Pabst Brewing Company, one of the oldest of the great brewing companies in America, is celebrated its 150th Anniversary in 1994 . Since its humble beginning in 1844, the Pabst Brewing Company has maintained a leading position in the brewing industry as a survivor. Jacob Best and his four sons would be amazed if they could see the progress of their brewery today.

In 1842, Jacob and Charles Best established a vinegar factory in Milwaukee. (Remember when Wisconsin was still a United States territory?) Charles Best returned to Mettenheim, Germany and brought the rest of the Best family to Milwaukee in early 1844. Rather than starting new when moving to Milwaukee, Jacob Best essentially relocated his German brewery. He was immediately ahead of much of his competition.

Upon returning to Milwaukee, Jacob made the first real estate purchase on Chestnut Street Hill, the present site of Pabst Brewing Company today. A small brewery was established in the fall of 1844, and Jacob’s original brew kettle had a capacity of only 18 barrels. On February 22, 1845, the first lager beer from Best and Company was available for sale in Milwaukee. In the first year, Best’s brewery produced 300 barrels. Best not only brewed lager but also ale, porter and rye whiskey.

During Best’s first year of business, six months later Charles Best withdraw from Best and Company and went back to the vinegar business. Five years later, Lorenz Best left the Company and convinced Charles Best to get back into the brewing business, and later established the Plank Road Brewery (eventually became the Miller Brewing Company).

On July 1, 1852, the first display advertisement for Best and Company was placed in the Wisconsin Banner. When Jacob Best, Sr. retired, Jacob Best Jr. and Phillip Best Best carried on the business of Best and Company under a partnership. Best and Company was then producing 2,500 barrels annually and was ranked fourth largest among Milwaukee breweries.

In the mid 1850s, Phillip Best set his sights on Chicago, 90 miles to the south; and there he set up the Company’s first branch sales office and warehouse. Jacob Best, Sr. chose his son Phillip to take charge of the brewery when he retired in 1853. He was the one proudest of the reputation for quality the young brewery had already won and was the first to see chances for improving the techniques of brewing. His brothers were content with the brewery’s production of a few thousand barrels a year, but Phillip’s plans for the future of the business were on a much larger scale.

Jacob Best Jr. and Phillip Best terminated their partnership, over major disagreement about the brewery’s expansion and future. Jacob Best Jr. sold out his interest and Phillip Best continued the business as sole proprietor. Soon after the dissolution, business began to decline steadily. By 1863, the brewery was producing little more than half its capacity. Phillip Best’s health was failing, and asked his family to continue the business. No one seemed interested and the brewery’s future looked grim. Survival was Phillip’s main priority for his failing company.

During Phillip’s Lake Michigan boat trips to Chicago, he became acquainted with Frederick Pabst, a young steamship captain on the Great Lakes. Phillip found in the young captain with the same belief in the future of American industry that he had. Phillip was not the only one to take notice of Frederick Pabst, Phillip Best’s daughter Maria, married the Captain on March 25, 1859.

Captain Frederick Pabst decided to sell out his shipping interests and take a partnership in the brewery in 1863 after a violent storm beached his ship, The Huron, on the sands of Whitefish Bay.

When Captain Pabst bought a half interest in the Phillip Best Brewing Company in 1864, the plant’s production was at 5,000 barrels annually. Emil Schandein, another son-in-law of Phillip’s, became another partner with Phillip Best and Pabst.

The partnership between Phillip Best and Captain Pabst was dissolved in 1864, and a new partnership agreement between Captain Pabst and Emil Schandein was drawn up for Best and Company. On July 17, 1869, Phillip Best died.

Captain Pabst had three major ambitions: to constantly improve the quality of his beer; to continue to increase the capacity of the brewery; and to sell his product to an even broader market.

