For Milwaukee, the art of brewing beer has stood as a defying cultural and economic characteristic of a vibrant German-American community throughout the last 150 years. The ‘fermentation’ of a great industry first began through the audacious and dedicated German immigrants who made the small frontier port town their new home in middle 19th century.
Bringing with them a skill and craftsmanship as well as the experience and knowledge of lager brewing, beer became the central ingredient to the city’s growth and recognition on both a national and international stage. With cheap access to farmer grain, lake ice and waterway transportation, the industry exploded, expanding around the country and bringing in massive amounts of money to the local community.
Today, the past success and ingenuity of the Milwaukee beer barons seems to be but a faded memory, continuing to solemnly persist within public memory and the urban landscape. Memories of the once great industry are being challenged by the transition of a new economic era and competing corporate memories. Amidst the public and corporate discord, stories of the industry’s past—whether through the build environment or various forms of public imagery—have become fragmented and historically inaccurate. For Milwaukeeans, historians and beer enthusiasts alike, this should evoke alarm and concern, for it is jeopardizing the historical integrity of the early visionaries and community leaders who, through the power of beer, built Milwaukee into one of the largest and most industrially important metropolises in the Northern Midwest.
With the collapse of the brewing industry came concerning questions regarding how and if the city’s beer culture and beer history should/will be remember. Left behind in its trail were large numbers of laid off workers, slews of abandoned industrial infrastructure and a massive cultural and traditional void that has since decimated the vibrancy of the community and challenged accurate memorization. Towering grain elevators and steam stacks that once dominated the city skyline are being overshadowed by present-day commercial and economic ventures. Old brewing buildings are now taking on new modernized purposes that frequently give little recognition to the past. Additionally, brewing companies with the means and motivation are using old brewing spaces as museums to promote a romanticized and preferred history.
Through competitive memory-making, inaccuracies are developing that threaten the great brewing culture that is integral to the community of Milwaukee’s identity and sense of place. Bought out by their bigger brothers, breweries such as Schlitz and Blatz are not being accurately memorized. As a result of horizontal integration such as this, specific Milwaukee brewing companies, such as Pabst and Miller, are able to endorse their own historical image while giving little recognition to the other brew barons they brewed alongside with for many years. With the means to distribute their preferred images and stories out to the community and city visitors, additional chapters and alternate interpretations are forgotten.
Wisconsin Rediscovered 