Eberle Brewing Company, Jackson, Michigan: 1897-1900s

Jackson's beer production goes back further than your neighbor's grandfather making it in his bathtub during wartime.

The Eberle Brewing Company was founded in Jackson in 1897-1898 (some historians disagree on which year) by Carl Eberle. Carl purchased a large building (a brewery) that sat at 901 Water Street (now an empty lot).

Eberle's biggest-selling beer was Blue Star, which was guzzled up in no less than 75 establishments throughout Jackson. Along with another brewery, Haehnle, the two companies ruled Jackson when it came to beer production and distribution. Then came Prohibition. Did that mean the end of their beer turnout? Well, yeah, but they made up for it by turning the tables and making soda pop. Once Prohibition came to an end, beer production came back.

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Other Jackson breweries around 1900 included Frey, Gottlieb. and the Jackson Brewing and Malting Company. After World War I, the tide was turning against beer...the war had made Americans question breweries that were German-based.

However, even though the beer went away, the soda pop continued, with distribution of Delaware Punch and Frostie Root Beer. Eberle stopped production in 1965.