To realize these goals, the Captain went out after the best brewmasters of his day, even traveling abroad to sell the virtues of living in America to the men he wanted to work at the Milwaukee brewery. He increased the capacity of his brewery by convincing the stockholders that profits should be put into bigger and better equipment. To broaden his market, Captain took to the road and to the high seas, establishing sales connections throughout the United States and Europe.

November 11, 1870, The Melms brewery was purchased by Best and Company. At the time, Melms brewery was the largest brewery in Milwaukee. Even though Melms brewery sales were slipping, the brewery was still operational. After the purchase by Frederick Pabst, the Melms brewery became the South Side Brewery and the original Phillip Best brewery on the hill was known as the Empire Brewery. In 1886, operations at South Side Brewery were discontinued. In 1872 the output was 100,000 barrels and Captain Pabst was President of the Company. Best and Company became the second largest brewery in the United States.

A year later, 1873, the Phillip Best Brewing Company was incorporated in Wisconsin. Two years later, the Phillip Best Brewing Company started bottling their beer, but turned the department over to Stamm and Meyer in Milwaukee. In 1879, a Boyle ice machine was purchased for the Empire Brewery and was installed by 1880. Before the installation of the ice machine, Phillip Brewing Company suffered its first loss after a fire destroyed the malthouse, grain elevators and office building on December 21, 1879.

Between 1879 and 1893, Phillip Best Brewing Company operated two breweries and opened 40 beer offices around the country. On February 5, 1881, Phillip Best Brewing Company purchased the bottling business back from Stamm and Meyer and continued the bottling department under their own name.

The famous "Blue Ribbon" label did not get started until 1882. Prior to 1882, Phillip Best Brewing Company had received awards for their beer. In 1876, Pabst won both the highest awards for bottled beer and a gold medal. In 1878 at a Paris World’s Fair, Pabst again won more medals.

In 1882, bottling became significantly important to the brewing business. When bottles were first used, these were generally plain and were not appealing to the public. Pabst decided to add pieces of blue ribbons tied around the necks of Best "Select" beer bottles. It didn’t take long before the public continued to ask for "The beer with the blue ribbon." By 1892, this special packaging idea became so popular that the company was purchasing 300,000 yards of silk ribbons, which workers tied by hand around each bottle. In 1895, words "Blue Ribbon" were eventually added to the label of Select Beer, and in January 1898, the Blue Ribbon label was first used.

In 1893, at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Pabst won five medals and an honorable mention. When a jury was then established to present the highest award for beer, an argument was developed by all the breweries who entered in the contest. The eastern breweries complained they were not represented correctly and the western brewers complained that the jury members were not beer experts. The judges confused things more by making a preliminary finding in favor of Anheuser-Busch as the winner. After a review of the chemical analysis, the judges then gave the top award to Pabst. Even a legal action threat from Anheuser-Busch didn’t change the judge’s minds.

On November 25, 1888, the Company suffered an irreparable loss by the death of Emil Schandein. Four months later the name of Phillip Best Brewing Company was changed to the Pabst Brewing Company.

Pabst Brewing Company has made many important contribution to Milwaukee. Much of Pabst’s advertising helped create the city’s favorable public image. The 1890s campaign "Milwaukee beer is famous - Pabst has made it so," along with similar advertising such as Schlitz’s "The beer that made Milwaukee famous," brought the city much recognition.

Between August 25-31, 1889 Captain Pabst and the Company helped in the entertainment of the 23rd National Encampment of the G.A.R. in Milwaukee.

Captain Pabst spent time on Milwaukee projects such as the Whitefish Bay Pleasure Resort development. Pabst also built a 13-story Pabst Building in downtown Milwaukee, rebuilt various theaters, and also helped organized the Wisconsin National Bank in 1893. Pabst purchased the old Nunnemacher Grand Opera House, located opposite Milwaukee’s City Hall in early 1890 and changed it to the Pabst Theatre. On September 17, 1890, the theater opened and Captain Fred Pabst donated it to the City of Milwaukee.

