Page 36 - Journal of Antiques and Collectibles June 2019
P. 36
themselves by setting up a small vinegar works and convinced their father Jacob
Best, Sr., a brewer in Mettenheim, and two other brothers, Charles and
Lorenzo, to join them. Two years later the family pooled their resources to open
a small brewery on Chestnut Street named Empire Brewery (Est. 1844), and
created a family business that supported their new life here in America.
Choosing Milwaukee as the new American location for their family
business was a calculated move on the part of the Best family. It was ideally
located on Lake Michigan with access to the ice necessary for beer
production, particularly German-style lager beer. The surrounding farmland
was perfect for grain production. Also, tracks were being laid for an inter-
and intra-state rail system that could cost-effectively bring their goods to an
Blue Ribbon The rapid influx of Germans into the region by mid-century guaranteed
expanding market.
a supply of both workers and consumers for Best’s beer. By 1850, Germans
represented 40 percent of Milwaukee’s population, making it the city’s largest
Collectibles ethnic group.
Empire Brewery was what could be described today as a micro-brewery,
producing only about 300 barrels a year in its early years. Perhaps that made
the business too small for such a large family. In 1850, Best Sr.’s sons, Charles
and Lorenz, left the family business to start their own company, Plank Road
Brewery. This eventually became the Miller Brewing Company when it
was purchased in 1885 by fellow-Milwaukeean and German, Frederick Miller,
for $2,300.
BY MAXINE CARTER-LOME
In 1853, Jacob Sr. retired leaving his sons Phillip and Jacob Jr. to continue
operations as a partnership, with Phillip at the helm. In 1860 when Phillip
took full control of the company he renamed it Phillip Best & Co. An infusion
of cash from his new son-in-law and newly-named vice president,
Frederick Pabst, positioned the company to acquire Melms Brewery and,
combined with Frederick Pabst’s marketing instincts, put the company on the
road to exponential growth. By 1874 Phillip Best Brewing Co. was the nation’s
largest brewer.
S ome product brands are such a part of our zeitgeist that their logo alone
is enough for immediate recognition. Think Blue Ribbon and what beer
comes to mind? Pabst, of course, the blue ribbon of beer, “Selected as
America’s Best in 1893.”
Today, one of the oldest and most iconic of American beers, restyled
“PBR” for the new millennium, is taking the hipster market by storm,
spawning a new generation of fans, collectors, and collectibles. Its parent
company, Pabst Brewing Company, has grown into the largest American-
owned brewery in the country, with over 30 beer brands in its portfolio,
including Lone Star Beer, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Schaefer, Blatz, and
Colt 45. How this American-made beer, brand, and brewery has survived for
over 170+ years, including through Prohibition, while remaining relevant, is a
story with its roots in an immigrant family from Germany, a marketing-savvy
steamboat captain, and the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.
Pabst Malt Extract advertisement
from 1895 Women’s Medical Journal
Left: Pabst flat-top mini can bank from the 1940s
The Company’s Namesake
Frederick Pabst came to America from
Germany with his family in 1848. Settling first in
Milwaukee, the family soon moved to Chicago. As
a young man, Pabst worked as a waiter before
becoming a cabin boy for the Goodrich Line, a
steamship company that operated on Lake
Michigan. For eight years Pabst sailed the lake and
Pabst beer self-framed tin sign studied navigation, and by 1857 he had become
captain of the Goodrich steamer Huron. As captain
The Founding of a Brewery Empire of the Huron, Pabst met the woman who would
The history of the Pabst Brewing Company can be change his life: Maria Best, Phillip Best’s daughter.
traced to 1842 when two brothers from Mettenheim, The couple married in 1862.
Germany—Jacob Best, Jr. and Charles Best—immigrated As fate would have it, in December 1863,
to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, they saw possibilities for Pabst’s ship Sea Bird was beached by a storm at
themselves and their family’s future in what was then a Whitefish Bay, north of Milwaukee. Shaken by the
fledgling frontier town. The brothers established incident, Frederick decided to join his father-in-
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
34
Best, Sr., a brewer in Mettenheim, and two other brothers, Charles and
Lorenzo, to join them. Two years later the family pooled their resources to open
a small brewery on Chestnut Street named Empire Brewery (Est. 1844), and
created a family business that supported their new life here in America.
Choosing Milwaukee as the new American location for their family
business was a calculated move on the part of the Best family. It was ideally
located on Lake Michigan with access to the ice necessary for beer
production, particularly German-style lager beer. The surrounding farmland
was perfect for grain production. Also, tracks were being laid for an inter-
and intra-state rail system that could cost-effectively bring their goods to an
Blue Ribbon The rapid influx of Germans into the region by mid-century guaranteed
expanding market.
a supply of both workers and consumers for Best’s beer. By 1850, Germans
represented 40 percent of Milwaukee’s population, making it the city’s largest
Collectibles ethnic group.
Empire Brewery was what could be described today as a micro-brewery,
producing only about 300 barrels a year in its early years. Perhaps that made
the business too small for such a large family. In 1850, Best Sr.’s sons, Charles
and Lorenz, left the family business to start their own company, Plank Road
Brewery. This eventually became the Miller Brewing Company when it
was purchased in 1885 by fellow-Milwaukeean and German, Frederick Miller,
for $2,300.
BY MAXINE CARTER-LOME
In 1853, Jacob Sr. retired leaving his sons Phillip and Jacob Jr. to continue
operations as a partnership, with Phillip at the helm. In 1860 when Phillip
took full control of the company he renamed it Phillip Best & Co. An infusion
of cash from his new son-in-law and newly-named vice president,
Frederick Pabst, positioned the company to acquire Melms Brewery and,
combined with Frederick Pabst’s marketing instincts, put the company on the
road to exponential growth. By 1874 Phillip Best Brewing Co. was the nation’s
largest brewer.
S ome product brands are such a part of our zeitgeist that their logo alone
is enough for immediate recognition. Think Blue Ribbon and what beer
comes to mind? Pabst, of course, the blue ribbon of beer, “Selected as
America’s Best in 1893.”
Today, one of the oldest and most iconic of American beers, restyled
“PBR” for the new millennium, is taking the hipster market by storm,
spawning a new generation of fans, collectors, and collectibles. Its parent
company, Pabst Brewing Company, has grown into the largest American-
owned brewery in the country, with over 30 beer brands in its portfolio,
including Lone Star Beer, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Schaefer, Blatz, and
Colt 45. How this American-made beer, brand, and brewery has survived for
over 170+ years, including through Prohibition, while remaining relevant, is a
story with its roots in an immigrant family from Germany, a marketing-savvy
steamboat captain, and the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893.
Pabst Malt Extract advertisement
from 1895 Women’s Medical Journal
Left: Pabst flat-top mini can bank from the 1940s
The Company’s Namesake
Frederick Pabst came to America from
Germany with his family in 1848. Settling first in
Milwaukee, the family soon moved to Chicago. As
a young man, Pabst worked as a waiter before
becoming a cabin boy for the Goodrich Line, a
steamship company that operated on Lake
Michigan. For eight years Pabst sailed the lake and
Pabst beer self-framed tin sign studied navigation, and by 1857 he had become
captain of the Goodrich steamer Huron. As captain
The Founding of a Brewery Empire of the Huron, Pabst met the woman who would
The history of the Pabst Brewing Company can be change his life: Maria Best, Phillip Best’s daughter.
traced to 1842 when two brothers from Mettenheim, The couple married in 1862.
Germany—Jacob Best, Jr. and Charles Best—immigrated As fate would have it, in December 1863,
to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, they saw possibilities for Pabst’s ship Sea Bird was beached by a storm at
themselves and their family’s future in what was then a Whitefish Bay, north of Milwaukee. Shaken by the
fledgling frontier town. The brothers established incident, Frederick decided to join his father-in-
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
34
