Kuenzel was a highly regarded brewer, and his appointment gave the inexperienced firm credibility.919

Production started in May 1934, but it was in many ways a very primitive operation. All packaging was done by hand, and in the early years Harvey Dahlke saved money by purchasing old bottles with metal fasteners instead of crown caps as well as whatever bottles he could scrounge. In an ad from 1936, Dahlke advertised “half gallons, pints, pony keg[s] or quarter barrel[s],” but no 12-ounce bottles. On the other hand, Dahlke spent enough on advertising to be competitive with the many other breweries of Central Wisconsin. The brewery ordered neon signs and metal signs for its retailers, and distributed foam scrapers, matchbooks and other items to customers.920

Dahlke Brewing experienced some initial success. In 1936, Kuenzel brewed over 5,000 barrels of beer, though there was significant seasonal variation. He brewed over 700 barrels in July, and less than 300 in the winter months. Dahlke beer emphasized quality and purity, though eventually the federal government took issue with the “Pure and Wholesome” slogan and demanded a change. Dahlke launched a contest to create a new slogan, offering $25 to the best slogan written on the back of a Dahlke label and mailed to the company. The winner was “Best for Zest,” which was first used in late 1937. However, sales had already begun to slip. In 1937, production dropped to about 3,000 barrels, and by 1939, it was just over 1,000 barrels. Much of the decline was due to the passing of Gustav Kuenzel in 1937. After his death, new brewmaster Wayne Dahlke changed the recipe and produced a cheaper, lighter beer. Dahlke started to lose accounts and distributors. In 1938, Harvey Dahlke began to bottle soft drinks, and in the early 1940s Dahlke began to increase the emphasis on these products and minimize the brewing part of the business. The final straw for the brewery came in early 1943, when several brewery workers left because of a labor dispute. Brewing was phased out during the summer of 1943 and came to an end in August. The building was used for soft drink bottling until 1966.921

LeRoy (Dodge County)

• Horace Barnes (1860?)

Horace Barnes was listed in the 1860 population census as “farmer and brewer.” He lived in close proximity to Jacob Lehner, whose small farm brewery is covered in the Farmersville entry. It is possible that they shared a brewery, but they may each have had their own small operations.

• William Kohl, Farmers Union Brewery (1867?–1872)
• Anna Kohl (1872–1873?)
• Nic. Weidig Farmers Brewery and Saloon (1877?–1886)
• Michael Platzer (1888–1891)
• Modern County Road Y, East of LeRoy

William Kohl started brewing sometime prior to May 1867, when he first appears in the excise records. (According to the excise records, Kohl also owned a bowling alley.) Kohl operated the brewery intermittently until his death in July 1872.922 Anna Kohl was listed as proprietor of the brewery in the 1873 brewers directory, but no production was listed for her in 1871 or 1872. (Those figures may have represented the lack of production under her ownership, since excise records show production for William during that period.)

After Kohl’s death the brewery lay idle for several years until Nic. Weidig restarted the brewery. The few known production figures range between 160 and 200 barrels per year, placing him among the smallest breweries in the state. Because there were so many other breweries nearby, it is likely that Weidig’s brewery supplied a strictly local business. Weidig was also a farmer, shoemaker, and township official as well as a brewer. He closed the brewery in 1886, probably due to illness, since he died in April 1887.923

A few years later, Michael Platzer leased the brewery from Weidig’s widow Theresa, and began to repair and upgrade the facility in September 1888. In 1890, he enhanced his tavern with new furniture and a bowling alley. Local historian Michael D. Benter has speculated that all of these improvements were the result of a visit by a salesman from Brunswick-Balke & Collender Co., which had already been selling bar furnishing and had recently added bowling equipment to its wares. Benter noted that Platzer was mentioned in local newspapers more often than his predecessors—providing details like his styles of beer (Münchner Hofbrau and Wiener) and prices (75¢ for an eighth barrel and 5¢ for two glasses). Benter suggests that Platzer was a more experienced brewer than either Kohl or Weidig, so he may have been more used to advertising, but it also may have been a newspaperman who was more interested in beer than before. Platzer’s brewery burned in April 1891, and was not rebuilt.924

• Peter Seifert (1892–93)

Historian Michael D. Benter has discovered that Peter Seifert, the brewer of Waupun, built a brewery in LeRoy after Platzer’s brewery was burned. It is not clear where his brewery was, but Benter argues that it is likely that Seifert used the caves excavated by William Kohl. Seifert sold both of his breweries in 1893, but there is no evidence of the LeRoy brewery returning to production. New breweries were rumored to be in planning for LeRoy in 1897 and 1900, but there was no further mention of these projects.925

Lima Township (Grant County)

• Charles Foast (Frost) (1893?)

Wayne Kroll lists Charles Foast as the operator of a small farm brewery in Lima Township, which is supported by John Dutcher.926 He is listed in American Breweries II as Frost.

Lincoln (Kewaunee County)

• George E. Laux (1875?–1880?)
• John Eisenbeis & Co. (1881?–83?)
• Near Silver Creek and Modern County Road P along South Border of Section 14, Lincoln Township927

Bavarian native George E. Laux started brewing at Lincoln sometime prior to 1876. (He sold his brewery in Algoma [then Ahnapee] in 1869). In 1878 he produced 138 barrels on his small farm brewery. He produced 166 the next year, and was still listed as a brewer in the 1880 population census. Sometime prior to 1883 John Eisenbeis & Co. took over the brewery, but the brewery was closed by revenue officials in April 1883, and it appears not to have reopened.928

Linn Township (P. O. Tirade) (Walworth County)

• Hiram Downer (& Co.) (1856?–1870)

According to an 1857 map of Walworth County, Hiram Downer had a distillery on his two hundred acres in Linn Township, but there were other structures shown that could have been a brewery.929 The 1857 state business directory listed him as a brewer, and by the time of the 1860 census his fairly substantial business employed three workers and produced 1,000 barrels of beer. The population census of 1860 listed Downer as both farmer and brewer, but production of 1,000 barrels was more than just a side business. Downer continues to appear in the excise records through 1870, but the population census of that year listed him only as a farmer, and he was no longer in the industrial census.

Lock Haven (Vernon County)

• F. Davidson (1857?–1858?)

Lomira (Dodge County)

• Star Brewing Co. (1912–1945)
• Harold C. Johnson Brewing Co. (1945–1954)
• Pleasant Hill Avenue

While several breweries decided to specialize in malting after brewing for many years, the Star Brewing Co. of Lomira was a rare contrast—the brewery was built as an accessory to the malt house. There were rumors of a brewery in Lomira as early as 1905, “for which a site has been secured by the Advancement Association.” This proposal did not pan out, but in 1910 Albert, Rudolph, August and Edward Sterr built a malt house, and soon decided to add a brewery. The brewery began operations in 1912, and right from the beginning the labels for Star Lager and Star Bock announced that the beer was made by union labor. The Sterr brothers further diversified their business holdings when they started a canning plant to take advantage of the peas grown in the area.930

After Prohibition arrived, Albert Sterr bought the interests of his brothers, and, between the three family businesses and his other properties, Sterr became one of the largest property holders in the county.931 The brewery continued to make near beer and malt tonic during Prohibition, but the canning business helped the company survive through the dry years.

As brewing returned, Star Brewing made an early misstep: the company was convicted of using sodium sulfite in their beer in violation of pure food laws.932 However, the company rebounded and managed to survive the both the thinning of the herd that took place in the 1930s and the pressures of World War II. Albert Sterr died in 1938 and his fourth son, Roman, took over the business and guided it through World War II. Star Brewing continued to make Star Lager, introduced new brands such as Harvest and Muenchener, and brewed several labels for distributors and bottlers, including John Graf of Milwaukee.

In 1945, Harold C. Johnson purchased the brewery and renamed it after himself. He retained the Harvest brand, but also introduced Johnson’s Premium and Malt Marrow. One of the advances made by Johnson in 1950 was to add canned beer to the lineup—making the brewery a relatively late adopter of cans. Only the Champagne Pilsner brand was canned, but this represented about 30 percent of production at the time.933 Keeping production near capacity was a constant struggle throughout the post-Prohibition periods under both owners. While capacity was listed at 50,000 barrels, production was often less than 10,000 barrels and never surpassed 18,000 barrels. The brewery closed in 1954, and the building was demolished over several years during the 1990s.934

Lowell (Dodge County)

• George J. Schmieg & Co. (1856?–1880?)

George Schmieg is believed to have started brewing sometime around 1856. By 1860, Schmeig & Co. (the Co. part was presumably his boarder, brewer Peter Christman) were brewing 500 barrels of beer. (In excise records he appears as J. G. Schmieg.) In 1868 he built a new brewery, but apparently used most of his capital, since the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports indicate that he was struggling financially, though continuing to pay his bills.935

• Joseph Golling, Brick House Brewery (1850?–1860?)

Joseph Golling appeared in the 1850 population census as a brewer, though he did not appear in the industrial census of that year. He appears to have brewed until at least 1860, even though he is not included in the industrial census of that year, because he is listed as “Proprietor of the Brewery” on a map from that year.936

Lyons (Walworth County)

• Casper Feser (1867?–1869?)

The first record of Casper Feser (Fezer) as a brewer was in the R. G. Dun & Co. records of 1867, though he may have been producing prior to that time. He first appeared in the excise records in 1868. Dun reported Feser was “doing a small bus[iness] in 1868, but by February of 1870 he was out of business.”937

Madison (Dane County)

• Frederic (Adam) Sprecher (1848–1859)
• Breckheimer & Hausmann (1859–1864)
• George Rockenbach (1864–68)
• Peter Fauerbach (1868–1886)
• Maria Fauerbach (1886–1890)
• Fauerbach Brewing Co. (1890–1966)
• 651–653 Williamson

Frederic Sprecher was the first brewer in what was now the capital of the State of Wisconsin, starting there the same year as the territory was granted statehood. (It is not clear why some accounts give his name as Adam; the census, city directories and nineteenth-century histories all call him Frederic.) He brewed about 100 barrels in his first year, but in only two years S. Keyes & Co. passed Sprecher, who brewed a modest 230 barrels in 1850 in a hand-powered brewery with his assistant John Blossner. The brewery grew at a measured pace over the next decade, and by the 1860 industrial census Sprecher’s brewery was now producing with the aid of horse power 1,800 barrels. Sprecher released a bock beer several years—in 1859 it was available for only one weekend in June.938 Unfortunately, Sprecher died in 1859 and the brewery appeared in the 1860 census under the name of his widow, Margaret.

Sometime soon after Frederic’s death, Mathias Breckheimer and Joseph Hausmann leased the business from Margaret, though the brewery, a local landmark, continued to be referred to as Sprecher’s brewery in the press. In fact, an ad for their bock release (in May, this time), identified the brewers as “Messrs. Houseman and Bruckheimer [sic] (at the well known Sprecher Brewery),” but added “The ‘Sprecher Brewery’ was always popular, but never more so than under its present gentlemanly managers.”939 Hausmann and Breckheimer were so popular that they both soon acquired their own breweries: Hausmann purchased Voight’s Capital Brewery and Breckheimer built a new plant on King Street.

In 1864, Margaret Sprecher remarried, and her new husband, George Rockenbach, became proprietor of the brewery. His time at the brewery was brief, though the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports noted that he was honest and a good businessman even though he had no source of capital and the property remained in Margaret’s name.940

Peter Fauerbach (whose earlier career is covered in New Lisbon), moved to Madison in 1868 and leased the brewery. In 1880 he purchased the business, and ran it until his death in 1886 from stomach and liver problems. The Wisconsin State Journal mourned: “The deceased was a devoted husband, an indulgent parent, and a large-hearted, public spirited citizen, whose loss will cause wide-spread sorrow.”941 The business was conducted in the name of his widow Maria for several years until the company was incorporated in 1890.

After incorporation, the brewery began to grow at a more rapid pace, jumping from 2,000 barrels in 1890 to 4,000 barrels in 1896. Fauerbach’s location gave it an advantage over its rivals in the heart of the city, since it had more room for expansion. Their first bottling plant on the premises was built during the mid-1890s next to the brewery office on the Blount Street side. Subsequent Sanborn maps show the company filling in the block, expanding the capacity of the grain elevators to 40,000 bushels and adding new auxiliary buildings. The brewery’s expansion was occasionally slowed by natural disaster, as in April 1899 when part of the roof was blown off by a tornado.942

Sometime in the 1890s Fauerbach introduced a malt and hop tonic called Nectarine, which had nothing to do with the fruit (from nectar) and was advertised in the 1900 city directory as “The best tonic for the weak and overworked.”

Fauerbach continued to grow through World War I, but with Prohibition imminent, Fauerbach began producing and selling alternative beverages. Even before the nation went legally dry, the company was advertising Fä-Bä, which claimed to have a hoppy taste and was “different from all other beverages because it [is] brewed right.”943

Because Fauerbach had been producing other beverages during Prohibition, it was a relatively easy transition back to beer. As a consequence, Fauerbach was one of the breweries open on 7 April. Observers of the festivities at Fauerbach’s brewery reported that the hundreds of people crowding the premises were enthusiastic though orderly. The demand compelled Fauerbach to install new equipment almost immediately, especially for bottling, so they could attempt to fill orders that were arriving from as far away as Los Angeles. Even Milwaukee accounts were ordering more Fauerbach beer.944

While initial sales were promising, Fauerbach was forced to struggle to survive against larger competitors, many located just to the east. Fauerbach introduced the Hostess Pack, a twelve-pack of bottles, and encouraged sales of this package by offering savings stamps for return of empty bottles and caps. The company advertised in 1937 that it was the only 100 percent union brewery and 100 percent union soft drink plant in Dane County. Since it was the only brewery, that was slight praise, but the ad also highlights that Fauerbach in 1936 became the Pepsi bottler for the area.945 World War II also tested the brewery. Like every other business and household, it was challenged by rationing—though it was able to procure permission to buy two new tires and two new tubes for its delivery trucks in August 1942.946

Fauerbach attempted to expand its market in order to survive against increasing competition. The 100th anniversary of the brewery in 1948 was shared with the centennial of Wisconsin statehood, which gave the company an opportunity to harness the publicity and increase sales. They introduced a new beer, Centennial Brew (or “CB”), stepped up advertising in Madison, and distributed their bock in Milwaukee.947 At various times, the brewery distributed in Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and both Dakotas, and had a fleet of seventy-five trucks to transport the product.948 Fauerbach Brewing sponsored a baseball team in the Madison Industrial League during the early 1950s, and was involved in many other community activities. In 1940 Fauerbach sponsored at least twelve different bowling teams, some named after different brands and others named after the department in the brewery for which the bowlers worked.949 In the 1960s, Fauerbach emphasized convenience in its advertising, citing the 6-pack, 8-pack, 12-pack and 24-pack packages of bottles in addition to the six-pack of cans. Hoping to appeal to the home market, many ads also emphasized the local ties of the brewery: “The Fauerbach Brewing Company of Madison and all of its employees, many of whom are your neighbors (all of whom are your friends), wish you an enjoyable Labor Day Weekend!”950 The convenience of the “thro-way” bottle was also a major selling point, since customers did not have to pay a deposit or collect the bottles for return. One of the more unusual promotional items was a pair of scorecards for customers to use in keeping track of the balloting at the 1952 Republican and Democratic national conventions.951

In 1961, after a court battle over control of the company, sixty-seven-year-old Dr. Louis Fauerbach took over as president (and remained a practicing physician). Under his administration and that of master brewer Karl P. (“Prib”) Fauerbach, the company continued to hold its own against major shipping brewers in the Madison market, and the Pepsi-Cola part of the business increased its revenue.952 Capacity of the brewery was 75,000 barrels per year, but except during the war years it never produced more than 50,000 barrels. Production generally remained above 30,000 barrels per year through 1962, but starting in 1959 there was a steady decline in sales. Competition finally drove the brewery out of business in 1966. There were rumors that G. Heileman Brewing Co. of La Crosse was interested in purchasing Fauerbach, but both sides denied any interest in a deal. Brewing ceased in June of that year.953

After the brewery was closed, the complete interior of the brewery tavern including the Williamson street entry doors was sold to the Wagon Wheel Resort in Rockton, Illinois. The brewing equipment was removed, and Madison had no local beer for almost three decades.954 The brewery was torn down in 1967, but the land was vacant until 1980 when a condominium and apartment complex called the Fauerbach was built on the site.955

In 2005, Fauerbach descendants brought back the Fauerbach brand in a version brewed under contract by Gray Brewing Co. in Janesville. The beer was well received, but contract difficulties forced discontinuation of the brand.956

• Tibbits & Gordon (1849?–1850?)
• S. Keyes (1850?–52?)
• T. H. White & Co. (1852?–54)
• White & Rodermund (1854–55)
• John Rodermund, Madison Brewery (1855–1875?)
• Rodermund Brewing Co. (1875–1880)
• Yahari Canal: Sherman Avenue and Lodi Road

The Madison industrialists Tibbits and Gordon added a brewery to their mill complex sometime in 1849. By 1850, management of the brewery was in the hands of S. Keyes, who was referred to as John Keyes in one newspaper account. The business was sometimes called the Madison Brewery when it briefly was under the names of Tibbits, Gordon, and Keyes in 1850. It was the largest brewery in the state outside of Milwaukee, and not very far behind only three of those at 3,000 barrels. Keyes was involved with the brewery at least through 1852, when he was mentioned as being in control of “an extensive brewery” operating under water power. The water power was shared with Farwell’s Mill, a large business owned by Farwell & Co. and the brewery was occasionally referred to by the Farwell name (Leonard J. Farwell was governor of Wisconsin from 1852–1854).957

In approximately 1852, John Rodermund, an experienced brewer, took control of the brewery and continued to expand the plant. It is possible he was the head brewer in 1850, since he was the only other brewer in Madison at the time other than Adam Sprecher and his employee. According to one account, Farwell himself asked Rodermund to come to Madison. For a short time, Rodermund was joined by T. H. White, who apparently provided the capital for the two to buy the business from Tibbits and Gordon, since the business was under the name of T. H. White & Co. The two were “determined that the reputation of MADISON ALE shall not be excelled by any in the country.” This ad also pointed out another unusual feature of this brewery: they had a store associated with the brewery with “a large and complete stock of Merchandize [sic], . . . which they will exchange with Farmers for their produce, on as good terms as any mercantile establishment west of the [Great] lakes.” (Keyes had started the “dry goods and grocery store” the previous summer).958

