Columbus (Columbia County)

• Jacob Jussen (1848?–49)
• Alois Brauchle (1849–1886?)
• Peter Brauchle (1886?–1897)
• August Nothhelfer (1897–1900)
• Agnes Brauchle (1900–1901)
• City Brewing Co. (1901–3?)
• Ludington Street

According to an 1880 county history, Jacob Jussen was “the pioneer brewer of Columbus.” Apparently the brewery was situated in his house on the west bank of the Crawfish River. Jussen soon sold the brewery to Alois Brauchle (sometimes called Louis or A. Louis), who had trained as a brewer in Wurtemburg. He worked for Johann Braun in Milwaukee for two years, then went to a brewery in Racine before coming to Columbus to work for Jussen in 1848.270 There are few records of early production, since Brauchle was not included in either the 1850 or 1860 industry censuses. This is not surprising, given that even in the early 1870s Brauchle was still producing well under 100 barrels a year. In fact, in 1874, he only produced four barrels, but recovered to sixty-nine the next year, which put him at the lead of the city’s three breweries, who seldom totaled 200 barrels until 1879. Brauchle also sold ice at his brewery, which in 1859 he sold for 1¢ per pound and which he claimed was “the purest kind, and was put up on purpose for family use, and for cooling drinks in saloons.”271

In the 1860s, Brauchle had a solid reputation, but in the mid-1870s he began to suffer financial reverses, and by 1880 was regarded as a poor credit risk.272 In 1884, Alois’ son Peter took over the brewery. In 1886 he struck a new artesian well at the brewery, though this new well apparently reduced the flow of other wells in Columbus.273 Excise records show that Peter produced more than 500 barrels in 1894, but dropped back below that mark by 1896. Brauchle appears to have left brewing in 1897, even though his name is still found in the often-inaccurate state business directories as late as 1905. During August Nothhelfer’s term the brewery suffered a major fire sometime after September 1898, just a day after the insurance had expired. However, the 1904 Sanborn map indicates that Brauchle was operating a small pop factory in one room of the old brewery, the rest of which was labeled vacant and “not kept in repairs.” The proprietorships of Peter’s wife Agnes and the later City Brewing Co. are not well documented and may have simply represented continued ownership of the property rather than an active brewery.

• Henry Kurth (1859–1880)
• John H. Kurth (1880–86)
• John H. Kurth & Co. (1886–1904)
• The Kurth Co. (1904–1920)
• The Kurth Company (1933–1949)
• Ludington Street, later Park Avenue

Henry Kurth clearly intended to make a career of brewing in Columbus, since a contemporary history claims that he arrived with “his family and a four-barrel brewer’s boiler.” In 1865 he had prospered enough from the “’creamy, dreamy beer’” to build a new brick brewery at a cost of $4,000, which he equipped over the course of the next year with new equipment. The new brewery had a capacity of sixty barrels per week, though local demand was seldom more than 300 barrels per year through the 1870s.274 In 1880, Henry turned the company over to his son John Henry, whose brother Christian joined the newly named John H. Kurth & Co. in 1886. The second generation expanded the brewery over the next few decades: in the early years of the twentieth century they built a new five-story brewery, and added on to nearly every part of the brewery including the bottling department which had been started in 1895.

A modern account of the brewery history by John Robert Kurth claims that the “heyday” of the brewery was in the early 1910s. The plant had a capacity of 100 barrels a day and supplied three tied houses in Columbus and seventeen others throughout the area. The company offered six different beers during this period: Banner lager, the darker Luxemburg, Columbia, a bock, Xmas Brew, and a draught lager. The brewery had its own hop farm, and distribution warehouses in Luxemburg, Portage and Tomah.

Kurth became a union shop in 1903 with thirteen charter members, whose wages increased to $2.50 a week. Malt house workers also received one day off per month. Employment data compiled by the state of Wisconsin in 1908 showed that the company employed thirty men and one woman, but most of these worked in the malt house, which had become much more important than the brewery.275 This gap grew in 1916 when the brewery suffered a catastrophic fire. The brewery was rebuilt, but with the imminent onset of Prohibition, beer never had a chance to re-establish itself.

The Kurth Co. malting business expanded significantly in 1911 when it established a plant in Milwaukee on Burnham Street (an area that was the center of Milwaukee’s malting district for much of the twentieth century). The new facility had a capacity of two million bushels, making it one of the largest in the country.

Kurth Co. made some soft drinks during Prohibition, and resumed brewing shortly after beer was re-legalized. Its post-Prohibition brewing capacity was a modest 25,000 barrels, but after 1940 production was an even more modest 1,000 barrels per year. The Banner and Luxemburg brands had a small local following, but the attention of the company was on the profitable malting business, and brewing ceased in June 1949. Most of the buildings were removed over the years, and as of this writing only the office building remains, which is operated as a part-time tavern by LauRetta and John Robert Kurth.

• Stephen Fleck, Farmer’s Brewery (1869–1880)
• Hayden Bros. (1880–81)
• Ludington Street

Stephen Fleck began brewing in Columbus in 1869. The brewery was a small one that supplied only the immediate area. The Farmer’s Brewery name and the small production suggest that the brewery was a side business for Fleck. In none of the years with known production quantities did he make more than sixty barrels (though he did out-produce Henry Kurth for a few years in the mid-1870s).276 The Hayden brothers appear in some brewery lists, but without information about their business.

• Hydro Street Brewing Co. (2011–15)
• 152 West James Street

Aaron and Sandye Adams began serving house-brewed beer at their small brewpub in downtown Columbus in late 2011, though the grand opening was not until January 2012. The brewhouse was essentially a small system of homebrewing equipment which had a capacity of about one barrel per batch. Initial reception by the community was favorable, and the mug club had over 300 members by 2013. Hydro Street bottled some of their beers, notable among these was Seven Sisters Scotch Ale, which was strong enough on draught at 8.5 percent, but the bottled version was 10.7 percent.

The building, while historic, made brewing operations difficult. Attempts to expand brewing capacity required significant upgrades to the building. Hydro Street received a significant loan from the city of Columbus in 2013 to expand the business, but in 2015 they defaulted on the loan and the business closed.277

Cornell (Chippewa County)

• Moon Ridge Brewpub (2015–present)
• 501 Bridge Street

After being inspired while on vacation by the success of a brewery on the island of Maui, Roger and Cindy Miller decided to start a brewpub at home in Chippewa County. Their business opened in November 2015 in a former restaurant. Roger designs and brews the beers, and Cindy creates pizzas using dough made from spent brewing grain.278

Response from the community was enthusiastic, and in 2017 the Millers began an expansion program to increase the space in the restaurant and brewhouse and to install larger brewing equipment.

Cross Plains (Dane County)

• Geo. Esser & Son (1863–1885)
• Jacob Esser, Cross Plains Brewery (1885–1910)
• End of West Brewery Road

George Esser was one of the relatively rare brewers to establish his business during the Civil War when manpower was scarce. By 1870 Esser’s brewery was comparatively large for a rural brewery, producing in excess of 500 barrels per year and by the end of the decade production approached 1,000 barrels. George’s son Jacob joined the firm in 1881. George rented the brewery to Jacob in 1885, and it was run under his name for the next quarter century. Like most other breweries of the era, they delivered beer to the surrounding communities themselves, with a barrel of beer priced at $7 while a case of thirty-six bottles cost $1.75.

Competition from larger brewers in Madison and Milwaukee eventually forced the family to become distributors for other breweries as well as making their own beer. However, the company mortgaged the brewery to Hausmann Brewing Co. of Madison for $12,000 in 1910, and stopped brewing in Cross Plains. The family name moved in 1912 to Janesville where the old Hemming brewery became the Geo. H. Esser Ale & Porter Brewery. The Cross Plains business distributed Hausmann’s beer until Prohibition at which point their main product became Blatz’s near beer. Family accounts suggest that they continued to sell significant amounts of real beer as well.

The company resumed distributing beer after Prohibition, specializing in Fauerbach and Heileman’s Old Style, as well as Ballantine Ale. At this writing, the fifth and sixth generations of Esser’s family are keeping the old family label alive. Esser’s Best and Esser’s Cross Plains Special were reintroduced in the mid-1990s by the father and son team of Wayne and Larry Esser and brewed under contract.279 (Additional information on the early years of George Esser’s brewery is found in Chapters 2 and 3.)

Dallas (Barron County)

• Viking Brewing Co. (1994–2010)
• Five Star Brewing Co. (2010–11)
• Valkyrie Brewing Co (2011–present)
• 234 Dallas Street West

Randy and Ann Lee founded the first microbrewery in Northwest Wisconsin in 1994 in a former Ford dealership in the small town of Dallas. Viking Brewing Co. became best known for unusual beers, including Hot Chocolate, with cocoa and hot peppers, and their first-ever brew, Mjød, an interpretation of a braggot (or bracket)—a mix of mead and beer. Another early beer was Fiddler’s Finest, brewed for the Fiddler’s Inn tavern just across the street from the brewery. The brewing schedule was largely dependent on the temperature in the poorly insulated brewery—ales were brewed during the warmer summer months and lager in the winter. Viking started packaging their beer in 22 oz bottles, but switched to 12-ounce bottles in 2005. The bottling machine is extremely old, which makes bottling “painful,” but they have no plans to spend the money necessary for a canning line.

In 2010, the Lees sold their U.S. trademark on the Viking name to an Icelandic brewery that wanted to ship its Viking beer to America. The brewery operated briefly as Five Star Brewing, with a plan to offer a more traditional line of beers in six-packs instead of four-packs. The Lees were able to return to their Viking identity with the new name of Valkyrie, and abandoned the plan to limit the varieties of beer. During the course of a typical year, between fifteen and twenty beers are available in bottles or on draft.280

While Viking brands were distributed in Minnesota, Valkyrie beers have been distributed mostly in a five-county range near the brewery. (A few accounts come to the brewery to pick up beer.) Some of the old Viking beers returned as styles became popular again. Valkyrie War Hammer is a variation on the old Viking Whole Stein: a coffee, oatmeal milk porter. Most of the beers emphasize grain rather than hops, but Supernova, a “Royal Australian” (not “imperial”) IPA reaches 90 IBU while balanced with complex malt character.281

Valkyrie has continued its heritage of supporting community events from Morris Dancing to jazz combos. Their Oktoberfest has been popular for many years, especially the years when they cooked an extremely large bratwurst—often around 150 feet long. Continuing the tradition of brewers seeking political office, Randy planned a run for governor in 2002, and went so far as to start collecting signatures to get on the ballot.

Darlington (Willow Springs Township) (Lafayette County)

• Ashworth and Jackson (1867–1872?)
• Collins & Christ (1872?–1877)

About one and one-half miles from Darlington on the banks of the West Pecatonia River

An early history of Lafayette County suggests that John Collins and John Chris [sic] started their brewery shortly after the Civil War, but the 1870 census does not list them as brewers. It is more likely that the brewery was started by Edmond Ashworth and Mr. Jackson. The excise records indicate that they started brewing in July 1867. Local historian John Dutcher contends that Ashworth and Jackson operated the brewery until around 1872, at which point Collins and Christ took over. Circumstantial evidence for this is found in the 1870 population census where Ashworth and Christ are near neighbors. Excise records for 1877 show Ignatius Collins as the party responsible for the tax. The brewery was struck by lightning and burned in 1877, thus “leaving the town free of this respectable nuisance.”282

Deerfield (Dane County)

• Erik S. Hanhagen/Hauchung/Hanahaugh (1867–1870?)
• John Writenberg (?) (1868)
• E. Silperson (1870?–72?)

The inconsistent and often unreadable handwriting of those collecting data for directories, tax records, and the census adds confusion to the story of Deerfield’s brewery. It appears that Erik S. Hanhagen or Hauchung began selling beer in November 1867. He may have leased the brewery to John Writenberg for several months in 1868 since Writenberg’s name appears in the excise records. The 1872 state business directory claims the Deerfield brewery is run by E. Silperson, but it is likely that this is yet another misspelling of the original brewer’s name (a contention supported by historian Wayne Kroll).283

Delafield Township (Waukesha County)

• L. Wolff (1849?–1850?)

L. Wolff had a fairly substantial brewery in Waukesha county around 1850, since he reported production of over 300 barrels in the 1850 census of industry. While the industry census placed his brewery in Delafield, the population census of that year places him in Summit township. It is not clear how long he remained in business—the only possible clue was a notice of an 1859 sheriff’s sale of land in Delafield that included brewery lots (though no owner was listed).284

Delafield (Waukesha County)

• Joseph Dietrick, Delafield Brewery (1870?)
• Mill Street

The Delafield Brewery on Mill Street is noted in secondary sources, and Joseph Dietrick is listed as a brewer in the 1870 population census.

• Delafield Brewhaus (1999–present)
• 3832 Hillside Drive

The Delafield Brewhaus has developed a reputation for the variety and quality of its house beers. John Harrison, who has been with the Brewhaus since the beginning, and brewing chemist Dana Wolle established a disciplined process for making a wide variety of beer styles. Unlike many smaller breweries, Harrison and Wolle experimented with using as many as twenty different strains of yeast instead of one or two strains.

Founded originally by Mary Ann and Kim Witt and Cheryl and John Poweleit, Delafield Brewhaus was able to take advantage of a growing suburban region near major highways, and was one of the first brewpubs in Wisconsin to be located in a building built specifically for that business. Harrison selected a top of the line brewhouse, which is located right in the middle of the restaurant. The most notable features other than the brewing system are the giant fermenters that set off portions of the restaurant—brought in from Stevens Point brewery after they were withdrawn after one hundred years of service. Co-owner Bob Flemming has displayed a portion of his breweriana collection on the wall.

• Water Street Brewery Lake Country (2000–present)
• 3191 Golf Road

The first foray of Milwaukee’s Water Street Brewery into the suburbs was to the west in Delafield. This restaurant opened in 2000, and featured a similar display of breweriana to the Milwaukee location.

Denmark (Brown County)

• Denmark Brewing Co. (1934–1947)
• 113 Main Street

The Denmark Brewing Co. was one of the rare breweries to open after Prohibition in a city that had not hosted a brewery before the dry years. The company was incorporated in 1933, and began production in 1934. Old Town Lager was the first brand, joined in 1938 by 20th Century Pale (pictured in chapter 7). The company built an addition in 1937, and production ranged between 12,000 and 20,000 barrels per year until the mid-1940s.

The end of the brewery was turbulent. In addition to rumored ties to Chicago gangsters, Alvin Bardin, a resident of Portage who was then president of the company, was accused by a stockholder of misappropriating about $400,000 of brewery funds, dealing in the black market, watering the beer and selling only eleven ounces of beer in the 12-ounce bottles. In addition, Lawrence P. Bardin, Alvin’s brother, was still being paid $250 a week as general manager of the Denmark brewery even while working for another of Alvin’s breweries (in Indianapolis).285 The black market allegations included evidence from a Florida distributor who had paid $2,400 above the wartime ceiling price for beer in 1946.286 In addition, the federal government had tax claims against the brewery totaling $259,191.29 for the years 1944–46 (as well as nearly $400,000 for the Eulberg Brewing Co.).287 Making matters worse, in 1948 Alvin Bardin allegedly dumped illegally between 30,000 and 40,000 gallons of beer into the Noshota River, poisoning hundreds of thousands of fish including freshly stocked trout. The river was cloudy for about four miles toward Lake Michigan, according to the area game warden. (The beer had to be dumped because it could not be sold due to the non-payment of tax.) Alvin Bardin later faced a civil suit seeking $3,622 for killing game fish.288 The brewery closed in 1947, and the equipment was sold at auction in September 1948. The building still stands as of 2017.

• Green Bay Brewing Co. (Hinterland Brewing) (1995–99)
• 5312 Steve’s Cheese Road

Green Bay Brewing Co. was started by the husband and wife team of Bill and Michelle Tressler. Bill was a beer journalist who decided he wanted to create the beer instead of simply writing about it. The brewery was located in a former cheese plant (accounting for the unusual address). They tapped their first kegs of pale ale and amber ale on 9 November 1995 at the Cock & Bull Publick House in Green Bay. Their initial success compelled them to upgrade from a seven-barrel brewing system to a thirty-barrel system within a few months after opening. Tressler won several medals for his beers while brewing at this location, including a Gold at the 1997 World Beer Championships for his Bock. At least some of the syrup in the Maple Bock was harvested by the Tressler family. The beers were marketed under the Hinterland brand, though the company’s official name was Green Bay Brewing.289

Hinterland beers were bottled almost right away, and the brewery did occasional small contract brews to supplement their own label business.290 Their bottled beers were distributed as far away as Minnesota. The Tresslers fit the location to the name in 1999 when they moved to their new brewery in Green Bay. (See the listing under Green Bay.)

• Denmark Brewing (1999–2008)
• 6000 Maribel Road

Longtime homebrewer Keith Gillaume went professional with his hobby in a two-story garage on his property. Most of the brewery was adapted or fabricated by Gillaume, and he had a capacity of about 300 barrels per year. The brewery offered a mix of styles, most of them ales. After the brewery closed, some of the equipment was purchased by O’So Brewing Co. of Plover and used in their first location.291

• Chatterhouse Brewery (2014–16)
• 5675 Maribel Road

Terry Taylor, a homebrewer who developed a taste for beer while living in Belgium, began setting up the brewhouse for Chatterhouse Brewery in September 2014. He received his brewing permit and started operation early in 2015. The brewery itself was not open to the public, but George Street Connection in De Pere served as a tasting room and retail outlet for the brewery. Chatterhouse beers were available on draft and in bottles, including No Sacrifice Ale, a gluten-free brew. In March 2016, the brewery announced that it was temporarily ceasing operations due to family issues, but has not restarted as of 2017.292

De Pere (Brown County)

• Alexander P. Schmidt (1874–1905?)
• Oneida Road, West De Pere (approximately modern 630 Grant Street)

After serving in the Civil War, Alexander Schmidt began to learn the brewing trade in Manitowoc. Excise tax records suggest that he ran a brewery with his father Martin in Manitowoc Rapids for several months in 1872. An 1895 county history claims he moved to Mazomanie where he ran a saloon and boarding house for a year, after which he returned to the north and started a brewery on land near De Pere.293 In 1874, De Pere newspapers reported that a party was looking for a brewery location on the west side of the river. By December, the News was able to report that Smith [sic] had commenced operations and “sometime in the latter part of January will afford the disciples of Gambrinus an opportunity to sample a quantity of native lager.” The reception to Schmidt’s product was enthusiastic, as the News rejoiced: “He has succeeded in making so good an article of lager beer that it will not require many days to wipe all foreign competition in the traffic of this article. We understand not a single keg of Milwaukee beer is now brought to De Pere, and very little from Bellevue [Green Bay].”294

Sanborn maps show a variety of facilities on the premises at various periods, including corn cribs, a straw stack, and a smoke house. The main building also included the Schmidt residence. The brewery was never large—sources agree that capacity was around 500 barrels per year—and the trade was all in the immediate area. In the late 1880s Schmidt advertised his business as brewer and malter, sometimes under the name of the Nicolet Brewery. There is no evidence that he ever bottled beer at the brewery. De Pere was a promising market, and Schmidt faced the possibility of local rivals twice: once in 1892 when Wallner & Deda of Kewaunee were exploring another location, and again in 1904 when a plan was publicized to turn the Transit House into a brewery at a cost of $50,000, but nothing came of either scheme.295 While some sources contend the brewery was in operation until 1908, the brewery is not included in the comprehensive lists of factory inspections undertaken by the State of Wisconsin in 1906, 1907 or 1908, and may have stopped brewing prior to that time.

• Egan Brewing (1996–2001)
• 330 Reid Street

Egan Brewing started in 1996 to produce house brand bottled beers for Hansen’s Dairy Store next door. In 1997 they added an account for Chuck’s Deli stores, brewing Chuck’s Famous Ales which were sold in unusual nine-packs of returnable bottles. The Egans added a bar in 1997 and a restaurant in 1998, which technically made them a brewpub. The restaurant may have actually hurt the business—some observers claimed that the bar was more popular with locals and some craft beer customers may have gone elsewhere. The brewery was without a head brewer for several months, during which local homebrewers and Green Bay Brewing Co. helped supply beer. The typical production of the brewery was about 200 barrels a year.

