A quick note before digging in. You’ll see numerous places where prices are presented like this: $2.75 ($40). The price in brackets is what the cost would be today when adjusted for inflation. Meaning what may have once cost $2.75 would today cost $40. Here we go...
Early Oshkosh
In 1849, Oshkosh's first newspaper appeared. Though the Oshkosh True Democrat backed Wisconsin's emergent temperance movement, the paper was larded with ads for booze and beer. Notices for London Porter and Detroit Ale were common in the pages of the True Democrat. What went missing from those ads was any mention of price. What were people in Oshkosh paying for London-brewed porter in 1849? I doubt we’ll ever know, but I’ll bet it didn’t come cheap.
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| In the summer of 1849, the Oshkosh True Democrat often contained ads featuring London porter. |
Oshkosh-brewed beer began appearing in the pages of the True Democrat in 1850 after Joseph Scheussler (more often spelled Schussler) and John Freund launched the Oshkosh Brewery on what is now Bay Shore Drive. But Scheussler and Freund also avoided any mention of a specific price in their advertising.
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| Oshkosh True Democrat, September 6, 1850 |
The reluctance to advertise beer prices in Oshkosh became ingrained. There are allusions from the early 1860s that a glass of beer in an Oshkosh saloon could be had for a couple of pennies, but nothing definitive is presented. Let's suppose that's accurate and that in 1865 you dropped two pennies on the bar for a schooner of beer. Adjusted for inflation, those two 1865 pennies would be worth about 32 cents today. That's a damned cheap beer.
In Mugs, Growlers, and Glass
Prior to the 1870s, bottled beer in Oshkosh was scarce. But by mid-decade, it was becoming somewhat more common. In 1877, Rahr Brewing in Oshkosh was selling 12-packs of its bottled beer for $1.20 ($29.40). Those would have been quart-sized bottles, so fluid-wise, it was the equivalent of a case of beer. Not a terrible price considering how novel bottled beer was at this point.
About this same time, the nickel ($1.25) mug of beer was on its way to becoming a hallowed tradition in Oshkosh. A 5-cent piece got you a hearty pour. About a pint's worth. That fixed price would come to haunt saloon keepers as the cost of kegged beer began to rise in the 1890s.
The War Revenue Act of 1898 increased the federal tax on beer and drove up the price on a barrel of beer in Oshkosh from $6.40 ($198.33) to $7.40 ($229.32). Even with the added tax it wasn't a bad price. A barrel of beer in most cities during this time averaged around $8.00 ($247.91). Today, a bar in Oshkosh will pay about $110.00 for a half-barrel of Miller Lite and about $150.00 for a half-barrel of Spotted Cow. Keep in mind, those are half barrels, so the actual cost is not all that different.
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| An 1898 tax stamp for a one-eight barrel of beer. |
When keg prices rose, a shorter pour was the only way for a saloon keeper to make up the difference. Of course, the short pour was never popular on the customer's side of the bar. And with well over 100 saloons in Oshkosh, there was always plenty of competition for customers. Most saloon keepers here kept on serving up the large mugs. Here's a picture taken in the early 1900s at John Wawrzinski’s saloon, which used to stand on Oshkosh Avenue. Those hefty mugs are filled with the Oshkosh Brewing Company's lager.
The New Millennium
By the turn of the century, bottled beer had become widely available in Oshkosh. In 1900, the Oshkosh Brewing Company was selling its Gilt Edge Beer for 75 cents ($23) a case. Gilt Edge was the brewery’s premium lager, comparable to something like Coors Banquet, which you can now find in Oshkosh for $14.99 a case. The diminished price of premium lager reflects the diminished reputation of that sort of beer. But in 1900, pale lager was the fashionable thing. It was the hazy IPA of its day, but with a much larger audience.
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| Early 1900s hipsters drinking Gilt Edge Beer. |
If the price of Gilt Edge was too steep for you, OBC offered a budget beer in bottles referred to as "Standard." This was the brewery's basic keg beer diverted into bottles. It sold for 45 cents ($14) a case. Although none of our current breweries produce a low-cost beer, the budget beers that are available here are much cheaper now than they were at the turn of the century. A 30-pack of Hamm’s, for example, regularly sells for less than $12 in Oshkosh.
Beer drinkers in the early 1900s paid dearly when they ventured beyond the realm of the hometown lagers. There were Oshkosh saloons at this point selling bottles of imported Burton Ale and White Label Bass Ale for 25 cents ($7.31). You won’t find either of those around anymore, but a pint of pale ale at an Oshkosh tavern or brewery taproom now goes for $4 or $5.
The cheapest stuff in the early 1900s was bucket beer. Most Oshkosh saloons charged between 5 cents ($1.50) and 10 cents ($3) to fill a half-gallon pail or "growler" with standard, keg lager. Let's compare: A half-gallon growler of something like 842 Pale Ale at Fifth Ward Brewing in Oshkosh costs $10 today. And that's a very fair price compared to what most taprooms are charging for growler fills. It may have been cheaper back then, but keep in mind that you had to carry it out in something that looked like this...
