MUSEUM OF BEER & BREWING

About the Museum of Beer and Brewing:
The Museum of Beer and Brewing is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and displaying the proud history of beer and brewing throughout the world and particularly in North America.

To further this mission, the Museum of Beer & Brewing the founders envision the creation of an organization that will preserve and showcase the history of beer and the brewing industry throughout the centuries for the benefit, enjoyment and education of the public. The museum will strive for the support of all beer, brewing, and related organizations and the public.

The Museum of Beer & Brewing is scheduled to open its interim site in the Milwaukee Brewing Company Tasting Room at 613 S. 2nd Street in the Walkers Point area of Milwaukee, WI in 2008. The location will feature monthly guest speakers and exhibits, DVDs and videos and several permanent exhibits.

Please visit us online at www.brewingmuseum.org

Welcome to Milwaukee, home of the Big 4 Breweries: Blatz, Pabst, Schlitz & Miller Brewing Companies

In the mid-1960s, these 4 breweries were among the top ten breweries
in the World.

While Miller Brewing Company is the sole major production brewery left in operation in Milwaukee,
we still have extensive historical and legendary brewing roots within the city.

In addition, we host 2 craft breweries: Sprecher Brewing Company & Lakefront Brewing Company, with a third, Milwaukee Brewing Company under construction and due to open late Summer.

Enjoy our Milwaukee-area brewpubs, such as Milwaukee Ale House, Rockbottom, Stonefly, Water Street (2 locations) & Delafield Brewhaus, plus our newest, Silver Creek in Cedarburg.

When you visit Milwaukee, we'd especially like you to see the surviving
examples of Milwaukee's brewing past, including...

- Milwaukee's historic brewery buildings, including Pabst, Blatz, Schlitz, Obermann and Gipfel-Union.

- Beer Baron's Mansions, including a tour of the Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion at 2000 W. Wisconsin.

- Milwaukee Breweries' saloons, "tied-houses" & taverns;

- "Ghost signs" and other examples of Milwaukee brewery advertising

- Milwaukee Beer Barons' resting places, Forest Home Cemetery & Calvary Cemetery.

Yes, Milwaukee does indeed make Beer Famous !!!

Enjoy your visit to Milwaukee !!!

Museum of Beer & Brewing Supporters,

Welcome to 2007, an anticipated milestone for the Museum of Beer & Brewing, as we will open up our interim site at Milwaukee Brewing Company.

Milwaukee truly needs and deserves a majestic brewing museum.

It is with great sadness that we must report that our mentor and MBB chairman Karl Strauss passed away after a battle of cancer. Up until weeks before he died, Karl was still brimming with ideas and projects. Unbeknownst to all of us is that Karl was penning an autobiography, which we hope to collaborate on the publication later this year.

Thanks to all of you who have attended our 2006 & 2007 events, including…
-Our Annual Miller Caves Beer Dinners, recreating a dinner last held in 1954
-Our recent meeting at JT Whitney's Brewpub in Madison with the executives from the Potosi Museum and the American Breweriana Association
-Our Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison exhibit, as seen by over 5000 attendees
-Our “Meet the Blatz Family” event at the MATC Alumni Center ; former the Val Blatz offices.
- A 2006 highlight was our 2nd Annual Karl Strauss Award, held at the Wisconsin Club, this year honoring Herb & Helen Haydock, the premiere breweriana collectors and co-founders of NABA, mingling with the current and past presidents from the National Association of Breweriana Collectors of America.

As we look for a physical “home,” we are proceeding ahead on 2 fronts. Our primary goal in 2002 was to be setup on the 2nd floor offices of the Pabst Brewery, facilities that our VP Jim Haertel had hoped to secure title to earlier.
Joseph Zilber of Towne Developments has acquired the Pabst complex and Jim is in conversations with Mr. Zilber about the Pabst offices, Blue Ribbon Hall & Gift Shop. Our agreement is to receive 5000 square feet of space, with which to set up displays and our reference library. If all goes well, we will at the Pabst Brewery location in Spring 2008.

In the interim, we have an agreement with Milwaukee Ale House owner Jim McCabe to setup the Museum of Beer & Brewing in the Tasting Room of Milwaukee Brewing Company, their production brewery located at 613 S. 2nd Street in Walker's Point in Milwaukee. The MBC Tasting Room, with constant and special monthly MBB exhibits, is slated to open this year. We have begun creating displays and exhibits for this venue.

On to 2007, we are proceeding with an aggressive event and promotional calendar.

Thanks to all of you for your support and enthusiasm!

MEET THE VAL BLATZ FAMILY CELEBRATION

On Sunday, July 2, several MBB Board members, including Nancy & Fred Gettelman, Dr. David Ryder, Lorraine Hoffman, Stephanie Theissen, Marilyn Levine, John Kretsch, Erik Peterson & President Jeff Platt met at the former Val Blatz offices, now MSOE Alumni Hall, for a "Meet the Val Blatz Celebration," where we met various Blatz family members.

