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Summer is here. Time to get away, take a vacation, relax and turn off the work email. What’s that? You’ve made no summer vacation plans and have no idea where to go? Let us make a suggestion…
Milwaukee.
If you love beer, you’ll love this city. Beer, and classic American V-Twin motorcycles, built the city. The long history of Miller, Pabst, Schlitz, and Blatz made this a beer city around the time of the Civil War. And while there is a thriving independent Craft Beer Scene there, the legends of the past are prominent in this working-class, blue-collar, stereotypical Midwestern town. Most of the beer cities we visit have been doing it for decades (Portland, Asheville, Grand Rapids, etc), but Milwaukee has been doing it for a century and a half. Milwaukee is America’s original beer city.
We’ve been to Milwaukee three time since 2013, the most recent was the 2017 Beer Bloggers & Writers Conference last August. It was great to get an inside look at Milwaukee’s living beer history. All the places we went to with the conference are open to the public, but please check in advance for public tour times.
The legacy side of Milwaukee brewing has a deep history, due to several factors that created a ripe environment for its explosion. Milwaukee had a large (and thirsty) German population, access to Midwestern grain, and ample water from Lake Michigan. Frederick Miller started in 1855, Joseph Schlitz a year later and Frederick Pabst in 1863, at what was then his father-in-law’s Best Brewery, which he renamed after himself. Surprisingly, one of the greatest builders of Milwaukee beer was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. It wiped out Chicago and its breweries. Milwaukee beer filled the gap and went on to “own” Chicago. Even in recent times, Anheuser Busch market share was diminished in Chicago compared to other large markets. Chicago is a Miller town (and Old Style and independent Craft Beer too).
Be sure to visit the Best Place at Pabst. It was the former employee hall and included the corner office that belonged to Captain Pabst himself (he was also a licensed Lake Michigan ship captain). Pabst has also converted an old church on the brewery campus to a modern taproom. You can try Pabst classic and modern creations brewed in the basement pilot system. Can you believe they even had a Pabst New England IPA on tap!? At Miller, tour the beer caves to see how beer was lagered pre-refrigeration. Miller carved out underground storage areas to create the cold environment needed for lagering, as it had been done traditionally in German caves. Modern technology eliminated the need for the beer caves, but they are a sight to behold for any beer lover.
The modern side of Milwaukee brewing is growing and producing fantastic beers and like any city its hard to visit them all. Most large cities have so many new breweries that it’s hard to visit them all two days. We enjoyed beers at Lakefront (one of Milwaukee’s original craft brewers, and the home to the actual bottling line shown in the the Laverne & Shirley show intro), Milwaukee Brewing Company, Good City, Brenner Brewing (which is sadly now shut down), and MobCraft. There are many more but we ran out of time. For a great dining and drinking experience, we highly recommend The Rumpus Room.
Enjoy the beautiful parks along the Lake Michigan shore. It’s a great place to put your phone on Do Not Disturb and sit down for a minute. We could stare at that lake for hours. It’s a peaceful place.
And there are the motorcycles. Harley-Davidson started building motorized bikes in 1903 and became an American legend, and they’re celebrating their 115th anniversary this summer. The museum is worth the admission, even if you aren’t a big motorcycle fan or Harley lover. It’s an expansive collection of Americana, and there’s more to see than just the bikes.
We love Milwaukee and think you will too, especially in the summer, when the weather is gorgeous.
Cheers.
P.S If you drive to Milwaukee, you can load up your car with great Wisconsin and other Midwest beers at Woodman’s. Bring cash or debit card, no credit cards accepted.