Prices rose with the approach of Prohibition. In 1917, both the Oshkosh Brewing Company and Peoples Brewing were selling cases of their premium brands for $1.50 ($30). Each sold their budget beer at 90 cents ($18) a case. That's substantially more than you'd pay for comparable beers today. Unless, of course, that beer is coming from a craft brewery. In which case, a $30 case would be considered a bargain.
When Prohibition began in 1920, prices climbed fiercely. A bottle of bootleg beer cost 25 cents ($3.75) in an Oshkosh speakeasy. A full case went for $3 ($45). It's basic economics: make it illegal and you'll make somebody a lot of money.
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| Butch Youngwirth's Speakeasy at 6th and Ohio in Oshkosh, circa 1925. |
Beer Can Blues
When Prohibition ended in 1933 prices dipped, but still remained rather high. In 1934, Oshkosh-brewed lagers were selling for $1.90 ($37.59) a case. That's more than double the price of a comparable beer today. Those prices gradually came down as more breweries came back online, but they remained well above the present going rate.
The new canned beers were especially expensive. Beer packaged in cans first hit Oshkosh in 1935 with the arrival of Pabst Export, which sold for $2.75 ($40) a case. At that time, it was the most expensive beer sold here.
The best deals were still when drinking beer poured from a faucet in a tavern. Oshkosh's persistent nickel-beer tradition survived into the early 1940s. A 5-cent beer at the Tip Top on N. Main Street would cost 92 cents in today’s money.
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| Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, November 16, 1940. |
Prices stagnated and then dropped again in the 1940s after the launch of the Office of Price Administration (OPA). Established as part of a national defense program, the OPA set limits on beer prices. In 1946, for example, the highest legal price for a bottle of Chief Oshkosh or Peoples Beer was set at 10 cents ($1.32). Nationally distributed brands were awarded a higher upper limit. A bottle of Budweiser or Schlitz, for example, could go for as high as 14 cents ($1.85).
The OPA guidelines were arbitrary and worked against smaller breweries. Tavern owners didn’t like it either. In 1943, 26 taverns in Oshkosh were charged with violating established price ceilings. The OPA list shown below is from 1946 and covers most of the beers then sold in Northeast Wisconsin.
By the mid-1950s, such pricing tiers were essentially locked in. Customers came to expect that local beers were cheaper. Though the beer may have been the equal of nationally distributed brands, regional breweries were never again able to price their product on par with those of much larger breweries. The circumstance was especially frustrating for the smaller breweries. Due to economies of scale, it cost them more to produce their beer. Yet they had little choice, but to charge less for it.
Here's a sampling of how that played out in Oshkosh. These are 1954 prices from West End Beverage, which was located just west of the bridge on what is now Oshkosh Avenue.
1954 prices on cases of returnable 12-ounce bottles, deposit not included.
Berliner Beer, Berlin, Wis.: $2.25 ($21.51)
Budweiser, St. Louis: $3.95 ($37.77)
Blatz, Milwaukee: $3.95 ($37.77)
Chief Oshkosh, Oshkosh: $2.35 ($22.47)
Gem Beer, Menasha, Wis.: $2.25 ($21.51)
Golden Glow, Huber Brewing Monroe, Wis: $2.25 ($21.51)
Knapstein, New London, Wis.: $2.15 ($20.56)
Miller, Milwaukee: $3.95 ($37.77)
Old Style, Lacrosse, Wis: $3.39 ($32.41)
Peoples Beer, Oshkosh: $2.35 ($22.47)
Rahr's Beer, Oshkosh: $2.35 ($22.47)
Schlitz, Milwaukee: $3.95 ($37.77)
Stork Beer, Slinger, Wis.: $1.95 ($18.65)
Even the lowest-priced beer, Stork from Slinger, is fairly high when adjusted for inflation and compared to budget brands selling in Oshkosh today. And check out the adjusted price on Budweiser. Today, you can easily find a case of Budweiser in Oshkosh for well under $20. Blatz? You can get a case of that in Oshkosh for about $13 now.
By the way, that pricing structure helped to kill off most of the small breweries on that list. By the end of 1964, the breweries in Berlin, Menasha, New London, Slinger, along with Rahr in Oshkosh were closed.
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| GEM from the Walter Bros. Brewing of Menasha, which closed in 1956. |
The Beginning of the End
In the 1960s, America's largest breweries used cut-throat pricing to pummel the remaining smaller, regional breweries. Big-brewery budget brands were being sold at the same price point as locally made beers. The list below is from late 1963 and illustrates that point. At Ray's Beverage on New York Avenue, cases of Kingsbury, made by Heileman; Old Milwaukee, brewed by Schlitz, and Gettelman from Miller, were all selling for around $2.54 ($21.35). The same price as Chief Oshkosh and Peoples.
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| Oshkosh Daily Northwestern; September 20, 1963. |
We all know who won the battle. The brewery’s here couldn’t compete. Near the end, Chief Oshkosh, the brand having been sold to Peoples, was selling for $2.60 ($16) a case. Peoples Beer went for $2.70 ($16.61) a case. Both brands died when Peoples Brewing closed in 1972. And with that, Oshkosh was without a brewery for the first time since 1849. What had happened here had already swept across the state.
