The Sternewirth Privilege

Brewery workers in an unspecified Pittsburgh brewery, 1949.

"Free Beer" agreements in brewery union contracts

(above left) NYC Jacob Ruppert workers at the employee tap in the 1960's and (right) Rice Lake workers in the 1970s pouring Bruenig's Beer, using lidless cans as drinking vessels.  (Below) Liebmann's (Rheingold) in Brooklyn, 1955.

[1946]

A Sternewirth (sometimes spelled Sternewirt, as was the case at Pabst's Milwaukee brewery) was a brewery's taproom .

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"One of the outstanding show places of the Wisconsin metropolis is the brewery operated by the Premier-Pabst corporation.  More than one hundred thousand guests have toured the buildings since the repeal of prohibition in 1933.  The journey's end brings the guests to the cool, restful artistic old world Sternewirt where chilled beer and pretzels are served." 

---  JUNE 19, 1938

"Lastly, in the neighborhood of the racking room, or in the wash-house, the visitor to the brewery finds the place where he can refresh himself with a drink of the product the manufacture of which has now been followed from beginning to end, a place found in every American brewery, and called "Der Sternewirth"."

---from 100 Years of Brewing, 1903

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