The 5 breweries that made Milwaukee famous: Miller, Schlitz, Pabst, Gettelman and Blatz

There's a reason Milwaukee's baseball team is called the Brewers.

For more than two centuries, the city has been home to many of the largest and best-known breweries in the United States. As late as 1950, four of the country's 10 largest brewers — Pabst, Miller, Schlitz and Blatz — called Milwaukee home.

How did Milwaukee become Brew City? Historians credit the city's fast-rising German population and its thirst for beer (both manufacturing and consuming), a harbor that easily accommodated shipping, access to important natural resources like clean water and lumber (for making beer barrels), and even the city's cold weather, which meant brewers had cheap and easy access to the tons of ice needed to keep their product chilled.

Here's a look at Milwaukee's five biggest beer-makers.

Miller Brewing Co.

Founded: 1855

Claims to fame: Miller effectively created the market for light beer after acquiring the Lite brand in 1972 and launching a massive marketing campaign, powered by a string of popular ads featuring the Miller Lite All-Stars, including legendary Brewers broadcaster and former baseball player Bob Uecker. The move helped propel Miller in the 1970s to No. 2 among the largest breweries in the U.S., behind Anheuser-Busch.

Famous slogans: “The champagne of beers” (also "the champagne of bottle beer"); “It’s Miller time”; “If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the beer”; “Everything you’ve always wanted in a beer … and less”; “Tastes great … less filling.”

Best-known brands: Miller High Life, Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft

Today: Miller’s Milwaukee-based control ended in 1966, when W.R. Grace Co. bought a majority of the Miller family stock. Three years later, Philip Morris Corp. acquired Miller Brewing. Philip Morris sold Miller to South African Brewing in 2002, and it became part of SABMiller; after a combination with Coors, Miller was spun off as part of Molson Coors.

Jos. A. Schlitz Brewing Co.

Founded: 1849

Claims to fame: Schlitz was the largest brewer in the U.S. for much of the first half of the 20th century, and it was the fourth-largest as late as 1980. Until the 1970s, Schlitz, for decades one of Milwaukee’s largest employers, bankrolled several of Milwaukee’s biggest summertime attractions, including the Fourth of July lakefront fireworks, Old Milwaukee Days (a precursor to Summerfest) and the Circus Parade.

Famous slogans: “The beer that made Milwaukee famous”; “When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer.”

Best-known brands: Schlitz, Schlitz Malt Liquor

Last chapter: After Schlitz shut the doors of its sprawling Milwaukee brewery following a 1981 strike, the company was sold in 1982 to Stroh Brewery Co., which shut it down. The old brewery complex was converted into the Schlitz Park office park in the mid-1980s. (Pabst, which had tried to buy Schlitz in 1981, effectively acquired the Schlitz brand in 2014.)

Pabst Brewing Co.

Founded: 1844

Claims to fame: Pabst was the largest brewer in the U.S. for much of the late 19th century. The brewery won a blue ribbon for its beer at the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago and made it part of its marketing and its brand thereafter.

Famous slogans: "It's blended ... It's splendid"; “What’ll You Have?”; “PBR me, ASAP.”

Best-known brands: Pabst Blue Ribbon, Andeker, Jacob Best

Today: After closing its breweries in Milwaukee and elsewhere in 1996, Pabst has been a “virtual” brewer, contracting with other companies, including Molson Coors, to brew its products. The former brewing complex has been redeveloped as a complex of offices, restaurants, a hotel, apartments and a couple of craft breweries.

A. Gettelman Brewing Co.

Founded: 1856

Claims to fame: Frederick Gettelman himself designed the first practical steel beer keg in 1933; it was manufactured by Milwaukee giant A.O. Smith.

Famous slogan: “Get … Get … Gettelman.”

Best-known brands: Gettelman, Milwaukee’s Best, $1,000 Beer

Last chapter: Miller Brewing Co. bought Gettelman in 1961, which operated the Gettelman plant as a standalone brewery until 1970. The brewery property, which was just west of Miller’s sprawling brewery on West State Street, was targeted for demolition in 2017, sparking public outcry. Part of the complex was torn down, but as of 2018, the 1856 farmhouse building that housed the original brewery was slated for renovation.

Blatz Brewing Co.

Founded: 1851

Claims to fame: The first Milwaukee brewery to market its beer nationally, and one of the first to put “brewed on” dates on its bottles.

Famous slogan: “I’m from Milwaukee, and I ought to know”; "Milwaukee's finest beer."

Best-known brands: Blatz, Old Heidelberg

Last chapter: Pabst Brewing Co. purchased Blatz in 1958 and shut down the brewery at Juneau and Broadway, but antitrust regulators challenged the sale. In 1969 Pabst was forced to sell Blatz to La Crosse-based G. Heileman Brewing Co. (Pabst later reacquired the Blatz brand.) The Blatz brewery was converted to apartments in 1988.

Sources: Journal Sentinel archives, Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, “Breweries of Wisconsin” by Jerry Apps (Wisconsin Historical Society Press); "The Drink That Made Wisconsin Famous: Beer and Brewing in the Badger State" by Doug Hoverson

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Breweries that made Milwaukee famous: Miller, Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz