Pabst

Our tour started in the Blue Ribbon Hall with a multimedia presentation during which we learned that the hall had been decorated in 1944 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company. It's a beautiful space with a slightly rounded ceiling supported by carved wooden pillars and ribs. The walls are covered in murals executed in fresco and depicting the buildings of the factory complex and a schematic of the brewing process. There's a lovely, round room at the corner of the hall with a vaulted ceiling covered in geometric frescoes. Six huge chandeliers illuminate the room with a gentle light and warmly lit display cases set in the walls house old bottles of the company's output. We enjoyed glasses of Pabst Blue Ribbon provided from the bar nestled in one corner of the space while we listened to our presenter recount the history of the facility and looked at archival photographs and wonderfully kitschy examples of television advertisements (Patrick Swayze disco!).

At the end of the presentation, we were led through a hidden door, along an access corridor and up a flight of stairs to the unrestored hall on the west side of the building. Walking around this enormous space, I wanted to be listening to ragtime by Scott Joplin which would, for me, have perfectly complemented the melancholy state of the room. Dust lay thick on the surfaces and on the odd collection of relics lying here and there: a huge Pabst logo in inlaid wood, a group of old chairs, a sign board declaring that "all tours are cancelled", a single empty bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon sitting on a wooden bar in the corner. Sunlight slanted through the dusty air from skylights around a recess in the distant ceiling and from tall windows topped in stained glass panels.

At one corner of the space, at the front of the building, is the former office of Captain Frederick Pabst. The room occupies the turret which dominates the facade of the building and contains some beautiful woodwork, carved faces, an egg-and-dart molding and an intriguing desk with removable compartments for the Captain's cigars.

We were given a few more minutes to explore that section of the building, during which we examined and photographed some of the beautiful stained glass windows and thrilled to a mysterious, dust-choked staircase which led down to a lower level and which would have made H.P. Lovecraft shriek with delight.

Back through the stairwell and corridor to the little pub between the two courtyards. Here we enjoyed another glass of PBR while listening to our guide describe the decorations which include wonderful little stained glass vignettes at the center of each window and murals displaying German sayings on drink, life and love.

Our tour ended in the adjacent "King's" courtyard where we had our photo taken in front of the statue of Gambrinus, the folkloric "King of Beer". Our guide's version of the story involved a beer barrel-carrying competition which Gambrinus won by first lightening his barrel in the way you'd expect.

The exit, as is customary, was through the gift shop which was packed with old advertising units and bar fixtures which prompted many of our party to reminisce about seeing one or other item "at that crazy bar on the lake we used to go to", etc. I lingered after Paul and the rest of our party scattered to take a few more pictures of the brewery complex in the waning light. How wonderful it is that these grand buildings are finding new life as gathering places for Milwaukee's citizens. Since that afternoon, Paul and I have returned more than once to the Best Place, once to drink PBR and play 'Cards Against Humanity' with friends, and once just last weekend to hear a concert by the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra, a group that has been performing in the city since 1900. What a privilege to hear the popular music of a bygone age performed in a space that reverberated with the same tunes when they were new.