Here & Now

A Farewell Toast to the Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous

Frederica Freyberg:
It’s a bittersweet start to summer for beer lovers as Pabst Brewery taps out on production of one of its most iconic brands – Schlitz. Some of the founding family continue to have ties to Wisconsin. Tonight, Murv Seymour takes us inside their private collection and to a southwestern Wisconsin brewery that has gone back in time to honor Schlitz as it ends production.

John Eastberg:
It is a long history that’s almost 180 years old.

Murv Seymour:
To learn the story of Schlitz, we went to the Milwaukee neighborhood blocks from its earliest beginnings.

John Eastberg:
The Schlitz story actually starts without anybody named Schlitz. It was a young German immigrant August Krug.

Murv Seymour:
Welcome to the never publicly seen Schlitz archives.

John Eastberg:
What we have in the Schlitz archive is really an amazing collection of artifacts, advertising, photographs.

Murv Seymour:
Old films, cassettes, original Schlitz artwork, it’s all part of the private collection of the Uihlein family who helped give birth to the Schlitz brand.

John Eastberg:
It was the largest lager brewing company in the world, and definitely the largest company in the United States.

Murv Seymour:
John Eastberg oversees this rare collection.

John Eastberg:
This is one of the earliest photographs taken of this neighborhood, where the Schlitz Brewing Company originally started. This would be where the Fiserv Forum is and where the Bucks play today. August Krug had hired a bookkeeper by the name of Joseph Schlitz, and when Krug died in 1856, his widow, Anna Krug, marries the bookkeeper and became Anna Krug Schlitz.

Murv Seymour:
Artifacts along the walls and on the shelves of this 2500 square foot space chronologically pieces together a story.

John Eastberg:
This is one of my favorite pieces in our archive.

Murv Seymour:
A homemade, handwritten spreadsheet from 1889, made by then bookkeeper and largest Schlitz shareholder August Uihlein, Anna Krug Schlitz’s nephew.

John Eastberg:
So he took two pieces of Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company letterhead, glued them together, and then detailed the output of all of his local competitors, but also his national competitors. He is listing all the different breweries across America, and then Schlitz is at the very bottom.

Murv Seymour:
Just over a decade later, Schlitz would rise to the top of the list.

John Eastberg:
Each piece is another piece to the puzzle of a company that essentially started in 1849 and has run in one way, shape, or form all the way to 2026.

Murv Seymour:
There are original ads used during prohibition when beer companies were simply trying to survive. Schlitz launches its own brand of non-alcoholic beers, sodas and candies.

John Eastberg:
Their idea was to produce high quality chocolate, and they built a specific plant for it. They created very attractive packaging and advertising. Pabst went into a processed cheese product, and the Uihleins created the Eline – spelled phonetically E-l-i-n-e – candy company.

Leonard Jurgensen:
You have to have a mission in life.

Murv Seymour:
If you think the Uihlein Schlitz collection is sweet

Leonard Jurgensen:
In my case, I’m reserving the past of Schlitz.

Murv Seymour:
wait until you see the Schlitz that sits 35 miles to the west.

Leonard Jurgensen:
Each one is a specific category on the history of the brewery. I believe there’s close to a thousand bottles in this room. I don’t know of any other collection of Schlitz bottles that is this large. 1902 Schlitz became the largest brewery in the world, brewed the most beer, sold the most beer, and then they created this piece of advertising. This is what we call a “fat man.” And the caption is “I rule the world.” In other words, they control the market and the world.

Murv Seymour:
He owns one of only a few of the original fat man figures.

Leonard Jurgensen:
This is probably 1905, 1910. Best of my knowledge, there’s only 3 or 4 surviving.

Murv Seymour:
Eighty-five years young…

Leonard Jurgensen:
Outdoor saloon sign, probably 1870, 1875.

Murv Seymour:
… collector Leonard Jurgensen admits …

Leonard Jurgensen:
That’s a stained-glass window out of a saloon in Chicago.

Murv Seymour:
…he has a problem.

Leonard Jurgensen:
Plate glass window right out of the general offices – the front window. Collecting is an addiction. If I’ve never seen it before, I have to have it.

Murv Seymour:
What started out as one simple piece of Schlitz memorabilia has grown into thousands in almost 50 years …

Leonard Jurgensen:
I just started to collect out of curiosity.

Murv Seymour:
… and counting.

Leonard Jurgensen:
First known beer case of Schlitz bottled beer. There’s not a piece that I have here that I can’t tell you why it was created, when it was created and what was the reason for it. This room really demonstrates is the evolution of the label, the evolution of bottles.

Murv Seymour:
Bottles led to worldwide distribution. Embossed labeling prevented piracy while enhancing worldwide branding.

