A Bock, 33 Breweries, and 175 Years of Beer from Oshkosh

Here’s one last beer in celebration of this year’s 175th anniversary of brewing in Oshkosh.

175 Bock is being released today (Nov. 29) in a commemorative can and on draft at Fox River Brewing in Oshkosh. The beer is a call-back to the first half of the last century when seasonal Bock beers were the highlight of the beer drinking year. Drew Roth, brewmaster at Fox River, created the recipe using those early Bocks as his template. This is an absolutely excellent beer, and it's a limited release, so grab it while you can.

And with that in mind, I thought now would be a good time to take a quick look back on the incredible brewing history of this city. More than 33 breweries have made beer in Oshkosh since Jacob Konrad launched the first brewery here in 1849.

The Legal Breweries
We’ll start with the 21 legal breweries. The map below shows the location of each of them. I’d recommend viewing this in the full-screen version. Click on the beer mug to see the dates of operation for each brewery.

The Wildcats
In addition to the legal breweries, there have been at least a dozen wildcat breweries in Oshkosh that operated illegally during Prohibition. Again, I recommend viewing this map in the full-screen version here. Same deal, click on the beer mug to find out more about each brewery.



All of the Breweries
Here’s a rundown of the 21 legal breweries. If you’d like a deeper dive, check out the Oshkosh Beer Timeline. There you can find links to the history of each brewery and more.

1. The Lake Brewery, 1849–68
East side of Lake Street, approximately one hundred yards south of Ceape Avenue

1. 1849–53: Jacob Konrad
2. 1853–62: Anton Andrea
3. 1862–65: Leonhardt Schwalm
4. 1865–68: Gottlieb Ecke

2. Joseph Schussler’s Oshkosh Brewery, 1849–52
South side of Bay Shore Drive, midway between Bowen and Frankfort Streets

3. Loescher’s (First) Oshkosh Brewery, 1852–78
1253–83 Bay Shore Drive

1. 1852–53: George and Frederick Loescher
2. 1853–78: George Loescher

4. Fischer, Weist and Kaehler, 1856–1858
Southwest corner of High and New York Avenues

1. 1856–57: Tobias Fischer and August Weist
2. 1857–58: Tobias Fischer and Christian Kaehler

5. Busch Brewery/Fifth Ward Brewery, 1858–1880
Southeast corner of Algoma Boulevard and Vine Avenue

1. 1858: Tobias Fischer and Christian Kaehler, Busch Brewery
2. 1858–80: Christian Kaehler’s Fifth Ward Brewery

6. Rudolph Otten Brewery, 1865
Oxford Avenue.

7. Rahr Brewing Company, 1865–1956
North side of Rahr Avenue near the Lake Winnebago shoreline

1. 1865–83: Charles and August Rahr
2. 1883–97: Charles Rahr’s City Brewery
3. 1897–1917: Charles Rahr Jr./Rahr Brewing Company
4. 1917–56: Rahr Brewing Company of Oshkosh

8. Horn and Schwalm’s Brooklyn Brewery, 1866–94
1630–70 Doty Street

9. Franz Wahle/Glatz Union Brewery, 1867–94
End of Doty Street (Glatz Park)

1. 1867–69: Franz Wahle
2. 1869–79: John Glatz and Christian Elser Union Brewery
3. 1879–88: John Glatz Union Brewery
4. 1888–94 John Glatz and Son (William Glatz)

10. The Gambrinus Brewery, 1868–94
1239–47 Harney Avenue

1. 1868–71: Gottlieb Ecke
2. 1871–75: Charlotte Ecke
3. 1875–94: Lorenz Kuenzl’s Gambrinus Brewery