In April 2000, owner Nick Egan entered a partnership through which the restaurant became “Gallagher’s of De Pere.” The house label business dried up, and the relationship with Gallagher’s did not meet expectations. The beers made by Greg Nash and Richard Steuven earned praise from Wisconsin beer writers, but the market for bottled craft beer in the Green Bay area was not well developed at this point, and the Egan family closed their brewery in September 2001.296

• Legends of De Pere (2001–present)
• 875 Heritage Road

The second of the Legends chain opened in 2001. These brewpubs are covered under the Howard location.

• RockPere Brewing Co. (2014–present)
• 2284 Laddie Trail

RockPere Brewing is a nanobrewery located on a hobby farm just south of De Pere in Rockland. Some of the hops for the beer are grown on the farm. A variety of ales are served at their “exclusive pourer,” the Brickhouse in DePere.

De Soto (Freeman Township) (Crawford County)

• George Eckhardt (1868–1882)
• Charles Reiter (1882–84?)
• Frederic Ponsloff (1884?)
• Connelly, Kane & Co. (or Kane & Connelly) (1884?–86?)
• Mill Street

George Eckhardt began brewing in 1868 in a former store built by Cate & Co. ten years earlier. In 1870, he reported production of just under 300 barrels, but during the next few years he seldom sold more than ten barrels a month, even during the summer. By the end of the decade Eckhardt’s production was back to around 250 barrels a year. Eckhardt ran a saloon in De Soto and another across the Mississippi River in Lansing, Iowa.

According to the county history, Charles Reiter took over the firm in 1882. At the time, his production was about 400 barrels per year, which was large for such a small river village. The last years of the brewery can only be pieced together through a few entries in industry and government publications. Frederic Ponsloff is listed as the owner of a brewery and saloon in De Soto in Bradstreet’s Reports of 1884, and the Wisconsin industrial census of 1885 reported a brewery in Freeman producing 140 barrels of beer, presumably by the firm of Kane & Connelly listed in Wing’s 1884 annual. The De Soto brewery is no longer listed in the 1887 annual.297

Dodgeville (Iowa County)

• Bichel & Trentzch (1867–68)
• John G. Trentzch & Co. (1868–1872)
• John G. Trentzch (1872–1880)

John Trentzch and J. F. Bichel (or Pischell) moved from Mineral Point to Dodgeville in 1867 and laid the foundations for what would soon be a stone brewery with a two-story wood superstructure. Trentzch had several partners during the first five years of business, including Bichel, John Rudersdorf and H. Zirfass. The excise records suggest he was on his own by the spring of 1872. The brewery had a capacity of about 400 barrels, though production was usually more like 200–300 barrels per year. The brewery burned to the ground in the spring of 1880 with a loss of $8,000, only $2,000 of which was covered by insurance. He did not rebuild, though portions of the cellar and icehouse still remain on private property.298

Downing (Dunn County)

• Sand Creek Brewing Co. (1999–2004)
• Schroeder Farm, 1442 Dunn/St. Croix Road

Sand Creek Brewing Co. was an expansion of Cory Schroeder’s homebrewing operation on the family farm. He partnered with Jim Wiesender and started brewing commercially with converted equipment in 1999—becoming one of three farmhouse breweries at the time in Wisconsin (the others were Lake Louie and Slab City). The “Frankenbrewery” nature of the business was best exemplified by the fifty-foot trailer that was used for conditioning and storage space. In late 2001 they purchased some equipment from the defunct Cherryland brewery to improve operations. Sand Creek Golden Ale and English Style Special Ale were only available on draft and in growlers within a limited area since the brewery’s capacity was only 150 barrels per year. Despite brewing only two or three times a month, Sand Creek filled about 10,000 growlers during the five years of operation at the first location. Jim Wiesender described brewing at the cramped location as “fun, but tough.” They attempted to expand in the Menomonie area, but instead took advantage of the availability of the Pioneer Brewing Co. brewery in Black River Falls. The rest of the story is covered with Pioneer/Sand Creek at the Black River Falls section.299

Downsville (Dunn County)

• John Sheibly (1866?–1867?)

Little is known about John Sheibly’s brewery near Downsville, except that he produced fifty-six barrels during the summer of 1867. His brewery may have been acquired later by Valpon and Saile.

• Vaplon? & Saile (1873?–1874?)

Vaplon & Saile first appear in the excise records in May 1873. Charles Saile had been brewing in Hastings, Minnesota until 1870, so could not have been part of this business prior to that date. Saile moved to Rice Lake to open a brewery in 1874, and it is not known if Vaplon continued on his own. A flood on the Red Cedar River in 1879 destroyed the brewery, though accounts suggest that the brewery had been empty for some time.300

Dundas (Woodville Township) (Calumet County)

• Valentine Schaeffer (1856?–58?)

Duplainville (Waukesha County)

• J. Wertz (1856?–58?)

Wertz’s brewery was included in the 1857 and 1858 state business directories. There was a J. A. Wirth who in 1861–1862 co-owned a parcel of land in the area with Jacob Goettelman, also a brewer in the area, and this is likely to be the same person.301

Durand (Pepin County)

• Harstoff & Stending (1863–66)
• Lorenz & Jacoby (1866)
• Philip Lorenz (1866–1890?)
• Baur & Mertes (1890–91)
• Baur & Breunig (1891–1908)
• Durand Brewing Co. (1908–1920)
• Southeast Corner of West Wells Street and 9th Avenue West

Local histories disagree about the origin of this brewery. An account from 1891 claims that Harstoff & Stending (or Steiting) founded the brewery in 1863 and sold it to Lorenz; a 1919 history says that Lorenz founded it himself.302 The R. G. Dun credit reports indicate that Lorenz had a partner by the name of Jacoby for a few months in 1866, but that partnership was short-lived and dissolved in December 1866.303 By 1870, Lorenz was producing about 200 barrels a year in his hand-powered brewery. Production dropped in the early 1870s, but the biggest blow was a massive brewery fire in 1874, after which he rebuilt. (A different regional history claims that the fire was in 1874, but two pages later reports that it was in 1871.) County histories suggest that the brewery may have been closed at times during the 1880s, but it continued to appear in the normally reliable industry directories.

The next era began in 1890 when Frank Baur took over the business. Baur’s first partner Nicholas H. (Nick) Mertes left the firm after about a year and was replaced by Jacob Breunig, who remained for the next twenty-four years. Throughout this period, the brewery was the largest industry in Durand and enlarged its capacity to more than 3,000 barrels, added a bottling line (prior to 1900), and expanded distribution in the region. The brewery’s water came from a pure artesian well, though the brewery was built on top of a buried creek that flowed into the Chippewa River.

Breunig went to the Bloomer brewery in 1915. F. X. Warm replaced Bruenig as brewmaster, though Baur’s son Anton had completed his brewmasters’ training and was preparing to take over the brewery when Prohibition arrived and the brewery closed.304

After the repeal of Prohibition, Durand’s old brewery was one of several targeted by investors to resume production of legal beer. A group of investors from Minneapolis sought to reopen the brewery and expand its size to 45,000 barrels. These plans never were realized, and the equipment was sold off over the next ten years. In 1945, the former brewery buildings were used by the Hercules Powder Company, whose most notable line at the time was making whey from which penicillin was developed. Later on, Bauer Oil Co. took over the buildings for tire repair and retreading.305

• Alfred Calvert (1865?–1866)
• Gustav Stending (1866–1876)
• John Stringer (1876–79)
• River Street

The River Street brewery was started by Alfred Calvert sometime prior to 1866. Articles in the Durand Times in September 1866 indicate that Calvert was building an addition to his brewery, which was possible in the first year of business but less likely.

Gustav Stending (or Steiting) moved over from the Wells Street brewery in late 1866, and “turned out his first ‘brew’ of ale” in December, which the Times proclaimed “sustains the high reputation that that institution had earned under its former proprietor.” The R. G. Dun reports contained an evaluation of him as a “good man in his business” in 1866.306 The industrial census of 1870 shows Stending’s production as around 200 barrels a year, similar to that of rival Lorenz, though Stending’s brewery had at least some horsepower unlike Lorenz’s hand-powered facility. In an 1873 industry directory, the ownership of this brewery was given as “Gustav Stending and wife” (Catherine). By this time his production had dropped to seventy-six barrels, a more precipitous drop than his crosstown rival. Stending appears to have transferred the brewery to John Stringer (sometimes given as Stimger) around 1876. Unfortunately, the brewery was destroyed by fire in January 1879 and was not rebuilt.307

Eagle River (Vilas County)

• Loaf & Stein Brewing (1997–99)
• 219 North Railroad Street

Brian & Andrea Smoko opened Loaf & Stein Brewing in a former American Legion Post in 1997. It remained in business for about two years, after which the brewing equipment was sold to Bull Falls Brewery of Wausau.308

• Tribute Brewing Co. (2012–present)
• 1106 North Bluebird Road

Bill Summers and Marc O’Brien founded Tribute Brewing Co. in 2012. They wanted a one-word name for the brewery, and actually started by looking at names of cars. The Mazda Tribute was one of the “finalists,” and the name Tribute allowed them to name beers after local figures or landmarks, and to contribute to the community. (In addition, the middle letters of Tribute are IBU.) The taproom opened several months before their own beer was available, which provided the advantage of allowing the owners to track which guest beers were popular and select their own brands accordingly.

The first packaged Tribute beers were sold in growlers at local grocery stores. But by January 2017, the first 16-ounce cans featuring Blueberry Train Wheat and 28 Lake Lager were on the shelves. A month later, Tribute celebrated its fourth anniversary with Vier, a Belgian-style quadrupel ale. The brewery has a barrel-aging program underway—one of the first projects features their popular White Legs pepper ale aged in tequila barrels.309

East Troy Township (Walworth County)

• John F. Schwartz (1847–1850)
• Section 35, East Troy Township, near intersection of modern Miller Road and Honey Creek Road.

John F. Schwartz arrived in Wisconsin in 1841, when he bought eighty acres in East Troy Township (east of the village of that name). In 1847, he built a brewery, but only operated it for about three years until it burned down in 1850. He then gave up brewing for farming.310

Eau Claire (Eau Claire County)

• Anthony Schaefer & Mathias Leinenkugel (1858–1861)
• Leinenkugel & Tobias Bullesbach (1861–62)
• Mathias Leinenkugel, North Eau Claire Brewery (1862–1874)
• Theresa Leinenkugel, Eagle Brewery (1874–1886)
• Joseph M. Leinenkugel aka Leinenkugel Bros. (1886–88)
• Henry Michel (1891–1904)
• Michels Brewing Co. (1904–1912)
• Northeast Corner of North Farwell & Madison

In the late 1850s, Eau Claire seemed like a promising site for settlers and therefore for would-be brewers. George Esser and John Hermann considered moving from Madison to start a brewery on the Chippewa River. However, they learned upon arrival in Eau Claire that Mathias Leinenkugel, whose father operated the Sauk City brewery, had already arrived with Anthony Schaefer to start their own brewery. While some accounts have this brewery starting in 1857 or as early as 1855, it is clear from local newspaper accounts that they did not have beer for sale until very late 1858 at the earliest. The 1860 Census of Industry put production for the previous year at 400 barrels, worth $2,800. Schaefer (or Shaefer) sold his share to Tobias Bullesbach in 1861, who then sold it to Leinenkugel for $1,000, $500 less than he paid for it. It is not clear whether the drop in value was due to the Civil War, concern about the future of the area, or another reason. Whatever the case, Mathias Leinenkugel found himself in sole possession of the North Eau Claire Brewery.311

Leinenkugel continued to prosper, offering local residents bock beer in the spring, and by 1869 he was shipping beer to other cities to the east along the West Wisconsin rail line. During 1872 and 1873 he improved and expanded his brewery, and his production jumped from 341 barrels in 1872 to 562 the next year and an astounding 1,670 in 1874. Unfortunately, Mathias Leinenkugel did not live to see the results of this development—he died of kidney disease aggravated by fever at age 38 in October 1874. His wife Theresa inherited the brewery and proceeded to operate it for the next several years. While one business directory from 1874 calls this firm the Badger State Brewery, it was still called the North Eau Claire Brewery in all other sources until 1875, when the name Eagle Brewery was first used.312

The brewery Theresa acquired was the largest in Eau Claire, and produced over 1,200 barrels most years. Soon Theresa’s son Joseph was helping manage the brewery along with foreman Henry Koke, though Theresa was still listed as proprietor in all communications. She was held in high regard as a businessperson—the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports state she was considered “very truthful” and “has been very successful.” The reports further noted “The bus[iness] is managed by her son Jos.[eph] and he is of good ability.” As with most breweries, they continued to make improvements as finances allowed. During a fire in 1881 the Weekly Free Press noted that the Eagle brewery had its own pump and hose, so the fire department was not needed that time. At some time prior to 1883 steam power was installed at the brewery, making fire less of a risk. In 1883, Joseph Leinenkugel purchased the Dells brewery, and in the next several city directories, Theresa Leinenkugel was listed as proprietor of both the Eagle and the renamed Empire breweries.313

Theresa Leinenkugel passed away on the last day of 1885, and after that things went poorly for the family enterprises. Joseph and his brother Henry took over the breweries (while their sisters relinquished all rights to these properties). The sisters may have made a good decision, because whether the purchase of the Empire brewery was more than the finances could stand or the brewery improvements were not supported by increasing sales, Leinenkugel Bros. found themselves in debt. The company failed in the summer of 1888, and creditors seized the beer in the Eagle brewery (no mention was made of beer at the Empire brewery, so it may have ceased production earlier). The Leinenkugels won a lawsuit for damages since the beer was allowed to spoil before it could be sold, but this was not enough to restore the brewery to them, and the brewery was shuttered for approximately three years.314

In October 1890, the Eau Claire Weekly Leader mused: “It is a wonder the old Leinenkugel brewery has lain idle so long. It is good property, and if the right man gets hold of it, it will pay well as there is no better stand in the Northwest.” The right man was apparently staying at the Eau Claire House at that moment, since Henry Michel soon purchased the old Eagle brewery and began preparing the facility to brew once more. Michel (often spelled Michels) had worked at Philip Best for thirteen years, and after that ran his own breweries for about eight years—first at Mount Calvary, then at Neenah. With typical booster overstatement, the Weekly Leader gushed in June 1891, “The brewery now owned and conducted by Mr. Michels . . . career has not been one of success until this gentleman took hold of it . . . it hardly looks like the same place,” despite the fact that Michels had only taken over the brewery five months earlier and ignoring the success of the brewery in the 1870s.315

Michel’s first decade seems to have been one of general progress. Newspaper ads noted the arrival of his bock beer each season and occasionally his “selebrated [sic] Extra Lager.” In 1900 the brewery added a new bottling department and, since they could start with new machinery, used bottles with crown caps instead of corks. The brewery touted the relatively new device with ads showing a man laboring to pull a cork contrasted with a demure young woman easily popping the crown off her bottle.316

The second decade of Michel’s ownership was much more turbulent. A fire in 1902 caused $25,000 of damage, though the brewery was quickly rebuilt and more modern equipment was employed. About six hundred barrels of beer were saved from the fire, which allowed the firm to maintain some cash flow, though one sixty-barrel cask burned through “and let its amber contents foam all over the place.” The rebuilt brewery became a union shop in December 1903, as the company signed an agreement with United Brewery Workers of America. Tragically, Henry Michel died suddenly of “catarrah of the throat” on May 15, 1905, and his son Henry Jr. was forced to take over the business. The family-owned company seemed to be in good shape until 1912, when the Leader suddenly announced that the company had been sold to “a large Milwaukee brewing firm,” which was to enlarge the plant and keep Henry Jr. on with the new enterprise. However, within six months the brewery was being used as a warehouse and shop instead of beer, and Eau Claire was down to a single brewery.317

• Taylor & Son (1856?–1858?)

There was a John Taylor in Eau Claire who had a livery business in the late 1850s, and it is possible that his occupation was misread when compiling the 1857 state business directory.

• Heyson & Son (1856?–1858?)

There was an Augustus Huysen in town at the time, but he was a merchant and lumber dealer and did not have sons of an age to be business partners. This may well be another misinterpretation on the part of the directory compilers.

• Steiting and Winggen (1859–1861)
• South end of block 40, R. F. Wilson’s Addition (Half Moon later Oak Grove Township)

In December 1859, an ad in the Eau Claire Daily Free Press proclaimed “Steiting and Winggen have just completed their new Brewery . . . and are now manufacturing and will keep constantly on hand a superior article of Lager Beer, which we offer as low as can be bought in any market. The quality of our beer is the only recommend [sic] it needs. We will warrant it to be equal, if not superior, to any manufactured west of Milwaukee.” Gustave Steiting and Peter Winggen apparently did not produce enough during their first few months to reach the $500 threshold necessary for inclusion in the 1860 Census of Industry, but seem to have remained in business through fall 1861. At this point their advertisements cease, and there are no further references to this brewery in Eau Claire. Steiting sold his share of the property to Winggen in 1863 and moved about thirty miles southwest to start a brewery in Durand.318

• Melchior Neher (1864–68)
• John A. Hunner (1868–1873)
• Southeast Corner of Broadway and Barstow Streets

In June of 1864 John Neher and his family were victims of a fire in a distillery that also served as their dwelling. Son Melchoir then bought a piece of property in North Eau Claire (about two blocks from Leinenkugel’s Eagle Brewery) and erected what the papers called the “new” brewery in July of 1864.319

His North Eau Claire business soon was in full production and a reporter from the Daily Free Press imagined that if all the beer were poured out “[it] would make a navigable stream on one of our streets.” Interestingly, “Kneer’s” beer was “pronounced to be equally as good as the celebrated La Crosse beer,” rather than the more common comparison to Milwaukee lager. Neher joined Mathias Leinenkugel in donating beer to the local Catholic Festival in May 1865—where sales of beer brought in $70 for the cause.320

John A. Hunner, a former hotelkeeper in Alma, purchased the land and brewery in 1868. By 1870 his horse-powered brewery was apparently large enough that he needed to employ two hands in the brewery, the brothers Louis and Henry Haffner. His production increased seemed to fluctuate between 250 and 500 barrels a year, though in 1873 he was reassessed a higher tax as a large brewer of more than 500 barrels. In 1872 Hunner built a brick addition to his brewery at a cost of $1,500, with “ample facilities for extinguishing, in case of a conflagration.” Unfortunately, they seem not to have been ample enough, since the building was destroyed by fire in December 1873, with a loss of more than $10,000, including most of the brewing ingredients stored at the brewery. Hunner made no attempt to rebuild, and the Dun & Co. credit reports suggest that he turned to drink after the fire with the result that he had almost no assets remaining. The property was put up for auction—ironically the auctioneer was Loomis Parrish, a former rival brewer.321

• H. J. Leinenkugel & Son, City Brewery (1867–1875)
• Caroline Leinenkugel, City Brewery (1876–78)
• Frase & Lissack, City Brewery (1880–81)
• Carstens & Hartwig, West Side Brewery (1881–84)
• Eau Claire Brewing Co. (1884–85)
• Randall Street at head of Half Moon Lake

The second Leinenkugel brewery of Eau Claire first appears in the excise records in November 1867, when Henry Joseph and his son Henry Joseph Jr. outsold their cousin Mathias twenty-one barrels to thirteen. While the brewery was clearly in business at this date, research by local brewery historian Richard D. Rossin Jr. shows that the Leinenkugel did not buy the property on Half Moon Lake until 1870. They may have been leasing a brewery, or perhaps brewing at another site.322 But by 1871, the father and son company was the largest brewery in Eau Claire (though Mathias would pass them in 1872). During a short period in the mid-1870s Eau Claire had three different breweries run by members of the Leinenkugel family. The local esteem in which the family was held was demonstrated in 1874 when the younger Henry Joseph was elected to the Eau Claire City Council from the 6th ward. But within two years he was dead—felled by typhoid fever contracted during a journey to Madison. Even though his father was alive he had retired from the business, so the new proprietor of the brewery was the younger H. J.’s widow, Caroline. This created a unique situation in Eau Claire in which the two Leinenkugel breweries and the Hantzsch brewery all had women listed as proprietors. However, the brewery had underlying financial problems. The R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports indicate in 1876 “their bus[iness] affairs were badly mixed up,” and production dropped to 625 barrels in 1878 from a high of 1,450 in 1875. By November 1878 the brewery was shuttered and the Leinenkugels were looking for buyers.323