Leonard Jurgensen:
And all the competition had to do was remove the labels, clean the bottles, and then put their brand of beer in it. And what they soon discover is that if you had a bottle and it’s embossed with your name on it, Blatz or Pabst or Miller could not use it. Every bottle here is a container for Schlitz beer. Some of them are 1877. Some of them are 1999. Some of them still have the beer in them. This is a paper label bottle from 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. I’m preserving the past. A lot of these things could have end up in a dumpster or in a landfill. A lot of these things I rescued. “The beer that made Milwaukee famous” – after it was acquired by Stroh’s Brewing Company, they dropped that famous slogan, and for years they called it “A Great American Beer.” And a year later, they went back to the famous slogan. The slogan was created in 1893 by Alfred von Klotzhausen, who made lithographs for them. He shared it with them. They used it, and they incorporated it in almost everything they did. After 135 years, they still look at that slogan as key to the word Schlitz.

Kirby Nelson:
This has got to be the coolest brewing day of my life.

Murv Seymour:
Inside the glass and concrete walls of Wisconsin Brewing Company …

Kirby Nelson:
The history of Schlitz in itself is amazing.

Murv Seymour:
… something special is brewing.

Kirby Nelson:
Schlitz is an amazing brand, an amazing part of Wisconsin’s heritage.

Murv Seymour:
It’s standing room only with brewmaster Kirby Nelson center stage.

Kirby Nelson:
Beer bottles, what color are they?

Murv Seymour:
With almost 50 years of beer brewing experience …

Kirby Nelson:
So brown glass evolved as a way to protect beer to keep it fresher and more representative of what’s supposed to be.

Murv Seymour:
… Kirby effortlessly puts on a masterclass in beer making …

Kirby Nelson:
These can just get in there and party to their heart’s content and turn it into beer.

Murv Seymour:
… and Schlitz history.

Kirby Nelson:
For me to have the chance to brew — an example – the beer that made Milwaukee famous from its golden era – was absolutely irresistible.

Murv Seymour:
Using a hand-written, detailed recipe from Schlitz logs dating back to the 1940s …

Kirby Nelson:
The Schlitz that we produce is based on when Schlitz was on top of the world.

Murv Seymour:
… and with special permission from Pabst, the owners of Schlitz, Kirby and the team used today’s brewing technology to make yesteryear’s beer.

Kirby Nelson:
In 1950, these — they were selling 5 million barrels.

Murv Seymour:
For nearly a month from this tiny control room, every phase of the beer making process is monitored. They meticulously test and taste until the mix is just right. We were there on day one.

Kirby Nelson:
We’re making wort. This liquid yeast food that will be fermented into that beloved liquid we know as beer.

Murv Seymour:
Kirby says for him, this part of modern beer making, it’s like watching a giant video game. Back on the bar room floor, see the man in that jacket?

Mark Holzmann:
Oh, I’m experienced and I’m, well, I like beer. In fact, if you look at it, I love beer.

Murv Seymour:
That’s Mark Holzmann sporting his rarely seen but hard to miss beer jacket.

Mark Holzmann:
It’s 25 years of collecting patches. I’ve scoured every antique shop I could find, and I look for patches that would fit in specific places.
Murv Seymour:
He and everyone else here wants to be part of what might be the most important chapter of Schlitz history.

Mark Holzmann:
I try every kind of beer I can try, and I every one has its own flavor.

Murv Seymour:
About a month after we were in the control room and two months since Pabst announced that Schlitz is shutting down, Wisconsin Brewing pumps out about 200 barrels of what they call commemorative Schlitz beer. When it’s all said and done over the next 6 or 7 hours, this production line will spit out enough beer to make 3,000 cases, which is about 167,000 cans.

Sadie Nelson:
Hi Ms. Christine, this is Sadie with Wisconsin Brewing Company. How are you doing?

Murv Seymour:
From the brewery’s warehouse, Sadie Nelson works to update callers from all over the country, even Canada, on the status of this seeming liquid gold. For so many customers and this brew master, their journeys with making and getting a can of Schlitz, it’s personal.

Sadie Nelson:
Working for Schlitz for 20 years and surprising an 88-year-old man with a four-pack signed by the brew master, I think that there’s nothing better.

Murv Seymour:
Folks at Wisconsin Brewing tell me that those that are lucky enough will get at least a case of beer, but to help make sure others get a taste, they’re also offering four packs. When asked why the Schlitz brand has faded, Kirby Nelson and others say it’s because Schlitz changed their recipe and people changed their drinking habits.

Kirby Nelson:
I bet you I’ve seen ten breweries going to auction in the last two weeks, and a lot of it has to do with there is too much. But again, changing habits. People are really pulling back from alcohol and beer is in a downward trend right now. It’ll be back.

Murv Seymour:
But will Schlitz be back?

John Eastberg:
I’m hopeful that a Wisconsin brewer will pick up the label and be able to brew small batches through maybe a lease option with the Pabst Brewing Company. It would be a shame to let such a legacy brand kind of fade away.

Murv Seymour:
Fade away is not just the beer that made Milwaukee famous, but the beer in Milwaukee that will never be forgotten. Reporting from Verona, Milwaukee, and Oconomowoc. I’m Murv Seymour for “Here and Now.”