WINONA, Minn. – The beer whose advertising proclaimed it “made Milwaukee famous” — Schlitz — is no more. The current owner, St. Louis-based Pabst, has discontinued production. The Schlitz brand had a 177-year run. For a while was the nation’s biggest brand. In Winona the brand had deep connections. It was second only to locally brewed Bub’s. And in 1882 when Schlitz ventured into the luxury hotel business, it built pnr of its grand plasace in Winna for steamboat, stage and rail travelers. The structure is still at West Third and Johnson streets downtown although now residential apartments and renamed. Since 1982 the structure been listed as the Schlitz Hotel on the National Register of Historic Places.
A beer that Winionans remember. Also an architecturally significant and classy downtown Winona hotel.
