Where’s Shorty? The Little Beer That Put Rhinelander on the Map

Did you know that, for a time, northern Wisconsin was home to a mini-beer revolution?

Not a small-scale rebellion; more of a small-serving craze.

A 7-ounce bottle, known as The Shorty, was created by Rhinelander Brewery to exploit a niche and ended up becoming a brief cultural phenomenon in Wisconsin.

The Rhinelander Brewing Company was founded in 1882, but the story of the Shorty kicks in after the repeal of Prohibition. The brewery had been shut down due to the Volstead Act in 1919, but got back to making beer in 1933.

Turns out making beer was like riding a bike. Things were humming along through the end of the decade. And looking for innovative ways to grow further, the brewery launched Rhinelander Export, a more drinkable pilsner.

On the suggestion of one of their delivery drivers, they decided to create a smaller serving of Rhinelander Export targeted toward women, since they tended to drink slower and the standard 12-ounce bottles would get warm.

We’d tell them to get with the times, but those were the times at that time.

Anyway, what was dubbed “The Shorty” became an immediate sensation. The smaller size caught on with women, as well as manly men who, presumably, enjoyed boasting about the impressive amount of beers they downed or pretending they were giants, and not because they also drank slowly on occasion. The Shorty cost a dime a bottle and became Rhinelander’s most popular beer, moving 2.5 million units in the first year.

Its popularity continued through the 1940s and 50s. The brewery marketed the beer with a wide-ranging “Where’s Shorty” campaign, featuring over 130 illustrations by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ross Lewis of the Milwaukee Journal. They were found in newspapers, on posters, matchbooks, calendars, and more, along with the tagline, “As refreshing as the Northwoods.”

Unfortunately, Shorty discovered that what goes up must come down. The Rhinelander Brewery filed for bankruptcy in 1967, and its assets were acquired by the Joseph Huber Brewing Company, which discontinued production of the small serving. They themselves went bankrupt in 1995. Their assets were purchased in 2006 and became known as Minhas Craft Brewery.

In 2009, Jyoti Auluck purchased the rights to Rhinelander, and The Shorty made a brief return with a redesigned 7-ounce bottle that launched in 2017. Sadly, due to increased material costs and outdated bottling equipment, production of the Rhinelander Shorty had to be halted again.

If you want to learn more about the Rhinelander Brewery and the story of The Shorty, Northwoods Historian Kerry Bloedorn has you covered. If you want to try some Rhinelander beer in full-sized glasses, their taproom is open Monday through Saturday.

Rest easy, Shorty.