News

POTOSI, Wis. - The historic brewery here has been inactive since 1972, when its kettles cooled and dried and its doors closed.

Last week there was again activity at the site. Not by brewers, but masons, who meticulously disassembled a 35-foot long portion of the building's front wall, organizing the old, large stones onto pallets as the wall's horizontal rows were individually removed.

The deconstruction, which was needed to remedy an outward bulge in the 150 year-old building, marks the tangible beginning of an ambitious endeavor by the Potosi Brewery Foundation, Inc., a local non-profit organization, to refurbish the crumbling relic. The group's vision for the multi-building complex, says its vice president, Frank Fiorenza, includes developing a microbrewery, a restaurant and a museum featuring local and national beer brewing memorabilia.

"It is my understanding that there is no present national brewery museum. What better place is there to put one but in a former brewery," Fiorenza said.

This spring the front wall will be resurrected using the original collection of stone, and sometime before next winter the group plans to have a roof in place to protect the inner domain of the brewery's front section.

The work on the wall will run $24,000—an amount garnered through "a number of small fundraisers," according to Fiorenza, who's one of 15 foundation board members—and is being handled by Earl Thompson Masonry of Galena, Ill.

Cash for the roof hasn't been appropriated yet, however, the foundation is currently in negotiation with the state to receive a $150,000 grant—$30,000 of which has already been applied to an analysis of the site by River Architects in LaCrosse, who determined the building "viable" for further construction.

The foundation will receive the remaining $120,000 if and when it is able to match that amount through upcoming fundraisers—the predominant of which is a banquet scheduled for Feb. 4 at Sunset Hall in Dickeyville and individual contributions.

"We're hoping to get real close to that number" through donations and sponsorships derived from the banquet, said Karen Buch, member of the foundation banquet committee and Potosi chamber of commerce.

The brewery, which produced nine beer labels over a 120-year span, is broken into two primary sections by the foundation: front and back.

The front section, built in 1852, is the current focus of the restoration project, while the later-built back section, constructed in the 1930s, will remain untouched while the foundation seeks further funding.

"It depends on the financial situation," Fiorenza said, "but we hope to have the front section of the brewery complete in three to five years."

As for the rear building, he said, "We're not even concerned about that section at this point."

The brewery's most prestigious beer brands were Holiday and The Good Old Potosi, both of which were served in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and later shipped to areas in the western U.S., according to Fiorenza.