Miller Brewery leads off day of Milwaukee history

Frederick Miller came to Milwaukee in the mid-1800s. A beer maker from Germany, Miller bought the Plank Road Brewery and started Miller Brewery.

Miller grew over the years to be one of the top selling beer companies in the United States. In 2008, Miller Brewing merged with Coors to form MillerCoors. Breweries from both companies make all the domestic brands from each label. The Miller High Life you have in Des Moines likely came from Milwaukee. Same with the Coors. If you have either beer in Omaha, it likely came from Golden, CO – home of the Coors brewery.

This tour marked our sixth visit to a brewery or distillery. For a couple of non-alcohol drinkers, we seem to like to visit these places. We each had a couple of sips from a beer – Miller Genuine Draft. MGD was a regular beer for me once in the day. I started as a Budweiser guy in my younger days, but developed a liking for Miller beers after returning to the States from Germany. In Germany, it was Bitburger whenever possible.

The Miller tour was an indoor/outdoor tour. It rained earlier in the morning, but had stopped before we started the outdoor walk.

The tour was interesting. It started with a short introduction film, featuring the Girl on the Moon (the symbol on Miller beer bottles). After the film, we started our walk to the north distribution center. We watched beer being labeled, packed and sent on for distribution to bars and stores.

One stop on the tour was a bit memorable…not for positive reasons. The walk up the three-floor stairwell to the yeast room was quite stinky. The leftover yeast gave quite an odor – a cross between rotten eggs and well, um, “gas.” However, once we were on the production floor, that smell went away.

We walked to the Historic Caves, where Frederick Miller originally stored beer. It was cool and dark. I guess he used to entertain people in the caves with fresh beer and German music.

After checking out the cave, we stopped at the Miller Inn. Everyone on the tour was given full glasses of beer. We sipped part of the MGD. Then, they brought us a summer sampler from Linenkugel (purchased by Miller a few years, but actually brewed in Chippewa Falls, WI). I did not care for the taste.

So, Lisa and I moved on. We stopped at the visitor center to check out some of the exhibits.

A memorial honoring veterans – especially those from the MillerCoors companies – sits in front of the center.

A bus featuring the Miller High Life brand sits just outside the brewery entrance.

Since it was about lunch time, we decided to head on down to the Schlitz Park area and try out food truck dining. Lisa has always wanted to have lunch at a food truck while on vacation. It finally worked out for her. Schlitz Park – the former brewery is now a business complex – hosts a food truck day for area employees.

Lisa had a sandwich from one truck. It was the “Cry Fowl.” It consisted of a hand-pattied burger, topped with an over-easy fried egg, caramelized onion, Wisconsin cheddar and a special sauce, served on a kaiser bun. I had a pulled pork and hamburger sandwich from another truck vendor. We sat along the river walk and enjoyed a nice sunny afternoon.

Once satisfied that she finally had a meal from a food truck, Lisa was ready to press on to more attractions.

We headed to the North Point Lighthouse, on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan and Milwaukee. The lighthouse is located a well-to-do neighborhood. The older houses reminded us a little of the Dundee or Memorial Park areas of Omaha.

Our planned lighthouse tour was shortlived. It’s closed during the week. It’s open for four hours each Saturday and Sunday. We were a little disappointed, but we survived (obviously). We ended up checking out the area around the lighthouse. A group of middle school-aged kids were there, working on drawings of the lighthouse. As we walked by them, one kid asked if we wanted to see her drawing, so we obliged.

The area was nice. It’s a park, so there were people running, biking and walking along the trail. A bridge sits just off from the lighthouse. Four lions sit atop each side, as if guarding it. A little farther on the trail is a sculpture honoring the first surgeon general of Wisconsin.

We moved along to spend the afternoon along the lakefront. I covered that experience in another post – “Milwaukee offers attractions on two fronts with river and lake” – posted July 21st.

After the lakefront tour, it was dinner time. We decided to try a local bratwurst place. However, as we looked for a place to park, Lisa noticed a sign up a hill with “Pabst” on it. We decided to investigate before heading to dinner.

It turned out to be the old Pabst brewery. I remember downing my fair share of Pabst Blue Ribbon beers. Not the best tasting beer, but what the hey…

Tours are actually offered of the old brewery grounds, but we were too late to go on one. So, we decided to look around on our own.

We walked by the gift shop. Closed. We stopped by and looked at a courtyard. A statue of an old German broasting with a beer caught our eye.

We moved along to look at the old brewery building.

Nearby was a hotel. The Brewhouse Inn and Suites took over the old Pabst Brewhouse. The 90-room boutique hotel opened in the spring of 2013. It’s a “green” hotel, meaning it is environmentally friendly.

Next door is Jackson’s Blue Ribbon sports bar and a restaurant. It’s been open less than a couple of months. After talking with the hostess, we decided to give it a try. We split a pizza and watched ESPN on several TVs located throughout the bar area. The pizza was delicious.

It was getting late, so we headed back to the bed and breakfast we were staying at. On our drive, we passed the Pabst Mansion, where the brewery’s owner once lived. So, we stopped and took a few pictures.

We’ve realized that Milwaukee has a lot to offer visitors, and not just the standard tourist attractions. Sometimes, looking up the street pays off for an added attraction not on your itinerary.