As Pabst was helping improve Milwaukee, he was also maintaining constant improvements in his brewing process to produce an even better product. Right after the Pipe Line Act was approved by congress on June 18, 1890, Pabst installed a pipe line carry beer from the fermentation cellars to the bottle house Pabst continued to expand his brewery by purchasing the Falk, Jung and Borchert Brewing Company in 1891. President Pabst called to his assistance in the management of the enterprise, Frank Falk and Ernst Borchert. In the same year the capital stock increased to 10 million dollars.

July 22, 1893, another fire broke out in the bottling works of the Pabst Brewing Company causing damage of $40,000. It was confined chiefly to the storage and supply departments, and did not interfere with bottling. Sparks set fire to the former homestead of Jacob Best, the founder of the brewery.

The year 1895, was busy for Pabst Brewing Company. First, the Stadt Theatre, owned by Pabst, was destroyed by fire. Captain Frederick Pabst rebuilt theater at a cost of $150,000. Later that year, Pabst first made plans of expansion by planning a large brewery in Atlanta, Georgia.

Immediately after Captain Frederick Pabst’s death on January 1, 1904, his two sons, Gustav and Fred, Jr., began to make extensive improvements in the Milwaukee brewery. Captain Pabst’s second son, Fred, worked in the brewery until 1905 to operate Pabst Farms in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. With Gustav Pabst as President, installation of a new malting house and a fermentation building was started. Newer equipment for bottling came into place. Pabst also experimented with the steel keg, but could not figure out to prevent the metal from spoiling the beer taste. Finally, Pabst scrapped the project and went back to wooden kegs.

In December of 1904, Pabst Brewing Company filed suit against the Storz Brewing Company in Omaha, Nebraska for an alleged infringement of Pabst’s copyright trademark and device, the Blue Ribbon. Storz Brewing Company had been using the "Blue-Ribbon" brand name on its bottled beer for about a year. After a year of court battles, Storz discontinued the "Blue Ribbon" name from its brand.

At the beginning of the 1900s, orders of over 30 million feet of silk blue ribbon were placed by the Pabst Brewing Company to decorate its blue ribbon beer bottles and other packages. One factory supplying 10 million feet of the ribbon, kept their mill stringing the ribbons around the clock for seven days a week. It took almost a year to fill the order. Keeping up with modern technology and after labor complaints about tying blue ribbons on the bottlenecks by hand, new bottling equipment with special blue ribbon fasteners were added to speed up production. Pabst also decided to use Crown Cork and Seal Company bottle caps by October, 1906.

A setback for Pabst Brewing Company occurred on October 25, 1909. A major boiler house explosion devastated three stories at Pabst Brewing Company early that morning. The damage was estimated about $250,000 and injured several workmen. Pabst Brewing Company filed suit against the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance to recover $150,000 for the damage caused by the boiler. The case lingered for months in court on whether the loss was caused by a single explosion or by three explosions in quick succession. Pabst’s insurance policy listed its liability to $50,000 for each explosion. Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance claimed that the explosion was from one boiler and Pabst claimed there were three explosions; therefore, Pabst tried to recover the limit for each one. Eventually, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance only paid $50,000 for the damage. Pabst wasted no time in completing the repairs and production continued.

Pabst enjoyed great prosperity in the early 20th century. The name "Pabst" was so recognized for quality, the brewery registered the handwriting of Pabst Brewing Company, done by Captain Frederick Pabst as a registered trademark. A company newsletter for employees and agents called Blue Ribbon News was first published on May 1, 1913.

Prohibition was becoming a threat to the American breweries. Pabst reacted by setting up different ventures of business.

On March 1, 1916, Pabst introduced its first non-alcohol Pablo to the public. and on December 4, 1920 The Pabst Corporation was organized which operated the non-alcohol operations and the Pabst Reality Corporation. The Pabst Brewing Company was finally dissolved on December 24, 1920, due to Prohibition.