In March, 1880, the Eau Claire Argus announced “Messrs. Frase & Lissack have purchased the Leinenkugel brewery on Half-Moon Lake, which they are placing in first-class condition for the manufacture of beer.” August Frase (or Trase) and Ernest Lissack (or Lissaick) operated the brewery for less than a year, since the Weekly Free Press noted in February 1881 “The brewery of Frase & Lissack has quit brewing the foaming beverage of Gambrinus. There was not sufficient demand for the beer and the firm yielded to the inevitable.” Rossin points out that this was a strange statement given that the Dells brewery had burned down only months before. It is likely that demand was lacking because the beer did not find favor in the local market.324

Sometime in the summer of 1881, the City Brewery was purchased by Charles Carstens and Albert Hartwig and renamed the West Side Brewery. After operating under this name for more than two years, Carstens, Hartwig, and J. P. Fox formed a corporation called Eau Claire Brewing Co. with plans to enlarge the building and increase the brewery’s capacity. However, in July 1885 the brewery burned with a loss of $10,000, only about half of which was insured. Despite the usual talk of rebuilding the plant, the brewery was allowed to decay and production never resumed.325

• Loomis Parrish & Co. (1869–1871)
• E. Robert Hantzsch & Co. (1871–77)
• Emilie M. Hantzsch (1877–79)
• 139–141 Barstow Street

Ernest Robert Hantzsch had been a liquor dealer in Eau Claire since the 1850s. He also appears to have been something of an adventurer, since a county history claimed that he had been part of William Walker’s 1855 private invasion of Nicaragua, as well as in charge of organizing the defense of Eau Claire in the Dakota War of 1862 (during which the Dakota never got within 170 miles of Eau Claire). Hantzsch’s distillery was destroyed by fire early in 1870, and he appears to have switched from spirits to beer when rebuilding. Ads in the early 1870s proclaimed “I have connected with my store, a first class Brewery, under the superintendence of an experienced brewer . . .” But who was that brewer? Some evidence suggests that it may have been former Sparta brewer Loomis Parrish, who was brewing in 1870 and 1871 at the site of Hantzsch’s old distillery. Parrish was brewing somewhere in Eau Claire in 1869, since the 1870 Census of Industry indicates he had been in operation at a steam-powered brewery for all of the twelve months prior to May 1870. (While the data are not complete and possibly inaccurate, it appears that made in excess of 400 barrels in that year, though if the input figures are correct it was remarkably unhoppy beer.) The exact location of the old distillery does not match the Barstow address, but the ad may have been describing the site in general terms. Because Parrish never owned this property, and since in 1873 Hantzsch advertised for the return of kegs bearing either his name, Loomis’ name or both, it seems that Loomis may have leased the brewery for a year before turning his attentions to other civic and business pursuits.326

Hantzsch began running the brewery under his own name in 1871, and appears to have had some success according to the newspapers, though the few existing production figures show he lagged behind the other Eau Claire breweries. Unlike his local rivals, Hantzsch appears to have featured ale in his early years, though he also made lager and “pop beer” which may have been equivalent to white beer. One local account, possibly garbled, holds that Hantzsch had a beer vault on the south side of the Eau Claire River, and that he hauled beer in large vats to the top of the hill and poured it down a pipe into a vat in the vault to cool it. (If true, this would have created several interesting logistical problems as well as increasing the possibilities for contaminating the beer.)327 It is noteworthy that he was bottling beer as early as 1871, and the same ad requesting the return of kegs also urged those “in possession of stone bottles, quarts and pints with my name pressed in” to “deliver the same at my store. . . .” Hantzsch appears to have been distracted by his other business interests at time, including his store that sold a variety of items including “Glassware for Fitting up saloons.” In December 1875, the Daily Free Press reported that Hatnzsch was “for the present giving his entire attention to his brewery,” and again in January 1877 the paper mentioned he had “recently re-established himself in business at the old stand.”328 While production continued to be in the two to three hundred barrel range, it continued to trail other city breweries, even though Hantzsch was the first in town to bottle lager beer. An 1875 entry for Ebner and Oliver in Schade’s directory of brewers may represent another period when Hantzsch stepped back from active brewing and Edward Oliver was the responsible party (perhaps with the assistance of William Ebner, or perhaps the entry was an error and was supposed to be Edward Oliver).

These interruptions were likely caused by Hantzsch’s need to dig out of the financial hole caused by rebuilding after the 1870 fire. By 1878 the brewery was in the name of his wife Emilie, probably in an attempt to shelter the property from creditors. At some point, he apparently borrowed $5,000 from John Meyer of Black River Falls and was unable to pay off the loan, so Meyer came into possession of the brewery and store which were disposed of at a foreclosure sale in September 1880. The brewery was used briefly as a factory, and in 1882 was turned into a depot for the bottled beer of Leinenkugel and Miller of Chippewa Falls.329

• Leinenkugel & Welter (1875–77)
• Kohlenborn & Quick (1877–78)
• Henry Sommermeyer & Co. Dells Brewery (1878–1882)
• Frank Huebner, Dells Brewery (1882–83)
• Theresa Leinenkugel, Dells Brewery (1883–85)
• Theresa Leinenkugel, Empire Brewery (1885–88)
• John Walter & Co., City Brewery (1889–1909)
• John Walter & Co., City Brewery (1909–1915)
• John Walter Brewing Co. (1915–1920)
• Walter Brewing Co. (1933–1985)
• Hibernia Brewing Co. (1985–89)
• Hobart & Elm Streets/318 Elm

In late 1874, Michael Welter (or Wetter), a former employee of Mathias Leinenkugel’s North Eau Claire brewery, apparently went into business for himself and started building a new brewery, with Henry Joseph Leinenkugel as either a financial backer or a fellow brewer. While they brewed 108 barrels during their first year, their term did not last long, and the property passed through the hands of real estate agents to the Kohlenborn and Quick families. It is not clear if they brewed during their short ownership, but they soon sold the property to local businessman Henry Sommermeyer (various spellings), who brought in brewer John Ellenson to run what was now called the Dells Brewery.330

While Sommermeyer increased production from 239 barrels in 1878 to 712 barrels in 1879, his time as owner was memorable for more dramatic reasons. In April 1879, the ice house next to the building collapsed under the weight of the ice—perhaps because the foundations were not set properly. In August 1880, there was a small fire that did only $75 worth of damage. However, in November 1880 the brewery was totally destroyed by a fire which the Argus claimed was “the work of a wicked incendiary—possibly one of the same kind of temperance reformers who have been operating in Ohio and elsewhere.” Sommermeyer & Co. suffered a loss of about $20,000, though they had insurance of $15,000 through seven different companies, four of them Canadian. While there were erroneous reports that Sommermeyer would recover by buying the brewery on Half Moon Lake, the company instead rebuilt and the Argus reported in February 1881 “The top of Sommermeyer’s brewery is again visible over the trees in North Eau Claire.”331

After the brewery was rebuilt, Sommermeyer sold the business to one of his employees, Frank Huebner, who had only slightly better luck. Huebner contracted with Louis Arnoldt to bottle his beer in 1882, but suffered another catastrophic fire in 1883. The Daily Free Press blamed the extent of the destruction on the fact that while the city had telephones there were none in that part of the city, and even though there were water and fire pumps available, the nearest water required two thousand feet of hose to reach the blaze.332 Early rebuilding speculation centered around a corporation which was supposed to hire Huebner back as brewer. However, Huebner instead sold the land to Joseph Leinenkugel, who began rebuilding what would be his family’s second brewery in the city. By November forty men were at work on the building, which was in production the next year. For a few months, the brewery appears still to have been called the Dells brewery and occasionally the second Eagle brewery, but in 1885 city directories refer to the Leinenkugels as proprietors of their old Eagle and the new Empire brewery.333

Unfortunately, this marked the beginning of a downturn in the Eau Claire Leinenkugel family fortunes. Theresa Leinenkugel died in December 1886, and it is possible that this plus the estimated $30,000 spent on the Empire brewery caused the family to go into debt. (See also the Eagle Brewery.) The Empire brewery was closed and its future was in doubt once more.334

The Eau Claire Daily Free Press reported in December 1889 that negotiations for the sale of the old Sommermeyer brewery were pending, and the rumors had buyers coming from Chicago, Milwaukee, or England.335 The truth was much less dramatic—John Walter, who had indeed once worked at Best’s Brewery in Milwaukee, had lost his brewery in Spencer and was looking for a new brewery that would not require building a new plant. By June 1890 Walter & Co. were advertising the availability of kegs for home delivery.336 Within a year the company built a new five-story malt house with all the most recent equipment from Toepfer of Milwaukee. Disaster struck soon into the new owners’ term when fire destroyed most of the wooden portions of the building in February 1892. Rebuilding started immediately and within two years the brewery had added a bottle house and advertised bottled beer for the first time in 1894.337

Business grew so rapidly that by 1906 Walter & Co. was forced to consider a massive expansion. Chicago brewery architect Richard Griesser drew up the plans for the new brewhouse, which included more efficient electrical power systems and equipment to capture and reuse the carbon dioxide given off during fermentation. The new building was praised not just for its cleanliness and efficiency, but also for the additional jobs it brought and the confidence shown in the economy of Eau Claire.338 A new bottle house was put in operation in 1913, and the brewery did a solid business until prohibition. The company produced near beer briefly, but like most of these products, they sold poorly, and the plant sat idle for all but a year of the dry spell.

Like many brewers, John Walter passed away during Prohibition (in 1932), but there were numerous family members available to restart the business. His nephews Edgar, Martin and Charles (along with other investors) purchased the brewery from Walter’s widow Linea. Martin, who had previously worked at the family brewery in West Bend, was named the president of the Eau Claire brewery and held this position for the next thirty-four years.339 While beer was not ready immediately upon legalization, the family’s experience helped rebuild the brewery’s reputation and distribution after Prohibition. By 1953, Walter’s “Beer that is Beer” ranked eighth among Wisconsin breweries outside of Milwaukee. Unfortunately, Leinenkugel, which was twice the size of Walter, was within easy shipping distance, and Eau Claire was easily reachable for breweries in Milwaukee, La Crosse, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Walter was able to hold on to some of its local market, but sales decreased steadily from over 60,000 barrels a year just after World War II to an average of about 30,000 barrels a year in the mid-1960s.

The company was able to nearly double production in the early 1970s as it picked up labels from three defunct breweries. The Bub Brewing Co. of Winona Minnesota (whose owner, Carlus Walter, was a distant cousin of the Wisconsin Walters) closed in 1969. West Bend Lithia, another Walter family firm, closed in 1972 and sent its Old Timers brand west to Eau Claire, and Walter’s acquired the Breunig’s brand in 1974 from Rice Lake Brewing Co. However, these breweries went out of business partly because the brands were no longer competitive, so acquiring labels with limited popularity was not a solid expansion strategy. The new brands were all sold in nondescript cans where the only difference in the design was the brand name at the top. Production began to decline again until it hit a low of about 23,000 barrels in 1983.

The big brewery on Hobart and Elm gained a new lease on life in 1983 when Chicago investor Michael Healy bought the plant and renamed it Hibernia Brewing Co. Despite the Irish name, Hibernia brewed mostly German styles like Oktoberfest, Dunkel Weizen, and an all-malt lager. The brewery won several awards in the mid-1980s, but financial and quality control problems forced the brewery to shut down permanently in 1989. After years of neglect and decay, all the buildings were razed except the bottle house. The Walter’s label was resuscitated by Eau Claire’s Northwoods Brewpub in 2009 and brewed by them since (now at their location in Osseo). (Additional information about the Hibernia period is in chapter 10.)

• George Lang (1870?–1872?)

George Lang appears in the Dun & Co. credit reports as a saloonkeeper and brewer in 1870. It is most likely that he had a very small operation to make beer for his own saloon, since he does not appear as a brewer in any other records. He was apparently in and out of business throughout the 1870s, and it is even less clear how often he brewed during this period. The Dun evaluators were not impressed by his credit record and warned “parties trusting him will surely get beat.”340

• P. Lorenz (1877?–1880)

The R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports are the only source for P. Lorenz, who ran a small brewery in the late 1870s. The Dun reports claimed he did a “limited” or “small” business as a brewer, and while his character was good he was “not much of a business man.” His property was foreclosed upon in 1880 and he apparently left brewing.341

• Alexander Zippemer (1883?–1884)

The Bradstreet credit directory of 1884 listed Alexander Zippemer as a manufacturer of beer and soda in Eau Claire. However the Eau Claire city directory of that year lists him only as a soda manufacturer and a bottler. He may have brewed weiss beer on a small scale for a few years.

• Northwoods Brewpub (1997–2015)
• 3560 Oakwood Mall

Northwoods Brewpub was the first establishment of its kind in Northwest Wisconsin. Owner Jerry Bechard is also the owner of the locally famous Norske Nook bakery/restaurants, and Northwoods was a part of his expansion of the restaurant business. In the rustic lodge-style restaurant near the Oakwood Mall, Bechard and brewmaster Tim Kelly produced a traditional lineup of beers including a couple of award-winners: Little Bandit Brown earned silver at the Great American Beer Festival and Floppin’ Crappie Ale won an award less well known to craft beer aficionados—#1 Biker Beer at the Sturgis Brewfest in 2004.342 Northwoods was among the first Wisconsin brewpubs to offer their beer in 12-ounce bottles.

Northwoods undertook a brewing challenge in 2009 when they launched a re-creation of Walter’s Beer—an Eau Claire tradition since before Prohibition. The beer quickly became a best-seller for Northwoods, though it inspired the usual divided opinions of most reintroduced labels—some old drinkers claimed that it was very close to the original, other swore that it was nothing like the old recipe.343

In November 2015, Northwoods closed its Eau Claire location and moved to a new brewery in Osseo.

• Lazy Monk Brewing Co. (2011–present)
• 320 Putnam Street #111 (2011–present); 97 West Madison Street (2016–present)

Leos Frank, an emigrant from what was then Czechoslovakia, had been a computer programmer (and other things) before starting Lazy Monk Brewing Co. in 2011. He viewed the brewery as his second chance at answering the question “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Frank selected a site in a former bakery in his home of Eau Claire, and began brewing with what was essentially a scaled-up homebrewing system. He hired an engineer from Menominee to fabricate the brewing and fermenting vessels, but did most of the wiring himself. Frank was able to self-finance the brewery, which meant that he had no loans and no pressure from the bank to release beer before it was ready.

Frank decided to brew lagers, based on his Central European background and a sense that a “guy with a funny accent should be brewing beers that sound like him.” His first beer was a pilsner, followed by a Bohemian dark lager and several traditional German-inspired seasonal beers. When Frank had built enough of a market to start packaging his beer, he had additional decisions to make. In his first location he had very little storage space, so he had no room for a truckload of bottles or cans. He began selling beer in growlers at a number of area retail accounts, in addition to growler sales at his taproom. Reception for his beers was enthusiastic, and after just a few months it was clear that “Lazy Monk” did not reflect the nature of the business—it should have been named “Busy Monk.”344

As Lazy Monk expanded, Frank decided it was time to introduce cans, and in July 2013 the first four packs of 16-ounce cans appeared in stores. Eventually, Frank moved beyond lagers and offered some hoppy American styles such as a Rye IPA.345 By mid-summer 2017, Lazy Monk typically had eleven beers on tap at any given time, and released their first ever bottled beer—an Imperial Lager.

In 2015, Leos and his wife and co-owner Theresa decided it was time to find a larger facility, and purchased a former home furnishings showroom from the City of Eau Claire. The new location was not only much larger, but also located in downtown Eau Claire overlooking the Chippewa River.346 The new bier hall and central location exposed more drinkers to Lazy Monk beers, which also drove increased can sales. In 2017 Frank hired a salesperson to take care of outside accounts so he could devote more time to brewing. By 2018, the brewing equipment had been moved to the new location.

In addition to the traditional beer hall, the brewery continued to host the Oktoberfest that began at the first brewery, and added an annual Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market) and Spring Market.347

• The Brewing Projekt (2015–present)
• 2000 North Oxford Avenue Building 3 (2015–18); 1807 North Oxford (2018–present)

The Brewing Projekt story is familiar to many who have attempted to start a business. Will Glass, who was the proprietor of the local craft beer bar the Fire House, got tired of talking about other peoples’ beer and decided to start his own brewery. After signing the lease for a brewery site, the federal brewer’s license was delayed because of the 2013 government shutdown. Unfortunately, this caused Glass to lose the first location. He was able to find a second location, but the revised federal application was not acted upon until Glass contacted members of the Wisconsin legislative delegation to expedite the paperwork. The company then had to contend with state laws, and finally was able to open the brewery and taproom in April 2015.348

Brewing Projekt beers tend to be creative combinations of flavors rather than traditional interpretations of a style. IPZ was a mash up of a Bavarian unfiltered Zwickelbier and an IPA. Another interpretation of an IPA contains gunpowder green tea and citrus zest. The imperial stouts all include extra ingredients. The few styles that are truer to form are maltier styles like Scottish ale and Oktoberfest. While there are several lagers in the portfolio, Glass reflected that the demand for particular styles meant that the brewing philosophy was shifting from “whatever we wanted [to brew], to whatever we wanted that was hoppy.”

As of July 2017, Brewing Projekt employed sixteen people, about half of them full time. Each employee of the brewery, whether they work in the brewhouse or not, is required to know how to operate the half-barrel pilot brewing system, in order to promote experimentation.349

Glass always intended the first location to be temporary premises, and in 2017, Brewing Project got city approval to move to a larger location on Oxford Avenue. This move also involved protracted negotiations, this time with the Eau Claire Redevelopment Authority. The new facility opened in 2018.350

• K Point Brewing (2016–present)
• 4212 Southtowne Drive

The K Point (from the German konstruktionspunkt) is a term that indicates the steepest point of a ski jumping hill and was once used to calculate hill size. (It is still used to calculate points.) Longtime homebrewers Lon Blaser and Tom Breneman began thinking about the idea for K Point Brewing in 2014, and after many months of planning they were ready to open in May 2016. The brewery is located inside the Coffee Grounds—a popular coffee shop, bakery and retail outlet which is also known for its extensive selection of craft and import beers.

K Point brewing focuses on traditional styles, though Blaser and Breneman have not ruled out creating specialty beers in the future.351

Egg Harbor (Door County)

• Shipwrecked Brew Pub (1997–present)
• 7791 Egg Harbor Road

One of two brewpub/hotel combinations in Wisconsin (the other is Brewery Creek in Mineral Point), Shipwrecked was established in 1997 by Bob and Noreen Pollman, owners of Door Peninsula Winery. For a time, their son Robert was brewmaster, but he was succeeded by in 2008 Rich Zielke.352

Zielke’s brews tend to be drinkable styles that appeal to the tourists who visit Door County. Shipwrecked had experimented with having some of its beers brewed and bottled under contract by other breweries, but in 2010 they installed their own small bottling line at the brewery—for visitors who wanted to take a souvenir home from Door County.353 In recent years, Zielke experimented with new beers such as a spruce IPA, and the brewery introduced the increasingly popular 32-ounce growler package for take home beer.354

The building was built in 1882 as a saloon by George Barringer, and an expansion in 1904 added guest rooms and a dining room. However, the site became most notorious during the Prohibition area when Al Capone frequented the area and tunnels dating back to the nineteenth century were used for quick escapes. Local tradition holds that two revenue agents who crossed Capone disappeared in these tunnels. The brewery and inn are reputed to be haunted—most famously by Jason, who is said to have been an illegitimate son of Capone who either hanged himself or was murdered because he was about to turn Capone over to the authorities. Other spirits have also been reported in the building.355

Elk Grove (Lafayette County)

• Rablin & Bray Brewery (1836–1850)
• Emmanuel Whitham (1850–54?)
• John Rablin (1854–55?)
• Richard Brewer (?)
• Peter Lauterbach (?–1857?)

