By Nikki Ranney

There is a running joke at the Cedarburg Art Museum that there’s a percentage of people who think of us as a Beer Garden with a Museum in the front (instead of the reverse). CAM is very proud of its beer garden, but we sometimes struggle to bring the two aspects together: why even is there a Beer Garden in the courtyard of an art museum?

The history of Southeast Wisconsin is intrinsically linked to the production of beer in Milwaukee. Our Beer Garden is simply a part of a larger legacy of German heritage and community spirit in the region.

German Immigrants established the first beer gardens in Milwaukee in the 1850s, taking inspiration from the ‘biergartens’ that they had enjoyed in their former country. These gathering spaces were linked to major brewers like Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, and Blatz, who used these gardens to promote their own product. The Breweries were able to capitalize on the lack of public greenspace throughout the urban landscape, creating these mini, grassy oases to which the public could retreat and relax while buying plenty of beer. Eventually, beer gardens began to fill the niche of entertainment for the masses, incorporating luxury meals, bowling alleys, ice rinks, and even rollercoasters into the properties. Beer gardens were the place for German residents to find respite and enjoy the familiar taste of a cold beer.

Many of the German artists who had immigrated to the United States to work for the Milwaukee Panorama Company were known to enjoy indulging in beer after a hard day’s work painting murals across the city. The German painter Freidrich Wilhelm Heine recorded in his diary a note about fellow panorama painter Bernhard Schneider (A CAM favorite!) suffering from ‘the Milwaukee Fever’, a humorous colloquialism to describe a hangover after a heavy night of drinking in the city.

By 1920, Prohibition had put a halt to the popular beer garden gathering places. The 18th amendment had banned breweries from selling their alcohol, leaving the breweries with no motivation to continue funding the parks previously used to sell their product. Though the 21st amendment repealed prohibition in the 1930s, the major brewers had already decided that beer gardens were no longer worth their time.

In the 2010s, local county parks began hosting beer gardens in conjunction with local restaurants and breweries, bolstered by a wave of initiatives promoting local businesses, community engagement, and a craft-brewing fad that was taking off.

The Cedarburg Art Museum began its Beer Garden in 2018, repurposing the Jochem-Wittenberg Mansion’s Carriage House into the bar. Following in the traditions of the original beer gardens in the state, CAM’s beer garden allows visitors to step away from the bustling sidewalks of the downtown area and retreat into a beautiful landscaped courtyard. Like the beer gardens of centuries past, we proudly serve local product from Lakefront Brewery, located in downtown Milwaukee.

While our beer garden might not have roller coasters or bowling alleys, we do have live music, food trucks, a sculpture garden, and an incredible atmosphere. Come visit the Cedarburg Art Museum’s Beer Garden on Thursday evenings in the summer and pay homage to Wisconsin’s German immigrants who created a tradition of leisure and community. Make sure to keep an eye on CAM’s rotating exhibitions for artworks from German immigrant artists like Bernhard Schneider, Henry Vianden, Conrad Heyd and many more. Prost!