Reporting from Madison. I'm Elijah Pines for "Here&
Now". >> It's a bittersweet start
to summer for beer lovers as Pabst Brewery taps out
on production of one of its most iconic brands. Schlitz.
Some of the founding family continue to have ties to
Wisconsin. Tonight, Murv Seymour takes us inside
their private collection and to a southwestern
Wisconsin brewery that has gone back in time to honor
Schlitz as it ends production.
>> It is a long history that almost 180 years old.
>> To learn the story of Schlitz, we went to the
Milwaukee neighborhood blocks from its earliest
beginnings. >> The Schlitz story
actually starts with anybody named Schlitz was a
young German immigrant. August Krug.
publicly seen Schlitz archives.
>> What we have in the Schlitz archive is really
an amazing collection of artifacts, advertising,
photographs. >> Old films, cassettes,
original Schlitz artwork. It's all part of the
private collection of the Uihlein family who helped
give birth to the Schlitz brand.
>> It was the largest lager brewing company in the
world, and definitely the largest company in the
United States. >> John Eastberg oversees
this rare collection. >> This is one of the
earliest photographs taken of this neighborhood, where
the Schlitz Brewing Company originally started. This
would be where the Fiserv Forum is and where the
bucks play today. August Krug had hired a bookkeeper
by the name of Joseph Schlitz, and when Krug died
in 1856, his widow, Ana Krug, married the
bookkeeper and became Ana Krug Schlitz.
>> Artifacts along the walls and on the shelves of
this 2500 square foot space chronologically pieces
together a story. >> This is one of my
favorite pieces in our archive.
spreadsheet from 1889, made by then bookkeeper and
largest Schlitz shareholder Auguste Uihlein Ana Krug
Schlitz nephew. >> So he took two pieces of
Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company letterhead, glued
them together, and then detailed the output of all
of his local competitors, but also his national
competitors. He is listing all the different breweries
across America, and then Schlitz is at the very
bottom. >> Just over a decade later,
Schlitz would rise to the top of the list.
>> Each piece is another piece to the puzzle of a
company that essentially started in 1849 and is run
in one way, shape, or form all the way to 2026.
>> There are original ads used during prohibition,
when beer companies were simply trying to survive.
Schlitz launches its own brand of nonalcoholic beers,
sodas and candies. >> Their idea was to
produce high quality chocolate, and they built a
specific plant for it. They created very attractive
packaging and advertising. Pabst went into a processed
cheese product, and the Uihlein created the Uihlein,
spelled phonetically. ELINE candy company.
>> You have to have a mission in life.
>> If you think the Uihlein Schlitz collection is sweet.
>> In my case, I'm reserving the the past of
Schlitz. >> Wait until you see the
Schlitz that sits 35 miles to the west.
>> Each one is a specific category on the history of
the brewery. I believe there's close to a thousand
bottles in this room. I don't know of any other
collection of Schlitz bottles that is this large.
1902 Schlitz became the largest brewery in the
world, brewed the most beer, sold the most beer, and
then they created this piece of advertising. This
is what we call a fat man. And the caption is I rule
the world. In other words, they control the market in
the world. >> He owns one of only a
few of the original fat man figures.
>> This is probably 1905 1910. Best of my knowledge,
there's only 3 or 4 surviving.
>> 85 years. >> Jung outdoor saloon sign,
probably 1870 1875. >> Collector Leonard
Jurgensen admits. >> That's a stained glass
window out of a saloon in Chicago.
>> He has a problem. >> Plate glass window right
out of the general offices. The front window collecting
is an addiction. If I've never seen it before, I
have to have it. >> What started out as one
simple piece of Schlitz memorabilia has grown into
thousands in almost 50 years.
>> I just started to collect out of curiosity.
>> And counting. >> First known beer case
Schlitz bottle beer. There's not a piece that I
have here that I can't tell you why it was created,
when it was created and what was the reason for it?
This room really demonstrates is the
evolution of the label. The evolution of bottles.
>> Bottles led to worldwide distribution in Vos.
