The Fond du Lac Comeback

Fond du Lac’s 88-year drought is coming to an end. This morning Lyle Hari of Fond du Lac Beer is brewing the first batch of commercial beer made in Fond du Lac since 1937.

Lyle Hari, March 18, 2025.

Lyle has Oshkosh roots. He was the first brewer at Bare Bones when it opened in 2015. The Fond du Lac Beer Company taproom is slated to open this May.

Here’s more about the history of beer in Fondy.

Peoples and the Chief

The Oshkosh Brewing Company closed in 1971. The brewery quickly sold its brands – including Chief Oshkosh – to its neighbor across the street, Peoples Brewing Company. These two display ads were issued by Peoples shortly after the sale.

If you’d like to read more about Chief Oshkosh Beer going to Peoples follow this link.

Mr. Sweet's Impossible Dream

At the turn of the century, Oshkosh was known everywhere as a city full of saloons and soaking in beer. Into the swamp stepped an itinerant preacher named Sylvester Sweet. 

A drawing of Sweet from 1904.

Sweet moved to Oshkosh in 1901 to become pastor of the Second Baptist Church on Ninth Avenue (it no longer stands).

Second Baptist Church. Looking southwest from 9th & Nebraska streets. Courtesy of Bob Bergman.

Sweet quit the church three years later over a money dispute and then ran for mayor as a Prohibitionist. He promised that, if elected, he would purify the city. Oshkoshers showed little interest in being purified. More than 6,000 votes were cast. Sweet received just 121 of them. He moved away a short time later.