{"id":7040456,"date":"2026-08-17T07:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/schlitz-beer-an-iconic-midwestern-pour-runs-dry-in-chicago-after-177-years-its-legacy-however-goes-far-beyond-the-pint-glass\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T07:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:32:30","slug":"schlitz-beer-an-iconic-midwestern-pour-runs-dry-in-chicago-after-177-years-its-legacy-however-goes-far-beyond-the-pint-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7040456","title":{"rendered":"Schlitz Beer, an Iconic Midwestern Pour, Runs Dry in Chicago After 177 Years. Its Legacy, However, Goes Far Beyond the Pint Glass"},"content":{"rendered":"


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With significant roles in the Great Chicago Fire, 1893 World\u2019s Fair and modern-day architecture, the beer\u2019s impact on the Windy City is undeniable<\/h2>\n
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Christian Thorsberg<\/a><\/p>\n

| Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\"Grain
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Schlitz beer advertised on grain operators along the Chicago River in 1900.
\n Public domain via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span>
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At just after five o\u2019clock on Wednesday afternoon in a crowded dive bar in Chicago, what is believed to have been the city\u2019s final barrel of Schlitz beer was tapped, served and emptied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The frothy send-off, held at Glunz Tavern in the city\u2019s Old Town neighborhood, appeared to mark the end of a 177-year-long run for Schlitz, \u201cthe beer that made Milwaukee famous,\u201d as one of Chicago\u2019s stalwart pours.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schlitz-themed celebrations have been held across the city this summer after the Pabst Brewing Company, the beer\u2019s brewer, announced in May that the company would be putting the brand on hiatus<\/a>\u00a0due to rising production and shipping costs, NBC<\/a>\u2019s Corky Siemaszko reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe coordinated it to celebrate the beer being such a part of our history,\u201d Christopher Donovan, the Glunz Tavern\u2019s co-owner, tells Block Club Chicago<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Matt Niendorf. \u201cThe brewery specially secured it for people who had supported the brand over the years.\u201d Across the city, Chicagoans have paid their respects to Schlitz at a variety of establishments <\/a>in recent weeks with special promotions, merchandise sales and \u201cfinal calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been part of the beer culture for so long,\u201d John Almonte, co-owner of the Bridgeport neighborhood\u2019s Electric Funeral Bar, which held one such event, told Fox 32 Chicago<\/a>\u2019s Dane Placko in May. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of amazing it\u2019s going away, know what I mean? It\u2019s just been there your whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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An 1878 advertisement for Schlitz Beer, published in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Library of Congress<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beyond its reliability as a cheap thirst-quencher and keystone for collective nostalgia, Schlitz\u2019s long history has been closely intertwined with some of Chicago\u2019s most important events\u2014both famous and infamous\u2014as well as its architectural landscape.<\/p>\n

Founded in Milwaukee in 1849 by a German immigrant named August Krug (Joseph Schlitz, who began as Krug\u2019s bookkeeper, took over the company in 1856 and renamed it after himself) the brand\u2019s popularity exploded across the region in the aftermath of tragedy. When the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed several of the city\u2019s breweries, Schlitz stepped into the void. Some accounts hold<\/a> that the company sent beer and drinking water to aid residents in the fire\u2019s aftermath; what is certain is that Schlitz\u2019s Chicago sales doubled by 1872.<\/p>\n

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Fun fact: Breweries and beer gardens run by German immigrants transformed Chicago<\/p>\n

By 1860, Chicago had more than 50 breweries, many founded by German immigrants who helped popularize lager beer throughout the city. German immigration helped shape Chicago\u2019s social drinking culture, with breweries and beer gardens becoming “third spaces” for residents of German neighborhoods.\n <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This local importance was made clear to international audiences at the 1893 World\u2019s Columbian Exhibition, which for five months turned Chicago into \u201cthe White City.\u201d Schlitz spent $20,000\u2014more than $740,000<\/a> in today\u2019s money\u2014on a professionally designed pavilion inside the fair\u2019s massive Agricultural Building,\u00a0offering patrons pours of Schlitz beers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an exhibition piece I needed to do for the Manufacturer\u2019s Building, the Schlitz Brewery trademark of a huge globe with a buckled belt around it,\u201d wrote Richard W. Bock, the sculptor tasked with the design, in his memoir, according to City of Chicago documents<\/a>. \u201cThis globe was supported by four female figures in playful poses representing the four hemispheres. At their feet were gnomes. Flanking this centerpiece were four pedestals constructed of beer kegs, three to a pedestal, and on top of each a herald blowing a trumpet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Art historians have noted that this ornate commission was the genesis for many subsequent high-profile artistic and architectural collaborations around Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Bock\u2019s first use of a globe and supporting figures, a motif that he would employ several times in sculpture for Frank Lloyd Wright,\u201d historian Donald P. Hallmark wrote in a 1971 edition of the Prairie School Review<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> \u201cThe ideas used in the exhibit for the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company remained in Bock\u2019s mind for many years and did not disappear as quickly as the actual sculpture did upon the completion of the fair\u2019s run in late 1893.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The iconic Schlitz globe logo adorns the side of Schuba’s Tavern, one of 41 former tied-houses that still stand across Chicago.<\/p>\n

David Wilson via Flickr under CC-BY 2.0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many of these symbols, with the Schlitz name prominently displayed, would go on to adorn the facades of Chicago\u2019s neighborhoods. Between 1897 and 1905, the Schlitz company built 57 brewery-tied houses across the city. In establishments like these, beer companies supplied owners with everything they needed to operate a bar, with the caveat that they could only serve that brand\u2019s brews, CBS News\u2019 Adam Harrington reports<\/a>.\u00a0They ceased operation during Prohibition, and new state laws made tied-houses obsolete. Today, 41 of these former Schlitz tied-houses still stand. Ten of them, as well as one brewery stable, have been designated as Chicago landmarks<\/a>; some are still even pubs or restaurants.<\/p>\n

At Glunz Tavern, Schlitz\u2019s history was not lost on the patrons who made the journey to share in the beer\u2019s final barrel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m chugging my first to make sure I get a second,\u201d one customer told Block Club Chicago<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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