The second commercial brewery in Wisconsin was on the site of old Fort De Seelhorst, or Collettes Grove. Henry Rablin and Thomas Bray built the brewery out of logs and stones, and operated it together until 1842, when Bray moved to Wisconsin Rapids. Rablin advertised the brewery for sale in 1845, but apparently found no takers at that point. The brewery suffered a fire in 1848, and accounts suggest that the brewery was in and out of operation several times. Local accounts claim that Rablin (and sometimes still Bray) leased the brewery to “different parties” for the next several years. Research by John Dutcher has shown that these lessees or renters included Emmanuel Whitham (or Withorn) and possibly his son William, Richard Brewer, and Peter Lauterbach. The Dun credit reports indicate that a John Rablin was associated with the brewery in 1855 (though not operating it at the time), but this further complicates the name situation, since William Rablin is the only son of Henry that appeared in both the 1840 and 1850 censuses.356 While the closing date of the brewery is unclear, the 1881 county history claims both that it closed in 1856 and that it went down in “the wreck [Panic] of 1857.”

Ellsworth (Pierce County)

• Nicholas P. Husting (1893–97)
• Ellsworth Brewing Co. (1897–1905?)
• Main Street, east of downtown

Ellsworth Brewing Co. was founded relatively late among the pre-Prohibition breweries. Surrounded by several larger brewing cities, including the Twin Cities, Hastings and Red Wing in Minnesota, Ellsworth had a difficult market. Nonetheless, Nicholas Husting, previously the brewer in nearby Prescott, tried to make the brewery in Ellsworth profitable. The brewery was in operation by 1893, though the malt house was still under construction according to the 1894 Sanborn map.

Around 1897, the firm changed hands, and F. B. Saxton headed the new Ellsworth Brewing Co. at least from then until 1900, though Julius Diebenow was mentioned as the proprietor in one account. The company continued to develop the plant, finishing the brewery and adding an office before 1900, as well as digging an E-shaped cellar forty feet into the bluffs on the south side of the brewery. The brewery appeared only occasionally in industry directories, and the Sanborn maps gave no indication of capacity, though in excise records it was recorded as a brewery of less than 500 barrels.

The 1900 Sanborn map placed the brewery on Main Street near the intersection of Pleasant Avenue, but the 1912 map showed the closed brewery closer to the intersection of Main and Wall Street.

Elroy (Juneau County)

• J. Schorer (1879–1882?)
• Block 1, Lots 4 & 5 (original plat) (Modern State Highway 80 South of Center Street)

After several years in Sauk City, Joseph Schorer established a short-lived brewery in Elroy. Research by Richard D. Rossin Jr. has uncovered that Schorer was making deliveries by 1879, but the local newspaper was a temperance publication so they paid little attention to the brewery. While he appeared in the 1880 population census and a few industry publications, little is known other than the fact he made lager beer and operated a brewery of less than 500 barrels. A list of businesses in the city published in the spring of 1882 includes the brewery, but in October 1883 the paper reported a fire at the “old” brewery—suggesting that it had closed sometime before that date.357

Farmersville (Dodge County)

• Georg Schmid (1857–1892)
• Farmersville and Dairy Roads

Georg Schmid’s brewery is sometimes listed in industry publications as being in Leroy, since records sometimes used a village, a township, or a nearby post office for the location rather than a precise address. According to the exhaustive research of Michael D. Benter, Georg Schmid had been trained in the brewery of his father in Regensburg, Germany, and moved to Farmersville in 1856. The brewery was officially the Farmersville Brewery and Saloon, though locals called it Greinerschimd’s brewery—a compound of Schmid and his wife Anna Maria’s maiden name. (Benter holds that this was less an indication of joint ownership and mostly came from a need to distinguish the many Schmids in the area.) Schmid grew and malted his own barley, and stored beer in caves excavated on the farm. While several industry directories list Schmid’s brewery, he often did not report production, though the scant available data suggests that he usually brewed around 100 barrels per year for local consumption.

Schmid stopped brewing in 1892, likely because of a combination of health problems and increased competition from breweries both near and distant. He held on to the attached saloon until 1898, when he sold it and moved to Fond du Lac County. The saloon remained in use as a rural tavern into the twenty-first century.358

(It is likely that the George Smith listed in the 1888 and 1891 state business directories as a brewer in Knowles is the same as this Georg Schmid.)

• Jacob Lehner (1860?–69)
• Michael Lepner (1876?)

The precise location of this brewery is unclear, and may not have been in Farmersville itself. Jacob Lehner was listed in the 1860 population census as a brewer and farmer in Le Roy, and may have had one or more partners in his venture. He appears in the 1869 excise records, though his business was listed at that time in Mayville. A state business directory from 1876 listed a Michael Lepner brewing in Farmersville, which may be a continuation of this firm.

Farmington (Fillmore) (Washington County)

• Ernst Klessig (Klessing) Farmington Brewery (1859?–1864)
• Ernst W. Jaehnig, Farmington Brewery (1864–1875)
• Liberta Jaehnig (1875–1881)
• Modern State Highway 84 East of Hwy M

While the 1881 county history claims that Ernst Klessig built his brewery in 1860, he probably was brewing prior to 1860, since he would have had trouble making 500 barrels in a new brewery by the time of the industrial census. Klessig had lived in Farmington for several years prior to opening his brewery, and was postmaster for the village for some time. A local history claims: “during an Indian scare, they let all the beer run away and were prepared to leave for St. Louis” (presumably the Dakota War in Minnesota in 1862).359 Klessig died in March, 1864, and his widow Liberta ran the business until the next year when she remarried Ernst Jaehnig, who took over the brewery. Jaehnig conducted the brewing operations and kept the brewery in the “large” category for several years, though production declined during the early 70s.360 The business was listed in Liberta’s name starting in 1875, though Ernst lived until 1879.361

The brewery appears to have been highly regarded in the area and was considered a reliable business.362 Their market included the county metropolis West Bend, where they were regular advertisers in the newspapers. At one point in 1876, a news item reported: “Our brewery is running with full force, but cannot make enough of the favorite beverage to fill all orders.”363 Liberta’s son H. John Jaehnig eventually took over management, but the company remained in Liberta’s name in most records. Its output was back over 1,000 barrels in 1878, but it dropped by more than 300 barrels the next year, and by the end of 1881 the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports indicated that the family had sold out and quit the business.364

Fitchburg (Dane County)

• Great Dane Pub & Brewing #2 (2002–present)
• 2980 Cahill Main

After Wisconsin law was changed in the so-called “Great Dane Bill,” Great Dane opened its second location in the Madison suburb of Fitchburg. The new location was in a building built for Great Dane, so had a more modern feel than the downtown location. The beer list includes most of the standard beers from the downtown location, as well as specials specific to that location such as John Stoner’s Oatmeal Stout, named after the first farmer in the area. (A photo of the location is found in chapter 10.) Production at this branch is typically just over 1,000 barrels per year.

In 2013, the Fitchburg pub was the first in Wisconsin to install set of self-service taps at select booths where customers could pour their own beer. The systems include a digital display to show what beers are on tap, and monitor sales by the ounce.365

Florence (Florence County)

• Nicolet Brewing Co. (1999–2011)
• 2299 Brewery Lane

Co-owners Art Lies and Deb Simons acquired hand-me-down brewing equipment from New Glarus and bottling equipment from Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul, and began production in mid-1999. Bottled beer first appeared in 2000, and the company began to offer a variety of German-style beers.366 The company was subject of occasional closure rumors, and Lies was moved to respond in 2008 “Sorry to hear we closed last year, someone should have told me. Think of all the fishing I could have been doing.” In 2011 Nicolet Brewing closed and the equipment was sold to Base Camp Brewing of Portland, Oregon.367

Fond du Lac (Fond du Lac County)

• Jacob & Charles Frey (1849–1881)
• P. & N. Seresse (Frey Estate) (1881)
• Southwest corner of Macy & West Division Streets

Brothers Jacob and Charles Frey began building the first brewery in Fond du Lac in 1848, and were in production the next year. As their business expanded they continued adding to their plant and built “an extensive trade” in the city and the surrounding area.368 By 1860 they had $10,000 invested in the brewery, which employed four hands and made 1,000 barrels of beer (which sold for $6 a barrel). Production surpassed 2,200 barrels by the early 1870s, and the business continued to prosper. Jacob Frey appears to have been a respected member of the community—he was appointed to a county committee that was part of a statewide initiative to encourage immigration.369 (The Frey brothers were also briefly owners of Melms’ brewery in Milwaukee—see that entry.)

The end of the brewery was tragic. At the end of 1880, the business was booming and the Dun & Co. credit reports noted that they had “the largest saloon business here” (though total production was less than rival Bechaud) and that they were making money and owned valuable real estate. But Jacob Frey died in January 1881, and brother Charles took his own life in March of that year.370 The Seresse brothers took over the brewery for a short period—Nicholas Seresse was then a saloonkeeper who had been employed by Frey in the 1860s and early 1870s. Unfortunately, the plant was destroyed by fire in June 1881, and the oldest brewery in Fond du Lac never produced again.371

• Henry Rahte (1850?–1865)

Henry Rahte’s brewing operations were apparently a side business for this wealthy wine and liquor merchant. In August 1850, Rahte advertised for “a number of hogs, to fatten,” which were to be brought to “the Whiskey Distillery, (not the Brewery,) of Henry Rahte.”372 The brewery may have operated only intermittently since mentions of the brewery are scant until 1865, when it was reported that his brewery “on the outskirts of the city of Fond du Lac” had been destroyed by fire. The loss was reported to be $4,000 above insurance, and apparently was not worth rebuilding.373

• Hauser & Dix? (1857?–1871?)
• Hauser & Bechaud (1871?–72)
• Paul Hauser (1872–77)
• Anthony Vogt (1877–78)
• Portland Street south of Division

Paul Hauser lived in Taycheedah, just east of Fond du Lac, at least by 1856, and numerous sources placed his brewery there from 1858 to the late 1860s. (The account of this brewery is covered under Taycheedah.)

Still, he had at least some operations in the city of Fond du Lac as early as 1857, when he and Richard Dix operated a lager beer saloon on the corner of Main and Sheboygan. (They may or may not have brewed there at that time.) References in the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports located Hauser (or Hauser & Dix) sometimes in Fond du Lac, sometimes Taycheedah, and sometimes both.374 A 1905 history of the county claims that the buildings taken over by the Harrison Postal Bag Rack Co. on Portland Street were built by Hauser & Dix “as a place to store and handle the beer.” However, the same account also notes “the spring water at Taycheedah could not compete with the fountain water in Fond du Lac in making and selling beer.” It seems that Hauser abandoned the Taycheedah site, perhaps after an 1872 fire, because an 1881 history described the Portland Street location as “the large brick building erected by Paul Hauser, for a brewery.”375

Hauser seems to have run into financial problems in the 1870s, perhaps because of the burning of his Taycheedah brewery and the expense required to build the Fond du Lac facility. The Dun Co. reports regress from “credit good” to “caution advised” to “[I]s strongly embarrassed” in 1877. At this point he had turned the property over to Anton Vogt, a former sales agent, as “a Cover.” By the next year he had sold the brewery to Vogt, though the Dun Co. reports conclude “he would be perfectly honest man if his misfortunes had not driven him into a corner.” A few months later Hauser was out of business entirely, and Vogt apparently did not continue brewing.376

• Andrew Schenkel, Weiss Beer Brewery (1867?–1875?)
• 46 Grove Street

Andrew Schenkel is known mostly from the excise records from 1867 through 1872. He is listed in the 1872 city directory (as Schankel) as a brewer living at 46 Grove. A newspaper account in May 1875 reported that the dwelling and brewery of John Shingle (apparently a garbled reading of Schenkel), on Grove Street, had burned.377 Another account claimed that Schussler’s nearby West Hill brewery was the business that burned, but this does not fit with the continued presence of Schussler’s company for several more years.

• Adam Sander Brewery (1867?–1897)
• Sander Bros. (1897–1920)
• Milwaukee Road (one mile south of city limits) (modern South Main Street)

Adam Sander left his partnership with Andrew Schneider in a Plymouth brewery to start his own in Fond du Lac. The generally accepted date for the start of business is 1867, but an obituary for Adam’s son Albert claims 1864.378 Sander built a steady business, but the 600 to 700 barrels he typically produced in the 1870s made his one of the smaller lager breweries in Fond du Lac. R. G. Dun & Co. investigators reported a decline in fortunes and reliability from the late 1860s to the early 1880s, but unlike other troubled firms Sander was able to turn things around.379 In the late 1890s Sander turned over control of the brewery to his sons (Adam died in 1901).380 Also during this period, the company added malting and bottling operations.

Since the brewery was located outside the city limits, Sander Bros. does not appear on Sanborn Insurance maps until 1902. At this point they had a bottling house located south of the brewery, but by 1915 the bottling operations were moved across Milwaukee Road.

During Prohibition the company incorporated to manufacture non-intoxicating beverages, though evidence of production is scant. The brothers appear to have gone into the bowling alley business, perhaps to diversify their holdings.381 When legal beer was on the horizon, the company made plans to reopen as Pioneer Brewing Co., but as with many other proposed post-Prohibition businesses, nothing came of the plans.382

• A. G. Bechaud (1871–75)
• A. G. Bechaud & Bros., Empire Brewery (1875–1891)
• Bechaud Brewing Co., Empire Brewery (1891–1920)
• A. B. Bechaud (1920–1933)
• Adolph Bates Bechaud, Bechaud Brewery (1933–34)
• Bechaud’s, Inc. (1934–1941)
• 457/481 West 11th Street

The Bechaud family, including brothers Adolph, John, and Frank, arrived in central Wisconsin in 1852. During the Civil War, Adolph and John both enlisted in the Union forces—Adolph mustered out as a captain after four years in the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry, and John served two years in the First Michigan Cavalry. After returning, John was a partner in the Taycheedah brewery for a few years until he joined his brothers in the family firm which Adolph started in 1871.

A rather effusive account from 1887 reported:

From the very start they determined to succeed, and by producing a fine beverage and applying themselves unremittingly to its affairs, secured a good name and trade, and brought the Empire Brewery to a point of prominence in its line seldom, if ever, excelled. For sixteen years they have worked together with singular harmony and brotherly good feeling and have placed themselves above want and in good circumstances, not only owning this establishment but much other choice and valuable property.383

The company expanded its plant in the late 1870s, only to have it destroyed by fire in January 1884. The brewery was quickly rebuilt and reoccupied its place as the largest brewery in the city. The brothers incorporated in 1891, and continued to expand—building a new brewhouse in the late 1890s. The company began offering bottled beer sometime in the late 1870s. At first the bottling was contracted to H. W. Eaton, but soon after they built what was referred to as a “steam bottling establishment,” though the accounts do not clarify whether this was powered by steam or that the beer was pasteurized.384 The Sanborn Insurance Map of 1898 shows an “ice run” going to the brewery from the West Branch of the Fond du Lac River, and by 1902 they had constructed a separate coal conveyor from the railroad line to the brewery.

By 1912, the Empire Brewery employed forty men and did a business of $120,000 a year. The company owned a saloon and controlled a local brickyard for a while. While the decades before Prohibition were generally uneventful, the brewery sued the city in 1908 for damages over alleged odors from the sewer plant (and lost), but five years later was itself charged with creating a public nuisance by discharging waste into a depression in the old riverbed where it collected “and is offensive.”385

The years of Prohibition were not kind to the Bechaud family. The brewery was destroyed by fire in 1925, a padlock order for the brewery saloon was filed in 1928, and August R. Bechaud took his life in 1931 at age 56. Despite this, the family remained interested in brewing, and was prepared to begin when Prohibition waned. However, Adolph B. Bechaud made what may have been either the best or worst prediction about post-Prohibition industry. In 1932 he claimed that “old style lager probably will not return,” arguing that near beer and its higher carbonation “probably has supplanted the older types of beer ‘for good.”386

Bechaud Brewing Co. was one of several breweries ready with beer upon re-legalization. (Bechaud was part of a corporation called Pioneer Brewing Co. in 1933, but this entity never produced any beer.) The company was sold in 1937 to A. V. Orth of Milwaukee and Robert Bechaud of Hancock, Michigan, who was a nephew of Adolph. In 1939, Robert Bechaud purchased Hillsboro Brewing Co., a firm his uncle had reported to the Beverage Tax Division for noncompliant labels two years earllier.387 During its last years, production at Bechaud struggled to reach 10,000 barrels per year, and a bookkeeper was fired for embezzlement and poor record keeping (which resulted in a tax penalty for the company).388 Ultimately, Bechaud Brewing Co. shut down in January 1941, and Bleser Brewing of Manitowoc acquired the Empire label.389 The brewery building remained in use for several decades as a storage or garage facility.

As important as Adolph B. Bechaud was to Fond du Lac brewing, his career beyond the brewery was one of national importance. He served the Franklin Roosevelt administration for two years as part of a nine-member board that helped direct the National Recovery Administration. After leaving the brewing business, he moved to the Scientific Lighting Co. for two years, and then took charge of the Ben-Hur freezer company (which was a division of Schlitz). At Ben-Hur, Bechaud was responsible for the rapid growth of the company in the years after World War II and helped make the large home freezer a common household item.390

• Charles Bailey, Spruce Beer Brewery (1871–78?)

Charles Bailey appears in the excise records as a spruce beer brewer beginning in 1871. The R. G. Dun & Co. records also indicate that he was in operation in 1871, but listed his business as soda bottler, which was a common line of work for brewers of weiss and spruce beer. He appeared in the 1872 and 1875 city directories as a brewer of spruce and white beer, residing at 53 East Division (but the location of his business was not listed). The Dun records note that he was out of business by July 1878.391

• J. H. Lockwood, Spruce Beer Brewery (1871–72)

The 1872 city directory enthused that “millions of bottles” of “spruce—or pop—beer” were made annually in Fond du Lac. J. H. Lockwood was among the several listed as manufacturing spruce beer, though he only appeared in the excise records in 1871 and 1872, and in the 1872 city directory he was listed as owning a restaurant at 487 Main Street. He was still in the 1875 directory, but without an occupation, and disappeared from the directory the next year.

• Louis Valentine & Co., Spruce Beer Brewery (1871–1872?)

Louis Valentine was another of the several spruce beer brewers operating in Fond du Lac during the early 1870s. Like most of the others, he was only in the excise record for two years, which suggests that spruce beer was something of a fad. Valentine ran a restaurant at 531 Main, and also manufactured “Valentines premium ginger and spruce beer.”392

• Joseph Schussler, West Hill Brewery (1871–1884)
• Schussler Bros. West Hill Brewery (1884–1891)
• 172 Hickory Street

The 1875 Fond du Lac directory reported that Joseph Schussler established the West Hill Brewery in 1871, though the same account also calls him Jacob at one point. While the business may have been established in 1871, it did not report any production until June 1872 (though excise records contain a note that tax assessed included months back to December 1871). The 1875 directory indicated that the business was run primarily by Joseph’s son Charles.393 The original brewery burned in May 1875, but soon was rebuilt. By the end of the 1870s, production had increased to approximately 1,000 barrels per year. An 1881 history claimed “[Schussler’s] method of brewing is different from others, and known only to himself.”394 The brewery suffered another fire in December 1882, which the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern claimed was the third one.fire at that brewery.395

By 1884, Joseph’s sons Albert and Arthur took possession of the business. Arthur was listed in the city directory as a “beer peddler” and Albert was a “malster” [sic], but Joseph was still named as brewer. The company was not always listed in industry directories of the era, so production may have been intermittent. The brewhouse was destroyed by fire in May 1891. While news accounts claimed that the brothers planned to rebuild, the insurance covered only about a quarter of the cost of the damage, and so the rebuilding plans were dropped. Arthur continued as a beer peddler, but as the local agent for Pabst.