By 1974, there were just eight breweries remaining in Wisconsin. It was the lowest count since 1840. Four of those breweries were large: Heileman, Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz. Four were small: Stevens Point Brewing, Huber in Monroe, Leinenkugel in Chippewa Falls, and Walter in Eau Claire. Stevens Point is the only brewery of that group of eight that remains as an independent entity. All the rest were either gobbled up by competitors or snuffed out.
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| Oshkosh Daily Northwestern; December 18, 1974. |
Crafty Beer
The beer that poured in Oshkosh in the 1970s and 1980s all came from somewhere else. And almost all of it was run-of-the-mill, pale lager. At the high end was Special Export, which in 1980 was selling in Oshkosh for $8.63 ($27) a case. Budweiser went for $7.63 ($23.82) a case. Cases of Pabst sold for $7.54 ($23.54). Miller and Miller Lite were $7.16 ($22.35) a case. At the other end of the spectrum was the lowly Bohemian Club at $4 ($12.50) a case, and the nearly undrinkable Fox Deluxe at $3.92 ($12.25) a case. I know whereof I speak when it comes to Bohemian Club and Fox Deluxe. I sent gallons of each down my neck in the 1980s.
Craft beer wasn’t entirely absent from Oshkosh prior to the 1990s, but it might as well have been. When Chief Oshkosh Red Lager came on the scene in 1991 many here didn’t quite know what to make of it. Jeff Fulbright, who launched Chief Oshkosh Red Lager as the flagship brand of Mid-Coast Brewing, met plenty of resistance. “I went to all the taverns in town,” Fulbright said. “I’d go in and have some old-geezer tavern owner yelling at me ‘I can’t sell that dark shit!’”
C’mon, it wasn't even that dark.
And it wasn’t just the color that shocked people. At $3.99 ($7.53) a six-pack, Chief Oshkosh Red Lager sold for about a dollar more than ultra-premium brands such as Augsburger or Michelob. But it was still cheaper than imported Heineken, Grolsch, or Beck’s Dark, which were priced from $4.75 - $4.99 ($8.97 - $9.42) for a six-pack. Most of the “micro” brews trickling into Oshkosh at that time – Capital’s Garten Brau beers, for example – were priced similarly to the imports. Others, like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, were as high as $6.99 ($13.20) a six-pack. When you adjust for inflation, craft beer in Oshkosh today is, on average, cheaper than what folks here were paying for it in the 1990s.
When Fox River Brewing opened here in 1995, a pint of beer at the brewpub cost $2.50 ($4.22). Adjusted for inflation, that’s 50-75 cents cheaper than most pints offered in Oshkosh brewery taprooms today. The recent price creep we’ve seen in brewery taprooms here is largely made possible by the intensely-hopped, and adjunct-laden high-alcohol beers that breweries feature as specials. Pints of hazy IPA and beers that get into the 8% ABV and above range tend to sell anywhere from $6 to $10 a pint. That said, it’s still possible to get a $4 pint in a brewery taproom in Oshkosh. Those days are probably numbered. There are, however, still plenty of $4 pints of craft beer being sold in local bars that feature craft beer.
The price of craft beer in Oshkosh held fairly steady into the 2000s. As late as 2005 you could still pick up a six-pack of New Glarus' Hop Hearty IPA or Spotted Cow for $5.99 ($7.89). But Sam Adams Boston Lager was up to $6.99 ($9.21) a six-pack. At the same time, the price of big-brewery lager was tanking. In 2005, you could get a case of Budweiser, which for almost a century had been the highest priced domestic premium beer in Oshkosh, for $14.99 ($19.74). Miller Genuine Draft was just slightly cheaper. The big breweries had finally gotten their comeuppance. Their flagship brands are even cheaper today. Those beers aren’t going away anytime soon, but they’ll never again be anything more than second or third-shelf brands.
By 2010, the $4 ($4.72) pint of craft beer was well established in Oshkosh. A basic six-pack of craft beer in a grocery store was selling for about $6.99 ($8.25). Today's prices tend to be higher than that, but not by much. The $5 pint for a non-specialty craft beer is now the norm here. A six-pack of the same can usually be found for $8.49, though $8.99 is becoming more and more common. Sixers from local breweries tend to be around $9.99.
On average, our beer prices are lower now than they have been over most of this city's history. Of course, it doesn’t feel that way. A couple of things contribute to that perception.
First, locally made beer has never been as expensive as it is right now. Part of that has to do with the small size of our breweries. But mostly it's because what they sell is presented and approached as a specialty product that comes with the expectation of a higher price.
Second, there have never been so many different types of beer available here. That variety comes with an array of price points. At the high-end it's quite steep and at the low-end it's incredibly cheap. You’ll pay a premium to explore the outré fringe of that diversity. That’s been the case in every era, but even more so now.
The full gamut has never before presented such extremes. Enjoy it while you can. Because most likely it will not last.
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