Picture Jacob Best Sr. founding this brewery in 1844, the site that would grow into the Pabst Brewery Complex northwest of downtown Milwaukee. This is the site that operated as a family brewery from its founding in 1844 until it ceased brewing under Pabst ownership in 1997, and it was recognized on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The story begins in 1844 with Jacob Best Sr., an immigrant from Mettenheim, Germany, who founded Best and Company Brewery with his four sons, brewing lager alongside ale, porter, and even whiskey.
By the time Jacob retired in 1853 the brewery produced 2,500 barrels a year, the fourth largest in Milwaukee. Frederick Pabst, who arrived from Thuringia in 1848 and rose from cabin boy to captain on steamships, married Maria Best in 1862. He joined the brewery two years later and, with Emil Schandlein, bought the business in 1866.
Production leapt from 5,000 barrels in 1864 to 37,000 in 1870 and 114,000 in 1874, and by 1868 Best was the largest brewery in the city. In 1889 the Best Company was renamed the Pabst Brewing Company. From 2,500 barrels a year to 114,000, that whole leap happened inside these brewery buildings.