• Hiram W. Eaton, Spruce Beer Brewery (1864–1887)
• 20 Ninth Street

H. W. Eaton began manufacturing soft drinks in 1854, and started the Fond du Lac Soda Bottling Works in 1864. It is not clear for how many years he included Spruce Beer in his lineup. He was more famous for soft drinks and for bottling Standard Nerve Food.396 Eaton bottled beer for Bechaud Bros. for a few years in the 1870s. By the 1890s, Eaton was chief of police in Fond du Lac and was no longer listed as a businessman.

• Philip Stamm, Weiss Beer Brewery (1867?–1875?)
• 401 Main Street, later 436 Main Street

Philip Stamm established his restaurant around 1867, and sometime after that began brewing weiss beer. According to the 1872 city directory:

. . . he manufactures a superior beer, which is becoming quite popular in this vicinity, because of its refreshing and stimulating qualities. It is known as “Stamm’s White Beer,” and is said to be by many physicians, a valuable drink and is recommended by them to their patients. Persons desiring White Beer should ask for Stamm’s, and see that they get it.397

Stamm only appears in the excise records in 1871, and then as part of the weiss beer firm Stamm & Severin of Taycheedah. It is possible that the brewing was being done at a location separate from the restaurant. Stamm moved his restaurant prior to 1875, but continued to offer his “white beer.”398

• Almon W. Lockman, Spruce Beer Brewery (1880–1903)
• Johnson Street near Juneau
• James T. O’Halleran, Excelsior Spruce Beer Co. (1907–8)
• Mrs. Mary O’Halleran, Excelsior Spruce Beer Co. (1908–1914)
• O’Halleran & Finnegan, Excelsior Spruce Beer Co. (1914–18)
• 235 East 2nd Street

Fort Atkinson (Jefferson County)

• George Lewis (1850?–1851)
• H. S. Pritchard (& Co.) (1851?–1879?)
• A. Dalton & Co. (Dalton & Grassmuck’s Brewery) (1879–1880)
• West Milwaukee Street

The earliest brewing in Fort Atkinson is mired in confused local accounts. A book published to celebrate the city’s 150th anniversary claims that Pritchard started in 1845, but also lists Pritchard and Dalton as separate businesses.399 There is no brewer listed in the 1850 census, but that does not mean that no one was brewing. Wayne Kroll has identified the first brewer on this site as George Lewis, which is supported by the 1879 county history.400

Henry S. Pritchard, Canadian by birth, took over the brewery in the early 1850s and began a gradual expansion program. In 1857, master mason William Romander was killed when part of a new cellar collapsed and buried him.401 By 1870, Pritchard’s brewery was by far the largest such establishment in Fort Atkinson, employing eight men to produce 1,000 barrels per year in just seven months of operation. Production dropped more than 200 barrels in 1872, though it is not clear why. Pritchard had multiple partners during his ownership, D. S. Morrison at one time, David Snoven from 1870 to 1872, David Vandenburg briefly in 1870 and Norman F. Hopkins starting in 1873. Moses Woodward was also listed as a brewer in the 1860 census, and since there is no evidence of his own brewery, it is possible that he may have been a partner of Pritchard at this point. At some point in the 1870s Pritchard stopped brewing. The 1879 county history suggests that the brewery was still in full operation through the late 1870s, but also claims that Lewis and Morrison were both still associated with it.

In 1879, what was described as “Pritchard’s old brewery” was purchased by A. Dalton of Chicago and William Grassmuck (or Grassmenck), who had been head brewer for Fuermann in nearby Watertown.402 The latter was clearly in charge of brewing operations, and the business was locally referred to as “Grassmuck’s Brewery,” but the name usually listed in official records was A. Dalton & Co. Andrew Dalton was a “malt manufacturer” according to the 1880 census, and may have provided capital for Grassmuck. Grassmuck managed to restart production and brew ninety-two barrels in 1879. Dalton had big plans, and proposed expanding the malting part of the business to provide malt for the Chicago market.403 However, about a year after purchase, the brewery was destroyed by fire, with insurance covering just over half of the $10,000 loss. Some lists have Dalton & Co. still in business in 1884, but the company does not appear in any industry directories after 1880. (A modern photograph of the brewery cave is in chapter 2.)

• Martin Huscher (1860?–1860)
• Louis Liebscher (1861–64)
• M. Huscher (1867?–1873?)
• John Christoph Reglein (1874–78)
• Nicholas Klinger (branch of his Whitewater brewery) (1878?–1882)
• Sherman Street (formerly German Street)

Martin Huscher was listed as a brewer in the 1860 census (though spelled Kuscher). Huscher may have worked for Pritchard, but the census indicates that he owned real estate and personal property, which would have been less likely if he was an employee of another brewery. It is possible that Louis Liebscher took over this operation when he moved from Milwaukee to start brewing in Fort Atkinson in 1861. Liebscher decided that business would be better in Milwaukee, so he returned there in 1864.

Huscher apparently returned to his brewery in the mid-1860s and kept it going on a small scale. Huscher and his fifteen-year-old son Louis, who worked in the brewery, produced seventy barrels in the year prior to the 1870 industrial census.

According to a history of Waukesha County, Carl (or Charles) Hasslinger operated a brewery in Fort Atkinson from 1869 to 1872 before moving to Jefferson. However, excise records and both population and industrial census data place Hasslinger in Jefferson in 1869 and 1870, so while it is not impossible that Hasslinger had a role in the Fort Atkinson operation, census and excise records seem to indicate otherwise.404

During the mid-1870s, John Christoph Reglein became proprietor of the brewery. He more than doubled production from 1874 to 1875, bringing the output over 800 barrels.

The brewery served as a branch of at least one other brewery. Nicholas Klinger of Whitewater controlled the brewery for a few years around 1880. It is also possible that this business was owned by Blatz in the mid-1880s, because a report from 6 September 1886 announced that “The brewery at Fort Atkinson, owned by Val Blatz, burned with a loss of $6,000.” That December, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported that the “brewery and dwelling of Mrs. Hoosier [sic] burned.” This wording suggests that Martin had died, and the relatively low amount of damage may indicate that there was no longer brewing equipment at this location.405

• Groh & Henschel (1868–1871)

This business is listed in American Breweries II as part of the Liebscher/Huscher brewery, but it is clear from the excise records that this business was operating separately at the same time as Martin Huscher. According to the 1870 industrial census there was one employee in addition to the two partners, and the business produced 500 barrels of beer (which sold for $8.00 each). This was about half the size of Pritchard’s brewery, but much bigger than Martin Huscher’s business.

• William Spaeth (1883–86)
• William Spaeth, City Brewery (1886–1920)
• Carl Ebner Beverage Co. (1922–1933)
• Carl Ebner Brewing Co. (1933–1946)
• Louis Ziegler Brewing Co. (branch) (1946–48)
• Ziegler’s Old Tap Brewing Co. (1948–1950)
• North side of river near railroad bridge (1883–86); 26 South Water Street (1886–1950)

William Spaeth began brewing as soon as he arrived in Fort Atkinson, starting in a building on the north side of the river near the railroad bridge, and moving to his permanent location in 1886.406

Spaeth continued to grow steadily in the years prior to prohibition. His production was given as 4,000 barrels in 1910, but six years later this had doubled.407 Despite this increase, Spaeth did not perform all the operations that most other breweries of this size usually had. He did not begin bottling until 1908, and according to industry journals never did his own malting.408 However, he did upgrade his brewery with a refrigeration plant in 1913.409

Carl Ebner came from Chicago to take over the brewery and began setting up Carl Ebner Beverage Co. in 1922. In September 1924, the “Sponge Squad” raided the brewery, confiscated fourteen truckloads of beer bound for Chicago and arrested twenty people, including “notorious beer runner and Chicago gangster” Tom O’Donnell.410 Another raid in 1926 seized a load of unfermented wort, but Ebner appealed on the grounds that wort was not covered by the law. Federal Judge Claude Luse agreed, since wort had other uses and had to be combined with other ingredients to produce alcohol. This served as a test case for the rest of the country, and was critical for breweries trying to earn revenue during the dry era.411

After Prohibition, Carl Ebner Brewing Co. resumed brewing, but Carl Ebner himself died in September 1933, and was unable to enjoy the return of legal beer. The company started well, but sales continued to slip despite shipments to Missouri (and likely other markets). The brewery had antiquated equipment, and as late as 1940 was still bottling from barrels rather than from conditioning tanks.412 Ebner Brewing was among the brewers that shipped beer to German P.O.W. camps in Wisconsin, though their attempt to have this beer considered tax-free was denied by state authorities.413

In 1946, the plant was purchased by Robert D. Hamilton, a beer distributor in Los Angeles. At this time, acquiring a brewery not only netted the brands and equipment, but also the grain allocation and the stocks of other rationed materials. Given the outdated condition of the Ebner plant, the latter was probably more attractive to Hamilton than the brewery or brands. During the short period when it was operated as a branch of the Ziegler Brewing Co. of Beaver Dam, most of the production was shipped to California. The majority of the brewery lot was razed but the old brewery saloon remained as of 2017.

• Philip Eckhart (1871?)

Philip Eckhart appears in the excise records in August 1871 with a note that he was a brewer of “small beer.” He was listed as a cooper in the 1870 census, and may have briefly dabbled in brewing, or temporarily owned another brewery.

• Henry Daniel (1872–1873?)
• East Water Street

Henry Daniel first appears in the excise records in 1872, and was listed in the 1873 American Brewers’ Guide directory as the producer of sixty-three barrels during the previous year. Given the dates of operation, it is possible that he briefly took over the brewery of either Groh & Henschel or Martin Huscher, especially since neither of them is in the 1873 list.

Fountain City (Buffalo County)

• Alois Katler (1855?–57?)
• Hoeflein & Herley (1857?–58?)
• Main Street

The 1888 county history makes a vague reference to “the first attempt” at a brewery in Fountain City, as having been located on the site of the machine shop of John Clarke (which was then just across from the Eagle Hotel on Main Street). According to Wayne Kroll, the first proprietor was Alois Katler, who was succeeded by Hoefelin & Herley, who appear in the 1857 and 1858 state directories. The county history suggests that the first site was only in operation for a few years, though Kroll links this business to the later Eagle Brewery (which does not appear to be the same location, and Dun records disagree with Kroll’s timeline here). The site may have been used longer, since a 1919 county history claims vaguely that Philip Eder “engaged in the brewing business opposite the Eagle Hotel” for a short time before going to the Eagle Brewery. The same account has Eder building the Lion Brewery, which burned shortly thereafter, but that version claimed the Lion Brewery preceded the Fountain City Brewery, which is contradicted by excise records and industry directories.414

• Eder & Richter, Eagle Brewery (Richter & Co.) (1856–1863)
• Eder & Brother (1863–65)
• Xaver Erhardt (1865–66)
• Ewe & Krieger (1867?–69)
• Michael Pistorius (1869–1872?)
• William Hoke? (1870–1871?)
• Henry Behlmer and Henry Fiedler (1872–73?)
• Mrs. Pistorius (1872–75?)
• F. Moethwig & Co. (Koschitz & Moethwig) (1872?–73?)
• John Koschitz, Eagle Brewery (1875?–1908)
• John Koschitz Brewery (John Koschitz Estate) (1908–1915)
• Front Street, North of Downtown

According to the 1888 county history, Fred Richter and Valentine Eder started brewing in Fountain City around 1857.415 The brewery called Richter & Co. in the 1860 industrial census employed only those two men and produced 600 barrels of beer. In 1863 Richter left the partnership and was replaced by Valentine’s brother Philip, just returned from service in the renowned Iron Brigade.416 The Eders sold out to Xaver Erhardt, a local saloonkeeper, who then sold the brewery just before he died to Louis Ewe and Mr. Krieger (both of La Crosse). The business was then operated by Ewe and Krieger for a few years, but taken over by Michael Pistorius in 1869. Pistorius first appears in the excise records in 1869, but the R. G. Dun & Co. reports claim that he did not take over from Ewe & Krieger (or Krueger) until 1870.417 The 1870 industry census lists Pistorius as the proprietor of what was the largest brewery in the county, with production of 500 barrels.

The overlapping of dates from different sources that confuses the picture of many breweries is especially evident in the case of the Eagle Brewery. The Dun & Co. records note that Pistorius was out of business by January 1874 and back in by mid-1876, but this could be referring to his saloon. William Hoke appears in the excise records during 1870 and 1871, and he fits better as a renter here than with the Lion Brewery. Confusing the records further is the presence in an 1873 industry directory of the firm of Behlmer & Fiedler, whose production was the same for the two years as Pistorius. The excise records could be read to support this, and Dun indicated that Fielder was renting the brewery he operated in 1875. Meanwhile, the same records have John Koschitz renting the brewery from Pistorius at least as early as 1875, and running it with Mrs. (Mary) Pistorius, who owned it at the time. Koschitz was an Austrian immigrant who seems to have taken over the brewery by himself by 1880. (Mary Pistorius was still in the population census in 1880, but Michael was not.) Schade’s 1876 guide listsed Koschitz with a partner named Moethwig in 1874, and a low production of 123 barrels and none in 1875, which suggests that the brewery was going through difficult times. By the end of the decade Koschitz had production up to around 280 barrels per year, and the Dun reports gave him a positive rating.418

For the next several decades, the brewery did a small but steady business. Sanborn maps showed a small (500-barrel capacity), primitive brewery, which as late as 1910 still used horse power and candles for lighting. Industry directories claim that Eagle Brewery offered bottled beer as early as 1884, but no bottling works were identified on maps on the brewery premises. John Koschitz died in August 1908, but the brewery remained in operation for a few more years, despite the death of Jacob Koschitz while working alone at the brewery in 1911. August Nothhelfer came from Appleton, Minnesota to operate the brewery, but it finally ceased brewing in 1915. The brewery was razed in 1940, and the bricks were given away free to anyone who would come and pick them up.419

• George P. Ziegenfuss (1855?–1880)
• Peter Oehlschlager (1871–72)
• John S. Ziegenfuss (1878?–1881)

George Ziegenfuss came to Fountain City in 1855 from Galena, Illinois, where he had lived for three years after emigrating from Prussia. Sources differ on when he first brewed in Fountain City, placing the date somewhere between 1855 and 1857.420 The R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports indicate that during the mid-1860s he was not flourishing, but making an acceptable living. Production was typically small—fifty barrels in the 1870 census year. Around 1867 the name recorded for excise purposes was John S. Zigenfuss, though this person is not listed in the 1870 population census. (The first name is not given in that year’s industrial census.) The Dun reports and excise records show that Ziegenfuss closed the brewery in January 1871, but then rented it to Peter Oehlschlager, an itinerant brewer who during his career worked at a half a dozen breweries in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Oehlschlager left in 1872, and Dun listed the brewery as out of business.421 However, the Ziegenfuss family resumed control in the mid-1870s, though the only known production was 268 barrels in 1878. Both George and John are listed as brewers in the 1880 census, but by 1882 they are no longer listed in industry directories. In 1884 John was listed as a butcher in Fountain City and the family was evidently out of the brewing business.

• Eder & Richter, Lion Brewery (1868?–1870)
• Eder & Bodmer (1870–72)
• Eder & Lenhardt (1872–75)
• Fiedler & Lenhardt (1875–77)
• Henry Fiedler (1877–79)
• Main Street

Kessinger’s 1888 county history reported that a new and “very large” brewery was built around 1870.422 This appears to fit the description of the Lion Brewery, which appeared under that name in the 1870 industry census with the proprietors Philip Eder and Frederick Richter. This pair earlier had been associated in the Eagle Brewery. The amount of capital invested was $14,000, which was significantly more than most other small town breweries. Since that year’s census only showed production of 120 barrels, it is likely that it had not gotten to full production yet, but the partners first appeared in the excise records in 1868.

Otto Bodmer purchased Richter’s share of the brewery in 1870, but sold it two years later to Michael Lenhardt. The R. G. Dun & Co. reports showed that Eder was no longer brewing in October 1875, but the brewery itself continued, since the firm of Fiedler and Lenhart [sic] reported production of 525 barrels that year. The ownership situation was apparently in flux, because when the brewery burned in April 1879, a newspaper account reported that it was still owned by Eder and Lenhardt, but operated by Henry Fiedler. The Lion Brewery was not rebuilt, but the site would later be used for the new Fountain City Brewing Co.423

• Fountain City Brewing Co. (1886–1920)
• Fountain City Brewing Co., Inc. (1933–1965)
• 436/444 Main St.

The Fountain City Brewing Co. was one of the first breweries in Wisconsin to be founded as a corporation, rather than growing out of an existing family business or partnership. In 1960, then-owner Marvin Witt related a traditional tale of the founding:

There’s a story that two men met at the Golden Frog—the oldest café in Fountain City. They said that to stimulate business in Fountain City, there should be a creamery and a brewery. One man said, ‘You sell stock for a creamery and I’ll sell stock for a brewery.’ and that’s the way the brewery was supposed to have been started.424

The articles of incorporation from 1885 state that the company would be in the business of “manufacturing beer, of buying and selling the same and of dealing generally in beer, barley, hops and other materials necessary or convenient for the manufacture, storage and sale of beer and similar beverages.”425 More than a dozen men were among the original directors of the company—most of them important local businessmen but few of whom had any experience in brewing.

Rumors of the new enterprise started early in 1885, and by May the company was soliciting bids from contractors for construction of the plant. Construction proceeded quickly, and machinery was delivered for installation in November. The first beer went on sale the next year, and the company was successful from the start.426 Henry Fiedler, formerly of the Lion Brewery in Fountain City, was elected secretary and agent of the company in 1889.427 Sanborn maps show that capacity in the early years was about 4,000 barrels per year, and that a bottling works was added sometime in the mid-1890s. Despite having been built with numerous modern advances such as steam power, the company still used ice for cooling until Prohibition.428

During Prohibition, Fountain City Brewing Co. was dissolved (the annual report filed with the State of Wisconsin in 1921 listed the nature of the company’s business as “selling out.”)429 Another local company, R-K-S, took over the near beer business for a short time. But as soon as the dry period ended, a new company, headed by Kurt Schellhas, part of a brewing family from nearby Winona, Minnesota, made plans to reopen the brewery. The building got a new roof, new floors, new plumbing and a paint job, and all new equipment was purchased, including a twenty-ton ice machine. The company bought a new truck and purchased six hundred new wood and steel barrels. The first beer was packaged in kegs, but a few picnic bottles were filled, and the bottling line was set up as soon as practical.430

Fountain City Brewing Co. was a typical example of a small town brewery with a limited market. The sales area was between forty to fifty miles from the brewery, but this included the city of Winona on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River. About half the brewery’s output was shipped to markets outside Wisconsin, in fact at one point the Wisconsin Beverage Tax Division allowed Fountain Brewing to modify their bookkeeping since “this brewery does most of its business in Minnesota.”431 Fountain Brew was a popular local beer, and the company supported the brand by sponsoring a bowling team and a basketball team called the Fountain Brews. Kurt Schellhas was active in the Master Brewers’ Association of America, and the brewery served as a social center for the community. In the early 1950s, Fountain Brew appeared in cans, relatively late for the industry overall but not atypical for smaller breweries that were short on capital for new equipment. (A picture of the Fountain Brew cans is in the preface.)

Unfortunately, like most other small and small town breweries, production surged briefly after the end of World War II, but the company could not sustain the growth. From annual production just under 5,000 barrels prior to the war, production jumped as high as 18,000 barrels in 1948, only to drop below 10,000 barrels for good in 1956.432 The brewery was sold to Marvin Witt of Winona in 1960, who retained most of the fifteen employees. A redoubled sales effort led to a slight increase for a few years, but nowhere near the 22,000-barrel capacity of the brewery. The company prematurely celebrated its 80th anniversary in 1963 by opening a new hospitality room, the Old Heidelberg Room, and introduced a premium brand called Fountain Club—but to no avail. In June 1965, the company announced it was going out of business. Brewmaster Karl Grabner hoped the shutdown was only temporary, but no buyers could be found to return the plant to operation.433

Fox Lake (Dodge County)

• Frank A. Liebenstein, Fox Lake Brewery (1856–1873?)
• John Shleip, Fox Lake Brewery (1873?–79)
• J. A. Williams, Fox Lake Brewery (1879–1880)
• Catherine Liebenstein Fox Lake Brewery (1880–1892)
• J. C. Williams, Fox Lake Brewery (1892-?)
• Fox Lake Brewing Co., Frank (Franz) Ring (1902–1912)
• Fox Lake Brewing Co., John C. Brodesser (1912–1920)
• Fox Lake Brewing Co. (1933–37)
• Mill and Trenton Streets

Frank Liebenstein left Beaver Dam and began brewing in Fox Lake in 1856. By 1860 the industrial census showed he had built annual production to 500 barrels a year with the help of four employees, two of whom were Joseph and John Hussa, who would later found their own brewery in Bangor.

