Pabst Breweriana

Pabst Brewing Company, originally called Best Brewing, was founded in Wisconsin in 1844 by Jacob Best, Sr., with his four sons, Jacob, Jr., Charles, Phillip, and Lorenz. Theirs was a small operation, turning out only around 300 barrels per year in the beginning. Charles and Lorenz left the family business in 1850 to start the Plank Road Brewery, which would eventually become the famous Miller Brewing Company. By 1859, Phillip was the sole remaining family member running the Best brothers’ company, so he changed the name to the Phillip Best Brewing Company. Steamboat captain Frederick Pabst married Phillip’s daughter Maria and got involved in the brewing business in 1864, when he purchased half the company for $21,057.05 and was named Vice President. The brewery was finally incorporated in 1873, a year Best produced more than 100,000 barrels. Under the leadership of Pabst and his brother-in-law, Emil Schandein, Phillip Best Brewing Company jumped on the hottest technological advancements, ranging from artificial ice machines to incandescent lights. In 1882, the company also became one of the first American breweries to offer public tours. Following Schandein’s death in 1888, Pabst finally renamed the family business the Pabst Brewing Company. At Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition, Pabst was awarded a certificate for brewing excellence for its elaborate terra-cotta model of the brewing company’s buildings along with several of its products. Pabst built on this exposure and invested in real-estate across the U.S. to establish a network of bars that exclusively sold Pabst beers, reaching all of the largest American cities by 1900. The company’s most successful beer was an 1880s brand originally called Pabst Select or Best Select, which had blue ribbons tied around the bottle neck. Today, this brew goes by the name of Pabst Blue Ribbon or PBR and remains the company’s most famous product. While known for the Blue Ribbon brand and related collectibles, other early brands from the late 1800s included Export, Bavarian, Bohemian, Hoffbrau, and Standard. Besides the packaging linked to these early brands, collectors also love vintage Pabst cans, bottles, trays, and signage from the mid-20th century. Some of the most desired collectibles are vintage Pabst bar statues with their miniature, striped-shirted bartenders serving up frosty mugs of fake beer.