BEER FOR ST. PATRICK'S DAY.

I was just brainstorming what to post today for St. Pat's Day... Previously I posted a recipe for Irish Soda Bread, and another time I posted a vintage postcard.  I could do another post of an Irish recipe; or I could do another post of vintage postcards, or something entirely different.  I decided on the vintage postcards, with a twist.  This time the theme will be beer, since many of us associate St. Pat's Day with green beer (or, for some, any beer at all!).

Micro brew beers are a hugely trendy thing at this time with thousands of small brewers making the news.  But, many years ago, we had only very large breweries, many in this area because of the large number of Germans who immigrated here.  

Fox Head Brewing Company, originally located in Waukesha, Wisconsin was one of the smallest breweries in the area.  Opening in 1946 in a building formerly run by a number of other breweries, by 1960 it was allegedly owned by the mob.  In 1962, the brewery was purchased by Heileman Beverage Company, LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and the Waukesha operations were closed.

On the back side of this postcard it says:
"City Keg and Bottle Beer Exchange,
1638 N. 12th Street
M I L W A U K E E"

Once the largest brewing company in America, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was founded in 1849, and had a huge presence in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   In 1902 it achieved status as the largest brewery in America.  During Prohibition it changed its name from "Brewing Company" to "Beverage Company" and adopted the slogan - "The Drink that Made Milwaukee Famous."  A 76-day worker strike in 1953 resulted in the company moving to second-place status, and other problems over the years caused additional declines.  Finally, a worker strike in 1981 led to the sale of the company to Stroh Brewery Company of Detroit, Michigan.  According to Wikipedia, what remained of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company products was sold to American Entrepreneur Eugene Kashper and TSG Consumer Partners in 2014.

Miller Brewing Company, was originally organized in 1855 and is still in operation with headquarters in Milwaukee.  In September, 1956 a series of sales led to partial changes in ownership of the company, first to the conglomerate W. R. Grace and Company, then to Philip Morris, then to South African Breweries, and finally, to Molson Coors, some of which companies continue to own interests in the Company today.

This shows the Administration Building of Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee.

One of the more interesting and famous breweries, Anheuser-Busch, began operations in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1852.  Following a long and interesting history, today Anheuser-Busch operates 12 breweries and some of the largest theme parks in America,  including Busch Gardens in Florida and Virginia, SeaWorld, and LegoLand,  

On the back of this postcard it states:
Home of Budweiser, Lager Beer
With 5,000,000 square feet of floor space, it covers 52 city blocks - an area larger than the famous downtown 'loop' district of Chicago.  It has an annual brewing capacity of 5,000,000 barrels of the world's finest beer.  The annual overall taxes exceed $54,000,000. "

On the back:
Thousands of visitors are welcomed and entertained here each year during visits through the huge plant, made up of 110 individual buildings, covering 70 city blocks, which is the home of BUDWEISER and other fine Anheuser-Busch beers.

This is a fold-out postcard.

 BEER OR NO BEER, HAVE A FUN ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!