By the time of the 1860 industrial census, his 4,500 barrels of lager and ale were still the most outside of Milwaukee, and well ahead of the Gutsch brewery in Sheboygan. Rodermund was the only brewer outside of Milwaukee to employ as many as ten men, and his was one of only two in the state to claim water as their source of power (Jacob Konrad in Weyauwega was the other).959 Rodermund made the most of his location on Lake Mendota by establishing a landing that was used for regattas. There was also a tavern at the malt house that was a popular spot for many decades. Rodermund used ox teams to get kegs of beer to Madison establishments.960 The generous brewer also once shipped beer down the river, though without success:

While the Hook and Ladder company of this city [Madison] was trying to save one of the bridges from being carried away by the late raging flood, they had to witness a tantalizing passage. Mr. Rodermund, a wholesale brewer, cast from his brewery into the stream above the bridge, several kegs of lager, to refresh the firemen, and as they were seen bobbing in the stream the firemen endeavored to secure them but without success, the kegs making clear of every hook into the lake.961

By 1870, Rodermund’s brewery represented an investment of $25,000—by far the most of any brewery in the city and his annual production of over 3,000 barrels also led his Madison rivals. He offered his patrons Bavarian and Vienna lagers, Cream and Stock ales and “pale Malt” beer, as well as dealing in malt and hops. An even more significant sign of growth was the advertisement in the 1873 Madison city directory that announced Rodermund’s depot at 13 Fourth Street in Chicago. Whether this was a response to the Chicago fire or just a natural expansion is not known but a later history suggests that Rodermund was successful in Chicago for at least a while.962 In October 1873, a fire described as the worst ever in Madison destroyed the original Farwell mill as well as Rodermund’s brewery. The fire was blamed on a drunken mill employee, but there was no hard proof. While Rodermund had about $37,000 of insurance, his loss was close to twice that. Rodermund began rebuilding shortly thereafter, however, the momentum the business had earlier was gone.963 It took two years for the brewery to begin production again, and by this point, Rodermund had dropped to fourth place out of five capital city breweries. Rodermund himself went bankrupt and died in 1875, and Jacob Veidt, took over as superintendent of the brewery. The Wisconsin State Journal provided an unusual amount of detail about Veidt’s beer in August 1875:

Mr. Jacob Veidt, the manager of the Rodermund Brewing Company, has purchased from Lodi some very choice new hops, of the Palmer’s seedling variety, which have done very well this year. Mr. Veidt does not propose to let the reputation of the Rodermund beer and ale suffer in his hands, and uses the best of material, taking care to have it treated in the best manner.964

Veidt earned praise for his cream ale in 1876, which was claimed “most beneficial as a tonic.”965 In 1877, Veidt left Madison to take over the former John Beck brewery in Milwaukee, which in 1879 became Cream City Brewing Co.

By 1880 Rodermund’s brewery was no longer listed in city or industry directories, nor in the 1880 industrial census. The property lay idle for several years, but was purchased by Joseph Hausmann in 1888 for $10,000 (though there were rumors that three former Des Moines brewers were negotiating for the property, and even earlier rumors that “Chicago men” were looking at converting it to a pork packing plant). The press speculated that Hausmann would use the new site to expand his business, but it appears that he never actually brewed there. However, he did use the malt house, which was closed in 1917. During Prohibition a speakeasy set up operations in the old malt house, which was converted into a tavern upon Repeal. The building was razed in 1948.966

• William Voight, Capital Brewery (1854–1864)
• Joseph Hausmann, Capital Brewery (1864–1891)
• Hausmann Brewing Co. (1891–1920)
• 333 State at Gorham

Carl William Voight (or Voigt) came from Saxony to Madison in 1854, where he set about establishing a small ale brewery with a four-barrel capacity per batch. In 1856, he decided to switch to lager to meet the increasing market for the German style.967 Voight quickly boosted production to 2,000 barrels in 1860, well behind Rodermund but well ahead of Sprecher. Voigt employed six men at this date, more than most other breweries in the state. The census also noted the unusual situation that his brewery was powered by both horse and fire. Voight may have been in a transition between power sources, since he advertised his old horse power for sale, which he offered to “exchange for a horse or sell cheap for cash.”968 It is possible that some of Voight’s ingredients came from his own eighty-acre farm, which included grapes, wheat, and barley, among other crops.969

Voight’s brewery was the site of one of the melees caused by Union troops massed at Camp Randall. Roaming soldiers broke into his brewery and stole whiskey, but Voight scared them off with a gun. Local sympathy was with the proprietor, and one newspaper affirmed: “Mr. Voight is a quiet and respectable German citizen and his saloon and brewery has been conducted for years with marked propriety.”970 Voight began to advertise in newspapers in 1862, “inform[ing] his friends and the residents of Madison and Dane county, that he is now brewing at his Brewery, on State street,” Porter, Pale Cream Ale, White and Lager Beer. The editor of the Wisconsin Daily Patriot added: “Mr. Voight’s beer has been well liked in this city for several years past, and his skill and facilities for brewing warrant that the liquors he announces will be well and wholesomely brewed.” He also brewed a bock beer, which the editor confirmed was “richly flavored and foaming.”971 While the ads may have attracted attention, some of it was undesirable, such as the robber who stole about $13 from the till in August 1863.972 Production also dropped in fiscal 1863 to 782 barrels, which might have been caused by some of the wartime stress on his business.973

In 1864, Voight left Madison and moved to Milwaukee where he spent two years as a grain shipper and owner of the schooner Columbian. He then moved to Detroit where he opened the Milwaukee Brewery (really!), which he sold to his son Edward in 1871.974 The new proprietor of the Capital Brewery was Joseph Hausmann, who had worked previously at the Yellow Creek Brewery in Freeport, Illinois, at Krug’s (later Schlitz’s) brewery in Milwaukee, at the Haertel brewery in Portage, and finally as proprietor of his own brewery in New Lisbon. Hausmann had served in the German army during the revolution of 1848, and wore a saber wound for the rest of his life.975 Soon after opening, Hausmann delighted the staff of the Wisconsin Daily Patriot by leaving them a couple of kegs—no doubt hoping for some free publicity. The editor responded: “Mr. Housman [sic], formerly chief brewer at the old Sprecher brewery, where he established a reputation as a first class brewer, is now proprietor of Mr. Wm. Voigt’s Brewery, in the 1st Ward, and we can bear testimony to the superior quality of the beer manufactured by him in his new quarters. We wish him success.”976

And Hausmann was successful. His brewery produced around 1,500 barrels in 1870, nearly doubled that to just under 3,000 in each of the next two years, and by 1875 was closing in on 4,500 barrels. He remained around that total for a few years, but took another leap forward in 1879 when he produced over 5,800 barrels, good for twelfth-most in the state. In 1877, Hausmann began to sell bottled beer, but because of his cramped location, he did not yet have room for his own bottling plant. The Wisconsin State Journal explained:

Madison has entered the lists in the manufacture of bottled beer, which has recently become so popular throughout the West. Joseph Hausmann has made a contract with Mauz & Little, our local bottling firm, and the article will hereafter be found in competition with Milwaukee brands. Hausmann’s beer is already famous, and in this new form will meet with an extended trade all over the country.977

Mauz & Little were short-lived, and by 1883 son Carl Hausmann had established a bottling works across the street to be the sole bottler of his father’s beer. The business was definitely a family firm, since Carl’s older brothers Otto and William were the clerk and foreman respectively. William had served as an apprentice first with the McAvoy brewery in Chicago and then, appropriately enough, at the Voigt brewery in Detroit (the name was generally spelled without the h in Detroit).978

Hausmann expanded his brewery in 1883 by a method that would be much more common in later years—buying out one of his competitors. Hausmann took over the brewing apparatus and beer on hand of John Hess, who ran a smaller brewery about a block west of Hausmann on State Street at Gilman.979 Hausmann was in the midst of building a new brewhouse at that time, and the equipment would be useful in the new plant and the stock of beer could bridge the gap if the brewery was closed due to construction. The brewery’s output continued to climb, reaching 12,000 barrels in fiscal 1890 and 18,500 in 1896.

In 1892, Joseph incorporated the business with his sons William, Carl, and Otto. This particular version of the corporation was dissolved in 1909, but a new version of Hausmann Brewing Co. was formed shortly afterwards. Hausmann Brewing Co. began bottling on their own premises sometime in 1892, though most of the bottled product was still consumed in Madison and Dane County. Unlike most of its rivals, Hausmann appears to have continued to brew ale at least intermittently through 1905, though the major brands were Export, Lager, and Hofbräu. The saloon at the brewery was a favorite of college students since it was close to campus. The saloon remained in operation despite an ordinance prohibiting saloons within a mile of campus by using some creative measurement to determine where the one-mile line was.980

A lengthy evaluation of Madison’s breweries published in 1897 reported that Joseph Hausmann was one of the wealthiest men in Madison, estimating his net worth around $500,000. It also had praise for his children and their work in developing the business, and attributed the success as much to them as to the springs on the property that provided pure brewing water. The brewery adopted artificial refrigeration in 1894 and added additional storage buildings soon after.981 In addition, Hausmann Brewing Co. was central to the first electric plant in Madison, since the first power and dynamos were set up in the brewery in 1888.982 Hausmann Brewing Co. followed some of their Wisconsin rivals in investing in hotel properties: the Carlton hotel in Edgerton, once one of the fanciest hotels in the state, was built by Hausmann in 1898 for $25,000.983

Joseph Hausmann died in 1902, but his brewery continued to grow. An account published in 1928 claimed that the brewery was producing about 35,000 barrels of beer in the years before Prohibition, which required ten horses to distribute throughout the city. This Prohibition-era article also wryly noted, “Yes, beer was delivered in the day-time in those days.”984 Hausmann’s size made it the subject of merger speculation, even if unfounded. In 1907, Carl Hausmann denied rumors of a combination that would include breweries from St. Louis, various firms in Ohio, and Hausmann (as well as Klinkert’s brewery in Racine).985 The Hausmann brewery also employed more men than either of the other breweries in Madison, a fact borne out at the 1908 city Labor Day picnic when there was a tug of war between the Hausman brewery workers and the combined Fauerbach and Breckheimer employees.986

Hausmann continued to be a successful brewery right up until Prohibition. The company altered its articles of incorporation to allow the manufacture of “drinks of all kinds, either with or without alcoholic content,” and indeed began to produce near beer while leaving the door open should beer be re-legalized.987 However, the Hausmann brewery building burned in March 1923 in a spectacular fire that caused $100,000 of damage and put firefighters at risk when carbon dioxide and ammonia tanks exploded. The prime piece of undivided real estate on State Street was sold and the building was razed the following year.988 In 1924 the site was considered for a new City Hall, but 400 women protested the proposal, apparently because of its ties to alcohol.989 Hausmann Brewing Co. was dissolved in 1928. In 2005, Gray’s Brewing Co. of Janesville introduced Hausmann’s Pale Beer as a tribute to the long-defunct but once important brewery.990 Angelic Brewing Co. later occupied the site of Hausmann Brewing Co.

• Mathias Breckheimer (1865–1901)
• Breckheimer Brewing Co. (1901–1916)
• 215 King Street (between North Wilson and Clymer [modern Doty])

Mathias Breckheimer arrived in Milwaukee in 1849, where he worked for two years in Phillip Best’s brewery. He moved to Madison in 1851 and worked for John Rodermund until 1859, when he and Joseph Hausmann leased the Sprecher brewery.991 In 1864, Mathias Breckheimer left the Sprecher Brewery and started in business by himself. The next year he purchased a building that was once a plow factory across from the City Hotel, and began the process of converting it into a brewery.992 As with many brewery projects, then and now, the build-out took months verging on years. In November 1865 he was almost done, and the Wisconsin State Journal reported on his progress:

The new brewery on King street, opposite the City Hotel, is now partly in working order and by next week will be completely finished. We went through it yesterday, and saw the arched cellars deep underground and the smooth malt floors, the former lined with big casks, and the latter covered with grain. The malt kiln shows the latest improvements, as does all about the brewery. A horse was pumping water out of a 73 feet deep well containing an average of about 34 feet of the liquid that is as necessary to brewers as to total abstinence men. The hall in which the foaming lager will be served is large and lofty, and is fitted with an elegant counter and other substantial conveniences. There is a cooperage attached to the brewery in which all the casks and kegs are made. Mr. Breckheimer, the enterprising citizen who owns and built this brewery, thoroughly understands his business, and with the facilities he has, and his known skill as a brewer, we are confident of his producing a Capital City lager that can compete with the famed drink of Milwaukee ‘or any other’ place. We understand that the hall will be opened next Monday evening, with the music of the brass band, foaming lager, and a large and social gathering of Breckheimer’s numerous friends.993

Complete descriptions of breweries such as this are relatively rare, especially the details of the attached beer hall, though the precise dimensions of the well were common as a measure of technological advancement.

Having a landlocked downtown location placed restrictions on Breckheimer’s growth. The 1885 Sanborn map shows an unusual shallow v-shaped building, dictated in part by the triangular lot on which it sat. Breckmeimer was not listed as having malting capacity anytime after 1880, and while malting facilities were mentioned in the above description, later Sanborn maps indicated that they were not in use. The company did not have its own bottling facilities until after 1900. Capacity was also limited—production was listed in 1897 as being around 2,000 to 3,000 barrels per year, which was now behind the rapidly growing Fauerbach. Mathias Breckheimer died in 1899, and his son Mathias took over the business.

Breckheimer Brewing Co. managed to continue until the United States entered World War I. However, financial difficulties forced the company to cease production at the end of June 1917. By the time Prohibition began, the Breckheimer Brewing Co. had been converted to the Breckheimer Seed Co.994

• Barnhard Mauz (Mautz) (1865?–1870)
• Lang & Miller (1870–71)
• Miller & Co. (Miller & Kaiser) (1871–72)
• John Hess (1874–79)
• Hess & Fairbanks (1876–77)
• Hess & Moser (1880–81)
• John Hess (1881–82)
• Hess & Loeher (1882–83)
• State and Gilman Streets (84 State Street)

Barnhard Mauz (both names spelled various ways) started a brewery in Madison sometime prior to his first appearance in the city directory in 1866. His brewery was among the smallest in Madison—producing 535 barrels in 1870—but still a respectable size compared to most other firms in the state. Mauz’s brewery is not as well documented as some of his rivals, though there were a number of incidents at the brewery which made the news. In 1870, a worker named Wolfgang Anzinger suffered a gruesome accident in which his shirt got tangled in the malt mill and his hand was drawn into the mill. While he lost two fingers and a considerable amount of skin up to the elbow, he still survived.995 As noted in chapter 3, residents complained about the smell of the brewery waste in 1870, though these complaints were not limited to Mauz’s tenure—a similar complaint came before the city council in 1872 after Miller & Co. took over.996

It appears from excise records that Miller & Co. leased or rented Mauz’s brewery in the fall of 1870, since the name first appears in October 1870. The R. G. Dun & Co. records claim that Mauz sold out to Lang and Miller in late 1870, which would be consistent with excise records.997 The name varies between Miller & Co. and Miller & Kaiser in this source, but Mathias Miller named the business the Empire Brewery, a designation that remained until it closed (it appeared in the 1877 city directory as the Imperial Brewery). Miller and Joseph Fuchs (the “& Co.” as of 1872) nearly doubled production, jumping from 649 barrels in 1871 to 1,211 in 1872. Miller & Co’s brewery (still called Mauz’s brewery at times) was one of three Madison breweries (along with Hausmann and Brickheimer) to be decorated in 1871 for a parade of German Americans celebrating their homeland’s victory in the Franco-Prussian War.998 However, the excise records suggest that Miller & Co. only produced for part of 1873, and they vanish from the records after that point.

The following year, John Hess left his brewery in Pheasant Branch and took over the Empire Brewery. With various partners, he continued to develop the brewery, boosting production to nearly 1,700 barrels by the end of the 1870s. While still powered by horse (unlike Hausmann and Fauerbach), his 1880 production was second in Madison only to Hausmann.

At the end of 1879, business was falling off, and Hess brought in Adolph Moser who, according to the Dun evaluator, “[brings] in no capital but has valuable experience in [the] brewery bus[iness].” Moser left at the end of 1880, and Hess was on his own until he brought in John Loeher in 1882.999 In 1883, Hess bought out Loeher, and a few days later sold the equipment and remaining beer to his rival a block to the east, Joseph Hausmann. Hess gave up brewing and devoted his attention to the livery business.1000 It is possible that Hess tired of the business after having been burglarized “several times” in the early 1880s.1001

• Frank Martin (1869)

Frank Martin owned a small business, and in early 1869 installed “a small Ale Brewery.” He appeared once in the excise records, in May 1869. The R. G. Dun & Co. evaluator reported that Martin was considerably in debt but that he was “a very honest[,] industrious[,] energetic[,] and thrifty man” and had made a good start. Unfortunately, that virtue was not enough, and Martin was out of business in a few months.1002

• Great Dane Pub & Brewing (1994–present)
• 123 East Doty

New Yorkers Rob LoBreglio and Eliot Butler opened Great Dane Pub & Brewing in the former Fess Hotel building in downtown Madison in 1994. Great Dane expanded to four other locations: Fitchburg in 2002, Hilldale in 2006, Wausau in 2009, and Eastside in 2010. The Eastside pub, located in Grandview Commons, is the only one without a brewery on site. Production at the downtown brewery is typically just under 2,000 barrels per year. (The origin and expansion of Great Dane is covered in more detail in chapter 10.) They released their first bottled beer in 2012, inaugurating the series with an imperial red ale (at 11.5 percent). The downtown location of Great Dane was also the first brewpub in the area to offer the 32-ounce “crowler” package.1003

• Angelic Brewing (1995–2005)
• 322 West Johnson Street

Angelic Brewing was located in a building that was once part of Hausmann Brewing Co., just off State Street in downtown Madison. Brewmaster Dean Coffey created multiple award-winning beers, all of which had names relating to angels, mythical deities, or various interpretations of the afterlife. In 2005 Coffey left to co-found Ale Asylum, and brewing ceased at the Johnson Street location, though the restaurant remained open until 2008 (often featuring beers made at Ale Asylum).

• J. T. Whitney’s Brewpub and Eatery (1996–2009)
• 674 South Whitney

J. T. Whitney’s Brewpub and Eatery was founded in 1995 and began brewing in 1996, making it the third brewpub in Madison. Brewmaster Rich Becker’s family came from Bamberg, Germany, and he brought the smoked beer (rauchbier) traditions of that city to some of his beers at J. T. Whitney’s. (For a while, Becker did double duty as the brewer at Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb.) Later, he was one of the early craft brewers of sour beer styles in Wisconsin, introducing styles such as Berliner weisse and Flanders red. Whitney’s opened another restaurant in Oregon, Wisconsin, in 2008, though all the brewing was done at the Madison brewery. Whitney’s closed in early 2009 due to financial difficulties, and while Becker and Tom Volke tried to put a reorganization plan together, they were unsuccessful.1004

Vintage Brewing Co. was a project that grew out of Madison’s Vintage Spirits & Grill. Brittany, Mark and Trent Kramer had discussed starting a brewpub, and they eventually brought brewer Scott Manning on board. They took over the recently vacated J. T. Whitney’s space, opened the restaurant in January 2010, and served their first Vintage beers a month later.1005

The beer lineup typically includes a range of common styles, along with creative versions of those styles and some cask-conditioned beers. Vintage was among the earliest American craft brewers to make a version of Sahti—a Finnish ale brewed with juniper berries. Several Vintage beers have won medals at Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup.

In 2013, Vintage opened Woodshed Ale House in Sauk City, which serves a menu of pizzas along with Vintage Brewing Co. beers. A new brewpub in Sauk City opened in 2018.

• Ale Asylum (2006–present)
• 3698 Kinsman Boulevard (2006–2012); 2002 Pankratz Street (2012–present)

Ale Asylum was founded by Dean Coffey and Otto Dilba after Angelic Brewing closed. They first looked at a location in Fitchburg, but settled on a location near the Madison airport.1006 Ale Asylum’s first location was a hybrid between a brewpub and production brewery because the tap room served a selection of sandwiches, pizzas and salads, though there was no full kitchen.

Ale Asylum’s brews met with immediate approval, finding a market with Wisconsin drinkers willing to choose hoppier and higher alcohol beers. The Kinsman Boulevard location limited possible growth, so they selected a new site approximately two miles to the west on the other side of the Madison airport. A chart published on the brewery website in 2011 made the case for expansion: The new facility would have 45,000 square feet as opposed to 8,000, maximum capacity would jump immediately from 11,000 to 50,000 with room to grow, the brewhouse system would be nearly three times as large and there would be room for a bottler capable of 277 bottles per minute instead of the 70 bottles per minute of the old 1972 system then in use.1007

The new brewery was built from the ground up at a cost of $8 million, and was ready to brew in 2012. Growth continued, and Ale Asylum expanded its market to Illinois in 2014. The new brewhouse and packaging plant had a mix of new and used equipment, but all was state of the art. The brewery also has its own lab, and incorporated energy-saving technology for heating and cooling.

The brewery’s beers generally have names that play on the theme of “Fermented in Sanity,” with brands such as Bedlam! and Demento or that emphasize strength and robust flavor such as Ballistic, Ambergeddon, and Napalm Bunny. Otto Dilba created the art work for the labels, and Dilba and his wife Hathaway work on the branding based on their combined more than two decades in marketing.1008

In December 2014, Ale Asylum Riverhouse opened on the Riverwalk in Milwaukee. Riverhouse is restaurant and bar that features Ale Asylum beers, but does not brew on site. Riverhouse is not owned by the brewery, but by restauranteur Tim Thompson, who also worked at Angelic Brewing Co.1009

• Granite City Food & Brewery (2006–present)
• 72 West Towne Mall

The Madison location of the Granite City Food & Brewery opened in December 2006. It was the first (and still only) Wisconsin location of a brewpub chain that started in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in 1999. As of 2017, Granite City has thirty-six restaurants in fourteen states from Maryland to Kansas.

Beer writer Michael Agnew categorized the Granite City locations as “fermenteries” rather than true breweries, since the wort for all restaurants is produced at a single site in Ellsworth, Iowa and trucked to each establishment. The trademarked process, invented by Granite City founder Bill Burdick and called “Fermentus Interruptus,” was designed to guarantee quality and consistency of the beers at all locations. Each restaurant finishes the fermentation process under the guidance of regional brewers and their teams.

Over time, Granite City has introduced more seasonal beers and more beers with higher alcohol content, including Batch 1000 Double IPA, with 7.8 percent alcohol and 76 IBU.1010

• Great Dane #3—Hilldale (2007–present)
• 357 Price Place

As noted in chapter 10, operating a brewhouse at Great Dane’s Hilldale location required a change in state law that allowed brewpubs to have more than two branch locations. So while the restaurant opened in 2006, the brewery was not operational until the end of 2007.1011 The size of the Hilldale location allowed for more expansion to increase capacity, and Hilldale serves as the production site for most of the packaged beer. Production at this location is typically around 2,700 barrels per year. When Great Dane started canning beer in 2016, the mobile canning line was set up at Hilldale.

The Hilldale brewery brews most of the Great Dane beer sold at Madison Mallards’ baseball games, including two brewed just for the games at Warner Park (aka “The Duck Pond”): Mallard’s Ale and Big League Brown. Great Dane was one of the founding sponsors of the Mallards in 2001, and has a permanent presence with the Great Dane Duck Blind, an outfield seating area at Warner Park which was redesigned in 2017 using old shipping containers.

While all the Great Dane locations have the same basic beer and food menus, each location may have special beers or features. Bockfest, which brings together several area craft brewers and their bock beers each February, is unique to the Hilldale location.

• House of Brews (2011–2017)
• 4539 Helgesen Drive

Because the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement started in the Madison area in the early 1990s, it was only fitting that Wisconsin’s first Community Supported Brewery (CSB) would also call Madison home. Page Buchanan was inspired to try the concept with a brewery by a fellow Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild member who had a CSA farm. Subscribers were able to get a set amount of beer (typically a case of 22-ounce bottles) each month, as well as discounts and invitations to special events at the brewery. The format was tweaked over the years, but remainedpart of the business. While the CSB was the core of the business plan, House of Brews sold its first keg of beer (Prairie Rye Kölsch) in September 2011 at the Malt House—an institution in Madison among those who enjoy the brewed and distilled fruits of the grain.

In addition to tapping into part of the local culture, a CSB provided a different model both for raising capital to brew, and for delivering the product to customers. One advantage was being able to circumvent taverns and distributors reluctant to carry a beer that was unfamiliar. However, the more spontaneous nature of recipe creation meant that in the early years Buchanan was unable to brew any particularly hoppy beers because it was difficult to get some hops on the spot market. The standard beers in the House of Brews lineup tended to be maltier styles, such as an oatmeal stout and a Scotch ale.

Another less common brewing model provided at House of Brews was a Brew on Premises operation. In B.O.P., individuals or groups can use the brewery equipment to make and package a beer of their own. Buchanan described B.O.P. as less about the actual brewing and more as “being Captain of the Good Ship Lollipop,”—in other words, creating a fun event.

However, what House of Brews perhaps was best known for was its contract brewing operations, which became an incubator for other noteworthy breweries. Among those that got their start in House of Brews were MobCraft and Alt Brew—Wisconsin’s first all-gluten-free brewery. House of Brews also provided capacity for brewpubs whose demand outstripped their capacity, such as Madison’s One Barrel Brewing Company. In August 2017, Buchanan put the brewery up for sale, citing the challenges of the contract brewing market and of starting the brewery on his own, which left him under-capitalized.1012

• One Barrel Brewing Co. (2012–present)
• 2001 Atwood Avenue

Madison’s first “nanobrewery” of the modern craft era was the aptly named One Barrel Brewing Co., which opened in July 2012. Founder and brewer Peter Gentry created a brewery taproom with what was essentially a large homebrew system to brew beer one barrel at a time. The taproom served a limited menu of food from neighborhood restaurants and artisans.

While Gentry originally planned to stay small, the brews that he and his team crafted were so popular that they first had to contract out the brewing of some of their draught beers to House of Brews, and later One Barrel made the leap to bottled products. As of 2017, One Barrel Brewing brands were available in significant portions of Southern and Northeastern Wisconsin.1013

• Karben4 Brewing Co. (2012–present)
• 3698 Kinsman Blvd.

Brothers Ryan and Zak Koga and their friend Alex Evans were all natives of Appleton, and after following separate paths, ended up in Madison. Ryan’s path included brewing at Yellowstone Valley Brewing Co. in Billings, Montana, and Zak and Alex’s discussions of business opportunities finally meshed with Ryan’s career. They also brought in another friend of Zak and Alex, Tom Kowalke, to be the resident artist and to tend bar in the taproom. They moved into the former location of Ale Asylum and retained some of the old equipment, but completely remodeled the taproom and began serving beer the last weekend of 2012.

The name Karben4 was designed to be “a made-up name that did not already exist in any other capacity,” to avoid a name that would limit the business in the future. It is based on the element carbon, which is essential to organic life, but with a phonetic spelling to differentiate their brand.

Ryan’s first beers were generally inspired by English styles, though the first bottled beer, Fantasy Factory, was an IPA which, even though it still used English malts, indicated a definite trend toward bigger, hoppier beers. The first bottles reached store shelves in October 2014, and from there Karben4 began to add additional bottled brands and soon expanded distribution to Milwaukee and the Appleton/Fox Cities area.1014

• Next Door Brewery (2013–present)
• 2439 Atwood Avenue

Next Door brewery was founded by Pepper Stebbins, a former bartender at Great Dane-Hilldale, and Keith Symonds, who had brewing experience in the northeastern United States, along with Aric and Crystal Dieter. They planned a neighborhood restaurant that would focus on collaborations with “local tastemakers” and that could serve as a community gathering place. The restaurant located in a former appliance shop, opened in August 2013, with several of Symonds’ beers on tap, including Wilbur, a cream ale with malted oats (the name was a reference to the 1960s TV show Mister Ed). Symonds left the brewhouse in 2014, and Bryan Kreiter took over brewing duties.

As Next Door beers grew in popularity, they were encouraged to bottle and distribute several of their year-round beers. Bottles were first introduced in 2015, and as of 2017 three year-round and two seasonal beers are available in six-packs in most of southern Wisconsin. In addition, Next Door has nine beers available in 22-ounce bomber bottles, five of which are only available at the brewery. The styles in the bomber bottles are typically dry-hopped beers, wood-aged beers, or sour beers.1015

• Funk Factory Geuzeria (2014–present)
• 1604 Gilson Street

Levi Funk opened the first facility in the state designed exclusively to blend and age Belgian-style lambic ales. Funk purchases wort from other breweries (a relationship he began with O’So Brewing of Plover), brings it to his barrel warehouse, and then adds fruit or blends different batches to achieve the desired flavors, or sometimes whatever flavor develops. Due to the time and cost involved in the aging and blending process, Funk Factory beers were subject to very limited release at first.

In 2017 Funk opened a tasting room at the barrel warehouse. To celebrate, he introduced his first regular bottle release, the first meerts beer known to have been made commercially in the United States. Meerts (March, in Flemish, after the month they were typically released in Belgium) is typically low in alcohol with a citrusy sour character.1016

• Greenview Brewing Co. LLC/Alt Brew (2016–present)
• 1808 Wright Street

When Trevor Easton’s wife Maureen was diagnosed with celiac disease, they had to change how they enjoyed beer together. There were few gluten-free beers available in their area, and none of them craft beers. Trevor was an avid homebrewer, so he spent almost three years working on recipes to find some that would have craft beer flavor while not depending on traditional brewing grains. He decided that beers featuring Belgian yeast strains were best suited to gluten-free brewing, and the first beer became Rustic Badger, a farmhouse ale.

The Eastons began brewing their beers at House of Brews in a special room that used positive air pressure to make sure there was no cross contamination from other grains in the brewery. The first batches reached the market in May 2014, and sold very quickly. In 2015 they began planning their own brewery, and selected a site that happened to be on a bike trail that connected Karben4 and Ale Asylum. They began brewing at their new location in 2016, and their beers were soon available on draught at several restaurants and in bottles at several dozen stores—mostly in the Madison area. Their beers include several seasonal offerings, including an imperial pumpkin ale.

The brewery and taproom both employ precautions to avoid contamination of the brewhouse or the beers. The production facility uses positive pressure to keep unwanted organisms out, and the non-gluten free guest beers served in the taproom are served in disposable plastic cups to prevent contamination of glassware.1017

• Rockhound Brewing Co. (2016–present)
• 444 South Park Street

Nate Warnke, a geology major from University of Wisconsin-Madison, decided in 2014 to leave his job in the insurance business and follow his dream of setting up a brewpub. Most of the beers have names dealing with geology in some way. For the first few months, the beers were made at either Great Dane or House of Brews until Warnke began brewing on his own system.1018

• Lucky’s 1313 Brewpub (2016–present)
• 1313 Regent Street

The building at 1313 Regent Street has been home to several businesses since the 1920s, most of them repaired vehicles. Many of the beers and food items have football-themed names to build on the brewpub’s proximity to Camp Randall Stadium.

Maiden Rock (Pierce County)

• Rush River Brewing Co. (2004–7)
• W4001 120th Avenue

Rush River Brewing Co. was founded by a group of friends who met at the Bulldog pub in Minneapolis. Unable to find a suitable site in the Twin Cities, they decided to look across the river, and found a spot in scenic Maiden Rock.

The strong reception to their beers required more production than they could handle in the small Maiden Rock brewery, so they set about looking for a new location, and found one in an industrial park in River Falls.

Manitowoc (Manitowoc County)

• William Rahr, Eagle Brewery (1847–1880)
• Rahr & Rontauscher (1854?–55)
• Wm. Rahr Sons, Eagle Brewery (1880–1893)
• William Rahr Sons Co. (1893–1911)
• William Rahr Sons Brewing Co. (1911–1920)
• Cereal Products Co. (Cepro) (1920–1932)
• Washington, between Sixth and Seventh

William and Natalie Rahr emigrated from the Rhineland to America in 1847. The eloquent but romanticized version of the story told by eminent American artist and designer Rockwell Kent (who was a friend of the couple’s grandson Guido Reinhardt Rahr) depicts the reluctance of Natalie to move to the frontier and her insistence on bringing her beloved piano. The family settled in the rough frontier village, which Natalie helped civilize by teaching French, English, and piano lessons. William started a brewery in the town that was still frequented by native peoples—some of whom allegedly enjoyed standing outside the Rahr home and listening to Natalie play the piano.1019

William began constructing a brewery almost immediately, though it is likely it was not in production until 1848. As one of the major agricultural businesses in the community, Rahr was an important buyer of barley and a provider of other staples, such as vinegar, which was “always on hand” at the brewery.1020 While most brewers simply advertised the “highest market price,” Rahr was much more specific in 1857, pledging to “pay 70 cents per bushel, one third in cash, one third in four months, and one third in six months, for which he will give approved notes drawing 10 per cent interest.”1021 Rahr’s inability to pay the full amount in cash was probably related to the financial panic afflicting the nation at the time, and it is not recorded whether farmers were enticed by the possibility of earning interest rather than cash up front. For a brief period in the mid-1850s, Rahr had a partner named Rontauscher, but by the beginning of 1855 Rahr was sole proprietor again.1022

In June 1855, fire destroyed Rahr’s brewery and home, despite the best efforts of the townsfolk to fight the fire. The Manitowoc Tribune praised their efforts: “The manner in which a number of ladies stepped into the line and assisted in passing buckets of water, would have been gratifying to the most enthusiastic advocate of Women’s Rights, and their example was not lost on those of the stronger sex, who behaved with the cool steadiness of veteran firemen.”1023 Even though his insurance reportedly had just run out, Rahr’s success to that point ensured he would have little difficulty raising capital to rebuild.1024 Rahr’s advertising in the early 1870s was more like that of a large Milwaukee firm than a country brewery. In 1871, he proclaimed he furnished “the several kinds of Beer of the Best Quality in any quantity, at the lowest price.”1025 While the “several kinds” were not listed, it still indicates a wide range of products, and the reference to low prices was unusual this early. Rahr was an early adopter of bottled beer—the 1878 atlas of Manitowoc County (probably compiled in 1877) listed him as “Brewer, Maltster, Manufacturer and Bottler of Export Beer.” The distinction made here is interesting—implying that bottled beer was a manufactured product whereas draught beer was brewed. At the time, this would have been viewed as application of science and industry, rather than a abandonment of craft tradition.

By the early 1880s, Rahr’s brewery was by far the largest brewery in its area, brewing over 4,000 barrels a year. The company’s ever-expanding malting operations were shipping to major breweries in St. Louis. But the company and family suffered a tragedy in 1880 when William Rahr fell into a brewkettle while inspecting the plant and suffered burns from which he never recovered.1026 Rahr’s sons William, Maximilian, and Reinhardt continued the brewery in his honor under the name William Rahr Sons (sometimes printed as William Rahr’s Sons) and maintaining the Eagle Brewery name for the time being. They incorporated as the William Rahr Sons’ Co. in 1893 with the three sons and Frank A. Miller as directors. While the brewery continued to operate, the malting part of the business became more important and was among the industry leaders in adopting new technology. The company was the first to install a scientific malt testing laboratory and in 1906 doubled capacity of the Manitowoc plant from one million to two million bushels per year. The company also acquired patents for roasted and caramel malts (caramel refers to the color) as well as for a malt coffee which became popular in France, and established a roasting department to create these products.1027

The factory continued to grow during the next decades, including a $250,000 addition in 1910 that occupied an entire block of Sixth Street.1028 Rahr also added a sales office in New York and a large elevator in Minneapolis, the center of the nation’s grain business. By 1913, the company had a capacity of five million bushels per year, offered specialty malts such as Black, Amber and Vienna in addition to their pale base malt, and shipped to breweries all over the country.1029 The company did business under several different names during this period, including Manitowoc Malting Co. and Gould Grain Co. (in Minneapolis).