The Fox Lake Brewery is yet another where different sources present different ownership data. Unfortunately the brewery does not appear in the R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports, and the excise records are complete only through 1873. Salem’s table lists John Shleip as the responsible party (with production of only 91 barrels in 1878 and 150 the next year.) Salem’s listing for John Regelein in Fox Lake probably should have been in Fort Atkinson. The Bradstreet credit report of 1884 lists both Mrs. F. Liebenstein and James A. Williams as brewers in Fox Lake, though there was never more than one brewery there. A newspaper report on an 1884 burglary at the brewery gives the owner as Frank Liebenstein, though it is possible others were running the brewery for him. F. A. Liebenstein appears in some directories as the proprietor as late as 1891, and did not die until 1917 at the age of ninety. Despite Frank’s persistence, for most of the 1880s and early 1890s the brewery was listed in industry directories under the name of Catharine Liebenstein, most likely for tax or debt reasons.

In 1892, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported that J. C. Williams had purchased the brewery property of F. A. Liebenstein for $1,300, but provided no other information.434 However the brewery disappears from industry and Wisconsin business directories for the next decade, so it is not clear if Williams actually brewed in Fox Lake. The Sanborn map of 1892 indicated that the plant was used for storage and bottling of beer, but that the kettle was not in use, and the 1898 map indicated that everything was vacant except for the residence on the property.

In 1902, Frank Ring took over the brewery, and with his son Frank Jr. as brewmaster, began making beer again. They began bottling beer at some point after 1905, and a 1911 newspaper advertisement called special attention to the quality ingredients used in their bottled beer, and assured customers “Telephone Orders Promptly Delivered.”435

In 1912, Louis Ziegler and two Mayville saloon owners purchased the brewery from Ring, and shortly thereafter turned it over to Ziegler’s son-in-law, John C. Brodesser, who ran the brewery until Prohibition.436

Fox Lake Brewing Co. was not among the breweries ready on New Beers’ Day, but the new company headed by Donald Stroh and brewmaster Andrew Fischer began production shortly thereafter. The regular beers included Vienna and Old Golden Brew, and the company also brewed bock and Christmas beers. Through 1935 production was typically around 600 barrels per month, which placed it in the middle of the pack among smaller Wisconsin breweries. In May and June 1936, the brewery produced more than 1,000 barrels to get ready for the summer beer-drinking season. However, the initial enthusiasm was short lived, and the company was unable to achieve similar figures the next year and production dropped to a paltry twenty-nine barrels in July 1937 as the brewery ramped down productions. The brewery ceased operations in August 1937.

Franklin, Herman Township (Sheboygan County)

• Claus Menke (1853–57)
• Gustav Seideman, Shankler Brewery (1859?–1865?)
• William Pfeil & Seideman (1865–68?)
• William Pfeil (1868–1871)
• C. Gataike (1870?)
• Gustav Seideman (& Son) (1871–77)
• Seideman & Koellner (Koemner) (1877–78)

The history of this brewery is made confusing by the fact that it was sometimes listed in Franklin, sometimes in Herman, and occasionally in Howards Grove (and it was once listed in Manitowoc County as well). The earliest known brewer was Claus Menke, who built a brewery in 1853. He operated it until 1857, when he “went into a brewery in Menasha.” This enterprise apparently did not pan out, since he returned to Franklin, but this time as a toll keeper on the Calumet & Sheboygan plank road (though the 1860 census still listed him as a brewer).437 After Menke left, Gustav Seideman took over the brewery and had some involvement for most of the next two decades. As described in the 1860 census, the brewery represented an investment of $2,000, employed two, and produced 300 barrels of beer. (The name Shankler Brewery was in the 1860 industrial census, which suggests that Mr. Shankler leased it to Seideman, but is not conclusive.)

In 1861, there was a disastrous fire at the brewery, in which not only was the brewery destroyed, but when one Charles Mattes attempted to enter the brewery, he fell into the cellar “and was burned up.”438

Around 1865, William Pfeil joined the brewery, though sources disagree on how long he worked with Seideman. By 1870, the brewery was still powered by hand and only employed two, but Pfeil and employee Philipp Wolf still made 500 barrels of beer the preceding year. (The industrial census made a distinction between 400 barrels of beer and an additional 100 barrels of lager.) The excise records show a C. Gataike as the responsible tax paying member of the Franklin/Howards Grove brewery, but it is not clear what his status was in the business. The R. G. Dun & Co. credit records present a confused picture of Pfeil’s credit, sometimes saying it was fine, but at one point in early 1872 described it as “Nix Gut.” In 1872 Pfeil went to Sheboygan and opened a saloon, later started manufacturing soda water, and in 1880 was elected sheriff of Sheboygan County.439

Seideman returned to the brewery in 1871, though the brewery may have been out of production for part of 1871 and 1872. He and his son Frank continued to operate the brewery through 1877. Gustav and his new partner A. Koellner reported producing 370 barrels in Salem’s survey, but none the next year, and the brewery disappears from the records except for one reference to Seideman & Pfeil in the 1884 Bradstreet reports, which is the one that places them in Manitowoc County (and must be viewed with caution).

Franklin (St. Martins) (Milwaukee County)

• Godfred Gross (1859?–1867?)
• Philip Gross (1867?–1894?)
• Near Modern 11765 West St. Martins Road

A local history of St. Martins claims that the Gross brewery was built sometime in the 1850s. The 1860 industrial census listed Godfred Gross as a brewer in Franklin, with an output of 200 barrels. Gross is listed as a farmer in the population census, but his brother-in-law George Henry Engelhardt and employee Matthew Pilmire (Pilmiro) were both listed as brewers. (Engelhardt’s brother, John Philip, was already brewing in Milwaukee [see Main Street Brewery]). Godfred’s son Philip continued the business, beginning to run it in his name sometime in the mid-1860s. Philip Gross still appeared in the 1884 Bradstreet credit reports, and local accounts contend that the brewery continued to operate until around 1894 though it was not included in industry directories.

The Gross brewery is important because of its links to Miller Brewing Co. Godfred’s daughter Elisabetha (Lisette) married Frederick Miller in 1860, and in 1876 Miller hired her cousin Heinrich Engelhardt to be foreman of the brewery in Wauwatosa. Local accounts contend that after the marriage of Frederick and Lisette most of the beer was actually shipped to the Miller brewery and that some kegs bore the combined names of Gross-Miller. Some also claim that the recipe for Miller High Life came from the Gross brewery, but this cannot be proved conclusively.440

• Jacob Cromaner (1875?–1876?)441

Freistadt (Ozaukee County)

• Leonhardt Bodendorfer (1866?–1872?)
• Near Swan Road and Mequon Road

Leonard Bodendorfer had a brewery in the western part of Mequon township near the intersection of Swan and Mequon Roads, which could be consistent with a location in the village of Freistadt. The cellar was still evident in the late twentieth century. Kroll agrees that this brewery was separate from Zimmermann’s in Mequon proper.442 Excise records place Bodendorfer in Mequon in 1867, but the 1870 population census has him living with Adolph Zimmermann in Mequon and working at Zimmermann’s brewery. The 1872 directory lists him in Freistadt.

Fussville (Waukesha County)

• J. Adolph Birkhauser (1849–1850)
• Henry J. Fuss (1860s?)
• Jacob Stolz (1871?)
• John H. Fuss & Baines (1873?–74?)
• Henry Stolz? (?)
• Section 14, Menomonee Township (1850); Eastern Edge of Section 24 on modern State Route 175 (1874)

According to a county history, Joducus Adolph Birkhauser had been a brewer in Cologne, Germany, before coming to Waukesha County in 1849. He started a brewery there, but died in 1850, and may not have produced any beer. There is a listing matching his description in the 1850 population census (though with a different spelling).443

Wayne Kroll, the expert on Wisconsin’s small rural breweries, holds that the breweries operated by members of the Stolz and Fuss families were continuations of Birkhauser’s brewery.444 The families that owned the brewery seemed stalked by ill fortune. In 1870, the Daily Milwaukee News reported a man missing:

Jacob Stultz [sic], who owns a brewery in Fussville, came to this city a week ago with a load of pork. He sold it and received his money, after which he went to the Fond du du Lac House and put up his team. He left the hotel soon after saying that he was to take dinner at another place. He never returned, and from that time his friends have been able to discover no trace of him. Mr. Stultz was a prominent citizen of Fussville, and his disappearance leave a wife and several children distressed at the dread uncertainty of his fate. He was a man of about 40 years of age, six feet high, and of rather a stout build . . . It is supposed that he has been foully dealt with for the purpose of obtaining the money he received from the sale of the pork. . . .445

Just over three years later, Stolz’s successors had a narrow escape:

At Fussville, Waukesha county, the family of John Fuss, brewer, had a narrow escape from death by the destruction of his residence Thursday night. The fire was discovered by the brother of the brewer, who managed to reach the place in time to save the slumberers. Fuss’ residence and brewery were totally destroyed. Loss about $6,000.446

It is not clear when Henry Stolz rebuilt the brewery, or how long he produced at all. Some accounts of this brewery have been complicated by data on the brewery in Milwaukee that was owned at various points by members of the Fuss and Stolz families. There are also two locations given for breweries in Fussville at different times.

Galesville (Trempealeau County)

• Thamish & Melchoir (1868–69)
• Leopold Melchoir (1869–1870?)

The brewery of Thamish and Melchoir first appears in excise records and Dun & Co. reports in 1868. The limited mentions in the excise records show that they were only producing two to four barrels per month, which was probably just enough to supply the saloon they ran. The Dun & Co. reports noted that they had “expended considerable money in excavating and erecting a brewery & saloon.” The property was in the names of the wives of both men, and Melchoir’s wife provided most of the money through her family in Bavaria. Problems with the partnership caused a breakup in 1869, and Melchoir continued alone. The excise records show the name Leopold Melchoir, which is supported by the 1870 population census. However, the Dun & Co. records give the name of Jacob Melchoir throughout the period.447 There was clearly a separate brewery in Galesville, rather than just confusion with the Melchoir brewery in Trempealeau, since a “Letter from Galesville” in the Winona Daily Republican from 1869 reported “A brewery supplies the social Teutons with their favorite beverage.”448 A later history from the 1930s tells of a brewery in Galesville operated by Jacob’s brother Leopold.449 No record of the brewery after 1870 has been found to this point.

Geneva Township (Walworth County)

• Absalom Shaw (1856?–1859?)

Absalom Shaw kept a grocery store in Geneva, and according to the 1857 and 1858 state business directories, was also a brewer. The Dun & Co. credit reports indicate that he was also a “watch tinker” but adds that the business was successful largely because of his “shrewd wife.” These reports specifically mention that beer was stocked among the groceries, and that Shaw occasionally consumed a fair amount of his own stock. By 1860 Shaw was no longer in Geneva.450

Germantown Township (Juneau County)

• Henry Runkel (1858–1867)
• Maria Runkel (1867)
• Near modern County Road G

Historian Richard D. Rossin Jr. has discovered that Henry Runkel started construction of his brewery in 1858. In 1867, the excise records show that the business was now in the name of Maria, though Henry was still alive and well. Brewing continued until 1867, when the Runkels moved the brewery and equipment to Mauston. An obituary of Henry Runkel published in 1905 suggests that they moved the brewery because the prospects for growth in Germantown had collapsed, and Mauston was more promising.451

• Jacob Gundlach (1856?–1858?)

Jacob Gundlach was one of the founders of Germantown, and was listed as a physician in the 1860 census. He appears as a brewer in the 1857 state business directory, and may have been the same person who was a partner with William Gillman at the brewery in Highland a decade earlier.

• William Hughes (1869?–1870)

When researching the Runkel brewery in Germantown, Richard D. Rossin Jr. came across references to a second brewery cave, which he located on the property of William Hughes. Hughes was listed as a saloon owner in 1860, but he appears in the 1869 and 1870 excise records as a brewer (and produced about thirty-eight barrels in the period between June 1869 and April 1870). He may have started brewing earlier to supply his saloon. Hughes switched careers and was listed as a ferryman in the 1870 census.452

Germantown (Washington County)

• George Frederick Roth (1849?–1860?)

George Frederick Roth was the first brewer in Germantown or the surrounding area comprising census district 48. He was in operation at least as early as 1849 and possibly earlier, since he had produced 520 barrels by the time of the 1850 industrial census—a near impossible task in the first few months of the year for a brand new brewery at that time. Despite competition from other brewers in the immediate vicinity, Roth’s business continued to grow, and he produced 750 barrels by the 1860 census. Roth’s brewery was a good starting place for brewers—Conrad Deininger went on to his own brewery in Sauk City and Bernhard Mautz or Mauz seems to be the same person who later had a brewery in Madison. Roth apparently went out of business sometime in the early 1860s, and never appeared in the excise records. He was not in the 1870 census, but by 1880 was keeping a hotel in Schliesingerville (Slinger) at age 72.

• John Staats (1852?–1880)
• John Staats Estate, Ph. G. Duerrwaechter, admin. (1880–82)
• Valentine Staats & Brother (1882–?)
• A. H. Reingrueber (1890–1904)
• Milwaukee-Germantown Brewing Co. (1904–6)
• Vogl’s Independent Brewing (Brewery) Co. (1906–1916)
• Germantown Spring Brewing & Soda Co.? (1916)
• Milwaukee-Germantown Brewing Co. (1933–1941)
• Northeast Corner of Fond du Lac and Freistadt Roads

According to an 1881 county history, John Staats founded a brewery in Germantown and ran it for twenty-eight years prior to his death.453 However, this source and the R. G. Dun & Co. records puts his death in 1880 (though the index of death records places it in 1881), which would suggest a starting date of 1852 rather than the traditional date of 1854 given in other sources. Possible support for an earlier date is provided by a claim on the Milwaukee-Germantown Brewing Co. letterhead from 1938 that “Germantown Beer has Quenched the Thirsty for 76 Years,” but breweries have occasionally either made mistakes on the date of origin or claimed an earlier date for enhanced prestige. (And this claim only takes the brewery back to 1862, unless they were not counting the Prohibition years.)

By the 1860 Staats’ brewery was well-established, producing 400 barrels with three employees. Staats was in the excise records from 1867 through 1872 though his absence from the 1870 census suggests his production was quite small some years. However, he maintained production over 300 barrels per year in the mid-1870s and by the end of the decade was selling more than 700 barrels per year.

After Staats’ death, the brewery was run by Philip G. Duerrwaechter, but according to Dun the business was having trouble paying its debts.454 While some sources claim that John’s eldest son Valentine took over the brewery with an unnamed brother, the brewery is not listed in any of the industry journals during the mid-1880s, so the brewery may have been mothballed during this period.455 By 1890, A. H. Reingrueber (or Reingraeber) had begun to bring the brewery back. The company (usually listed as located in South Germantown during the next few decades) remained relatively small. The brewery did not begin bottling beer until after 1900, and did not do its own malting. It employed five hands in 1910, which was much more in keeping with a small country brewery than one on the edge of Milwaukee. The company went into bankruptcy in 1906, and the new firm of H. Vogl’s Independent Brewing Company took over (while the incorporators were all Vogls, they were Joseph, John and Louis—none with an H.)456 (A label from Vogl’s Independent Brewing Co. is in chapter 3.)

In an interesting postscript to the pre-Prohibition era, American Brewers’ Review published a note in June 1916 that Vogl’s Independent Brewery had been succeeded by Germantown Spring Brewing & Soda Co., which had as its principals Selma E. Lomasky and Laura Engelhardt. This is confused by the fact that two other addresses have been given for this business, both of them closer to downtown Milwaukee, and with Arthur Warschauer as the contact in the 1916 city directory. Nothing further was published except a note in Western Brewer that the Germantown Spring Bottling and Soda Co. had closed.457 It would be interesting to know if these two women were entrepreneurs on their own or were acting for others.

The reformed Milwaukee-Germantown Brewing Co. was brewing by 1934, and while it brewed under its own name, it also brewed house labels for distributors. In fact, the distributing company at 1801 N. Marshall Street in Milwaukee (known at different times as Grant Distributing and Gesell Distributing) was part of the company and at least in 1938 all bottling was done at that address.458 The new company did not build a strong following, and production dipped from over 10,000 barrels in the mid-1930s to under 5,000 barrels in 1941, and the brewery closed that year.

• John Schlict (1856?–1860?)
• Charles Reidenbach (?-1870)
• Goldendale Road, south of Freistadt Road

In his book Wisconsin Farm Breweries, Wayne Kroll reports that the Schlict and Reidenbach breweries are continuations of the same business.459 He also includes the Roth brewery with this business, which is possible, but in addition to his entry in the 1857 Wisconsin state business directory, Schlict is listed as a brewer in the 1860 population census with $2,000 of his own real estate, raising the possibility if not likelihood that this was a separate brewery. Since the three employees of Roth’s brewery are already accounted for in the census, it is possible that Schlict had his own brewery.

• George Regenfuss & Co. (1858–77)
• John Sieben (1877–79)
• Near Goldendale Road

The Regenfuss brewery in Germantown is sometimes listed under Meeker or Richfield, the post offices used in the 1860s and 1870s. George Regenfuss started brewing around 1858, but by 1860 had invested $4,000 in a brewery that produced 500 barrels of lager. (The prevailing price for a barrel of lager at that place and time was $5.) While this brewery is not in the 1870 industrial census, it is listed in the excise records, though in 1872 the name on the brewery is George Jr., one of the many Regenfuss children. George’s brother Mathias was also listed as one of the “interested persons” in the 1873 industry directory. In 1871 the Regenfuss brewery produced an impressive 1,000 barrels of beer, but production dropped sharply to 425 barrels the next year. Sales were back up again the next few years, but according to the R. G. Dun & Co. credit records, the brewery was in financial trouble. The elder Regenfuss died in 1877, and the brewery was taken over by John Sieben, who may have been a creditor. Sieben was unable to get the brewery out of debt, and it was closed by 1879.460 The younger George Regenfuss went to Milwaukee to work in a brewery there (as did his brother Frank).

Glendale (Milwaukee County)

• Sprecher Brewing Co. (1994–present)
• 701 West Glendale Avenue

(The origins of Sprecher Brewing are covered under the Milwaukee entry and at some length in chapter 10.)

In 1994, Sprecher Brewing Co. moved from its original Milwaukee location to a former elevator car factory in suburban Glendale. This new facility continued to expand and a two-story addition was built in the early 2010s. Much of the equipment was designed and built by Randy Sprecher and his team, including the direct-fired kettle, but the newer parts of the brewery are fully automated.

The beers brewed by Sprecher have expanded to include nearly every known style. There have been several Belgian-style beers, especially for anniversaries, as well as German, English, and American styles. Sprecher was one of the few American breweries to experiment with African beer styles. Brewmaster Craig Burge developed the sorghum-based Shakparo Ale and the banana-based Mbege Ale in 2006. Shakparo was reformulated in 2007 to be gluten-free. In recent years, Sprecher has added some hoppier beers to its lineup, including the Whole Cone Hop Series, which featured offerings like CitraBomb—about as far away from Black Bavarian as one can get. Sprecher even had a light beer for a few years—Sprecher Light was sold on draught from 2005 to 2008 at restaurants that carried Sprecher beer.461 Sprecher did occasional contract brews, the most noteworthy being Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer, which was brewed with tomatoes, garlic, oregano and basil.462

Chameleon Brewing Company was started in 2010 as a way for Sprecher to reach a wider range of drinkers—some of whom may have viewed Sprecher beers as too full-flavored. Chameleon beers tended to be lighter and were designed to be “easy-drinking” without actually using the term “session beer.”

