Attendees of an event at Joliet Area Historical Museum can sample more than 40 craft beers and ciders and also learn a little bit about Joliet’s brewing history.
The latest installment of Craft Beer Tasting at the Museum on Nov. 19 in Joliet includes local historian John Bittermann giving a presentation, which includes paper items, mugs, glassware, calendars, caps and handles from his Breweriana collection as well as a question-and-answer session.
“I’ll be talking about one specific plant that the breweries used on the northwest corner of Bridge and Summit streets,” said Bittermann, who has been a presenter at each installment of the event, which has been taking place typically twice a year for at least a decade.
“I picked up two pieces in the past few months that came from breweries that were in this plant. The date varies for when that brewery first started making beer.”
According to Bittermann, Scheidt & Stephens dates to at least 1857 and bore the last names of the original owners who leased the plant to Henry Eder in 1870.
“Fred Sehring acquired that plant in 1883. He had already had control of the plant on the southwest corner and bought the plant on the northwest corner,” said Bittermann of Joliet.
“It was at this time that he built the house where the winery is now and he built houses for his two sons and his brother-in-law on the top of the hill, so Sehring controlled all the land from Center Street to Summit Street and from Stone Street to where the property line is over on that South Side.
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“It was about 5 acres of land that he had. He moved to downtown Joliet to a brand-new brewery in 1904 but records indicate that he was still using the old plant as a storage facility as late as 1910. There’s no record of what happened during roughly the next 20 years.”
The plant came back to life after Prohibition, which began in 1920.
“In 1933 at the end of Prohibition a group of Joliet residents decided they wanted to reactivate the brewery. They opened the Hillside Brewing Co. After about eight months of business, that brewery closed,” Bittermann said.
“Very quickly after that brewery closed, a group of investors purchased it and reopened in 1934 as Pioneer Brewing Co. They operated that until 1948.”
Bittermann, who curated the Last Call for Alcohol!: The History of Joliet’s Breweries exhibit displayed from February 2018 to January 2019 at Joliet Area Historical Museum, said Craft Beer Tasting at the Museum encourages people to explore not only the museum but also downtown Joliet.
“Other than the beer and the representation of breweries that are there, you have free rein over the exhibit halls and special exhibits in the museum. It’s an excellent way to try a range of locally made beers as well as enjoy the museum and hang out with your friends for the night,” he said.
“People who don’t usually come downtown and who like craft beer might come down and discover there’s more to do in downtown Joliet than they realize. It’s a real good fundraiser for the museum.”
Registration for Craft Beer Tasting at the Museum includes a souvenir sampling glass, unlimited beer sampling, hot appetizers, prize raffles, live music and displays of historical items advertising beer.
“I started collecting cans when I was a kid in the 1970s. Then in high school I had a really cool history teacher,” said Bittermann about his Advanced Placement history class at Joliet West High School sparking an interest in local history around the same time that he discovered older breweries in Joliet.
Bittermann, who estimates that he has tens of thousands of items in his collection, is a member of national groups American Breweriana Association, Brewery Collectibles Club of America, Just for Openers and National Association Breweriana Advertising and their local chapters.
“There are not as many young collectors as there were when I was young. It’s harder for people in their 20s these days to have a relationship and understand breweries that closed in the 1950s or 1960s,” he said.
“On the other hand, we’re seeing an influx of collectors who save craft beer items.”
Craft Beer Tasting at the Museum
When: 5:30-9 p.m. Nov. 19
Where: Joliet Area Historical Museum’s Indoor Auditorium Theater, 204 N. Ottawa St., Joliet
Tickets: $25 nonmembers; $20 museum members; ages 21 and older only; free parking at Ottawa and Webster streets
Information: 815-723-5201; jolietmuseum.org
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.