World War I forced the breweries of Manitowoc to reevaluate their position even before Prohibition arrived. In order to comply with wartime restrictions, William Rahr Sons’ Brewing, Schreihart Brewing, and Kunz-Bleser Brewing merged into a single corporation that would be known as Manitowoc Breweries Co. The new firm included officers from each of the companies—Maximilian Rahr represented his company on the board. The new combination planned to close one of the breweries, two of the bottling houses, and eliminate other duplications that would create savings in fuel, ammonia, labor and grain.1030 Since Rahr was already looking more to malt production, it made sense for that brewery to close. During Prohibition, the company changed its name to Cereal Products Co. (Cepro). With brewing illegal the value of the company and its assets was sharply lower.1031

In 1932, as many in the industry sensed that Prohibition’s days were numbered, the company changed its name back to Rahr Malting Co. In 1934 the company added a major addition in Manitowoc, but in 1936 built “the most modern malthouse in America” in Shakopee, Minnesota. The Manitowoc facility continued to be operated by the family for nearly three decades and Rahr Malting remained an important corporate citizen for many years. In addition to employment and sponsorships, Rahr employees were recognized in experts in all their fields. At the 1939 Vocational Guidance Day at Lincoln High School, Rahr personnel represented the accounting and chemistry professions.1032 Rahr Malting sold its plant in Manitowoc in 1961 to Anheuser-Busch, and moved its headquarters to the Shakopee plant.1033

Rahr Malting is one of the largest malt producers in the world, with malthouses in Shakopee and Alix, Alberta, as well as a 4,000,000-bushel elevator complex in Taft, North Dakota.

• Charles Hottelman (1849–1865?)
• H. George Kunz (1865?–1872)
• Elizabeth Kunz (1872)
• J. & P. Schreihart? (1872–73)
• Frederick Pautz & Co. (1873?–1879)
• Fred Pautz (1879–1883)
• Grotch & Seidel (?)
• Kunz, Bleser & Co. (1890–1913)
• Kunz-Bleser Co. (1913–18)
• Manitowoc Breweries Co. Plant B.
• Manitowoc Products (1919–1933)
• Kingsbury Breweries Co. (branch) (1933–1950)
• 902–910 Marshall

(The Hottelman era is covered in chapter 2.)

Heinrich George Kunz, who had previously been a brewer at his brother-in-law’s plant in Branch and in Roeff’s brewery in Manitowoc, purchased the brewery around 1865. Christian Scheibe was Kunz’s partner for a few months before Scheibe moved to Centerville. Kunz came from a large family of brewers in Untergroeningen, Germany, and their Lammbrauerei (Lamb Brewery) is still in operation as of 2019. H. George Kunz died in 1872 at age 42, and his widow Elizabeth maintained the brewery for a short time. She sold the brewery to her brother (and H. George’s cousin as well as brother-in-law) Gottfried Kunz, who still owned the brewery in Branch. Gottfried may have bought the brewery to help the family, but whatever the reason, he did not operate the brewery but instead sold it to Freidrich Pautz, a local teamster. The excise records list J. & P. Schreihart as the proprietors of this brewery, and while John Schreihart is known to have worked there in 1872, they are unlikely to have owned the property (though they may have rented it briefly).1034 Pautz ran the brewery successfully for several years (with Schreihart as the “& Co.,”), making a dramatic jump in production from 926 barrels in 1878 to 1,345 the next year. But Schreihart left in 1879 to run his own brewery, and even though Pautz still produced almost a thousand barrels in 1882, by 1883 he was in financial trouble. The brewery was foreclosed, and Pautz went out of business.1035

Louis Kunz II followed his brother H. George to America and ended up in Manitowoc by way of New Orleans. (His traveling companions included the Eulberg brothers, later brewers in Portage.) After working for a time at his brother’s brewery, he sought employment at Phillip Best Brewing Co. to advance his skills. About a year later he took over as brewmaster at the Kunz brewery in Branch, and then moved back into Manitowoc to work with John Schreihart at his new brewery. After about six years there (covered under that business), Kunz and Daniel Bleser purchased the former Pautz brewery, which had lain dormant for several years. One county history claims that Kunz and Bleser purchased a brewery from Grotch and Seidel, but the latter appear in no industry directories and may have been real estate brokers rather than brewers.1036

The brewery suffered a fire in December 1895 that started in the machinery department and caused several thousand dollars loss, which was reportedly covered by insurance.1037 This plant was rebuilt, but the company built an all-new brewery in 1905, and converted the old brewery into an expanded bottling house.1038 The new brewery was powered by electricity as well as the usual “modern machinery and every convenience for the business.” Among these machines was an “electric cleansing apparatus for use in currying and brushing horses,” with battery-powered brushes which was supposed to supposed to remove dirt from the brewery’s twenty-four horses in one tenth the time it would take by hand. This device was considered “in thorough keeping with the progressiveness of the institution.”1039 The company also opened depots around the region to distribute their beer more efficiently.

The prosperity of this brewery was demonstrated in 1902 when Daniel B. Bleser purchased one of the first two automobiles in Manitowoc, which had to be shipped from New York.1040 The brewery also threw a grand picnic for all employees and friends of the brewery in 1910 to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the partnership.1041

During World War I, the Kunz, Bleser brewery became Manitowoc Breweries, Plant B, and remained in production until Prohibition took effect. Daniel Bleser died in 1921, having turned his interest in the company over to his sons.1042 During the dry period, the company changed its name to Manitowoc Products, and began to produce near beer. The company developed one of the few commercially successful near beers—Kingsbury Pale, using a recipe acquired from the Winnipeg brewery Pelissier’s Limited.1043 The Cedar Rapids, Iowa distributor, “Heinie” Jensen, claimed to have sold nearly two million bottles of Pale in 1931 just in his territory.1044 The product was so successful that Manitowoc Products was compelled to add capacity at both newly acquired Sheboygan plants as well as the Manitowoc facility—one of the rare brewery expansions during Prohibition. Kingsbury Pale was one of the few near beers to be distributed across the country, a fact that was to shape the goals of the company after beer returned.

Manitowoc Products breweries were among those that were able to provide beer on 7 April 1933, having made an easy transition from Kingsbury Pale Brew to Kingsbury Pale Beer. However, the company had much grander plans than simply supplying the region. During the summer of 1933, Daniel C. Bleser announced plans to expand the existing breweries in Sheboygan, exercise options on breweries in Pennsylvania and California, and change the name of the company to Kingsbury Breweries. This would be less limiting than a place name not widely known outside the Lake Michigan region. While the headquarters of the company would remain in Manitowoc (in an expanded office building) the reach of the new company would be national. Bleser took the unusual and newsworthy step of having the new incorporation documents flown to Madison and back so the company could begin operations under its new name on 1 July. Kingbury listed its stock on the Boston, Chicago and New York stock exchanges—another bold move that emphasized the goal of being a truly national business.1045 The idea of a west coast brewery seemed like the solution to the high cost of shipping beer to California (45¢ per case), and at one point Bleser was compelled to deny rumors that the company was preparing to build a $1 million brewery in Los Angeles.1046

However, the rapid expansion of Kingsbury Breweries largely left the Manitowoc plant on Ninth and Marshall behind. The brewery had little room to expand and, unlike the two Sheboygan facilities, was not located on a railroad spur, which increased the time and cost to prepare beer for shipment.1047 At first, the Manitowoc brewery was essential for providing extra capacity for large orders such as the thirty-two rail cars of beer sent to Nebraska in August 1933, but the majority of production took place at the former Gutsch and Schreier plants.1048 While there were no publicly released figures comparing production between Sheboygan and Manitowoc, all the expansion and effort was at the Sheboygan location. Sometime in early 1950 operations were shut down at the Manitowoc facility, though the offices remained there until 1963 when Kingsbury was purchased by Heileman. The brewery at Ninth and Marshall, which still bore signs of the Kunz-Bleser era, was razed later that year.

• Roeffs & Hagen (1854?–59)
• John Roeffs (1859?–1866)
• Albert Wittenberg? (1867?–1871?)
• Frank Willinger? (1871?)
• Charles Schirbe? (1871?–72?)
• Thurm & Carl (1875?–76?)
• J. Richter? (?-1878)
• “Foot of Eighth Street” (modern site of Manitowoc Lincoln H. S.)

John Roeffs and George Hagen started their brewery in Manitowoc sometime prior to 1857, and one county history puts the date as early as 1854.1049 In May 1859 the partners split and Roeffs continued the business until he died in 1866.1050 His widow was left in debt, and most of the property was transferred to relatives in Germany who had been supporting the brewery.1051 Mrs. Roeffs continued operating the brewery at least long enough to join Rahr and Kunz in advertising for the return of their empty kegs in September 1866.1052

The history of this particular site is not clear thereafter. American Breweries II lists Charles Schirbe as the next proprietor at this site, but there is no contemporary local confirmation. The successor was Albert Wittenberg, who appears in the excise records in September 1867 and the Manitowoc Pilot confirmed that Wittenberg had come from Two Creeks to take over the brewery.1053 He was still in the 1870 population census as a brewer, as well as in the industrial census of that year, producing 460 barrels. Frank Willinger is offered as Wittenberg’s successor in AB2, but there is no clear line of succession, and no date is given for Willinger’s brewery in a 1904 county history.1054 (Willinger was also a partner of Schreihart for a brief period much later and owner of a beer hall that became Courthouse Pub)

It is also possible that the Thurm and B. Carl listed in Schade’s 1876 directory were associated with this site. J. Richter was listed as having brewed 589 barrels in 1878, but nothing the next year.

Lincoln High School was later built on the site of the brewery, which was known locally as Roeff’s Hill.

• William Fricke (1862–1870?)
• Carl Fricke (1871?–79)
• John Schreihart (1879–1884)
• Schreihart & Kunz (1884–85)
• Kunz & Bleser (1885–1890)
• Schreihart Brewing Co. (1891–1918)
• Manitowoc Breweries Co. Plant a (1918–19)
• Tenth and Washington

William Fricke is credited with founding in 1862 the brewery that eventually became Schreihart Brewing Co. One Hundred Years of Brewing realistically claims that Fricke produced one hundred barrels in that first year. At some point the brewery passed to Carl (or Charles) Fricke, who was listed as proprietor in an 1872 map of the county.1055 The Fricke brewery was the smallest in the city, producing only 143 barrels in 1871 and 268 the next year. Carl Fricke last appears in production records in 1878, when he produced 320 barrels. Both William and Charles were interested in other businesses as well, and these other businesses usually determined how they were listed in directories or credit reports.

In 1879, the brewery was acquired by John Schreihart, an experienced brewer who devoted more time to the business.1056 By 1882 production was over 2,000 barrels, making him second only to Rahr in the area.1057 When Louis Kunz II returned from Milwaukee and Branch, he rejoined Schreihart at his new brewery. In 1885, Schreihart left for an extended European trip, and leased the brewery to Kunz for the five years of his planned absence. Kunz brought in his friend Daniel B. Bleser to help run the business.1058

Upon Schreihart’s return in 1890, he formed a new firm with Frank Willinger and Gustave Mueller, though Willinger left the firm the next year. In 1898, Schreihart advertised the brewery for sale in brewing journals, though he ended up retaining it.1059 Schreihart and Mueller continued together until the firm was incorporated as Schreihart Brewing Co. in 1904, even though that name had been in use since 1890. In 1918, he built the Schreihart Block building at the corner of Tenth and Washington (which still exists as of 2017 and is recognizable by the heart on the upper façade of the building).

The brewery continued to upgrade its facilities, in particular by adding a 25-ton ice machine in 1900.1060 In 1911, John Schreihart retired from active management and his son Henry J. and his son-in-law Charles Kulnick (who had purchased Mueller’s shares) took over the business. Even as new generations of leadership took over, the founders were still fixtures at the brewery. John’s older brother Peter continued to visit the office nearly every day to consult with the staff, even after his ninetieth birthday (he died in 1920 aged 95).1061

When the three Manitowoc breweries combined in 1918 (see the Rahr section), Schreihart Brewing Co. became Manitowoc Breweries, Plant A, and continued for the few remaining months of legal brewing. Charles Kulnick, formerly treasurer and manager of Schreihart, became president of the new company and Otto Senglaub became assistant secretary.1062 When Prohibition arrived, the Schreihart brewery was converted to manufacture ice cream and soft drinks in the renamed Manitowoc Products Corp.1063 The brewery did not return to beer production after Prohibition, since Manitowoc Products under its new Kingsbury Breweries name centered most of the brewing in its more efficient plants in Sheboygan. The Manitowoc Products name was retained by the new dairy subdivision of the company and the plant on Tenth and Washington continued to make ice cream.1064

• Joseph Hoyer (1869?–1871?)

Joseph Hoyer was a saloon owner who appears to have operated a small brewery for a few years—probably at his saloon. (He was also listed as a pop manufacturer in the R. G. Dun & Co. records.) His brewery was certainly on a small scale, and he never appeared in the excise records. Entries for Hoyer in the Dun records have him as a saloonkeeper (and butcher) at other times.1065

• Zinns & Schmidt (1872?–1873?)

John F. Zinns and Henry Schmidt so far are known only from their listing in the 1873 American Brewers’ Guide. They produced 134 barrels in fiscal 1872.

• Edward Hollander (1869?–1870?)
• Christian Fick (& Co.) (1870?–72)
• Fick & Hollander (1872–75)
• Christian Fick (1875–76?)
• Christian Dobert (1879–1880)
• Engels Brewing Co. (1880–84?)
• Washington Near 20th or 21st Streets

The origins of this brewery are obscure, but Edward Hollander was listed as a brewer in the 1870 population census (with real estate worth $3,000, so it is unlikely he was working for another brewer). Christian Fick (sometimes Frick) first appears in the Dun & Co. credit reports in 1870, and this source also records the change of names to Fick and Hollander and back again, though other sources only list Fick.1066 This brewery increased production from 126 to 336 barrels from 1871 to 1872, and Fick maintained production just under 500 barrels in 1874 and 1875.

While no explicit proof has been found, locations given in city directories suggest that Engels Brewing Co. followed Fick. Christian Dobert was a tannery owner who provided much of the capital for Engels and was sometimes listed in industry directories as the proprietor.1067 Engels only purchased enough stamps in 1881–82 to cover about one hundred barrels of beer, and apparently went out of business soon after.1068 There is an obscure reference in the Milwaukee Daily Journal to an 1883 fire at “Schultz’s brewery” in Manitowoc.1069 Since no other Schultz brewery is known there, it is possible that Schultz was renting or leasing Engel’s brewery at the time.

• Peter Schwarzenbart, Weiss Beer Brewery (1899?–1901?)
• Franklin Between Tenth and Eleventh

On the opposite side of the block from Schreihart Brewing Co., Peter Schwarzenbart ran a short-lived weiss beer brewery. Unlike many other weiss beer breweries, which used a no-boil method, Schwarzenbart had a weiss beer kettle that was shown on the Sanborn insurance maps. While he was listed as a weiss beer brewer on the 1900 map, by 1906 his business was listed only as a “Pop Factory” and the kettle was “not used.” Schwarzenbart was listed as a weiss beer brewer in the 1900 industry directory, but not in 1905.

• Riverview Brewing Co. (1933–37)
• 1100–1106 South Water Street

Riverview Brewing Co. was one of the rare post-Prohibition breweries not housed in an earlier brewery—Julius Graff and Theodore Fricke remodeled an old canning factory.1070 The company had its Malt City beer on draught in taverns by the end of August, advertised as “just a little bit better than the beer you have thought to be the best.”1071 Riverview also emphasized that it was “employing all local men” and echoed the slogan of the National Recovery Administration that they would “’do our part’ to help spread employment at fair wages.”1072

The initial response encouraged the company to add more storage tanks in October to double capacity, as well as to offer a special holiday brew in December.1073 Riverview also released their bock beer in March 1934. Bottled beer was not available until November 1934, when Malt City Pale made its debut.1074 Two years later, the brewery advertised “3 Ways to a Merrier Christmas”: Malt City Export (at $1.85 per case), and Malt City Regular Beer or Bock Beer (at $1.65 per case).1075 While almost every brewery had a “regular” beer, it was very rare for it actually be named that. Bock beer was a spring tradition, so its appearance at Christmas suggests that Riverview may have been desperate to increase sales. That desperation was even more apparent the next February when the company offered two cases of Export for $2.85, but noted “All Sales made under this Offer are for Cash only.”1076 Riverview Brewing went into bankruptcy a few months later, and the property was sold at auction for a mere $200 to Ed Schreihart, who held the mortgage.1077

• Bleser Brewing Co. (1937–1942)
• 1004 Washington Street

The return of the Bleser family to brewing in Manitowoc was announced in late November 1936, with the formation of the Bleser Brewing Co. The new firm was to occupy the plant of the former Manitowoc Brewing Co. Plant A, previously Schreihart Brewing Co. and the brewery where president Daniel C. Bleser’s father Daniel B. Bleser entered the business in 1885. The junior Bleser, who had been born in a house on the site of the brewery, had been president and manager of Kingsbury Breweries, but he retired from that company in 1934. Bleser hired his son-in-law Harold Alt as the brewmaster and immediately began remodeling operations that would create a brewery of 75,000 to 100,000 barrel capacity.1078 Bleser lured former Kunz, Bleser Co. administrator Arthur H. Senglaub away from Kingsbury to manage the office. The brewery began distribution in June 1937, and the proposed reach of the company was signified by the presence of vice-president George Deegan, who specialized in sales and was to be stationed in Chicago to supervise the move into that potentially lucrative market. Bleser Brewing eventually shipped beer to Kansas, but it is not known if they had any success in the Windy City.1079 The first beer was Bleser Better Beer, which came out first in draught and by July it was available in “Steinie” bottles. The beer was made with union labor, and the barley used was also malted by union members.1080 Even before they began distributing beer, the company was offering to sell wet brewers’ grains to farmers (as opposed to larger breweries which sold dried grains).1081

The Bleser family had been active in community affairs for decades, and Bleser Brewing joined many other brewers in sponsoring bowling teams and community events. The company’s Arthur Senglaub represented the brewing trades during Vocational Guidance Day at Lincoln High School.1082 They introduced Gold Coast Pale Beer in 1939 as a premium beer, and acquired the Empire label from the defunct Bechaud brewery in Fond du Lac. However the company was having some quality control problems and had to give refunds and dump beer due to “over-pasteurization and mishandling.”1083 Daniel C. Bleser died in November 1939, and the company’s financial trouble resulted in a declaration of insolvency, but the brewery was allowed to continue operations.1084 They hoped to secure additional markets for their beer in Nashville, Tennessee, but production continued to decline.1085 In 1941, Bleser Brewing Co. offered a set of twenty “cookbooklets” which could be purchased for 10¢ and three Gold Coast bottle caps.1086 During the early years of World War II, the brewery fell in line with wartime conservation measures by encouraging customers to buy the “Economy Size” 32-ounce bottles, which would save tin, steel and cork by using fewer crowns.1087 Unfortunately, the brewery was still in shaky financial condition, and the pressures of the wartime economy forced the brewery to close in late summer 1942.1088

• Courthouse Pub (2001–present)
• 1001 South Eighth Street

F. Willinger’s Beer Hall was built around 1885 (some accounts claim as early as 1860) on a site near Manitowoc’s historic county courthouse. (A large photo of the beer hall—featuring signs advertising the beer of both Wm. Rahr’s Sons and Kunz, Bleser & Co.—decorates the wall behind the bar.) The current building was built in 2001, and maintained some of the feel of the Colonial Inn, one of the restaurants that occupied the space after Willinger closed due to Prohibition. Owner John Jagemann wanted to offer handcrafted beer to match the handcrafted food, so he brought in Brent Boldt to brew a variety of beers on the four-barrel extract system. The beer menu at Courthouse Pub changes regularly, so there really is no particular flagship beer. In deference to the history in Manitowoc, many of the Courthouse Pub beers have been lagers. Perhaps the most noteworthy beer was the project to brew a version of Two Rivers Beverage Company’s White Cap beer in 2006. Courthouse Pub is known for its wine list, which has won numerous awards from Wine Spectator magazine.1089

Manitowoc Rapids (Manitowoc County)

• Schmidt & Son (1872–74)
• Martin Schmidt, Silver Lake Brewery (1874–78)
• Near Modern US Highway 151 near Silver Lake (NE quarter of SE quarter of Section 33, Manitowoc Rapids Township)

According to one account, Martin Schmidt and his son Alexander started a brewery near Silver Lake, in Manitowoc Rapids Township, in 1872, “where a profitable business was conducted for sixteen months. . . .” Business jumped from 115 barrels the first year to 670 two years later.1090 The rest of Alexander’s story is covered under De Pere.