In 2013, Sprecher capitalized on its popular soda line with one of the first alcoholic sodas—Sprecher Hard Root Beer. While many other breweries followed the root beer trend, Sprecher added five other hard soda flavors in the next three years.463 Sprecher has also offered other products, including beer-flavored kettle chips and barbeque sauce.

As of 2017, Sprecher beer is distributed in twenty-five states—mostly east of the Mississippi River. The brewery produced over 25,000 barrels in 2015, continuing a trend of increasing sales. The Sprecher name also appears now on restaurants, as well as inside them. Starting in 2010, Kevin Lederer obtained a licensing agreement to use the brewery name (and feature their productions) on pubs in Madison, Wisconsin Dells, and Lake Geneva, Sheboygan, and Watertown. The brewery has no ownership stake in any of the restaurants.464

• Bavarian Bierhaus (2016–present)
• 700 West Lexington Boulevard

The Bavarian Inn, which had been a gathering place for area Germans and lovers of German culture since 1968, closed in 2011. In 2015, Brauhaus Milwaukee began to remodel the site and opened the new Bavarian Bierhaus Brewpub and Beer Garden in April 2016. The new complex featured a large dining hall, a tap room, and a beer garden.465

Brewers Nate Bahr and Mike Biddick use the fifteen-barrel system primarily for German-style beers befitting the establishment, but they also brew a few ales and some beers with additional ingredients for variety.

Grafton (Ozaukee County)

• J. B. Steinmetz (1846–1870)
• Charles Quenengasser (1870–76)
• Klug & Co. (1878–1880)
• Grafton Brewing Co. (various proprietors) (1880–84)
• John Weber, Grafton Brewery (1884–1890)
• William Weber Grafton Brewery (1890–1920)
• Blessing Beverage Co. (1920–1933)
• Grafton Brewing Co. (1933–35)
• Wisconsin Cooperative Brewery, Inc. (1935–1941)
• 1230 12th Avenue

John B. Steinmetz is reported to have started his brewery in Grafton around 1846.466 Steinmetz produced 300 barrels in 1860, among the smallest in the county of those breweries included in the census. The opinion of his business as reported by the R. G. Dun & Co. agents was originally quite high, but by 1867 they reported that drink had gotten the better of him and reported that he was “generally 3 sheets in wind.” Unfortunately, he did not attend to business and was in debt by the end of the decade.467

The Grafton brewery is not included in the 1870 industry census, likely because it produced little or no beer during the preceding year. The brewery was not included in excise records during 1869, but in 1870 these records bore the name of the new owner, Charles Quenengasser. Quenengasser restarted production on a small scale, brewing 217 barrels in 1871 and 293 in 1872. However he disappeared from both excise records and industry directories after this point, and the R. G. Dun & Co. records indicate that he was in financial difficulty and facing a number of lawsuits.

Over the next few years, the brewery went through several ownership changes. Dun notes that the Grafton Brewery was under the direction of August Klug and Co. (the “Co.” was Charles Schlegal) as of the beginning of 1878. Production statistics listed in Salem’s table show production of 168 barrels in 1878 and 1,116 in 1879, but there is a good chance the latter number was a typographical error, since it would be more than the brewery’s capacity several years later, and the company was still in financial trouble. By 1881 Kersting & Co. were the new operators of the brewery, but this lasted only about a year. The next owners were Peter Spehn and Henry Diedrich, but the Dun reports did not rate their business acumen highly. Spehn operated the brewery by himself in 1883, and Schlegal appears to have been involved in the business again, but by the beginning of the next year Dun’s agent predicted that the brewery would “be taken over by someone else.”468

That someone else turned out to be John Weber, who owned the successful brewery in nearby Cedarburg. Weber placed his twenty-two-year-old son William in charge of the Grafton plant, and after a few years the brewery was operated in William’s name. William soon started bottling his beer, and the company remained profitable under his direction through Prohibition.

As Prohibition approached, Weber decided to sell the brewery to George Blessing, who had previously been associated with Port Washington Brewing Co. Blessing made a couple of different brands of near beers including one called Camel, but not all of the product went through the dealcoholization step. The brewery was raided in July 1923, and revenue agents later claimed that Tommy O’Donnell, the gangster who operated the Fort Atkinson brewery, was also behind the illicit brewing at Grafton.469

After Prohibition, the Grafton brewery housed one of the rare attempts to create a cooperative brewery that actually got off the ground. The Grafton Brewing Co. got underway under the management of George Blessing in late 1933, but he died shortly thereafter and the brewery was in need of new management. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Co-operative Brewery had been incorporated but needed a plant. While Milwaukee tavern keepers were the primary constituency of the co-op, membership in the cooperative was “limited” to anyone who was “a consumer, producer, worker, wholesaler, importer, directly or indirectly interested in goods manufactured”—in other words, not really limited at all. Brewery workers would be allowed to work for their membership certificates, which otherwise cost $500. One news report noted: “Several leading socialists of Milwaukee county are among the organizers,” including State Senator Walter Polakowski, and Edward Ihlenfeldt, a building contractor and would-be Democratic politician who was a proponent of other cooperatives and barter exchanges during the recovery period. While the founders selected a site at 20th Street and Morgan Avenue in Milwaukee and went as far as to launch a public contest to name their new beer, the Milwaukee brewery never materialized. Instead, they purchased the shuttered Grafton brewery and began production there in 1935. The new company did steady if unspectacular business for several years. Available production and sales figures indicate that the vast majority of the beer was sold in Wisconsin, and that sales of draught beer were significantly larger than bottled beer—both of which would make sense for a brewery founded by tavern keepers. In fact, one of the bottled brands was called Milwaukee Tavern Beer. They also made a few private label beers, as well as occasional bocks and holiday beers. However, the detailed financial reports filed with the State of Wisconsin showed that the cooperative was running a deficit each year, and by 1941 Wisconsin’s cooperative brewery was dissolved.470

• Milwaukee Ale House (2008–present)
• 1208 Thirteenth Avenue

Milwaukee Ale House opened its first branch location in May 2008 in a Riverside location in Grafton.

• Water Street Brewery (2011–present)
• 2615 Washington Street

The Water Street Brewery in Grafton, located just off I-43 and Washington Street, opened in 2011.

Granville (Milwaukee County)

• Ferdinand Wagner (1843?–1880?)
• Fond du Lac Road

Obituaries for Ferdinand Wagner declared that he came to Wisconsin from Philadelphia in 1843, and established a brewery in Granville where he brewed the first lager beer in the state. (The question of who really brewed the first lager in Wisconsin is covered in more detail in chapter 2.) According to the 1860 census he sold $1,200 worth of beer but the volume was unclear since he was “unable to state[,] no books.” (The average price in Milwaukee at the time was between $5 and $6 per barrel and may have been higher in the countryside, so it is likely he produced slightly more than 200 barrels that year.) He had $2,000 worth of capital invested in the two-horse power brewery. He only reported one horsepower in the 1870 census, but was at least able to show production of 100 barrels of beer. It appears that as he got older he brewed less and less—the reported figures for 1871 and 1872 were twenty-five and twenty-four barrels, respectively.

Wagner’s brewery appears to have been a gathering place for clubs and societies as well as a place to find a glass of lager beer. Wagner gave up brewing around 1880 and moved to Milwaukee to live with his daughter and son-in-law. One of Wisconsin’s pioneer lager brewers died in June 1890 at the age of seventy.471

• Jacob Stoltz (1866?–68?)
• Fuss & Baines (1872?–73?)
• John H. Fuss (1874?)
• West Granville

The second brewery in Granville was started in the mid-1860s by Jacob Stoltz, who first appears in the excise records in 1867. The firm does not appear in the 1870 industrial census, and excise data is missing until 1872, but the industry directory of 1873 reported that this brewery produced 101 barrels in 1871 and 251 in 1872. John H. Fuss was listed as living in Menomonee, and is listed in the 1870 census as a farmer Monomonee township, Waukesha County. Thomas Baines is not readily located in the census. Fuss appears alone in the 1874 excise records.

Gravesville (Calumet County)

• T. Sussenguth (1873?–1884?)

Theodore Sussenguth was listed in the 1880 census as a soda bottler, and appeared in that occupation in both the Bradstreet and Dun credit reports at various points between 1873 and 1884. (The Dun reports locate him at Chilton—the two cities are adjacent.) Nothing is mentioned about brewing in these limited references, though it is possible that he manufactured weiss beer or even brewed lager or ale for a short time.472

Green Bay (Brown County)

• Francis Blesch, Bay Brewery (1851–1879)
• Pearl Street between Walnut and Hubbard (now 500 block North Broadway)

Green Bay went for a surprisingly long period between its founding and the establishment of its first brewery. Francis Blesch started brewing sometime around 1851 in the Fort Howard section of what is now Green Bay.473 (There were actually four men in greater Green Bay who were listed as brewers in the 1850 population census: Blesch, Alexander Alexis, Joseph Odholek, and Dominick Troyer, who would later establish a brewery in St. Paul. Blesch lived with Odholek, but there is no evidence that the other three were employed in their trade in Green Bay at that point.) Blesch built the first two-story stone structure in the city in 1856, and he was highly regarded for his industry.

Interestingly, the text of Blesch’s newspapers ads changed in May 1857 to indicate that he was about to begin selling “Lager Beer”—he had previously just offered “Good Beer.” This may have simply been a new point of emphasis in advertising, but the wording suggests that he had been producing German ales prior to this point.474 The change may have been spurred by a fire in August 1856 that destroyed the brewery—forcing Blesch to rebuild. In fact, Blesch’s continued additions to the brewery were noted by a Ft. Howard correspondent as evidence that Green Bay was recovering from the Panic of 1857.475 The R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports lauded him in 1860: “He is a German of most industrious habit & we considered him one of the safest men in the County. He is a man’s man.” Figures from the 1860 census of industry support the assessment of his industry—Blesch operated the only steam-powered brewery in the state outside Milwaukee, and produced 1,000 barrels of beer with four employees. Blesch had his own cooperage and bought thousands of bushels of barley from area farmers. However, the Dun evaluator in 1861 reported there was no change “except that his beer is becoming unpopular.”476 Unfortunately, no contemporary accounts provide any clues why that was the case.

By 1870, Blesch had significant competition for the thirsts of area residents. There were three other steam breweries in town, and while he was now making 2,000 barrels per year, this now ranked third in Green Bay. (For some reason, Green Bay breweries were omitted from industry directories in the early 1870s, so production figures after this point are missing.) In 1876, the brewery was seized by federal authorities for violation of revenue laws (more details are in chapter 3). Unfortunately, this was not the first time—the brewery had also been seized in 1865, though Blesch was able to settle the claims quickly.477 The brewery ceased production sometime prior to July 1879.

• William Schmidternecht (1856?–1859?)

A list of businesses in Green Bay published in the Green Bay Advocate in 1856 includes an entry for a brewer named William Schmidternecht. He is mentioned nowhere else in several years of newspapers, but an article from early 1859 reports that there were “four or six” breweries in or within a short distance of Green Bay, and given the known dates of starting for other breweries, it is likely that Schmidternecht was still functioning.478

• Hochgreve & Rahr (H. Rahr & Co.) (1858–1868)
• August Hochgreve, Bellevue Brewery (1868–1879)
• Christian Kiel (1879–1882)
• C. Hochgreve & Son Bellevue Brewery (1884–1893)
• Caroline Hochgreve, Bellevue Brewery (1893–94)
• Hochgreve Brewing Co. (1894–1920)
• Hochgreve Brewing Co. (1933–1949)
• River Road opposite Allouez Avenue

August Hochgreve established his brewery with partner Henry Rahr in the section of Green Bay which had just recently been renamed Bellevue (replacing the less appealing name of Shantytown). Hochgreve had trained as a brewer and cooper in Herzberg, Hanover, Germany, and Rahr had worked at his uncle’s brewery in Manitowoc. Some of the early newspaper references for the brewery refer to the as H. Rahr & Co., “an enterprising firm from Manitowoc.” Production apparently began late in 1858, and by 1859 they were advertising that they had “the means and apparatus to furnish [beer] in any quantity.”479 Business was so good by the mid-1860s that the company built another brewery in Green Bay—a very early example of a branch brewery! After a few years of running the breweries together, they dissolved the partnership. Gus Hochgreve stayed at the Bellevue location and Rahr took charge of the East River Brewery (see the rest of the history of Rahr’s plant under that location). Some accounts suggest the partnership dissolved earlier because of the existence of the new brewery, but contemporary sources show the dissolution did not occur until June 1868. Both firms were doing well by the 1870 census—Hochgreve had produced 1,500 barrels of beer in the preceding year, along with 2,000 barrels of “shenk” (table beer or small beer). The former sold for $10 per barrel, the latter $9.

Hochgreve built a new brewery starting in 1872, during which “the buildings that have heretofore done service are now being torn down” and a single new building was built that occupied the space of all the older detached buildings, at an estimated cost of $25,000.480 When Hochgreve died in 1877, his widow, Caroline, took over the business with the help of her sons Adolph and Christian. Production dropped a bit after Gus’s death, averaging about 1,400 barrels in 1878 and 1879, and they fell well behind the Rahr and Hagemeister breweries. It is likely that the building project was a drain on the finances of the family and business: the R. G. Dun & Co. records expected that the estate would not be able to do much more than cover the existing debts. In some sources Christian Kiel is listed as being associated with this brewery as well as his own business in Kossuth. Kiel was the father of Hochgreve’s widow Caroline, and the Dun reports confirm that he was managing the brewery for the estate.481 (In fact, none of the Hochgreves in the 1880 census were listed as involved with the brewery.) Some other sources suggest Kiel had his own brewery in Green Bay during the 1860s, but this is not supported by contemporary evidence. Despite the apparent break in ownership dates, it is clear that the Hochgreve family continued to control the brewery.482 Adolph was president for many years and was eventually succeeded by brother Chris.

Hochgreve remained the smallest of Green Bay’s four breweries for many years, perhaps because they were the last to bottle their own beer, which they did not commence until between 1900 and 1905 when they established a small bottling room in the basement below the office just north of the brewery. A 1905 industry directory reported that Hochgreve included porter among their products, and while rival Rahr was making porter, it is not clear if there was enough local demand for two porter brewers.

Hochgreve started installing egg-processing equipment when Prohibition appeared imminent, but it was one of two Green Bay breweries (along with Rahr) that produced 2.5 percent beer in the period after beer was theoretically outlawed, pending a final ruling on whether or not beer of that strength would be permitted.483 This experiment was soon ended, and Hochgreve Brewing Co. went mostly dry along with the rest of the nation. Mostly. In March 1924, three employees of the company were arrested while driving a truck filled with forty cases of real beer. Chris Hochgreve was also charged in the case, and later pled guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail. The brewery was closed, and its permit to make near beer revoked.484

Hochgreve Brewing Co. was not ready to provide beer on 7 April 1933, but they were ready shortly thereafter. By 1935, business was good enough that the company announced a $50,000 addition to the plant.485 Hochgreve’s advertisements emphasized tradition and heritage rather than modern techniques—one slogan from the late 1930s proclaimed Hochgreve Beer as “Aged in wood until it’s BETTER than good!”486 Chris Hochgreve died of a heart attack in September 1939 (Adolph had passed away in 1932) but other family members were available to take over the business. They expanded during World War II, and continued to distribute throughout Northeastern Wisconsin. Production hovered between 25,000 and 32,000 barrels in the years before the war, but increased to nearly 50,000 barrels during the latter years of the war, which was the brewery’s reported capacity. Unfortunately the increase was more than the brewery was authorized to brew, and Hochgreve was charged in 1946 with exceeding their grain quota during the previous year.487 Production dropped off sharply thereafter and in November 1949, the company announced that it was going out of business after more than ninety years of family operation. The company was solvent, but the prospects for the future were dim. The brewery was leased out for storage of food products.488

• Robert Charry & Joseph Gecman, Bay City Brewery (1857?–1860?)
• Cedar Street

In January 1858, Joseph Gecman advertised Green Bay Advocate that he was

prepared to furnish the citizens of Green Bay and vicinity with a good quality of BEER at his new brewery on Cedar street, immediately in the rear of Mrs. Irwin’s residence. Also a good quality of yeast always on hand. I am determined to make my beer as good as any that comes into this market, and sell it at such prices as will make it to the interests of all to want to patronize me. Give me a call and try my Beer.489

The use of a residence as a landmark indicates the low importance of formal addresses in pioneer communities.

The 1860 census suggests that Bohemian immigrants Charry and Gecman were partners and that Charry provided the capital and Gecman was the practical brewer, though both were listed as brewers in the census.

• Charles Kitchen (1860–1877?)
• Washington Street

One of the more interesting small breweries in Wisconsin history is that of Charles Kitchen in Green Bay. He operated the only known combination brewery and bakery in the pre-Prohibition era, and specialized in English-style ales. An advertisement placed upon commencing business in 1860 proclaimed:

The subscriber has completed his arrangements to supply the public with what is called in England Pure Ale, or Ale made free from coloring or other pernicious ingredients said to be used by public Brewers. The only ingredients known to this are malt and hops. He flatters himself that after an experience of about 10 years in the manufacture of Malt and Ale, he can produce a purer article than has ever before been introduced into this section of the country. Those of weak constitutions, and heads of families, will find this life giving beverage just what they need.490

Kitchen appears to have continued brewing on and off in a small way for the better part of the next two decades. The R. G. Dun & Co. credit reports indicate that he was doing well for several years, but that trade was tapering off in the 1870s and he was out of business by 1877.491

• Philippe Flamon (Hannon/Annon) (1856?–1876)

When Xavier Martin traveled to the Belgian settlements of Brown County in 1857, he was struck by their love for two things—music and beer:

I found the people apparently very poor, but a more industrious crowd of men, women and children I have never seen. . . . many were making or brewing their own beer, . . . 

The Belgian settlers are great lovers of music; nearly every settlement has a brass and string band; they love to sing songs . . . Their favorite drink is beer, and Philip Hannon, one of the first settlers, built a brewery at which he made a peculiar kind of beer; when a Belgian had drunk sixty or seventy glasses of that beverage, he would begin to feel good, and then he would sing . . .492

While it is tempting to imagine Flamon brewing the rich Belgian abbey ales of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the comment about “sixty or seventy glasses” suggests it was “table beer” of much lower alcohol content.

