Milwaukee WI. has long been known as “Beer Capital of the World”
and "Beer-City" for good reason...the many, many breweries
that have existed here over the years. That's a good thing; being known for
something as tasty as beer is. While the number of actual
mega-manufacturers of this amazing product has substantially shrunk; there are
still plenty of folks in much smaller capacity, brewing beer in this town.
The same is true across this entire great nation. Behemoth
breweries still exist, however they have only done so by agreeing to, and
negotiating contracts for the production of so many of the other defunct
breweries products. Many a good-paying, long-standing job has been
dissolved in the process too, but commerce is what it is, and only the strong
(and diverse) can survive the ages.
 |
| Birdstud and King Gambrinus |
Beer has actually made an incredible resurgence in the adult
beverage market over the past five years. Drive down any vibrant
downtown area with popular restaurants and you're bound to spot one or two
local "craft-brew pubs." These small-batch businesses are
"filling-up" an ever-expanding niche market and satisfying a growing
"thirst" for a unique drinking experience. The city of Milwaukee
became synonymous with Germans and beer beginning in the
early 1850s. The Germans had long enjoyed beer and the brewing of it, and set
up breweries when they arrived in Milwaukee. By 1856, there were more than two
dozen breweries in Milwaukee, most of them German-owned and -operated. At that
time; besides making beer for the rest of the nation, Milwaukeeans enjoyed
consuming the various beers produced in the city's breweries. In the year 1843,
historian James Buck recorded 138 taverns in Milwaukee; an average of
one for every forty residents. Beer halls,
taverns, and brew-pubs are abundant and thriving in the city to this day,
although only one of the major breweries—Miller-Coors—remains in the city of Milwaukee.
Many books have been written about beer. Coffee table and toilet stall reading
materials abound, all chronicling the history of beer, the story of beer, the
moguls of beer, etc. This blog isn’t one
of those also-ran compilations. It is
instead, a personal peek into the unique and wonderful experiences of the many brewery
tours that still exist across the nation; according to me. I have also created a companion WEBSITE which
will offer the true beer aficionados among you the opportunity to wallow in all
things beer; all without so much as a tiny Google advertisement…my treat!
While I haven’t even scratched the surface of all the possible
tours that are out there in the United States…I’ll recount as many as I have been
on, as I experience them. Keep watching this URL for the entertaining tales that I'll spin, and riveting tourist information I will convey to you - dear reader.
Thanks for
stopping by and WELCOME to Brewery Tours Across America (the blog)!
No comments:
Post a Comment