Martin continued to brew in Manitowoc County for a few more years. The R. G. Dun and Co. representative reported in 1875 and 1876 that he was doing a nice business, but that by 1878 the property was in the hands of the sheriff and Schmidt was out of business.1091

Marathon (Marathon County)

• Marathon City Brewing Co. (1881–89)
• Frank R. Sindermann (1889–1896)
• Stuhlfauth Bros. (1896–1900)
• Marathon City Brewing Co. (1901–1965)
• Marathon Brewing, Inc. (1965–66)
• Pine and Second Streets

Frank R. Sindermann started his brewery on the banks of Rib River in 1881. At first he was in partnership with his brother August and Charles Klein, but Frank later bought out his partners. (Having family around may have worried Frank, especially considering a later incident in 1892 when his intoxicated brother Franz started shooting through a partition and one bullet grazed Frank’s skull.)1092 The capacity during the first two decades was listed variously in industry directories as between 500 and 1,000 barrels per year. Sindermann died sometime between 1896 and 1898, and the company was sold to the Stuhlfauth brothers, Oscar and George. The Stuhlfauths met with bad luck during their ownership: a new cellar they built shortly after purchasing the brewery collapsed from the weight of the ice, and the ice machine they purchased developed an ammonia leak which ruined the beer in storage. The brewery was foreclosed and the Stuhlfauths declared bankruptcy.1093

At this point, accounts of the ownership changes differ slightly. Most accounts have Nicholas Schmidt purchasing the brewery at this point, however an article in the Marshfield Times in January 1902 about the purchase indicates that Michael Duerstein had purchased the brewery at the sheriff’s sale, and then sold it to Nicholas Schmidt and Fred Brand (Brandt). It appears that Duerstein did not operate the brewery, since the article reported these two men from Chicago were “practical brewers” and hoped “they will put the plant in shape” and “have it in full operation in a few weeks.”1094 Nicholas Schmidt ended up being elected to the State Assembly in 1906, and eventually sold his share of the firm. Among the other brewery officials in the early 1900s were Michael Duerstein and August Sindermann, both of whom were previous owners.1095 The brewery’s most popular beer was Tannenbaum—which originally was supposed to have been named after Richard Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser. The labels and advertisements came printed with the wrong name, but the brand proved popular and the company never bothered to change it.1096

The brewery burned in 1912, and the directors considered rebuilding in Wausau, closer to the center of population in the county. However they built a new brick building on the original location and were back in production the next year. The first years in the new brewery were generally uneventful as the company struggled to pay off the debt, but the company began to turn a profit by the time of World War I—just in time to be put out of business by Prohibition. The company made near beer for a short time, but was closed by the government because their product was in excess of the ½ percent allowed by law.1097

Marathon City Brewing Co. was brewing again in 1933, and under Fred Brand re-established itself as a relatively successful local brewery. For the first decade production was typically around 10,000 barrels, though production reached 22,000 barrels in 1949. After this peak, it dropped back to the 10,000-barrel range, and remained there until the early 1960s. Marathon’s Tannenbaum beer was a local favorite through World War II but later was replaced by Marathon Lager and other brands. Probably the most popular package was Wee Willie, the 8-ounce version of bottled Marathon Lager. Ironically, the name Little Willie was used for the larger picnic bottles. The brewery sponsored a semi-pro basketball team in the 1940s and 1950s that first was called the Marathon Lagers, but from 1946 to 1955 they were known as the Wee Willies and bottles of the namesake beer were sold at home games.1098 (This was a strange name for a basketball team, especially for one that won about 90 percent of their games.) The brewery sponsored the usual bowling teams, and the more unusual Tannenbaum Beer hockey team.1099 Marathon City also produced a wide variety of openers, pens, and other promotional items ranging from wallets to fly swatters.1100

Carl Lins, president and brewmaster since 1943, retired in 1956 and was replaced as brewmaster by Howard Ruff, former brewmaster at the recently defunct People’s Brewing Co. of Duluth, Minnesota. (Ruff was best known for formulating the brand that would eventually be called Olde English 800.) Local sources suggest that the company’s beer was not very consistent in the later years, and in some cases the brewery ran out of their own beer and had to fill draught orders with kegs filled at Oshkosh Brewing Co. with what was really Chief Oshkosh beer.1101

In 1965, the troubled brewery was sold to three local businessmen: Francis Rondeau, Philip Knauf, and Bernard Knauf (sometimes recorded inaccurately as Knaus). They had the task of reinvigorating a business that was only producing about 6,000 barrels a years in a plant capable of 20,000. They brought back Tannenbaum—packaged in green bottles they were able to obtain at a discount. The bottles proved popular, but they were unable to get any more of them, sales slumped again, and the brewery closed for good in 1966. The nearby Figi Brewing Co. in Marshfield purchased the Tannenbaum and Superfine brands and produced them for less than a year before it closed as well.1102

Marinette (Marinette County; then Oconto County)

• Rodabaugh, Wesley & Co. (1867–68)
• Rodabaugh & Anderson (1868–1869?)
• G. Anderson & Co. (1869?–1872)
• Hall Avenue

Based on excise tax records, Rodabaugh, Wesley & Co. began brewing near the Traversy House in Fall 1867. By April 1868, Wesley was no longer with the firm and was replaced by Gustaff Anderson—one of the rare Swedish brewers of the era.

In the 1870 industrial census, G. Anderson & Co. reported production of approximately 425 barrels by his three employees. His partner at this point appears to have been Matthew Phillipps, a Prussian. The brewery burned on New Years’ Day 1872, and the cause of the fire was “shrouded in mystery.”1103

• Swedish Brewing Co. (1898–99)
• Near Ogden and Bay Shore

In January 1898, newspapers around the state reported that a new brewery was planned for Marinette. The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern reported that “[L]ocal parties are preparing to build a $50,000 brewery at Marinette in the spring,” and the Weekly Wisconsin indicated that Gustave Reinke was the leader of the enterprise.1104 These appear to herald the creation of what became the Swedish Brewing Co. under its proprietors C. F. Bergenheim, Willliam Moe, and Fred Holt.1105 Under the name of C. F. Bergenheim, the firm reported to the excise collectors that they brewed seventy-five barrels from May to October 1899. This report was in June 1900, and since no further production was recorded, it is likely that the brewery closed at this time. The 1900 census listed Bergenheim as a malt extract manufacturer, rather than a brewer, and Moe and Holt both had other occupations.

• Rail House Restaurant & Brewpub (1994–present)
• W 1130 Old Peshtigo Road (1994–97)
• 2029 Old Peshtigo Road (1997–present)

In 1898, Leisen & Henes Brewery of Menominee, Michigan, purchased a building in Marinette from the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad to use as a depot for the beer they were shipping into Wisconsin. In 1992, Paul and Courtney Monnette purchased the building and brought in their son-in-law, Rick Sauer, to start brewing in 1994. Rail House became so popular they needed a much larger space. In 1997 they built the current Rail House location.

Under current owner Ron Beyer and brewmaster Kris Konyn, Rail House typically has ten to twelve house beers on tap at a given time, including several that pay homage to beers brewed in the area in the years after Prohibition, such as Silver Cream, Oconto Premium, and Brewers’ Best Pilsner. Several of these were bottled on a small scale beginning in 2006. Output is generally about 250–300 barrels per year.1106

Marion (Shawano County)

• Pigeon River Brewing Co. (2012–present)
• W12710 U.S. Highway 45 (2012–16)
• 1103 North Main Street (2016–present)

Pigeon River Brewing Co. opened for business on 18 July 2012, a date selected specifically to honor the feast day of St. Arnold of Metz, the patron saint of brewers. Nathan Knaack, Matt Wichman, and Brett Hintz came together over their love of homebrewing and decided, along with Nathan’s wife Kayla, to start a brewpub in Marion, where Nathan and Matt both grew up (though somehow without ever meeting each other).

Pigeon River beers took a while to catch on with residents used to Bud Light, but after a couple of years became so popular that they installed a bottling line to sell several of the year-round beers at other establishments. However, the bottling line put too much of a strain on their original location, so in 2016 Pigeon River Brewing moved just across the street and around the corner to a spot inside NorthWinds Banquet Hall. The new location made it possible to use a forklift to move pallets of bottles around, and also provided increased kitchen space for the brewpub.1107

Markesan (Mackford) (Green Lake County)

• John Hale (1856?–1868?)

John Hale appears as a brewer in the 1857 state directory, but could have been brewing earlier. The native of England operated his small brewery for at least a decade, probably with his son Edward as the only other employee. The only known production figures are for 8 ¼ barrels in August 1867. He is known to have been in business as late as 1868; in the 1870 census he is listed as a farmer, though this does not necessarily mean that he did not still brew occasionally.1108

Marshfield (Wood County)

• Scheibe & Schneider (1890–93)
• Marshfield Brewing Co. (1893–1966)
• J. Figi Brewing Co., Inc. (1966–67)
• 509 North Pine Street

(While some sources list Mathias Bourgeois as a brewer in Marshfield in the late 1870s and early 1880s, his was the Mt. Calvary brewery in Marshfield Township, Fond du Lac County, and not in the City of Marshfield.)

The Marshfield Brewing Co. provides excellent examples of two periods in Wisconsin’s brewing history: breweries started in the period after bottling became commonplace and therefore had to start at a relatively large size, and small breweries that survived more than a few years after the repeal of Prohibition. When it finally closed in 1967, the Marshfield brewery was believed to be the smallest left in the country, but its survival to that point must be considered a success.

In September 1889, two experienced brewers, Emil Scheibe and Albert Schneider, were in Marshfield looking for a site for a proposed 5,000-barrel brewery. They had recently lost their brewery in Centreville to fire, and after first considering rebuilding there, and later at Brillion, they decided that Marshfield presented a better prospect. On this the Marshfield newspapers agreed, since they had been agitating for a brewery in the city for nearly ten years (not just the four years claimed in an article in the Marshfield Times). The Times claimed a brewery would employ “a large number of men and keep within our own boundaries at least $60,000, which now finds its way into the hands of Milwaukee and other brewers.” Perhaps because of their experience in Centreville, Scheibe and Schneider elected to build their new brewery out of brick, not wood. In addition, since the brewery was built after ice house technology had advanced, it was not necessary to dig lagering caves for the brewery. This meant they could select a site based on water supply and access to transportation rather than needing to include caves in their calculations. By April 1890 the beer was ready, and the proprietors sought to build a market by soliciting “trial orders from dealers everywhere” and by urging potential customers to “Visit our Brewery when in the city.” A later account claimed that forty-one barrels were sold on the first day of business. Scheibe and Schneider offered top prices to farmers for barley, hoping to eventually replace the supplies they were buying from Konrad Schreier in Sheboygan.1109

For the first year or two, sales were strong and the brewery expanded to meet demand. The Times reported that the brewery was making thirty barrels a day and “find a ready market for all they can make.” The same article noted that capacity had been expanded to 20,000 barrels per year, and claimed (quite incorrectly) “the brewery is now second to none outside of Milwaukee in size.” Size mattered, because a high level of sales was necessary to recoup the investment. Furthermore, it would have been extremely difficult for any firm starting at the farm or household brewery size to survive in an era when customers expected their beer to come from modern plants. In the late summer of 1892 the company installed a new seventy-five-barrel brewkettle and a new sixty horsepower boiler to increase capacity. Scheibe & Schneider released their bock beer in late April 1892 with the usual colorful posters and other promotional activities associated with the spring specialty. The company also engaged in a price war with Leinenkugel of Chippewa Falls to attract saloon accounts in areas between their breweries.1110

However, all the expansion seems to have plunged the company into debt. In February 1893, Scheibe & Schneider assigned the assets of the brewery to their creditors “due to heavy expenditures for improvement.” The creditors met and proposed a stock company to buy the brewery and operate it, with each creditor getting shares in the company proportional to the amount they were owed. Emil Scheibe remained with the company, though Schneider did not. Within two years the new company had dramatically reduced the debt, and the outlook for the future looked bright. One of the main creditors, August F. Backhaus (or Backus), who was a hop dealer from Kewaskum, bought the entire controlling stock in 1894 and later moved his family to Marshfield to operate the brewery.1111

While the company engaged in mundane tasks like buying new filters and releasing bock each spring, a series of events were to put Marshfield Brewing Co. on the front pages for reasons both dramatic and tragic. In November 1896, Marshfield’s labor unions boycotted the brewery’s product after the foreman had discharged a union man. This dispute was resolved quickly, but the next event left a lasting mark on the community. In May 1897, Chief of Police Alf Gerwing and brewery employee Fred Meyers were both stabbed to death by four tramps who had been asked to leave the brewery grounds. After capture, the tramps had to be transferred to jail in another city to avoid being lynched for the murders. The misfortune continued the next year when a July storm tore down the smokestack from the brewery. The company was forced to raise prices by one dollar per barrel when the excise tax was increased by that amount to pay for the Spanish-American War, though all brewers were affected to some degree by this development. Another concern for Marshfield was also shared by other brewers—loss of cooperage. In 1901 the brewery was forced to establish as system by which purchasers of quarter- or eighth-barrel kegs were required to pay an additional 25¢, which would be returned when they brought the keg and rebate check back. As if all this wasn’t enough, in June 1900 the employees went on strike demanding an additional 55¢ per month. While the dispute was settled quickly in favor of the workers, it was yet another distraction in a fiercely competitive market.1112

Under the ownership of A. F. Backhaus and his family, who had purchased all the stock in 1898, Marshfield Brewing Co. maintained the quality of its beer. The local press was quick to seize on any praise from outside sources, whether it was visitors to town who proclaimed the beer better than Pabst or a finding by the United States Health Reports (which was not a government agency) that claimed that the purity of Marshfield beer was excelled by none. After the brewery and the Times spun this report to read that their beer was of higher quality than that of Milwaukee, demand increased so much that the company decided to install a bottling house “to supply the goods ready for home use.” Given the relatively large size at which the brewery started, it is somewhat surprising that they had not started bottling earlier. The new product met with success, and the brewery produced near its capacity of about 12,000 barrels for the next several years.

Unfortunately, tragedy continued to stalk Marshfield Brewing Co. In 1908 sales manager Otto Backhaus, son of the company president, was struck by a train and killed at age thirty-five. After A. F. Backhaus died the next year, the family decided to sell their stock to a group of investors, most of whom were “local capitalists and businessmen.” However, there was an interesting subset of investors: representatives of Pabst, Schlitz and Miller each held $5,000 of the $65,000 capital stock. Unfortunately no documents exist to show why the Milwaukee breweries chose to invest together in a small brewery halfway across the state, but they must have thought the investment would give them either profit or control—though why three different breweries would make such an investment is not clear. Louis A. Hartl, a son-in-law of A. F. Backhaus, became president of the company and Herman C. Eiche, a former mayor of Marshfield who had been working for Blatz, returned to the city to take charge of operating the brewery.1113

The last years before Prohibition seem to have been much smoother for Marshfield Brewing Co. The brewery continued to buy barley from local farmers, offering from 90¢ to $1.05 per bushel in 1911. The company remodeled the brewery in 1913 to double the capacity, and invited the public to an open house complete with brewery tours and refreshments. Eiche profited enough from his work that he could afford to buy a new five-passenger Buick in 1912. Eiche left the company in 1914, and management passed to Louis Hartl, who managed the brewery through Prohibition. In 1915 the brewery changed the name of its bottled brand to Preferred Stock, and introduced it with a newspaper advertising campaign.1114

During Prohibition, Marshfield Brewing Co. made a near beer called Preferred Stock brew, but as with most similar products, it was not a lucrative line for the company. The brewery also made malt products and soda water, but the brewery was raided in 1925 and 1927 for alleged violations of the Prohibition Act. Hartl considered selling the business to a dairy products company, but ended up holding on to the business.1115

Marshfield Brewing Co. was not among the brewers ready on 7 April 1933, but they were in operation shortly thereafter, which led to the most noteworthy tragedy in the brewery’s history. On 5 August 1933, gangster violence reached Marshfield when reserve policeman Fred Beell was shot and killed while trying to thwart a robbery at the brewery. The burglars stole $1,550 in tax revenue stamps, which were sold at a discount to illicit bottlers who used them on beer from questionable sources including wildcat breweries. The tragedy was especially hard on the city because Beell was one of its most famous and popular residents, having won three world championships as a wrestler, and even had a move called the Beell Throw named after him. (Beell is a member of the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame and the stadium at Marshfield High School is named after him.) Two of the assailants were brought to trial and convicted, two others were believed to have died of injuries suffered in the shootout.1116

Despite the tragedy, Marshfield Brewing Co. continued to live the life of a typical small Wisconsin brewery. During the 1930s and 1940s, its production varied between about 10,000 barrels and 21,000 barrels per year. In 1939, Marshfield ranked twenty-sixth out of more than seventy Wisconsin breweries, though most of the breweries that produced less would close in short order. During the decade immediately after Prohibition, Marshfield was an active sponsor of community activities in the area, prominently advertised that the beer was union-made, and continued to offer bock beer in the spring until wartime restrictions put this tradition on hold. Marshfield also brewed a special beer during the winter, which was called Holiday Brew or Santa Claus Brew. After World War II, sales declined rapidly and after 1951 Marshfield never exceeded 10,000 barrels in a year. In the mid-1950s the main brand was Marshfield Premium, which was sold for a time with the same drawing of Paul Bunyan that was on the canned product of that name produced by Weber Waukesha. (Marshfield never produced canned beer.)

