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A 12-Pack Tour of
Brewing in Oshkosh
A guide to the beer-soaked lands of Oshkosh’s brewing past.
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Our first stop takes us to the south end of Oshkosh. Follow Doty Street past Ardy & Ed’s to its southern
conclusion. There you’ll find two rustic fences framing the entrance to Glatz Park. It may look like private land,
but it isn’t. Take the path into the woods and in a few moments you’ll be standing on the very spot where, in
1869, Glatz and Elser began brewing their “Good As Milwaukee Beer.”
3 We’re just a couple blocks away from another old brewer’s beautiful home, so let’s go check it out. Head north
on Doty about .7 miles. When you cross W. 17th Ave direct your eyes to the east and look for the beautiful
cream-city brick home at 1662 Doty Street. You’ve reached the house that Horn built.
4 Now, travel north about 200 feet. If you’re a true lover of beer and brewing history, you may feel a slight tingle
as you approach the middle of the 1600 Block of Doty. That’s because you’re treading on hallowed ground. This
land has been home to two of Oshkosh’s greatest breweries.
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The Peoples Bottle Shop
Our next stop is just 1.5 miles away, but it’s going to take us way back in time. Head north on S. Main Street and
after you’ve crossed the bridge take the first right onto Ceape Ave. Follow Ceape east to Bowen St. Take a right onto Bowen
and follow it for about a block. Then veer left onto Bay Shore Drive. When you reach 1031 Bay Shore Drive you’ve arrived at
the approximate location of Oshkosh’s second brewery.
In November of 1849 Joseph Schussler purchased this land and went about setting up
The Oshkosh Brewery. Schussler and his business partner, John
Freund, were soon placing advertisements in the Oshkosh Democrat announcing that they
had “Erected a BREWERY in the village of Oshkosh” and were “prepared to supply the
Tavern, Grocery, and Saloon keepers of the surrounding country with good Ale and Beer”.
The advertisements end on a note that would be echoed by Oshkosh brewers for the
next 120 years with Schussler and Freund promising that their beer was better than that
“obtained from abroad under the title of ‘Detroit Ale’ or ‘Milwaukee Beer’”. Already the
specter of Milwaukee lager was haunting the brewers of Oshkosh. Schussler, who was born
in Baden, Germany in 1819, was said to have a “brewing method different from others, and known only to
himself.” Unfortunately, he was less adept at balancing the books. In 1852 he signed the brewery over to his creditors
and went to work making beer barrels. In 1861 Schussler moved to Fond du Lac where he had better luck with his
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second brewery. Schussler’s West Hill Brewery of Fond du Lac would prove to be an unqualified success.
We’re within stumbling distance of our next stop. About a block east you’ll find lands currently addressed as
1253 and 1283 Bay Shore Drive. You’d never guess it, but this tract used to occupied by...
9
Head north on Lake St. and then take a left onto Ceape Ave. and go west. Take the 1st left onto Eveline St and
then the 1st right onto Harney Ave. About 100 yards in you’ll reach 1239-1247 Harney Avenue. There used to be
a great little brewery here named...
The Gambrinus Brewery. In 1868 Gottlieb Ecke was busy moving the Lake
Brewery to this location. He needed a larger, updated brewery to compete with the four other breweries now
operating in Oshkosh (that’s right, we had 5 breweries serving a population of about 12,000 in 1868. The
following year, we’d add a 6th brewery! Thirsty little city we had here). Unfortunately, Ecke would die two
years after the brewery was completed. Fortunately, the brewery was taken over by one of the true masters
zl
of the craft. Lorenz Kuenzl was born in Bohemia in 1845 where he was schooled in the art and science of
Kuen
brewing beer. Kuenzl reached America in 1871 and by 1875 was brewing beer here on Harney. Kuenzl’s
Gambrinus Brewery, named for King Gambrinus, patron saint of brewers, was
the sort of brewery any beer geek would love. Kuenzl brewed traditional styles of beer
that would have appealed to Oshkosh immigrants longing for the lagers of their German
homeland. Perhaps that accounts for the survival of the Gambrinus Brewery while the
other small Oshkosh breweries were falling off in the 1880s. In 1894 Kuenzl merged his
brewery with two others to form the Oshkosh Brewing Company where Kuenzl would
lay the groundwork for the Oshkosh beers to come. The Gambrinus Brewery operated
as a bottling plant following the merger and was dismantled after 1912. Let’s hope
there are a few Oshkosh homebrewers in this neighborhood upholding the Kuenzl
tradition of brewing excellence.
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To get to our next brewery, we’ll need to back track down Harney and take a left onto Eveline. Follow Eveline
north a bit and then take a left onto Ceape. You’ll go west on Ceape a few feet and then take a right onto
Rosalia St. Follow Rosalia for about a quarter mile to Rahr Ave. Then take a right and head towards the lake.
Guess where, we’re going? When you arrive at 1370 Rahr, you’ll have reached what...
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Let’s go check out the place that broke our brewing drought. Continue northwest on Algoma Blvd. and
when you reach Congress hang a left. Just before you come to the bridge take a right onto Arboretum
Drive and you’ll soon see...