11. Leonard Schiffmann’s White Beer Brewery, 1870s
1864 Doty Street

12. Leonard Arnold Brewery, approximately 1875–78
Southeast corner of Sixteenth Avenue and South Main Street

13. Frederick Voelkel Brewery, late 1870s
Northwest corner of Doty Street and West Seventeenth Avenue

14. Loescher’s (Second) Oshkosh Brewery, 1880–89
Northeast corner of Frankfort Street and Bay Shore Drive

1. 1880–84: George Loescher
2. 1884–89: William Loescher

15. Oshkosh Brewing Company, 1894–1971
1642 Doty Street

16. Peoples Brewing Company, 1913–72
1512 South Main Street

17. Mid-Coast Brewing Company, 1991–95
Offices at 35 Wisconsin Street (beer produced in Stevens Point)

18. Fox River Brewing Company, established 1995
1501 Arboretum Drive

19. Bare Bones Brewery, established 2015
4362 County Highway S

20. Fifth Ward Brewing Company, established 2017
1009 South Main Street

21. HighHolder Brewing Company, 2018-2021
2211 Oregon Street

Here’s a rundown of the 12 known wildcats

1. Mathias Sitter
1255 Harney Ave.
Raided on August 24, 1927.

2. Theodore Fisher
601 S. Main St.
Raided on August 24, 1927.

3. Safford Family Home
1627 Kentucky St.
Raided February 14, 1930.

4. Mary Kollross
1325 Oregon St.
Raided on February 14, 1930.

5. Fowler House Hotel
Southeast corner of High and Division streets.
Raided on February 22, 1930.

6. Joseph Widzinski
Near the corner of Wisconsin and Pearl streets.
Raided in the summer of 1930.

7. Henry Noe
Farm brewery near the intersection Highway 41 and State Road 76.
Raided on March 21, 1931.

8. Molitor & Heinzl
W. 20th Ave. near State Hwy 44.
Raided August 1931.

9. Molly Molitor
826 W 6th Ave.
Brewery never raided. Location confirmed by Leroy Youngwirth, son of Oshkosh bootlegger Butch Youngwirth.

10. Airport Tavern
809 W 20th Ave.
Never Raided. Approximate location of a tavern operated by Butch Youngwirth's outfit. The large brewery at this site was confirmed by Butch's son Leroy Youngwirth and former bootlegger Ed "Slim" Suda.

11 Adolph Spanbauer
642 W 9th Ave.
Never Raided. Brewery located in a speakeasy. Location confirmed by former bootlegger Ed "Slim" Suda.

12. Iowa Street Brewery
Near Iowa St & W 6th Ave.
Little is known of this brewery. Appears to have been run by the Butch Youngwirth outfit. Location confirmed by Leroy Youngwirth and Ed "Slim" Suda. They described the brewery as being near the corner of 6th and Iowa.

Prost, to 175 years!
I want to send a huge thanks to the brewers at Bare Bones, Fifth Ward, and Fox River. Early this year, I reached out to them and suggested that we have some sort of city-wide collaboration to honor the 175th year of brewing here. Without hesitation, they agreed. Each brewery produced a bock beer (nothing could be more appropriate) to mark the anniversary. Here’s to another 175 years of Oshkosh-brewed beer!

Fifth Ward’s 175 Bock, released April 4, 2024.

Bare Bones’ 175 Oshkosh Helles Bock, released June 1, 2024.

Fox River’s 175 Bock, released November 29, 2024.

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Oshkosh Helles Bock

As I’ve mentioned here before, this year marks the 175th year since brewing began in Oshkosh. And to celebrate that anniversary, each of the three Oshkosh breweries is releasing a different style of Bock beer packed in a commemorative can. The next beer in the series comes out this Saturday at Bare Bones.

Oshkosh Helles Bock is an amped up version of the brewery’s popular Oshkosh Lager. It’s a rich, malty beer that’s 6.8% ABV and deceptively easy drinking. Prost, to another 175 years of great beer from Oshkosh!

175 Years of Beer in Oshkosh

The Oshkosh 175 celebration begins Thursday, April 4th at Fifth Ward Brewing with the release of 175 Bock.

All three Oshkosh breweries will release a bock beer this year to commemorate the 175th anniversary of brewing here. Each of the collectible cans for these beers will carry the “Oshkosh 175” emblem. This is the first time brewers in Oshkosh have collaborated on a series of beers that celebrate our city’s brewing heritage.

Each of the three beers in the series will be a different style of Bock. The Fifth Ward’s Bock is a traditional German Bock, dark and rich with a lush caramel note and just enough hop contribution to keep it from being too sweet. It's a surprisingly drinkable beer considering that it brings a solid 6.2% ABV. This is an excellent example of the style.

Now, here’s something I’ve been saving for the right occasion, and I think this is it... Back in 2017, Ian Wenger and Zach Clark were working to get their brewery launched. Fifth Ward would open later that year, in November. In the meantime, Zach and Ian continued to homebrew. In April of 2017, the three of us got together to drink some of their homemade Bock beer. For reasons I no longer recall, I shot some video while we quaffed Bock.

Here are the three of us from April 2017, six months before the opening of Fifth Ward, getting a taste of what was to come. Prost, guys!