Louis Hartl passed away in July 1959, after fifty years at the helm of the company. His daughter Caroline Hartl Allen took over management of the brewery for the next six years until she sold it to John Figi Jr. in 1965. It remained the Marshfield Brewing Company for a year, but in 1966 changed its name to J. Figi Brewing Co. Figi acquired the Tannenbaum and Marathon labels from the nearby and recently closed Marathon Brewing Co. and launched a new brand, Figi’s Certified Beer, which was distributed within a forty-mile radius. However, the timing was inauspicious, since between 1965 and 1967 nine of Wisconsin’s twenty-four breweries closed. Figi’s became one of the casualties in October 1967. At the time the brewery was reported to be the smallest in the nation, “with the possible exception of one in Honolulu.” Figi turned his full attention back to “the world’s largest mail order gift cheese business,” and the brewing company became a distributor for Grain Belt beer from Minneapolis. The brewery was razed in 1981.1117

• Central Waters Brewpub (2005–8)
• Blue Heron Brewpub (2008–present)
• 108 West Ninth Street

When Marshfield’s brewpub opened, it was affiliated with Central Waters Brewing Co., then located in Junction City. When Central Waters moved to Amherst, the brewpub took the opportunity to create its own identity as Blue Heron. The brewpub is located in Parkin Place, the former headquarters of Parkin Dairy—locally famous for its fancy molded ice cream desserts.

Blue Heron beers range from simple lagers to barrel-aged ales. Blue Heron is noteworthy for its partnership with the Marshfield Area Society of Homebrewers (M*A*S*H), and features a rotating tap reserved for brews created at the brewpub in collaboration with club members.1118

Marshfield Township (Fond du Lac County)

• Carl De Haas (1848?–1850?)
• Wolf Lake

According to a county history from 1905, “The first brewery in this county was a small one built by Mr. De Haas, on the shore of Wolf Lake, in the town[ship] of Marshfield.” To the annoyance of historians without time-traveling capability, he added, “Ex-Sheriff Kunz knows something about it.”1119 Wayne Kroll has identified Mr. De Hass as Dr. Carl de Haas, but almost nothing is known of his rustic brewery on what was then called de Haas Lake.1120

Mauston (Juneau County)

• Maria Runkel (1868–1874)
• Maria Runkel & Co. (1874–1886)
• Runkel & Miller (1886–88)
• Charles Miller (1888–1893)
• Miller & Hauer (1893–1901)
• J. Hauer Brewing Co. (1901–3)
• John Hauer (1903–4)
• J. Willems (1904–5)
• Chas. Ellison, Mauston Brewery (1905–1914)
• Mauston Brewery, Jos. Vogl (1911–16)
• 451 Winsor Street

The research of Richard D. Rossin Jr. is the definitive work on the Mauston brewery. Henry Runkel began to move his brewery from Germantown to the shore of Decorah Lake in Mauston in 1867, and by August of that year the cellars for lagering the beer were well under way.1121 The first production reported in the excise records was twenty-three barrels in March 1868. Despite Henry Runkel remaining alive and well until 1905, the business and the property were in the name of his wife Maria.1122 During the 1870s production was typically around 500 barrels per year, though they produced 630 barrels in 1872. The brewery had no malting facilities during the Runkel era.

In 1886, Maria Runkel sold a half share of the brewery to Charles Miller, who appears to have been a friend of the Runkels’ son Philip. She sold the other half to Miller in 1888, who then ran the brewery on his own for about five years. In early 1893, he first advertised bottled beer for $1.80 a case. In 1893 Miller took on saloon owner John Hauer as a partner, and this partnership made significant improvements to the brewery. The most important addition was a malthouse, which would allow the brewery to make malt to its own specification, and also made the brewery a more significant part of the local economy.1123

The brewery then went through some financial trouble and several rapid ownership changes. It may have also been idle for a few years during Hauer’s ownership, who seems to have concentrated on running his saloons. The brewery was subject to a sheriff’s sale in 1904. The new proprietor Julius Willems was unable to sell enough beer to cover his investments in improvements, so the property went up for auction again in 1905. The next owner, Charles Ellison, brought some needed stability to the business. The brewery reportedly produced about 3,000 barrels of Special Brew and Pure Lager a year. Ellison sold the brewery to Joseph Vogl of South Germantown (and Vogl’s Independent Brewery) in 1914. Vogl may have overextended himself by running two breweries, and he gave up both of them in 1916. The Mauston brewery ended up as property of the Juneau County State Bank. The brewery building was eventually purchased by the Hussa Canning and Pickle Co. of Bangor, and operated by them from 1918 until 1922 when the factory burned.1124

Mayville (Dodge County)

• Benjamin Mayer (1853–55)
• Martin Bachhuber (1855–1868)
• John Henninger (1868–69)
• Emeron Bachhuber (1869–1870)
• Leonard Uhl (1870–1872?)
• George Wurst (1872)
• Matheus Ziegler (1874–1880)
• Matheus Ziegler & Co. (1880–1892)
• Matheus Ziegler Brewing Co. (1892–1920)
• Main Street

Benedict Mayer, a friend of Milwaukee founder Solomon Juneau, had worked as a brewer in Milwaukee, Theresa and New Fane (in Fond du Lac County) before moving to Mayville. Mayer started both a meat market and a brewery in 1853, but sold the brewery in 1855 to Martin Bachhuber.1125

Bachhuber’s brewery was a small one, and since he was also a practicing veterinarian, he may have been a part time brewer. His two-person operation produced 300 barrels in 1860, beer that was sold at $6 per barrel. (Dodge County brewery historian Michael D. Benter indicates that Caspar Maedder was Bachhuber’s brewmaster at this point, but the 1860 industrial census lists Maedder and Bachhuber as separate breweries with different statistics, which is strong evidence these were two different breweries.) In 1865 Bachhuber brought in as a partner John J. Kohl, a veteran of the 35th Wisconsin Infantry. The records of R. G. Dun & Co. suggest that Bachhuber remained in the background, since Kohl was the party listed in the credit reports (though with different initials).1126 Kohl remained until 1867 or 1868, when he and Bachhuber sold the brewery to John Henninger, who had started another brewery in the city the previous decade. (Kohl would later start a brewery in Negaunee, Michigan, but would be shot and killed in the line of duty in 1885 while serving as deputy sheriff.)1127 Henninger’s ownership of this brewery only lasted about a year, before he sold it to Emeron Bachhuber, son of Martin. Emeron may not have been a trained brewer either, and it appears that Jacob Lehner (or Saemer or Sauner) was at least brewmaster, if not a full partner. (Jacob Lehner is listed in the excise reports in 1868 and 1869, and the timing and other entries suggest that he represents the Bachhuber brewery.) Benter reports that Leonard Uhls purchased the brewery in 1870, but he does not appear in the excise records until 1872, at which point local accounts say he had already sold it to George Wurst. There was a Leonard Uhl in Waukesha until 1871, but he may have purchased the brewery without making any beer until 1872. It is also possible that Wurst was unable to get the brewery going, because he does not appear in any government or industry records.1128

The brewery was revitalized when Matheusiegler and his sons Louis and Emil purchased the property in 1874. Ziegler owned a tavern in Mayville, and would retail his own beer for many years to come. Ziegler either had capital that his predecessors lacked, or was simply more willing to invest it in improving the brewery. Ziegler restored production to just over 300 barrels a year by the end of the 1870s, but then began to expand both production and retail. In 1879 he purchased a five-acre plot across the river from the brewery and established Ziegler Park. In 1889 the company built a three-story brick building including a tavern and beer garden on North Main Street where the old Ziegler saloon had been. Most importantly, in the summer of 1888 they tore down the old brewery and built a new steam-powered facility on the site of the old plant. To cement their position as Mayville’s most modern brewery, the Zieglers added a bottling house in 1890.1129

When Matt Ziegler died in 1892, his sons were ready to take over the business. Louis and Emil, along with brother Eugene, incorporated the company in 1892 and retained the name of M. Ziegler Brewing Co. in honor of their late father. The brothers expanded the retail side of the business in Dodge County by establishing saloons in places like Brownsville and Rubicon. They also improved Ziegler Park, in particular by adding a footbridge from the brewery to the park that would make it easier to reach the new dance hall. Louis Ziegler expanded the family’s reach even further in 1905 by purchasing the former Goeggerle brewery in Beaver Dam, and in 1912 by purchasing the Fox Lake Brewery (which he turned over to his son-in-law John Brodessor). Ziegler moved to Beaver Dam, but continued as president of M. Ziegler Brewing Co.1130

The Zieglers guarded their home territory jealously, especially since they were also in the saloon business. In 1894, another saloon owner brought in Milwaukee beer to serve at his establishment. Since the Ziegler’s also owned Mayville’s icehouse, they retaliated by refusing to sell the offender any ice. The dispute apparently divided the town for some weeks, and a traveling minstrel show even incorporated a joke about Eugene Ziegler into their act.1131

As prohibition seemed more likely, M. Ziegler Brewing diversified into distributing other products, including those of Pabst. When beer became illegal, Ziegler continued production of near beer at the Mayville plant for a brief time, but devoted most of his attention to his Beaver Dam operations. The brewery was used mostly as a warehouse for soft drinks and other product lines until Anna Ziegler, widow of Louis, sold the brewery in July 1933. It would then be purchased by the Mayville Brewing Co. and operate briefly after Prohibition1132

• John Henninger (1855–1864)
• Robert Kloeden or Kroesing & Co (1864–1877)
• Funke Bros (1877–79)
• Steger & Co. (1881–1918)
• 410 Short Street

John Henninger was a farmer and livestock dealer who opened the first butcher shop in Mayville. He also started a brewery around 1855 and ran it until 1864. (In 1868 he would briefly operate a different brewery in Mayville, covered under the M. Ziegler brewery.) Henninger’s brewmaster was Florian Schmidt, an uncle of Henninger’s wife Barbara.1133 Henninger reported production of 500 barrels in the 1860 industrial census, which was the most of any of the three breweries in Williamstown, the township that contains Mayville (and the name by which this area was reported in the census through 1870).

Local historian Michael D. Benter has clarified much of the previous confusion of the next years of the brewery. Two brothers-in-law, Charles Kroesing Jr. and Robert Kloeden owned the brewery, and the changes between who was the proprietor of record in government documents or local sources do not actually indicate a change in ownership. This brewery is absent from the industry directories of the 1870s, and both proprietors had other business interests and were involved in local politics, so it is likely that the brewery was only a part time job. Eventually Kroesing and Kloeden rented the brewery to Ernest Funke Sr., who operated from about 1877 to 1879 as Funke Brothers Brewery.1134

The next owner, John Steger, was an experienced brewer who had the focus and ability to renovate and expand the brewery. Steger had worked at two breweries in Theresa and for John Haas in Ripon, and with his new partner, Carl Anton Gerlach, Steger reinvigorated the Mayville plant. Brewery directories in the mid-1880s listed capacity between 1,000 and 1,500 barrels per year, and the new ownership added a malthouse early in their tenure. Gerlach remained with Steger until 1889, when he went into other businesses (including buying and selling the former Darge brewery).1135

Henry (Heinrich) Boehmer, Steger’s father-in-law, replaced Gerlach in the brewery. Boehmer had been in the foundry and farm implement business, and brought business talent to the firm, though he seems to have come on board only briefly to help start the expansion, after which he returned to the foundry business. For the next several years the brewery was in a state of near constant expansion and improvement, including installation of steam power in the early 1890s. By 1912 the brewery consisted of seven buildings and a biergarten. That year, Steger added a bottling house with capacity of 15,000 bottles per day, though it is unlikely they ever ran at full production. As Benter has noted, this activity contributed to the local economy, as did the success of the business in general. Steger ordered beer wagons from local wagonmakers, advertising posters from local artists and, of course, barley from local farmers. John’s son Henry trained to take over the business and became brewmaster at the family firm in the early 1910s. However, the advent of Prohibition brought an end to Steger & Co. John retired, and Henry went into other businesses.1136

The brewery, however, was not quite done. While parts of the brewery complex were used for other businesses, one group of entrepreneurs altered their wort manufacturing operation to make real beer, and the wildcat brewery was raided in 1927.1137

• Caspar Maedder (1859?–1866?)
• Fred Gutschow (1866?–1868)
• Nagle & Cook (or Hook) (1868–69)

This group of brewers is something of a mystery. They are not covered in Michael D. Benter’s comprehensive and well-documented book on the breweries of Eastern Dodge County, with the exception of Caspar Maedder, whom Benter includes as a brewmaster for Martin Bachhuber.1138 However, Maedder had his own listing in the 1860 industrial census, which listed him as having brewed 180 barrels of beer to Bachhuber’s 300. In addition, Maedder was listed as the proprietor of his own brewery in the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports as late as 1866 (though his business prospects were considered bleak).1139

In addition, there are two other Mayville brewers in the excise records not yet accounted for. These are Fred (or Fritz) Gutschow, who was included in the 1867 and 1868 annual lists, and the firm of Nagle & Cook (or Hook), which was listed in special entries from November 1868 to March 1869 (when they produced a barrel and a half). While no clear link is yet established, the dates seem to work for these two businesses to have taken over Maedder’s brewery for a few years.

• William Darge (1866?–1885)
• Louis Darge (1885–86)
• East Bank of Rock River, North of Bridge Street

William Darge was a carpenter who built his own brewery along the Rock River sometime in the 1860s. He first appears in the excise records in the 1867 annual list, but may have been producing earlier. The few known production figures from include 428 barrels in 1878 and 385 barrels in 1879, which, at least in those two years, made his the largest brewery in Mayville. This assessment seems to be confirmed by a newspaper account of a fire at the “Darge Brewery, the largest brewery in Mayville,” in July 1879. This was at least the second fire at the brewery, because the same article also recounted, “It was burned several years ago, and insurance rebuilt it, but this time it burned just the day before the insurance agent arrived from Fond du Lac.”1140

Darge apparently rebuilt, since the brewery appears in industry directories through 1887 (though it seems they stopped brewing in 1886). William Darge died in 1885, and his son Louis, who took over the brewery, died in 1887 at age twenty-eight. Julia Darge, William’s widow, sold the brewery to Carl Gerlach, formerly a partner in the John Steger Brewery, who converted the building to other uses.1141

• Mayville Brewing Co. (1935–36)
• 331 South Main Street

In 1933 a group of Fond du Lac-based investors purchased the former M. Ziegler brewery and began to prepare it for brewing again. The renovations took well over a year, and during that time many of the out-of-town investors cooled on the idea and sold their interests to Mayville residents. The brewery finally hired a brewmaster, Hugo Ogren, obtained its brewing permit, and began operations in January 1935.1142

The brewery chose to make Swedish-style porter and stout and English-style ale instead of lager. Whether this was because the Swedish-born Ogren was more comfortable with ale styles, or because they were trying to avoid direct competition with larger lager brewers, or a combination of the two, is unclear. Ogren proved to be particular about brewing with ingredients and equipment that were unavailable, and believed that his beers would find a ready market in his former home of Chicago. Production was miniscule—the few available figures show thirty-six barrels were made in April 1935 and thirty the following month. The delays in production and the failure to find a ready market once beer was available forced the brewery to shut down during the summer of 1935. The brewery spent several months trying to dispose of unsold stout and porter. By October the brewery was running again, but this time making lager essentially as the brewery for Gesell Brothers, beer distributors based in Milwaukee. Apparently the lager was no more successful in the market than the dark Swedish beers, and by February the brewery was closed, despite hopes that it could reopen later. The brewers’ bond was terminated by Maryland Casualty Co., so the brewery was unable to operate legally. The building was eventually converted to a cheese factory.1143

Mazomanie (Dane County)

• Peter Wirth, Mazomanie Brewery (1858–1868)
• Pratt & Co. (1860?–63)
• Wirth & Kuhn (1868–1870)
• Hamm & Lenz (1870–71)
• Alois Maier (1871–73?)
• Tinker & Schlough, Mazomanie Brewery (1875–1880)
• Ambrose Lang, Mazomanie Brewery (1880–1894)
• Caroline Lang, Mazomanie Brewery (1894–97)
• Edward M. Lang, Mazomanie Brewery (1897–1901)
• J. A. Schmitz, Mazomanie Brewery (1901–2)
• 200 block Cramer Street on Shore of Lake Marion

Peter Wirth (or Werth) started brewing in Mazomanie in 1858 in a small frame brewery. His brewery was too small to be included in the census of manufacturers in 1860, and given the frequent ownership changes it may well have been out of production for at least part of the year. Wirth apparently rented or leased his brewery to Edward Pratt shortly after opening it. The 1860 census lists the brewers in Mazomanie as Pratt and John Crotch—neither of whom possessed any real estate and so were unlikely to have actually owned the brewery. By 1861 Pratt had asked Edward Huggins to join the firm and provide financial backing for the brewery. The company was still in debt, and ceased operations sometime in late 1862.1144 Wirth apparently returned to brewing, and in 1868, John Kuhn joined him, but business was still not good enough to meet their obligations, and the capital-strapped partners sold out to John Hamm and Jacob Lenz by September 1870.1145