Belgian immigrant Philippe Flamon appeared in the 1860 population census as a brewer, and his reported real estate holdings of $300 seems to indicate a very small brewery. The brewer of Wequiot listed in the 1857 state business directory as Philip Annon is most likely the same person. Flamon first appeared in the R. G. Dun & Co. records in 1869, which notes that he ran “a small concern but is quite a decent man.” The 1870 census lists him as a farmer, which suggests that brewing was a part time business. He continued brewing at least occasionally through the 1870s, but was reported out of business by 1876.493

• Henry Rahr, East River Brewery (1864–1888)
• Henry Rahr & Co., East River Brewery (1888–1891)
• Henry Rahr’s Sons (1891–1900)
• Henry Rahr Sons Co. (1900–1913)
• Rahr Brewing Co. (1913–1920)
• Rahr Green Bay Brewing Co. (1933–1966)
• 1317/1343 Main Street (1331 Main Street after Prohibition)

The East River Brewery was built in 1864 by August Hochgreve and Henry Rahr to meet the demand for beer that could not be satisfied by their Bellevue brewery. In 1868, they decided to split and each take one brewery; Rahr got the newer plant. Henry Rahr had worked at his uncle’s brewery in Manitowoc prior to coming to Green Bay, and brought with him a reputation as a capable brewer.494 Rahr was bottling at least by 1882 and probably before that point.495

The East River Brewery was the site of one of the worst industrial accidents to that point in Green Bay, and one of the worst brewery accidents of its era. On 3 August 1887, a vat containing seventy-five barrels of boiling liquid exploded, killing six and wounding seven others, a tragedy which the Milwaukee Daily Journal announced with the stunningly insensitive headline “Boiled in the Brew.” The brewery replaced the old brew kettle with a steam fired apparatus in an attempt to avoid future catastrophes.496

Rahr also purchased the former Nolden brewery in Escanaba, Michigan, and continued to operate the plant—producing 7,300 barrels in 1890, which was over 500 barrels more than at their Green Bay brewery. Henry Rahr died in April 1891 at fifty-six, and the firm was renamed to indicate that his sons had taken over the business.497

The company was incorporated in 1901, but nearly all the directors were family members, with the exception of brewmaster George Groessel. Groessel moved around more often than most experienced brewers: He worked in Rahr’s brewery on three different occasions, for his first brewing job in the late 1860s, again in the mid-1870s, and then finally for the last two decades before Prohibition. In between he worked for Franz Falk in Milwaukee, breweries in Chicago, Naperville, Illinois, La Porte, Indiana, and about twenty years in the Van Dycke brewery in Green Bay. While many brewers changed locations while younger in order to learn the business and advance, Groessel changed several times after being made foreman of significant regional breweries.498 The company made many of the usual improvements that merited write-ups in the trade journals—for example a new office and bottling house project in 1909 worth $25,000 was mentioned prominently in American Bottler.499 Rahr took advantage of a new hydroelectric dam on the Peshtigo River and made the switch to electric power in 1910.500

During Prohibition, the Green Bay Rahrs succumbed to the same temptation of many of their fellow brewers. In 1922 Fred A. Rahr was sentenced to eight months incarceration for manufacturing real beer, as well as being fined $7,600 himself and incurring a $15,000 fine on the company.501 However, the company known as Green Bay Products was able to make a smooth conversion back to beer and reformed itself as Rahr Green Bay Brewing Corporation in January 1933—though they did not have beer ready in April of that year. However, the new brewery was not controlled by the Rahr family, and in 1936 Otto Rahr announced that members of the family were planning a new brewery in Green Bay with a capacity of 60,000 barrels. (Nothing came of this plan.)502

In February 1937, Henry Rahr Brewing Co. purchased the troubled Calumet Brewing Co. of Chilton and operated the plant as a branch for few months before selling it. (A label from this period is pictured in the Calumet story.) Other than this, for most of the next three decades the firm that would eventually be called Rahr Green Bay Brewing Co. led the life of a standard mid-sized brewery. The good years during and after World War II persuaded management to increase capacity from 50,000 barrels to 75,000 in the early 1950s. It generally had one flagship beer (first Old Imperial and, starting in 1952, Rahr’s) with a few attempts at line extensions such as the Van Dyck brand introduced in 1949. Rahr’s introduced canned beer in 1956 to keep pace with other mid-sized breweries. While Rahr experienced the same boom during the war years as most other Wisconsin breweries—it had later boomlets as well. Rahr was one of several smaller Wisconsin breweries to be helped by strikes in Milwaukee, and the company also was able to take some business from other breweries in the area that had closed. The brewery approached 50,000 barrels as late as 1960 and expanded its market to include Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan as well as Wisconsin. The company was forward looking enough to hire an advertising agency at the end of 1960 to compete with larger firms.503 But production dropped off dramatically during the early 1960s, and the last brewery in Green Bay succumbed to competitive pressures in 1966. The company was sold to Oshkosh Brewing Co., and production at the brewery ended just over one hundred years after it began. Oshkosh Brewing Co. planned to continue the brands and keep the Rahr sales and distribution staff, but Oshkosh was having its own problems and while they brewed Rahr beer for a few more years, it was not a solution for that company either.504

• Hagemeister & Co., Union Brewery (1866–1873)
• F. H. Hagemeister, Union Brewery (1873–1882)
• F. H. Hagemeister & Son, Union Brewery (1882–86)
• Hagemeister Brewing Co. (1886–1926)
• Manitowoc Road (Modern 1607 Main Street)

Francis Henry Hagemeister worked at a meat market in Milwaukee prior to moving to Green Bay and starting a butcher shop there sometime prior to 1860. In 1866, he joined with Charles Fuller, Joshua Whitney and Herman Merz to found the Union Brewery, but by 1873 he had bought out their interests and controlled the brewery himself. He continued to run the butcher shop and was listed as a butcher in the 1870 census. (Merz was the only one listed as a brewer in the 1870 census, though Charles Rahr was listed as one of the employees of this brewery, rather than his own family’s firm. Merz sold his share to Hagemeister in 1871.) By 1875 he finally left butchering to devote his full attention to the brewery. The Union Brewing Co. was the most heavily capitalized brewery in the Green Bay area in 1870, with $36,000 invested in the modern ten-horsepower steam brewery. At this point their production of about 1,400 barrels was still less than the other breweries in town, but they continued to grow. By 1879, Hagemeister was second only to Henry Rahr in Green Bay, and at nearly 2,700 barrels, was one of the largest breweries outside of Milwaukee. By 1884, Hagemeister’s capacity had surpassed Rahr’s, and both had begun bottling operations (Hagemeister’s prior to 1883). Much of this growth has been attributed to the work of Frank’s eldest son Henry, who worked in the brewery from an early age, and by 1886 became president of the reorganized company. Brother Albert was secretary and treasurer, and youngest brother Louis was manager of Sturgeon Bay branch and of the bottling department before his early passing in 1895 at the age of thirty. Louis had an elite brewing education: in addition to earning a diploma, he worked for the Voight brewery in Detroit, the Keeley brewery in Chicago, and the Dallas Brewing Co. in Texas before returning to Wisconsin.505

In 1887, the Hagemeisters made a bold move by purchasing the former Leidiger Bros. brewery in Sturgeon Bay. Unfortunately, no records exist to show to what extent beer styles and recipes were coordinated between the two breweries. (The history of this plant is covered under Sturgeon Bay.) Hagemeister may well have needed additional capacity, since their production was nearly 19,000 barrels in 1890.506 The company was also incorporated that year, with a capital stock of $150,000 that put it among the largest breweries in the state at the time.507 The brewery continued to grow after Frank’s death in 1892. However the operations were not compact: the 1894 Sanborn maps show the brewery office on North Adams between Main and Pine, and a coal shed on Cedar between Jackson and Van Buren in addition to the main brewery on what was then Manitowoc Road. Hagemeister had depots in other cities including Stevens Point, which was already well stocked with breweries and depots.508 In addition, in 1906, the company changed its charter to rename the business Hagemeister Brewing Co. of Green Bay and Iron Mountain, Michigan, demonstrating its reach into the Upper Peninsula.509 The company did not actually have a brewery there, simply an agency, but incorporating in Michigan allowed them to avoid additional taxes levied on “foreign breweries.” At one point in 1907, Hagemesiter Brewing “shipped several barrels of bottled beer to Fort Worth, Texas” perhaps through a connection Louis made while in Dallas.510

Henry Hagemeister was so highly regarded among his fellow brewers and fellow citizens that he served as president of the Wisconsin Brewers’ Association for a time and was also a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and the Wisconsin State Senate.511

During the Prohibition years, Hagemeister Brewing Co. changed its name to Bellevue Products Co., and turned to other products, including a near beer called Cameo, which was introduced before Prohibition and was advertised as a top-shelf product available in both 7-ounce “nips” and 12-ounce sizes. (A photo of a Cameo bottle appears in chapter 6.) However, brewing of real beer continued, and in 1926 the company was charged with producing about $20,000 of “good beer.”512 (The two directors who were sent to prison, Henry Herrick and Leon Patterson, were later pardoned by President Coolidge.513) The company went out of business shortly thereafter, and was the only one of the three Green Bay breweries active just before Prohibition that did not return to production afterwards.

The greatest legacy of Hagemeister Brewing, however, may be colored green and gold. The Green Bay Packers played their first four seasons at Hagemeister Park along the East River, and their next two at Bellevue Park, which was bordered to the west by the Hagemeister/Bellevue bottling house.

• Landwehr (& Baier), City Brewery (1873–76)
• Louis Van Dycke (1876–78)
• Octavia Van Dycke (1878–1884)
• O. Van Dycke Brewing Co. (1884–1908)
• Chicago and South Jackson Streets

Landwehr & Baier (or Beyer) started work the City Brewery in the fall of 1872.514 The equipment arrived the next spring, and the “casks, kebs, tubs etc. for Landwehr’s new brewery came down the river on a scow in tow of the tug Ajax” for delivery to the brewery site.515 A few years later Sebastian Landwehr sold it to a consortium headed by Louis Van Dycke. Van Dycke had been a shingle manufacturer in nearby Dyckesville before moving to Green Bay with his family. Van Dycke may have had little interest in the brewing part of the business, since he is listed in the 1880 census as a dry goods merchant, and former partner Michael Baier appears to have been retained as the head brewer. Louis died in 1881, and his widow Octavia took over the business with the help of her eldest son Emile (or Emil) (though the brewery had been in her name for three years already).

The Van Dycke brewery settled in to the middle of Green Bay’s brewers, producing just over 6,500 barrels in 1890. They began to bottle their own beer sometime prior to 1887 in a facility on the Chicago Street side of the complex. The company was not in the papers often, except for when their safe was blown open in 1886 (with a loss of $148) and when a small building burned in 1892. Despite the earlier name change, the company was not incorporated until 1902, with Octavia, Emil, and Constanz F. Van Dycke as the officers.516

The Van Dycke Brewing Co. closed in 1908 for reasons that are not clear. It is possible that a major improvement project in early 1906 placed a financial strain on the company and it was unable to recover.517 The building was sold to the Hochgreve Brewing Co., but Hochgreve then sold it again and it was no longer used for brewing.518

• Titletown Brewing Company (1996–present)
• 200 Dousman Street (1996–present); 320 North Broadway (2014–present)

Titletown Brewing Company has perhaps the most majestic location of any of Wisconsin’s brewpubs—the former Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Depot. Opened in 1899, the depot served regular passenger service until 1971 and other rail service until 1994. The Fox Valley & Western Railroad, the last owner, vacated the building that year, and the building remained vacant until Titletown Brewing took over the space in 1996.519 Trains still traverse the tracks, providing an authentic feel for diners on the patio of this National Register of Historic Places property. Artifacts of the railroad era decorate the walls.

Founder and president Brent Weycker decided to open a brewpub after reading about the concept in a magazine. Co-founder John Gustavson designed a business plan for a brewpub in his masters program in business management.520 These two Green Bay natives led the Titletown development group along with Denver’s John Hickenlooper, then a developer of brewpubs including his Denver flagship Wynkoop Brewing Co. (and later governor of Colorado). In early proposals, the restaurant in the space was to be called the Railway Express Brewery and Pub.521 In 1996 Jim Olen was named the first head brewer, and the first batch of Railyard Ale was brewed in November 1996 to be ready for the December grand opening.

For most brewpubs, the story of the company’s development is much less dramatic than for production breweries. Head brewers come and go, new beers are introduced, and good brewpubs such as Titletown win their share of brewing awards. The ability to expand is limited by the space available—which was definitely the case for Titletown and its historic structure. Titletown sponsored a charity beer fest during its first summer, opened its rooms to local events both public and private, and hosted live music performances. However, Titletown had larger dreams right from the beginning. Perhaps because of the influence of Hickenlooper and the idea that a company could operated multiple brewpubs (even if they were not truly a chain), Titletown proposed establishing a brewpub in downtown Wausau as early as August 1997. Nothing came of these plans when John Gustavson left the company in 1998, and Titletown appeared to settle in for a long run as an established restaurant and gathering place with its own beer.522

However, after about fifteen years of operation, the popularity of the brewpub and demand for kegs from other restaurants and taverns forced the company to consider a major expansion. Luckily, an appropriate property was located right across Donald Driver Way. Titletown formed a partnership with Smet Construction Services called DDL Holdings to transform the former Larsen Company vegetable cannery into a new brewery and tap room. The first stages of the project were completed in October 2014 and Governor Scott Walker tapped a ceremonial keg to celebrate. This eventually became part of a much larger redevelopment project of the area called Larsen Green. In September 2015, the Roof Tap patio joined the existing Tap Room, and offered visitors unparalleled views along with their beer.523 The expanded guest space also allowed for more creative projects, such as commissioning an original theater show from Let Me Be Frank Productions called “Rahr’s Beer and Titletown USA,” a story about a small brewer struggling to survive competition from Milwaukee.524

The new brewery, and its capacity of 35,000 barrels per year, made it possible to make a major commitment to producing bottled beer. The first two bottled products were Johnny Blood Red and Green 19 IPA, joined soon after by Boathouse Pilsner.525 Production, which had been creeping slowly toward 2,000 barrels in the cramped space behind the bar in the depot, jumped to nearly 4,000 barrels in 2015 and 5,555 barrels the next year.

In a throwback to an era when breweries sponsored teams, Titletown has sponsored softball teams in Green Bay leagues. In a departure from those years, in 2013 Titletown employed two female brewers—Krystine Engebos and Heather Ludwig.526 Throughout its existence, Titletown has functioned as a social center for downtown Green Bay—hosting public and private events of all kinds, and attracting visitors to an area that has been revitalized at least in part because of the company’s efforts.

• Green Bay Brewing Co. (Hinterland Brewing Co./Hinterland Brewery) (1999–present)
• 313 Dousman Street (1999–2017); 1001 Lombardi Avenue (2017–present)

Bill and Michelle Tressler decided to move their brewery to Green Bay in 1999 in part to expand and add a high-end “farm-to-table culinary experience,” but also because Bill almost burned the Denmark brewery down.527 Their new location was directly across the street from Titletown Brewing, giving downtown Green Bay its own (small) brewpub district.

After the move from Denmark, Hinterland stopped bottling its beers for several years—partially to focus their efforts on building up the restaurant side of the business, and partially because the bottling equipment took up room they wanted for the restaurant. In 2005, they began to brew beer for bottling at Gray’s Brewing Co. in Janesville and reinstituted distribution of Pale Ale and other brews in northeastern Wisconsin.528 Eventually bottling operations were brought back in house.

Once established in Green Bay, the Tresslers opened additional restaurants, at least in part to showcase the talented chefs developed in the Dousman Street kitchen. In 2003 they purchased the Whistling Swan in Door County’s Fish Creek, and four years later they opened the Hinterland Erie Street Gastropub in Milwaukee.529

Looking back on the first ten years of the company, Bill Tressler admitted that Hinterland “was probably not the perfect model from the outset. The company was probably fairly under-funded. . . .” He added, “[F]rom the day it was born I don’t think six months went buy [sic] without making changes.” As a result of the “hard knocks MBA” Tressler earned, Hinterland reestablished itself in the packaged beer market while maintaining its strong reputation as a gastropub.530 Beers such as Luna Stout (made with coffee from the local Luna Café) gained a strong following, and Packerland Pilsner reappeared in 2014 after being dropped shortly after the Packers’ 1997 Super Bowl victory. Hinterland made the foray into canned beer in September 2013 with 16-ounce cans of White Cap IPA, followed in 2015 by 12-ounce cans of Packerland.531

Hinterland’s success created the opportunity to break ground on larger quarters in 2016 in the Titletown District near Lambeau Field. Tressler, head brewer Joe Karls, and their team brewed the last batch of beer on Dousman Street on the last day of February 2017—a blackberry Berliner weisse.532 Dousman Street closed in early April, and the new restaurant opened to the public on 12 April. (The Dousman Street location was soon purchased and transformed into Copper State Brewing Co.)

• Rustic Rail Grill & Brewhouse (2005–7)
• Black Forest Dining & Spirits (2009–2011)
• 1966 Velp Avenue

Rustic Rail Grill and Brewhouse opened in February 2005. The owners were Mike and Cindy Haverkorn, Rob Servais, Neal Van Boxtel and Greg Kamps. The restaurant was located in a brand-new log cabin-style lodge intended to highlight the region’s connection to logging and rail transport. They started with four house-brewed beers: The Golden Rail, Northwoods Nut Brown, Honey Rail Pale, and Bearpaw Oatmeal Stout.533 The brewery was still participating in beer festivals in 2007, but ceased brewing shortly thereafter.

A second attempt to establish a brewpub in this building was Black Forest Dining & Spirits. This business only lasted about two years, and was replaced by the Harley-Davidson dealership that occupies the building as of July 2017.

• Badger State Brewing Co. (2013–present)
• 990 Tony Canadeo Run

Homebrewing friends Andrew Fabry, Mike Servi, and Sam Yanda turned their passion into Badger State Brewing Co. in 2013. The three partners were looking for a name that would connect with a lot of people, and preferably one that was not limited to the Green Bay area that would limit future expansion. Amazingly enough, the Badger State name was available and had not been used since the Janesville brewery of that name closed in 1920—so they filed the necessary forms the next morning. The brewery is located in an industrial site in Lambeau Field Stadium District. (The street is named after a Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer from the 1940s and 1950s.)

The first beers, Bunyan Badger Brown Ale and Walloon Belgian Witbier, led a lineup that proved so popular that production jumped from under 300 barrels in 2014 to around 1,000 in 2016. As a result the brewery was forced to expand in 2014 and again in 2016. The latter expansion also included an event space to host private parties. Badger State began canning beer in 2015, and several specialty beers appeared in 750 ml bottles.534

Conscious of the energy-intensive nature of brewing, Badger State announced a partnership with Arcadia Power to purchase 100 percent of its power from Midwest wind farms. Fabry noted that the business plan for the brewery “had renewable energy as a focal point from the start.”535 Badger State also wanted to offer unfiltered beers, but clean and stable beers, so they were one of the first breweries of their size to install a centrifuge to remove particulate matter from the finished beer.

Badger State has been an active collaborator with other breweries. Fabry said that sometimes the collaboration projects are simply based on “who you’re sitting with at the bar talking about beer,” but they have a special affinity for breweries founded at about the same time. In late 2014, they teamed up with MobCraft to brew Dubbel Czech, a hybrid Belgian and Czech beer with a label featuring the teams of MobCraft and Badger State and a football player with a resemblance to the Green Bay Packers quarterback of the era, Aaron Rodgers (who starred in commercials for State Farm Insurance touting their “Discount Double Check”).536 They also participated in a project with Titletown, Hinterland, and Stillmank called Locals Only! which used locally grown grain and hops.537

• Stillmank Brewing Company (2014–present)
• 215 North Henry Street

Brad Stillmank is another homebrewer who was able to make a career out of a former hobby. Stillmank did not jump straight from the ranks of homebrewers to owning his own brewery, however. He worked for Ska Brewing in Durango, Colorado for a time, and earned a brewers’ certificate from the highly regarded program at University of California—Davis. (He was also one of the very first Certified Cicerones [beer servers] in 2009.)

Stillmank Brewing Company started as a client brewer who made their flagship beer, Wisco Disco, at Milwaukee Brewing Company. Wisco Disco is an unusual hybrid beer—an English-style ESB with lactose added for smoother mouthfeel. In 2014 he purchased an old warehouse in Green Bay to establish his own production facility. In the new brewery, Stillmank numbered his four fermenting tanks 15, 4, 12, and 80—after Packers greats Bart Starr, Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers and Donald Driver. Once open, Stillmank added new beers to the lineup, including an IPA called Super Kind and the Bee’s Knees—a honey rye ale. These beers were released in 16-ounce cans almost immediately, and Wisco Disco was popular enough to be sold at Lambeau Field during Packers’ games.538 During the first year of operations, Stillmank brought out a coffee beer, made its first lager, and brewed Double Disco, an imperial pale ale, for its first anniversary.539 Stillmank has also joined the list of breweries that are offering barrel-aged beers.

• Leatherhead Brewing Co. (2015–17)
• 875 Lombardi Avenue

Co-founders Amanda and Chad Sharon and Sheila and Ian Perks had been thinking about opening a brewery for three years, but were inspired to take action after tasting a stout brewed by Chad’s cousin Jacob Sutrick (formerly brewer at Stonefly in Milwaukee). They acquired a defunct restaurant building and converted it into Leatherhead Brewing Co.540 By the summer of 2017 they had expanded their beer list to thirteen different draught beers, plus Forgotten Beard, a barrel-aged version of Full Beard Stout packaged in 22-ounce bottles.

• Copper State Brewing Co.
• 313 Dousman Street (2017–present)

Copper State Brewing Co. took over the old Hinterland location and made significant changes to the pub and dining areas. However, co-owner and brewer Jon Martens was able to keep most of the Hinterland brewhouse intact. He also trained on the system with the Hinterland staff before taking over.541