Milwaukee’s three founders (Juneau, Kilbourn, and Walker) may have helped turn wild rice fields and marshland into a unified city, but it was the “Big Four” beer barons of the 19th century that secured Brew City a place in America’s heart, mind, and liver. Also check out our articles on Captain Frederick Pabst’s rivals, Joseph Schlitz and Valentin Blatz.
All photos by Joe Powell for The Squeaky Curd unless otherwise noted.
Frederick Pabst (full name Johann Gottlieb Friedrich Pabst) emigrated, like most classic Milwaukee brewers, from the German motherland. The 12 year old Freddie and his parents came over from Prussia to Milwaukee, with a brief stint in Chicago. Shortly after his mother’s passing, the teenage Pabst jumped from waiting tables in Chicago to riding Lake Michigan’s waves as a cabin boy on a variety of steamers. By 21 a captain was born, with the good Captain Pabst manning regular trips between Wisconsin port cities.
Image of a young Captain Frederick Pabst, sourced from Find A Grave.
During some of these travels and brief respites in Milwaukee, Pabst became acquainted with Phillip Best, son of Jacob Best and current head of the established but languishing Phillip Best Brewing Company. Shortly thereafter, the “handsome fellow” proposed to Maria Best, eldest daughter of the brewer.
Former Pabst Brewing Company brew kettles, now housed in the Brewhouse Inn & Suites.
After years of pestering by both his wife and his father-in-law, coupled with his ship running aground, the Captain took to dry land for good and joined Best (and another son-in-law, Emil Schandein) in his brewing enterprise. Though Phillip had kept his father’s brewery going strong since 1844, by 1863 they were only outputting some 5,000 barrels annually.
Beer flight at the new Pabst MKE Brewery.
Once Pabst and Schandein bought out the retiring Best, they quickly started making bold and inspired changes. Less than a decade later, by vigorously expanding into new national and global markets and making targeted local acquisitions, the pair had increased Best output to 100,000 barrels (according to Breweries of Wisconsin by Jerry Apps) and secured a spot as the second largest American brewery. Two years later, in 1874, they’d take the top spot and not relinquish it until the new century.
20-foot tall PBR can at the Pabst Fest at Burnhearts.
Shortly after Schandein’s death in 1889, the company changed names for good to the Pabst Brewing Company. A mere four years later the forward-thinking Pabst would market his already award-winning Pabst Best Select beer to the thirsty hoards the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair by hand-tying a bit of blue silk around the neck of each of his bottles. Taking home a gold medal, the marketing effort stuck and PBS became PBR. The Fair’s success helped Pabst become the first brewery to surpass the million-barrel mark in 1895.
Pabst Mansion in Avenues West.
The good Captain used his vast influence and capital to establish numerous public and private entities during his years, including Milwaukee’s first skyscraper Pabst Building, the national historic landmark Pabst Theater (built by Jacob Nunnemacher), the New York Pabst Hotel – demolished to make way for Times Square, the opulent Pabst Mansion, and the Wisconsin National Bank – today known as US Bank.
Image of an old Captain Frederick Pabst, sourced from Wikipedia.
Captain Pabst passed due to health complications on New Years Day 1904, shortly after his brewery was surpassed in sales, but not national prestige, by both Anheuser-Busch and Schlitz. He’d grown his father-in-law’s brewery from a few wood buildings on the outskirts of town to 4-square city blocks of Cream City Brick buildings in the heart of Milwaukee. Today you can still visit the old brewing grounds and take a spin in the Captain’s own chair: spin around and survey the city this low-born beer baron helped to touch new heights.