Hamm & Lenz had little more luck than their predecessors, including a fire in February 1871, and in late 1871 they turned the brewery over to Alois Maier, who ran it until mid-1873 when he too went out of business. Maier produced 236 barrels in 1871 and 303 the next year, but this may not have been enough to turn a profit. It is possible that Maier (or even Hamm & Lenz) did not own the brewery, since there are two other investors mentioned in connection with this brewery, Richard Block in the late 1860s and Herman Black in the early 1870s. Black is reported to be the person who bought the brewery from Wirth and in 1875 sold it to the next proprietors, Tinker and Schlough.1146

While Tinker was listed first in the business name, Charles Schlough (various spellings) was apparently the brewer, since it was he that the Mazomanie Sickle mentioned in reports about the renovation of the brewery. It is not clear what experience Schlough had as a brewer, but he had been arrested and fined in 1874 for running an illegal distillery.1147 While he was in charge of the brewery in 1875, it apparently took him some time to return to production, since there was no evidence of brewing in 1876, and an 1879 report on the brewery said it had been finished “last spring.”1148 By the end of the decade Schlough had boosted production over 500 barrels per year, just in time for disaster to strike. In June 1879 the brewery was burned with a loss of about $3,000. The fire was blamed on straw in the ice house somehow igniting. As the 1880 county history put it in the style of the time: “Undaunted, he at once began rebuilding on a more extensive scale, erecting a stone structure” that was much larger than before, and estimated to cost $5,000. The new brewery was done within four months of the fire, but so was Schlough’s money, and he was forced out of business.1149

The Mazomanie brewery had a poor reputation in the business community; the R. G. Dun credit reports said in 1880 “This brewery has always been an unfortunate piece of property.” There appear to have been two reasons for this: strong temperance sentiment in the community, and stiff competition from breweries in the nearby capital city. The Dun evaluator noted: “The previous history of this brewery is not very flattering, owing principally to the competition in Madison. The saloon keepers here purchase their beer in Madison.” However, the evaluator was high on the new proprietor, Ambrose Lang. Lang was a retired laborer who had built up some capital, and came from Madison to Mazomanie to invest in the brewery. While he knew little about brewing or business, his sons were considered quite capable, and he hired brewer Joseph Winnigs to run the operation. By the mid-1880s, Lang’s brewery had a capacity of 1,500 barrels (and actually produced 1,000 barrels in 1885), was making its own malt and, interestingly, brewing ale as well as lager (which they still brewed as late as 1900). There was another fire in 1892, but this time the brewery itself was saved by prompt action by the fire company.1150

After Ambrose Lang died in 1894, his widow Caroline took over management of the business for a few years, then was succeeded by her son Edward. The Langs continued to improve the brewery, including converting the saloon into a bottling house in the late 1890s. The brewery was still modest in size with its thirty-three barrel brewhouse, but was doing a steady business and increased production to 1,200 barrels in 1895. In 1899, Edward Lang improved the malting operations by building a new cement malt cellar.1151

In 1901, J. A. Schmitz became proprietor of the brewery, and began advertising in the Sickle with an ad that featured a large picture of the brewery. However the brewery was destroyed by fire in January 1902, with a loss of $20,000 and insurance of only $10,000. The brewery did not return to production, though the ads in the Sickle continued to run until June, either because they were still selling existing stock, or because the editor just neglected to remove an ad that was already paid for.1152

Medford (Taylor County)

• Carl Kuhn (1889–1890)
• Kuhn Bros. Brewing Co. (1890–93)
• Leo Kuhn (1893–94)
• Medford Brewing Co. (1894–98)
• William Kurz (1898–1900)
• Estate of William Kurz (1900–2)
• Medford Brewery Co. (1902–6)
• Medford Brewery (1906–8)
• Wm. Gehring (Gehring & Teuschel) (1908–9)
• East Side of Third Street Between Taylor and Broad (Modern Lincoln)

Medford apparently seemed like a logical place to locate a brewery. There were very few breweries between Wausau and Chippewa Falls to the south and Superior to the north, and there was a thirsty population in the region. Starting in 1885, newspapers around the state announced rumors of a new brewery in the city every year or so, but until 1889 nothing much happened. Finally, in June 1889, the Taylor County Star and News announced that brothers Carl and Leopold Kuhn had started clearing land for their brewery. The reporter added “The proprietors are practical men, and will no doubt succeed.”1153 The most noteworthy incident in the early years occurred when a former employee shot Carl Kuhn at the brewery. John Heilemeir had only been employed two days, and had been dismissed the morning of the affray. Kuhn was hit by three of the four shots, but Heilemeir was intoxicated and probably not aiming particularly well, so none of the wounds were serious.1154

In 1894, Rosa and Charles Kuhn joined with Clinton Texter and Joseph Forst to incorporate the first version of Medford Brewing Co. The Kuhns sold their shares in the company a year later, though the terms of the sale carefully excluded the Kuhn’s buggy and cutter, as well as a menagerie including a mare and colt, a cow, pigs, chickens, ducks and peacocks. The new owners apparently found a need to diversify their business, since an amendment to the articles of incorporation passed in 1897 allowed the company to, among other things, “sell and convey real estate, live stock and grain.”1155

In 1898 William Kurz, of Plymouth, purchased the bankrupt brewery and planned the usual enlargements and improvements.1156 Unfortunately Kurz passed away at in 1900 at age forty-one, and the frequent changes in management continued. Another corporation was founded in 1902, with Ida Kurz as one of the officers, but this also lasted only a few years.1157 Often the name changes meant little more than an attempt to bring in new investors to keep the business alive, and some of the names were used interchangeably in different publications (the 1910 Brewers and Bottlers Universal Encyclopedia had both Medford Brewery Co. and Gehring & Teuschel). Even through the changes in ownership, the brewery provided work for eight to ten men of the community.

The Medford brewery suffered a massive fire “of unknown origin” in November 1909 that destroyed the brewhouse, refrigerator and power plant. Attempts to fight the fire were hampered by the fact that the city water main was under repair so the fire department had inadequate water. William Gehring, proprietor at the time, planned to rebuild “immediately,” but funding proved elusive. By June, it was announced that Gehring & Henry Voss sold out to Minneapolis Brewing Co. It is possible that this sale was also just a rumor, since the 1913 Sanborn insurance map still lists Henry Voss as the owner of the property. In 1913, local businessmen Henry Voss, E. F. Giese and K. J. Urquhart formed Taylor County Brewing Co. Western Brewer announced in 1913 “Taylor County Brewing Co., Medford, newly incorporated, will, according to local newspaper reports, erect a complete new brewery to cost $40,000.”1158 However this new company never actually built the brewery, and Medford remained without locally brewed suds until 1935.

• Medford Brewing Co. (1934–35)
• Medford Brewing Co. (1940–48)
• 237 West Broadway (some sources say 132 North Wisconsin Avenue, but no brewery was there)

After legal beer returned in 1933, Medford was primarily a Blatz and Old Style town. But in September, “The city of Medford received the good news this week of the establishment of a brewery here within the next few weeks.” The city donated the land for the new Medford Brewing Co., which was to be managed by W. F. Stauss of Chilton and Irvin Schwenzen and Richard Seuberdick, both of Plymouth. Construction of the all-new brewery started almost right away, with double shifts scheduled to work from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. with lights set up on the site to work early morning and late night hours. Because such good jobs were scarce during the Great Depression, the name of each worker on the project was celebrated in the newspaper.1159

But while the early estimate of the time needed to put the brewery into production was six weeks, in reality brewing did not commence for more than a year. Local newspapers did not provide any reasons for the delays, which most likely were a lack of funding to finish the job. At the meeting of directors in January 1935, the three original officers were replaced by a slate of mostly Medford men. At least by this time, there was some beer in the aging tanks. The first batch of beer was started in mid-December 1934, after the federal permit was issued and the necessary supplies had been delivered. Hops came from Oregon, but malt was delivered from “one of the Manitowoc malting houses.” The two-story brewery demonstrated the new world of brewery design in which gravity was no longer essential—the fermenters were on the second floor of the structure. The beer was aged in wooden vats and the kegs were all new northern oak cooperage that were lined in a pitch house on site. One piece of equipment was a particular nod to the past: one of the two keg washers had been used by the previous Medford Brewing Co. prior to Prohibition. Medford draught lager made it into taverns in early February 1935.1160 But the brewery was unable to meet its financial obligations, and ceased production in June. The corporation continued to file annual reports in hopes that the business would continue, but hopes dwindled with each passing year.1161

In 1940, however, buyers appeared. E. J. Young, president of the Rice Lake Brewery, and George H. Lanswer of Portland, Oregon, purchased the building. Their purchase was dependent on local residents subscribing to $3,000 of preferred stock, but this happed quite quickly—$2,500 was sold in less than two weeks. The money was earmarked for a bottling house and a new office. But like the earlier incarnation of the business, the original leadership team was gone by the time the beer was flowing, replaced by Frank Mohr, former brewmaster at Marshfield, and Frank Kraut and Norbert Laabs. This time, it was only a matter of a few months before the brewery was readied for brewing. The new Medford Lager was in taverns on October 30, 1940, and the company announced that its roster of four employees would be expanded to twelve or fourteen when bottling commenced. Apparently the four did not include directors Kraut and Laabs, who were listed as truck drivers in the announcement that beer was back.1162 But the brewery came on line just in time for World War II. While output peaked around 14,000 barrels during the war, it was generally less than 10,000 barrels per year, which was an inefficient use of a brewery built for a capacity of 25,000 barrels. The brewery languished, and by 1948 shut down again, never to reopen.

Medina (Dale Township) (Outagamie County)

• Worth & Kuehn (1874?–1878?)

The firm of Worth and Kuehn appears first in November 1874, and earned acceptable reports from the R. G. Dun & Co. inspectors through June 1878. The reports note, however, “W & K are not [residents] of this place.”1163 While no clear link has yet been made, it is tempting to identify this Worth and Kuehn with the partnership who previously operated the brewery in Mazomanie.

Menasha (Winnebago County)

• Alanson K. Sperry (1850–51)
• Sperry & Hall (1851–53)
• Hall & Loescher (1853–1864?)
• Hall & Lenz (1864–1871)
• Mertz & Behse (1872–78)
• Herman Mertz (1878–79)
• Winz & Loescher (1879–1882)
• Werner Winz (1882–88)
• Menasha Brewing Co. (1888–1920)
• Near Modern 271 River Street and Washington Street (1850–56); Northeast Corner First and Manitowoc Street (1856–1920)

Recent research by Lee Reiherzer has uncovered new details about the early years of brewing in Menasha. Former Governor James Doty sold land to Edward O’Connell and Alanson K. Sperry, with the proviso that the partners “shall forthwith commence the erection of a frame building on said lots suitable for a brewery and proceed as fast as practical in the erection of same to completion and commence the business of brewing there within six months.” Sperry soon sold a half interest to Orville Hall, and the other half to Fred Loescher, who arrived in Menasha from Oshkosh in August 1853.1164 Loescher was a Bavarian immigrant, and Orville Hall was one of the rare pioneer brewers of Wisconsin not born in Germany—he hailed from New York.

In 1856, Hall and Loescher purchased land at First and Manitowoc and moved their brewing operations there. The horse-powered brewery was well established by 1860, when it reported 600 barrels produced to the industrial census of that year. Andrew Lemmel, who boarded with Loescher, was also employed by the brewery.

While some accounts have Loescher remaining with the brewery until 1871, he had in fact retired from active involvement in the mid-1860s and was replaced by John Lenz.1165 Hall & Lenz produced one thousand barrels in 1870, about three times the amount of their crosstown competitors at Island City brewery. Hall & Lenz sold out in 1872 to Mertz & Behse (or Behre) who, according to the R. G. Dun credit reports, did a generally good business. However, Behse died in 1878, and Mertz was left with considerable debt and the affairs of the brewery in disorder.1166 This is reflected in the production of the brewery, which dropped from 868 barrels in 1878 to only 615 the next year.

Werner Winz, a former Menasha resident and Milwaukee-trained brewer who had gone to Appleton to operate a brewery, returned to Menasha and purchased the brewery apparently with Frederick Loescher as a partner (though Mertz was still in the 1880 census as a brewer, and may have stayed on as an employee). Shortly thereafter, Loescher retired again and Winz ran the brewery on his own.1167 The brewery maintained a capacity of about 1,000 barrels for the next several years, but during this period did not have its own malting or bottling operations. Winz incorporated the brewery with partners Peter Ducart and Julius Hartmann in April 1889 as Menasha Brewing Co.—the name it would keep through Prohibition.1168

In 1895 the Menasha Brewing Co. plant burned to the ground, but like several other fires in this era, it may have allowed the brewery to update the plant and equipment in a way they may not have without the urgent need.1169 As built in 1895 the complex did not include a bottling house, but by 1900 this feature was present, along with expanded icehouses.

During Prohibition, the Menasha Brewing Co. continued to brew cereal beverages through 1921, but after that the buildings were converted to other uses. One of those uses was illegal distilling. An explosion in June 1930 exposed a massive operation with 120,000 gallons of mash, 2,500 gallons of alcohol and twenty-five tons of corn sugar seized by authorities. Authorities sought a padlock order, but another raid in 1931 found beer being made on the premises.1170 The brewery would be reopened several years later as Fox Valley Brewing Co. The former location of the brewery is now Winz Park.

• J. Dudler (1857?–1860?)

Dudler is mostly known from the not particularly reliable 1857 and 1858 state business directories, but there is also a Peter Dummet (or something similar) in the 1860 census, a brewer in Menasha who owned $300 of real estate. This business may also have been the predecessor of the Island City Brewery, but no link is yet confirmed.

• Peter Caspary, Island City Brewery (1860?–68)
• Joseph F. Mayer & Co., Island City Brewery (1868–1875)
• Joseph Mayer, Island City Brewery (1875–79)
• Habermehl & Mueller, Island City Brewery (1879–1882)
• George Habermehl, Island City Brewery (1882–86)
• Edward Fueger, Island Brewery (1886–88)
• Walter Bros. & Fries, Island City Brewery (1888–1891)
• Walter Bros. Brewing Co., Island City Brewery (1891–1920)
• Walter Bros. Brewing Co. (1933–1956)
• 134–144 Nicolet Boulevard and Commercial Street

Peter Caspary (Caspari) was reputed to have started the Island City Brewery in 1860, but Lee Reiherzer’ research suggests that Caspary was not in Menasha at that date, and did not purchase the land until 1866.1171

While Joseph Mayer’s term as proprietor of the brewery was generally satisfactory, he decided to sell out at the end of 1879 for about $20,000 to “parties from Milwaukee,” as the common phrase of the era put it.1172 These parties were Habermehl & Mueller, who spent 1880 building a new brewery on the site. Early reports on their business abilities were favorable, but the new brewery evidently put them in significant debt—the brewery itself was estimated to have cost about $35,000 and the equipment another $15,000. The brewery had what the R. G. Dun & Co. credit evaluator called “a little bad luck with their beer for a time” but they apparently recovered. However, by 1883 Habermehl and Mueller had split, which caused the brewery even more financial difficulty.1173

In 1886 the Island Brewery was unable to pay its bills, and was sold at auction in order to pay the sums owed to Milwaukee malters.1174 The purchaser was Edward Fueger, who at the time was with the Obermann brewery of Milwaukee. Fueger held the property for almost exactly a year until he too went bankrupt, and a group of Neenah men purchased the building. None of them were brewers, and they sought a buyer. The city had a near miss with notoriety when John Arensdorf of Sioux City, Iowa arrived to negotiate for the brewery. While he was an experienced brewer, he had also been charged with killing a temperance activist clergyman in Iowa, and though acquitted, the court of public opinion still held that he was guilty.1175 Eventually this sale fell through and the brewery was purchased by Frank Fries of Appleton. Observers still seemed to think that the brewery could be profitable since a newspaper article argued that “[t]he property is a bargain at that price” which was $9,000.

Fries brought with him two partners who would provide generations of stability for the brewery: Christian and Martin Walter. The brothers, whose family also operated several other breweries in Wisconsin at various times, soon bought out Fries and created Walter Bros. Brewing Co. over the next decade, the Walters basically remodeled the entire brewery. A new malt house was in place by 1891, and soon after they added their own bottling plant and a warehouse that could store about 1,000 cases of beer.1176 Walter Bros. made a strong effort to hold on to their home market, at one point winning a bidding war with Pabst over a prime piece of property on Broad Street.1177 The Walters of Menasha also had sizeable financial interests in the Walter brewery in Pueblo, Colorado.