We were all treated to a Blatz history slide show and lecture by John Eastberg, Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion historian, and some Blatz & Blatz Light, courtesy of Miller Brewing Company & Beloit Beverage.
Our thanks to Lorraine for helping secure the Val Blatz building; Lorraine & John for preparing the snacks, John for the sodas plus David and Erik for the beer.
Look for more photos of this event shortly.

JUNE 2006 MBB MEETING
Our meeting MBB Board Meeting room at Libriamo was booked for a reception on June 7, so we settled outside for our Monthly meeting, between the entrance to the old Brown Bottle Pub, Brewhouse A and the old Bottling House.
(Our thanks to Miller Director of Brewing David Ryder from the Leinenkugel Red and Russ Klisch from Lakefront Brewery for the Riverwest Stein & New Grist)
Below are photos from that meeting.

MBB Board Members Gary Luther, John Kretsch, Marilyn Levine, Jeff Platt, Stephanie Theisen, Fred Gettelman, Bob Jaeger, Lorraine Hoffman, Jim Haertel & Erik Peterson; Erik, Lorraine, David Ryder, Jeff, John, Gary & Lorraine, hoisting Leinenkugel Red

Lorraine, Dr. David Ryder, Jeff & Lee Rasmussen, ABA Representative; Stephanie Fred, Jim & Bob

Lorraine, with photos from the MBB Annual Meeting; Marge & Tom Volke, Erik Peterson & Lorraine (in the shade)

CAPITOL TIMES ARTICLE -1-30-06
"Spirited Glass: Miller Beer here!" By Michael Muckian
Special to The Capital Times
Not all research done for "The Spirited Glass" turns out the way I expect it to. Sometimes, it takes more interesting turns.
Not long ago I was invited to attend a book signing by Tim John, author of the recently published "The Miller Beer Barons." John, son of former Miller president Harry John Jr., is the great-grandson of Frederick J. Miller, one of Milwaukee's earliest beer barons.
The book signing, to be preceded by a lecture on family history, was held at the Miller Inn, located in the lower level of a Miller Brewing Co. complex building in Milwaukee's industrial valley. (This is where most Miller Brewery tours conclude.) The obligatory hospitality hour featuring fine Miller products would precede the lecture.
John, as it turned out, was a very personable guy. As owner/operator of a successful religious publishing company in Milwaukee, John is not at all bothered by the fact that his father, who once owned 47 percent of Miller's stock, gave many of his millions away to Catholic charities and world relief organizations. "I sometimes wonder why he gave so much of his money away when I could have been living in a better house," John joked with the 50 or so attendees of his speech. "But don't worry about me. I'm doing fine."
Like most major industrialist families, the Miller clan was subject to bitter squabbles, turf battles and monetary wars. John's share of the family fortune turned out to be 37 file cabinets filled with documents, contracts and other papers that he mined for the content of his book.
Those who've read "The Miller Beer Barons," published by Badger Books in Oregon, Wis., speak highly of John's candidness. I expected a presentation rife with family intrigue and hysterical asides on which to report, but John's speech that evening was short, allowing the crowd to enjoy even more hospitality while John signed copies of his book.
The lull enabled me to sample a few more tasty draughts of Pilsner Urquell, produced by the Czech brewery owned by SABMiller plc, the South African conglomerate that, in turn, owns the Milwaukee brewery.
I also found out that the $10 admission price I paid was a fundraiser for the Museum of Beer and Brewing, a 501c (3) organization currently looking for a home somewhere in the city.
One would think Milwaukee, by its nature, would be its own brewing museum. The plethora of historic taverns, many former pre-Prohibition-tied houses established by the breweries themselves as outlets for their beer, would easily qualify some neighborhoods as national brewing historic districts, were there such a designation.
But like many such ideas, this is not one whose time has come. Instead, the group of 100 or so board officials and members of the would-be museum find themselves seeking funding to support a growing collection of brew(er)iana and memorabilia from Milwaukee's glory days as America's beer capital.
Meetings like the one featuring Tim John and fundraising dinners fill an increasingly more crowded events calendar.
The group, which has been around for several years, would like to move into space on the site of the former Pabst Brewery in downtown Milwaukee, according to its recent newsletter.
That still may happen, but in the meantime museum officials have been offered display space in the tasting room of the Milwaukee Brewing Co., which produces beer for Milwaukee Ale House in the city's Historic Third Ward.
Traveling displays from the museum's collection also are making the rounds and will include a stop at J.T. Whitney's Pub & Brewery on Madison's west side later this year.
For an organization without a home, there seems to be a lot going on with this group, not the least of which are lectures such as those by John.
To learn more about the Museum of Beer & Brewing, check out the group's Web site at www.brewingmuseum.org.
To learn more about squabbles within the Miller family, pick up a copy of "The Miller Beer Barons" or check out www.badgerbooks.com.

THE MUSEUM OF BEER & BREWING is a 501(3)(c) Educational Non-Profit, Preserving Brewing History & Seeking to Place a Brewing Museum in Milwaukee

For more on the MUSEUM OF BEER & BREWING, visit www.brewingmuseum.org