Gambrinus: The Rightful King of Beers?

Did you know Wisconsin has a king living in Milwaukee?

Okay, a statue of a king.

His name is Gambrinus, his home is at the historic Pabst Brewery site, and he reigns over beer and beer making. He’s not just a statue, though. His legend goes back centuries.

So, what’s his origin story? There’s no short answer to that question. As the Drink Wisconsinbly Week in Review began to dig into the details, drowsiness set in. There is a lot of conflicting information and a bevy of names from the distant past that are hard to pronounce. It all started to feel like homework. And, this being summer and all, we blew it off. Suffice to say somebody came up with the legend before we were all born and it stuck.

All you really need to know is that he’s known throughout Europe as an “icon of beer, brewing, joviality and joie de vivre.” Traditionally, he’s depicted as a rotund, bearded king or duke, holding a beer mug, and often with a keg nearby, so he fits right in here in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee’s King Gambrinus statue has an interesting history of its own. The original was carved out of wood and placed on the roof peak of the Pabst Brewhouse in 1857. As the brewery expanded and weather took its toll, a new one was needed. A wooden copy was created by a local artisan in 1872 and installed atop an archway leading to the loading yard. That one eventually deteriorated as well and was replaced with an aluminum version in 1967.

When the Pabst Brewery closed in 1996, Gambrinus went on a walkabout. Or, well, moveabout. From 1997 to 2004, he called the Miller Brewery across town home. After that, he moved to the cafeteria at the Pabst headquarters in Illinois. And the less that’s said about that out-of-state experience, the better. Then, in 2011, like a hostage negotiator, the owner of the Best Place at the historic Pabst Brewery site brokered a deal to return King Gambrinus to his original home in Milwaukee. And that’s where you can find him now.

So, we learned a lot about King Gambrinus today, even after skipping over the whole part of where his story began. So all that is left to do now is hail our king by having a beer. Or being jovial. Or possibly exhibiting a bit of joie de vivre. We’ll leave it up to you to decide which form of exaltation best fits your weekend plans.