Cone Top Brewery Museum Gallery
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The "Best" Tonic Frances Cleveland Cardboard Sign
Object/Artifact
The Best Tonic. The Phil Best Brewing Company. Milwaukee, WI.
In the mid-1880s, the Phillip Best Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, used First Lady Frances Cleveland to advertise their Best Tonic. The brewery ran a promotion in which one could obtain a small version of this watercolor portrait in exchange for 12 coupons found on bottles of Best Tonic. The Phillip Best Brewing Company was founded in 1844 by Jacob Best. During the 1850s, Jacob Best’s son took control of the company, and Jacob Best’s Granddaughter married Captain Frederick Pabst. Pabst joined the family business, becoming a partner in 1863, and by 1872, Phillip Best Brewing Company was the second-largest brewery in the United States. In 1889, the company changed its name to its current name, Pabst Brewing Company.