Walter Bros. continued brewing right up until the beginning of Prohibition, and in fact, somewhat past it. Walter Bros. was among the first companies to be charged with violating the federal Prohibition Act in 1920, and the brewery was also fined for a violation in 1923.1178

Walter Bros. Brewing Co. needed several months to repair the brewery and install new equipment when Prohibition ended, but they obtained their permit in May 1933 and had their GEM and Gold Label beers back on the market as soon as possible.1179 As the company re-established itself in the market, it continued to expand the plant. In 1937 alone, the brewery set about rebuilding and expanding the malthouse, remodeling the cellars, adding new bottling equipment, and installing “the latest type of gas collector for saving the natural gas of the beer.”1180 In early 1938 the president of the company, Charles Kulnick, died, bringing to an end fifty years in the beer business that began with Schreihart’s brewery in Manitowoc. At this point the brewery consistently produced about 13,000 barrels per year. During the 1930s, Walter Bros. advertised that it would buy barley from local farmers at “highest market prices,” an ad much more common fifty or more years earlier.1181 Kurbstor Gardens, a beer garden and beer retailer in Menasha, contracted with Walter Bros. to produce a special brand, Kurbstor Special Beer, which was introduced at the grand opening of the new garden in June 1937.1182

Walter Bros. Brewing was one of the few smaller post-Prohibition breweries that reached peak production in the early 1950s rather than the late 1940s. Some of this may have been due to a change in management in 1949, when several members of the Hopfensberger family took over the business (though Charles Lingelbach stayed on as brewmaster). The new management trumpeted the success of the Gem Pilsner 7-ounce package, which placed eighth in bottling and sales in the state in November 1950. Walter Bros. continued to brew bock beer, and was forced to increase production in 1950 after it sold out early in 1949. (In 1952 they brought out the bock at Christmastime, and under the Gem label.)1183 But from a high of around 31,000 barrels in 1951 (about half of the 60,000 barrel capacity), production dropped slowly for a few years, to 25,301 barrels in 1953, and precipitously thereafter. The brewery’s sales range was all within a fifty-mile radius of the plant, a zone which included several other breweries as well as agencies for many national brewers. The brewery closed in June 1956 and was razed in 1960. The malt house remained and was used by Chilton Malting Co.1184

• Fox Valley Brewing Co. (1940–42)
• 501–505 Manitowoc Street (Brewery at First and Manitowoc)

Despite rumors that Menasha Brewing Co. would open soon after beer was legalized, it was several years before the old plant would be placed in operation. Fox Valley Brewing Co. filed articles of incorporation in 1936, but the first few annual reports could only report that they were “equipping and constructing plant to be used as brewery.” The company had some initial difficulties with another business in Menasha called Valley Brewing Co. that wanted to force Fox Valley to change its name, but Fox Valley was allowed to use the name (and Valley Brewing never produced any beer that could be confused with Fox Valley’s product).1185 While initial predictions claimed production would begin in January 1937, remodeling the old plant at First and Manitowoc went at a slow pace. The local assessor for Wisconsin’s Beverage Tax Division reported in 1938: “Contacted this brewery and found no activity there. No beer has been brewed. Doors of brewery were open but could find no one in the building. . . . in the past three years I have called at this place, and from all appearances no progress has been made.” Despite the fact they received their federal permit to start brewing in July 1938, they were nowhere near ready.1186

The City of Menasha attempted to accelerate the process by debating a resolution exempting the brewery from taxes for three years if it was operated at full capacity during that time. John Feiner, brewmaster and point person for the business, urged the council to pass the resolution by noting that the firm would employ local labor (“except in the key posts”) and that “reopening the brewery would be like securing a new industry” (and they would pay existing back taxes). The resolution passed with only one dissenting vote.1187 Production finally started in April 1940, though no name had been selected for the beer and “Mr. Feiner plans to hold a contest to select a name for the new product.” From appearances, Feiner won his own contest since the new beer was called Feiner beer.1188 Bottled beer did not appear until November. The brewery produced 1,490 barrels in 1940, over 2,000 the next year, but only 140 in the first few months of 1942 before it went out of business for good.

Menomonie (Dunn County)

• Virginia French (1856?–1858?)

The only contemporary reference for this brewery is the 1857 state business directory. There was indeed a Virginia French in Menomonie at the time, but she was the wife of a clerk—twenty-three years old and with an infant daughter—and unlikely to have been a commercial brewer.

• Christian Fuss, Rock Brewery (1866?–1884)
• Charles Diener (1885-?)
• Weber & Werner (1888?)
• Jacob Kiewel, City Brewery (1890?–1891)
• Brewery Hill, west end of modern Twelfth Avenue

Clarifying the history of the Menomonie breweries is complicated not just by the multiple municipalities named Menomonie and the different versions of the spelling. It is further confused by brewers named Fuss in Menomonie or Menomonee in both Dunn and Waukesha counties. Making matters worse, the Menomonie newspapers never covered events at the brewery, including major fires and ownership changes.

Sometime prior to mid-1867, Christian Fuss established his brewery and beer garden on what came to be known as Brewery Hill. There are no known references to his brewery prior to his appearance in the 1867 excise records, but he may have been going prior to that time. Throughout the 1870s Fuss typically produced between 300 and 400 barrels per year, with a peak of 454 in 1877. However, at the end of 1877, his brewery was destroyed by fire. Insurance covered the loss, but as was often the case, he built a larger and better-equipped brewery and went into debt. The few records of the brewery suggest that Fuss was in debt at least sometime before and after the fire, since he was sued at least twice to recover payment on loans. Even so, the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports suggest that he was doing a good business in the new brewery.1189 However in 1884 he was bankrupt and sold the brewery. The first purchaser appears to have been Charles Diener, though it is possible that he did not actually operate the brewery since he is not listed in industry directories.1190 (Research by Richard D. Rossin Jr. found that Diener was Fuss’s son-in-law.1191) Some local accounts indicate that a G. Weber had the brewery around 1888, and the Sanborn map of that year showed the property owned by Weber & Werner, but also noted that the brewery was not in operation.

At some point prior to 1891, Jacob Kiewel of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, purchased the brewery. This is a bit of a mystery since Kiewel was still operating his brewery in Minnesota until 1892, but it is possible he purchased the Wisconsin business as a hedge because of the frequent dry votes in Fergus Falls. The end of the City Brewery came in February 1891, when it was destroyed by fire.1192 Kiewel subsequently purchased a brewery in Little Falls, Minnesota, and Menomonie City Brewery was not rebuilt.

Christian Fuss came to a sad end. He died in 1894 at age sixty, and “died destitute in a brewery where he had for several years past worked for his board.”1193 Since his former brewery had not been rebuilt, he must have gone to work at the Burkhardt brewery.

• August Geisert (1866?–1872)
• Roleff & Wagner (1873?–1880)
• Fred Wagner (1880–84)
• Henry H. Brown (1884–85?)
• Burkhardt Bros. (1888–1893)
• Gottfried Burkhardt (1893–95)
• Louis Burkhardt (1895–97)
• G. Burkhardt & Son (1897–1912)
• Josef Niedermair’s Brewery (1912–16)
• Hudson Road, Section 21, Township 28 North, Range 13 West

Sometime in the mid-1860s, August Geisert established a brewery west of Menomonie, though the date is not certain because he could have been in production prior to his first appearance in the excise records. Geisert was the only one of Menomonie’s breweries to make enough money to be recorded in the 1870 industrial census: he made 400 barrels that sold for $8.00 each in his hand-powered brewery.

Geisert died in April 1872, and his brewery passed to the partnership of Roleff and Wagner (or Wagoner). The surveyor for R. G. Dun & Co. reported that the firm was not doing a very heavy business, perhaps because they “don’t make very [good] beer.” However, by 1881 Fred Wagner was sole proprietor, and the Dun reports noted that business had improved.1194 In 1881, Wagner’s brewery was destroyed by fire.1195 He proceeded to rebuild, and apparently reestablished his reputation and credit.1196 The new brewery had a capacity of between 1,5000 and 2,000 barrels per year, and while it is not known if Geisert had a malt house in his brewery, Wagner’s new brewery did. Western Brewer reported in March that Henry H. Brown had succeeded Fred Wagner at the brewery, but he never appears in any other industry publication, and may have purchased a bankrupt brewery and held it until he could sell it. (It is possible that neither Menomonie brewery was operating in 1887, since neither appears in the state industry reports for that year.)

The Burkhardt brothers from Minnesota were the next proprietors, and the brewery stayed in the family for nearly twenty-five years. During their time the brewery probably produced a few thousand barrels a year, though local accounts claim they were producing 10,000 barrels annually. (One of these articles also claims that the beer was 12–14 percent alcohol, which also was extremely unlikely.)1197 Again, because the Menomonie newspapers did not report on events at the brewery, the operations of the brewery at this time are largely unknown. Josef Neidermair operated the brewery for the last few years. The reason for the closure of the brewery was not reported.

• Das Bierhaus (2007–2016)
• 120 Sixth Avenue West

Robert Wilbers, a native of Germany and graduate of the Weihenstephaner brewing school in Munich, brewed a range of authentic German lagers at Das Bierhaus, a small German restaurant on the edge of downtown Menomonie. In addition to the standard year-round German styles, Wilbers brewed seasonals and specialties like roggenbier, rauchbier, and dunkel weizenbock. An occasional non-German style such as Belgian dubbel appeared on the beer menu.1198

• Lucette Brewing Co. (2010–present)
• 910 Hudson Road

Mike Wilson had heard about the old Burkhardt brewery in Menomonie, and was intrigued by the idea of starting a brewery in the city. He and Tim Schletty, Tim’s father Fred and Tim Drkula found a location along Hudson Road, the same road Burkhardt’s brewery was on, and began brewing in 2010. Wilson, Tim Schletty and head brewer Jon Christiansen were the only employees at first, but by 2016 the company had twenty-five employees. The name Lucette comes from Paul Bunyan’s sweetheart, and honors the lumbering industry that was the source of Menomonie’s prosperity.

The first beers were only available in kegs, but in 2012 Lucette added a canning line and offered their flagship beers in 16-ounce cans. The brewery has also introduced a series of Belgian-style beers, sour beers, and other small-batch projects, which have been available on draft or in 750 ml bottles.

In 2015 Lucette added a restaurant, the Lucette Woodfire Eatery, which specializes in pizza using locally sourced ingredients.1199

• Real Deal Beer (2014–present)
• 603 South Broadway

The Raw Deal in Menomonie features raw, vegan, and gluten free food. In 2014, the Raw Deal asked Ryan Verdon to brew some house beers for the restaurant that matched their philosophy of locally sourced ingredients and a minimum of processing. Real Deal Brewery is a nanobrewery that only sells their beer in the taproom.1200

Mequon (Thiensville) (Ozaukee County)

• Opitz & Zimmerman (1857–59)
• Adolphus Zimmerman (1859–1876)
• Franz Zimmerman & Co. (1876?–1887?)
• August Gerlach (1887?–1900?)
• Modern Highway 167 near Modern Industrial Drive

An 1881 county history is unusually clear (and accurate) about the early years of what was generally called the Mequon Brewery. Adolphus (Adolph) Zimmerman and partner William Opitz built the Mequon Brewery in 1857, and ran it under that name until Zimmerman bought out Opitz in 1859. It is possible that production did not start until 1858, since the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports used the phrase “have been building a brewery” in February 1858, suggesting it wasn’t quite finished.1201 Zimmerman was a four-term State Assemblyman and a nationally prominent Democratic politician; Opitz also served a term in the State Assembly. By 1860, Zimmermann’s production was already 1,200 barrels per year, making his the largest brewery in the county. This was in spite of the lingering effects of the Panic of 1857, which caused the Dun evaluator to note in February 1859 “business is very much curtailed this season” and in February 1860 that Zimmerman was doing well “despite the hard times.” Throughout the 1870s his production was around 1,000 barrels per year, which required him to register as a “large” brewer for purposes of excise taxation (and pay an extra $50 per year). In 1876, likely to find the time needed for his political activities, Zimmerman rented the brewery to his son Franz (Francis) and son-in-law August Gerlach.1202

The new partnership, sometimes listed as F. Zimmerman & Co., continued the same level of production as before, and according to Wing’s 1884 directory, had at least a small bottling operation (which was not listed in subsequent directories, but which does not necessarily mean they stopped bottling). Wing’s 1887 directory was the first to note that Zimmerman & Co. had a malthouse, but that feature also could have been present earlier.

Sometime in the late 1880s August Gerlach became sole proprietor of the brewery (Wing’s 1887 directory still has Zimmerman, though it may not have been up to date). Gerlach appears to have operated the brewery through 1900, since he disappears from directories after that year. Brewing was not done forever at the Mequon Brewery, but the final brewing was illegal. In 1926, prohibition agents raided the old brewery, “a landmark in this vicinity,” and seized 1,000 gallons of beer and 2,000 gallons of fermenting wort. The wildcat brewers had constructed a loading dock for delivery trucks that “was concealed from the sight of passers-by.”1203

• Charles Engels (1859?–1860s?)
• Engels & Runge (1860s)
• Engels & Hadan (1860s?–67)
• Manz & Goetz (1867–68)
• Jacob Manz (1868–69?)

Since Charles Engels was already producing a substantial 850 barrels in 1860, it is likely that he started brewing at least a year or two before then. (Since Engels’ oldest child was eight years old in 1860 and born in Wisconsin, it is possible that he could have started brewing in the early 1850s.) Engels was assisted in 1860 by Andreas Fleischmann, a twenty-two year-old brewer who boarded at the brewery. Later on, Engels took on partners, but stayed involved with the brewery until mid-1867.1204 Manz & Goetz appear for the first time in excise records in September 1867, and this partnership seems to have lasted for about a year, after which Manz ran the brewery briefly on his own.

• Jacob Harz (1859?–1869?)
• Harz & Co. (1869?–1870)
• Harz & Manz (1870–71)

Jacob Harz likely started his brewery prior to 1860, since he is listed in the 1860 industrial census as producing 350 barrels in the preceding fiscal year. Harz continues to make regular appearances in the excise records through 1871, occasionally under the name Harz & Co., and appears as Harz & Manz in the 1870 industrial census, though it is not clear whether Mr. Manz was John or Gottlob. That year, the horse-powered brewery produced 210 barrels, which sold for about $9.50 per barrel. Harz was fifty-eight years old in 1870, and owned land worth $8,000, so he may have simply retired.

Merrill (Lincoln County)

• Geo. Ruder (1884–88)
• Geo. Ruder Brewery, Emil Ruder (1888–1894)
• (Louis) Leidiger Brewing Co. (1896–1920)
• Leidiger Brewing Co. (1933–1948)
• 1609 River Street (River and Nast Streets)

Wausau brewer George Ruder, likely seeking additional capacity to satisfy customers who could not be supplied from his first plant, built a second brewery in Merrill in 1883, and brought the first beer to market the next year. This brewery was built to a capacity of about 3,000 barrels per year, and is believed to have produced that much as early as 1887.1205 Wing’s 1884 directory indicates that Ruder’s brewery offered bottled beer, though the Sanborn insurance maps showed no separate bottling facility at that point (and did not until 1902). While sources disagree on precisely when, at some point in the mid-1880s George turned the brewery over to his son Emil, who ran the brewery until his untimely death in May 1894. (George had passed away only a few months earlier.)1206 According to Emil’s son George, his mother ran the brewery with her younger son William for about two years before selling it.1207

Brothers Louis and Ernest Leidiger had owned a brewery in Sturgeon Bay during the 1880s, but sold it in 1887 because Ernest was having health problems. However, they decided to get back into brewing, purchased the Ruder brewery in 1896 and incorporated Leidiger Brewing Co. The same year. An article in the Merrill Daily Herald looking back from 1934 probably overstated the rustic origins of the brewery: “Way back in 1896 Ernest, Louis, and Rudolph Leidiger began to brew their golden beverage in a small frame building on the corner of River and Nast streets,” and continued to note that the 3,000 barrels the Leidigers brewed their first year was “hardly enough to take care of one good Liederkranz convention.”1208 While the joke about the consumption habits of Germans in song was no doubt appreciated, 3,000 barrels was hardly a small production total, and was more than many breweries in comparable cities. The brewery was already a modern one, equipped with steam power, and all the Leidigers had to do was continue to improve it. Most of the improvements were made by Ernest, since Louis died in 1900 and Rudolph provided financial support but remained in Milwaukee. Leidiger Brewing added refrigeration and a new bottling plant in 1901, and a new brewhouse followed shortly thereafter which increased capacity to 12,000 barrels. According to local tradition, Ernest Leidiger had a telephone in his first house in Merrill, but was so besieged by saloonkeepers calling him at all hours for more beer that when he moved into the former Ruder residence he refused to install a telephone in his new home.1209

The Leidiger family continued to improve the brewery until Prohibition, and longtime Leidiger brewmaster August Oppert continued to refine the beer. During Prohibition, the brewery turned to making cereal beverages and bottling soft drinks. However, Ernest Leidiger died in 1922, and in 1925 his son Louis G. Leidiger sold the brewery (but not the bottling plant) to Harry Hawley. The brewery was renamed the Merrill Brewing Co. for the rest of Prohibition.

In the early 1930s Louis G. Leidiger pursued a career in politics and was elected to the State Assembly in 1932 on a platform specifically calling for the return of real beer. The “Leidiger Bill” became the legislation that governed the sale of beer in Wisconsin, and Leidiger served out his term and returned to Merrill to take advantage of the changes he helped bring about.1210 The newly renamed and reincorporated Leidiger Brewing Co. was not ready to distribute on the first day of legal beer, so the first beer in Merrill on 7 April 1933 was Chief Oshkosh.1211 The capacity of the brewery was sometimes cited as 50,000 barrels, and while some sources claim the company reached this level, figures from the Wisconsin Beverage Tax Division show that was typically closer to 10,000 barrels per year. The company still had a solid reputation in the region, and Leidiger was known locally as a talented wrestler.1212

Even though the brewery still turned a profit at times during the post-Prohibition years, competition from breweries both near and far, and the death of Louis G. Leidiger in 1943 made it difficult for the brewery to carry on. The Leidigers sold the brewery to A. A. Wenzel of Milwaukee, but he died in 1944, and in 1945 Alex Tankenoff of the Bloomer Brewing Co. purchased the brewery. Tankenoff wanted the Merrill plant more for access to its wartime grain quota than for any other merit of the plant. He used the brewery to increase production of his own Buckingham Ale and Beer brands but eliminated sales at the brewery, deliveries outside of Merrill and closed distributors.

In 1947 Tankenoff closed both the Bloomer and Merrill breweries. A group of local investors attempted to keep the brewery going and purchased it from Tankenoff against his advice. The new brand Lincoln Lager failed to sell and the company closed for good in 1948.1213

• Nelson & Anderson (1904)
• Erick Nelson (1904–1905?)
• 118 West First Street

In early 1904 the partnership of Nelson & Anderson started a small brewery in Merrill dedicated to producing Scandinavian-style ale. Their June advertisement in the Merrill Advocate announced: “Having decided to begin the manufacture of MALT ALE—SVAG DRIKA in the Sixth Ward, we desire to notify all who may desire to use this most healthful and invigorating beverage that I shall be pleased to deliver it to them upon order in person, by letter or telephone, at any time. We are now ready.”1214 Their “Malt Ale” was priced at $1.00 for a case of bottles or a mere 75¢ for an eighth-barrel keg. By August the advertisement only carried the name of Erick Nelson, and the ad was gone from the paper by mid-October. The latter is not necessarily proof that the brewery closed then, but there are no further references after the 1905 Brewers’ Handbook.

• Sawmill Brewing Co. (2017–present)

Sawmill Brewing Co. not only pays tribute to the logging heritage of the Merrill area, but it is located in a forest ranger station built in 1940–41. Most of the exterior was preserved, and local artisans and contractors created and installed most of the interior details and furniture. The beers include a variety of lagers and ales along with less common styles such as bière de garde.1215