Labeling prevented piracy while enhancing worldwide
branding. >> And all the competition
had to do was remove the labels, clean the bottles,
and then put their brand of beer in it. And what they
soon discover is that if you had a bottle and it's
embossed with your name on it, Blatz or Pabst or
Miller's could not use it. Every bottle here is is a
container for Schlitz beer. Some of them are 1877. Some
of them are are 1999. Some of them still have the beer
in them. This is paper label bottle from 1893
Chicago World's Fair. I'm preserving the past. A lot
of these things could have end 'up in a dumpster, in a
landfill. A lot of these things I rescued the beer
that made Milwaukee famous after it was acquired by
Stroh's Brewing Company. They dropped that famous
slogan, and for years they called it a great American
beer. And a year later they went back to the famous
slogan. The slogan was created in 1893 by Alfred
von Klotzhausen, who made lithographs for them. He
shared it with them. They used it, and they
incorporated in almost everything they did after
them 135 years. They still look at that slogan as key
to the word Schlitz. >> This has got to be the
coolest brewing day of my life.
>> Inside the glass and concrete walls of Wisconsin
Brewing Company. >> The history of Schlitz
in itself is amazing. >> Something special is
brewing. >> Schlitz is an amazing
brand, an amazing partner of Wisconsin's heritage.
>> It's standing room only with brewmaster Kerby
Nelson. Center stage. >> Beer bottles. What color
are they? >> With almost 50 years of
beer brewing experience. >> So brown glass evolved
as a way to protect beer, to keep it fresher and more
representative of what's supposed to be.
on a masterclass in beer making.
>> These can just get in there and party to their
heart's content and turn it into beer.
>> And Schlitz history. >> For me to have the
chance to brew. An example of the beer that made
Milwaukee famous from its golden era was absolutely
irresistible. detailed recipe from
Schlitz Logs dating back to the 1940s.
>> The Schlitz that we produce is based on when
Schlitz was on top of the world.
permission from Pabst, the owners of Schlitz, Kerby
and the team used today's brewing technology to make
yesteryears beer. >> In 1950. These. They
were selling 5 million barrels.
this tiny control room, every phase of the beer
making process is monitored. They meticulously test and
taste until the mix is just right. We were there on day
one. >> We're making wort this
liquid yeast food that will be fermented in that
beloved, into that beloved liquid we know as beer.
>> Kerby says. For him, this part of modern beer
making. It's like watching a giant video game back on
the barroom floor. See the man in that jacket?
>> Oh, I'm experienced and I'm, well, I like beer. In
fact, if you look at it, I love beer.
>> That's Mark Holzman, sporting his rarely seen
but hard to miss beer jacket.
>> It's 25 years of collecting patches. I've
scoured every antique shop I could find, and I look
for patches that would fit in specific places.
>> He and everyone else here wants to be part of
what might be the most important chapter of
>> I try every kind of beer I can try, and I. Everyone
has its own flavor. >> About a month after we
were in the control room, in two months since paps
announced that Schlitz is shutting down, Wisconsin
Brewing pumps out about 200 barrels of what they call
commemorative Schlitz beer. When it's all said and done
over the next 6 or 7 hours, this production line will
spit out enough beer to make 3000 cases, which is
about 167,000 cans. >> Hi Miss Christine, this
is Sadie with Wisconsin Brewing Company. How are
you doing? >> From the brewery's
warehouse, Sadie Nelson works to update callers
from all over the country, even Canada, on the status
of this seeming liquid gold for so many customers and
this brew master their journeys with making and
getting a can of Schlitz. It's personal.
>> Because working for Schlitz for 20 years and
surprising an 88 year old man with a four pack signed
by the Brew master. I think that there's nothing better.
>> Folks at Wisconsin Brewing tell me that those
that are lucky enough will get at least a case of beer,
but to help make sure others get a taste, they're
also offering four packs. When asked why the Schlitz
brand has faded, Kerby Nelson and others say it's
because Schlitz changed their recipe and people
changed their drinking habits.
>> I bet you I've seen ten breweries going to auction
in the last two weeks, and a lot of it has to do with
there is too much. But again, changing habits.
People are really pulling back from alcohol and beer
is in a downward trend right now. It'll be back.
>> But will Schlitz be back? >> I'm hopeful that
Wisconsin Brewer will pick up the label and be able to
brew small batches through maybe a least option with
the Pabst Brewing Company. It would be a shame to let
such a legacy brand kind of fade away.
>> Fade away is not just the beer that made
Milwaukee famous, but the beer in Milwaukee that will
never be forgotten. Reporting from Verona,