The Museum of Beer & Brewing (www.brewingmuseum.org) is a non-profit organization working to build a museum to preserve and display the history of beer and brewing throughout the world. When I last saw them, they were selling bricks from the demolished Pabst Brewing Company buildings to raise money. I would have loved to buy a brick, but I didn't have the money. I did, however, picke up their July/August 2011 newsletter. Honestly it wasn't all that impressive. It did indicate that on May 22nd, there was a dedication ceremony at Forest Home Cemetary for the Jacob Best Memorial. The following is the bio of Jacob Best from the Find A Grave website (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8857387):
Business Magnate. Jacob Best learned the brewer's trade in his hometown of Hesse Darnstadt, Germany, and then moved on to operate a small brewery in Mattenheim. In 1840, two of Best's four sons immigrated to America, settling in the Kilbourntown section of Milwaukee. They were joined by Jacob Best, his two younger sons and other family members in 1844. With his sons, Jacob Best opened the Emipre Brewery producing lager beer, wiskey and vinegar. As demand increased of light lager beer, the firm changed its name to Best & Company. Retiring in 1853, Jacob Best tranferred ownership to Lorenz and Phillip. After 1860, Phillip assumed sole control of the brewery which became the Pabst Brewing Company. While retired, Jacob Best held local political offices, first as a ward assessor and the school commissioner. He remained active until his death. (bio by: Charles Haig)
The newsletter also mentioned that at the 7th Annual Karl Strauss Award Dinner on September 11th, The award was given to the Gettelman family. Gettelman Brewing Company was founded in 1854 and was bought by Miller Brewing in 1961. Milwaukee's Best was originally a Gettelman product. The cost of the dinner was $75.00 / person. I wanted to know more about this award so I did a little digging and found information about Karl Strauss.
Karl Strauss (1912 – 2006) immigrated from Germany in 1939. He started to work at Pabst that year, and worked for Pabst for 44 years. He helped Pabst reformulate its beer, and created a new Pabst Blue Ribbon. After retiring in 1983, he became a brewery consultant for both large breweries and microbreweries, internationally including Goose Island Brewery. He also co-authored The Practical Brewer, and was President of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas from 1961–1963. He was a founder and director of the Museum of Beer and Brewing in Milwaukee, which now presents the annual Karl Strauss Award to individuals for lifetime contributions to the industry.
The Karl Strauss Brewing Company, which he helped found in 1989, continues to bear his name.
Membership in the Museum of Beer & Brewing can be purchased at several levels. The cost of membership goes toward the creation of the museum -
$20 Enthusiast
$25 Family Membership
$50 Collector
$100 Brewer
$250 Master Brewer
$500 Corporate Member
$1,000 Beer Baron
Membership can be sent to them at PO Box 1376, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1376, and they ask that name, address, phone and e-mail address be provided.
