Pabst Brewery Complex

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Pabst Brewing Company Complex
Former brewery Pabst Brewing Company in Milwaukee Wisconsin.jpg
The former Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Location Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Architect Charles Hoffmann; Otto Strack
Architectural styleLate Victorian, Modern Movement
NRHP reference No. 03001165 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 14, 2003

The Pabst Brewery Complex, on a hill northwest of the downtown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is the former brewery of the Pabst Brewing Company, where the company innovated to improve their beer and increase production until in 1892 it was the largest brewer of lager in the world. In 2003 the complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [2]

Contents

In 1844 Jacob Best Sr., an immigrant from Mettenheim, Germany, founded the Best and Company Brewery with his four sons - the germ of the Pabst complex. Along with lager beer, Best brewed ale, porter and whiskey. When old Jacob retired in 1853, his brewery produced 2,500 barrels per year - the fourth largest brewery in Milwaukee. [3]

Frederick Pabst immigrated with his family from Thuringia, Germany in 1848. Young Frederick went to work on steamships, working his way up from cabin boy to captain. In 1862 he married Maria Best, granddaughter of Jacob Best and daughter of Phillip, who co-owned the old Best brewery. Two years later he joined the Best brewery, and in 1866 he and Emil Schandlein, another son-in-law, bought the business. This was right when beer consumption was growing. The brewery produced 5,000 barrels in 1864, 37,000 in 1870, and 114,000 in 1874. In 1868 Best was the largest brewery in Milwaukee. [3]

Pabst Brewing Company Bottling Department Milwaukee July 2023 083 (Pabst Brewing Company Bottling Department).jpg
Pabst Brewing Company Bottling Department

The current complex contains about 30 buildings, with some examples listed here:

1933 visitors center in foreground, Jefferson school behind Best Place.jpg
1933 visitors center in foreground, Jefferson school behind

In 1889 the Best Company was renamed the Pabst Brewing Company. Production continued to grow and in 1892 Pabst was the largest brewer of lager in the world, with its sales increased 1,000% since 1872. That record was exchanged between Pabst, Anheuser-Busch, and Schlitz in following years. [3]

Milwaukee Pabst Brewery 1 banner.jpg

Pabst's brewery began innovating in the 1880s. It began using pure yeast culture to ferment the beer. Their engineers developed devices for washing barley, extracting hops, soaking bottles, making barrel staves, and rinsing kegs. Superintendent J. Fred Theurer and chemist Dr. Paul Fischer developed a way to reintroduce carbon dioxide into beer, which produced clearer beer than the old kraeusening process. Around 1890 Pabst helped get laws changed which had required barreling the beer solely to tax it, and then his engineers developed a way to pipe beer directly from vats into bottles. [3]

The facility was closed in 1997. On August 16, 2006, the brewery complex was purchased by Joseph Zilber's investment group Brewery Project LLC for $13 million to create The Brewery, a renovated complex for residential, office, and retail use. [11] [12] The Pabst Brewing Company Former Corporate Office Building & Visitor Center have been reopened as "Best Place," in reference to the brewery's founders Jacob Best and Phillip Best, and feature an antiques gift shop, Blue Ribbon Hall and the "Little Tavern on the Hill." Enclosed by the building are two courtyards, one of which houses a statue of Captain Frederick Pabst. A statue of King Gambrinus, the unofficial patron saint of beer, used to be displayed in the other courtyard, but was removed when the brewery was shut down in the mid-1990s. The sculpture was loaned back to the complex by the Pabst Corporation after a lengthy negotiation period on May 21, 2011. [13]

The former Pabst Brewhouse was also transformed into a hotel by Gorman & Company, a firm based in Oregon, Wisconsin. The hotel opened for business in April 2013. The project included partial restoration of six original brew kettles viewable in the hotel's atrium, fixtures made from repurposed wood beams, and a green roof. Jackson's Blue Ribbon Pub & Grill is attached to the hotel.

Renovated portions of the complex also house facilities for local universities, including the Cardinal Stritch University College of Education and Leadership and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Zilber School of Public Health. [14] The bottling plant was also turned into off-campus, private student housing for local colleges, which opened in August 2016. [15]

See also

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References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Pabst Brewing Company Complex". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Michael T. McQuillen (May 2003). NRHP Inventory/Nomination: Pabst Brewing Company Complex. National Park Service . Retrieved 2020-02-17. With 47 photos.
  4. "Pabst Brewing Company - Stock House, Building #2". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  5. "Pabst Brewing Company Main Office - Building #27". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  6. "Pabst Brewing Company Brew House - Building #20". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  7. "Pabst Brewing Co. - Malt House - Building #25". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  8. "Pabst Brewing Co. - Bottling House - Building #29". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  9. "Pabst Brewing Company Malt Elevator/Elevator F - Building #24". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  10. "Pabst Brewing Company Visitors Center/Reception Building - Building #35". Wisconsin Historical Society. January 2012. Retrieved 2020-02-17.
  11. "Archived copy". www.findarticles.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. "The Brewery". 11 August 2013. Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  13. Jacobson, Brian. "TCD Exclusive: The Return of the King". Urban Milwaukee. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  14. "Former Pabst brewery work continues with new office building". Jsonline.com. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  15. "Eleven 25". rentoffcampus.UWM.edu. Retrieved April 25, 2023.

43°2′45″N87°55′30″W / 43.04583°N 87.92500°W / 43.04583; -87.92500