Milwaukee the beer capital of the world

Modern Milwaukee (Photo courtesy milwaukee.gov)

Milwaukee wasn't always known as the beer capital of the world. In fact, it was circumstance that made it so. Had the right factors not come along in rapid succession, Milwaukee might have been just another small German influenced town that happens to like beer.

Not a great slogan by any stretch of the imagination.

So what were the circumstances? First, let's establish the breweries that were rising in Milwaukee in the 1800s. Jacob Best started his brewery in 1844, John Braun started his in 1846, and in 1849 August Krug started his. These names might not be all that familiar because Best's son-in-law took over the brewery and changed the name to Pabst. Braun's widow married Valentin Blatz, whereas Krug's widow married Joseph Schlitz. Frederick Miller didn't marry into a brewery, he simply had good timing and bought the Plank Road Brewery when Jacob Best's sons, Charles and Lorenz, went out of business. In addition to these there were many other breweries on the rise, too many to name here.

So back to the circumstances. The first happened in 1860 or thereabouts. A small bug turned the fortunes of Milwaukee's brewers. It was the hop louse and it destroyed the crops in the east. This opened up a whole new market for Wisconsin farmers, who started growing hops. Because of this opportunity, Milwaukee brewers doubled their output between 1860 and 1865.

The second set of circumstances came close on the heels of the hop louse. Whiskey and other hard liquors were the preferred drink to most who weren't German back then. It gave a better bang for your buck. Then came the Civil War and new taxes on hard liquor and beer. Hard liquor was taxed $1 a gallon while beer was taxed $1 per barrel. Beer quickly became the bargain drink and its popularity soared.

One final set of circumstances that helped establish Milwaukee as the beer capital of the world was the great Chicago fire. When Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over that lantern on Sunday, October 8, 1971 the resulting fire burned down four square miles of Chicago including an estimated 18 of it's breweries.

Milwaukee's breweries, especially Blatz, Pabst, Miller, and Schlitz, were quick to fill the void, sending shipments of beer to thirsty Chicagoans. Schlitz, for instance, increased its sales by 100%, became one of Chicago's most popular brands, and probably also gave rise to it's famous slogan, "The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous."

By 1885, thanks to circumstance, Milwaukee breweries were producing more than one million barrels of beer, which was nearly 20 times what they had produced in 1865.

In addition to specified links, some information for this article came from "This is Milwaukee" by Robert W. Wells.