About this image...

Image Title: Blatz Brewery, Lager Beer, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1879

Creator: Wittemann Brothers Lith., New York, Lithographer

Date: 1879

Summary: An advertising poster from 1879 for Valentin Baltz's Brewery of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The print features a man holding up a glass of beer with the words "Premium Export Milwaukee Lager Beer." Below is a depiction of Blatz's brewery complex in Milwaukee. Hop vines and barley stalks also appear on the print, signifying two of the main ingredients in beer.

Notes: A brief biography of Valentin Blatz from the 1903 book, One Hundred Years of Brewing: "Valentin Blatz was a native of Bavaria, the place of his birth being Miltenberg-on-the-Main, and the date October 1, 1826. His father was a brewer and the son spent three years as an apprentice in the plant and four years more in the large breweries of Wurtsburg, Augsburg and Munich. In August, 1848, he landed at the port of New York city and after a short stay in Buffalo located permanently in Milwaukee. He worked about two years for John Braun, who operated a small brewery, when by economy he had accumulated sufficient funds (for those days) to enable him to establish an independent business. Consequently, in 1851, he founded a small brewery on one-half of a city lot. Mr. Braun died soon after and Mr. Blatz married the widow and acquired the old brewery, which, with his own plant united to form the foundation of the business which now bears his name, the capitalization of the company when it was incorporated being execute,000,000."

Subjects: Beer--America
Breweries--America
Brewing Industry--America
Advertising--1870-1880
Wisconsin--Milwaukee

Places: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Original Media: Chromolithograph

Collections: Popular Graphic Arts

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