Milwaukee has a well-deserved reputation as a town that likes to drink. Whether it’s our fondness for brandy or our reluctance to stop at two beers, we generally land at or near the top of the national rankings in all things alcoholic.

Our status as a capital of tavern culture began early. Milwaukee, in fact, had corner bars almost as soon as it had corners. Schauss’s saloon, pictured here in 1895, was typical. Dominating the corner of Eighth and Burleigh, it was owned by a German family and attracted working-class Germans from the immediate neighborhood.

Although Germans didn’t invent drinking in Milwaukee, they were major influencers. During the frontier period, most local saloons were “rum holes” that served liquor as rough as their clienteles. Beginning in the 1840s, beer-loving Germ

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