With so many of my nearest and dearest attending annual conference of the American Institute for Conservation in Milwaukee, WI, today’s post focuses on what made the city famous. BEER.
Unfortunately, most of these breweries have been bought and sold to other major brewing companies, so let’s just focus on the product (pretending that PBR actually exists physically).
A list of the main suds hailing from Milwaukee:
Old Milwaukee
Schlitz
Pabst Blue Ribbon
Blatz
Miller
Interesting factoids:
“Proximity to the large beer-consuming population of Chicago - and the easy and inexpensive lake transportation thereto - was always a boon to Milwaukee’s brewing industry. For example, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 boosted sales of Milwaukee breweries enormously. Schlitz’s frequent shipments of beer to the devastated city earned it the slogan, “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous.” Schlitz enjoyed a 100 percent jump in sales immediately after the Chicago fire.”
from beerhistory.com
“The 1980s and 1990s saw a decline in the Pabst brand, and eventually, the company left behind its Chestnut Hill brewery complex on the northwest edge of downtown Milwaukee and relocated to San Antonio.”
For a bar snack, how about making your very own beer-battered cheese curds!! Delicious, I’ve made ‘em myself.
8 oz Beer
1 t Baking Powder
1 cup Flour
1 Egg
1 t Salt
Cheese curds (approximately 1 12 oz bag)
1. Whisk ingredients together
2. Dip cold or frozen cheese curds in batter mix and fry in deep fryer until golden brown
3. Drain on paper towels and Enjoy!
Maybe listening to bizarrely-titled Austin band What Made Milwaukee Famous while squeaking cheese curds and tossing back a brew will round out the experience. Oh, with a Brewers game on mute.
