The Eerie Connection These 3 American Beer Makers Share
Beer has been a part of American culture for centuries. Beer is consumed at various gatherings — in bars, at home, you name it. And some cities produce and drink a whole lot more beer than others. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for instance, is nicknamed Brew City and for good reason. It's even been considered the Beer Capital of the World, according to Beer History. Whether it's served at a bar or enjoyed out of bottles, cans, or kegs at house parties, beer is indeed what made Milwaukee famous (via Visit Milwaukee). In fact, some of the biggest names in the hoppy beverage's history have stemmed from Wisconsin's largest metropolis.
If you've ever sipped (or chugged) inexpensive, mass-produced beers like Pabst Blue Ribbon, Schlitz, or Blatz, you may not have ever realized that these alcoholic products' namesakes have more in common than making mega-popular economy-grade lagers. The similarity we're talking about here is a bit stranger than these gents' shared profession.
Pabst, Schlitz, and Blatz are buried in the same cemetery
Three of the world's most well-known beer makers — Captain Frederick Pabst (1836-1904), Joseph Schlitz (1831-1875), and Valentin Blatz (1826-1894) — are buried near each other in Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee (per Visit Milwaukee). There are also a few lesser known brewers with graves in the cemetery. August Krug (1815-1856) was a German immigrant restaurateur and the founder of what was eventually renamed Schlitz Brewing Company (per Forest Home Cemetery). August Uihlein (1842-1911) was Krug's nephew, who also worked at and later ran Schlitz with his brothers (per Wisconsin Historical Society). And of course, there's the legendary Jacob Best (1786-1861), the German-American founder of Empire Brewery, which later rebranded to Pabst Brewing Company (per Wisconsin Historical Society).
If you ever find yourself in Milwaukee, be sure to pay a visit to Forest Home Cemetery and say hello to some of the most notable beer barons of all time — at least in the United States. And if you're looking for the eternal resting place of Frederick Miller, the namesake of the ever-famous Miller Brewing Company, head on over to Milwaukee's Calvary Cemetery, which is just five miles northwest of Forest Home.