Jackson Brewing Company, or Jackson Brewery, was a

regional brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

operating in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, from 1890 to 1974. It sold ''Jax'' beer (a brand name also used in different states brewed by

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

's Jax Brewing Company, which it had no connection to before 1954). It was popularly known as the Jax Brewery. At its height, it was the largest brewery in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. Its

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...

building is now a historic landmark in New Orleans and houses restaurants, apartments, entertainment venues, and since 2023 the studios of radio station

WWOZ WWOZ (90.7 FM) is a non-profit community-supported radio station in New Orleans. It is owned by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. The station specializes in music from or relating to the cultural heritage of New Orleans and the sur ...

History

The brewery was founded by Lawrence Fabacher in 1890 as Jackson Bohemian Brewery; its name was later changed to Jax Beer and finally Jackson Brewing Company, after

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before Presidency of Andrew Jackson, his presidency, he rose to fame as a general in the U.S. Army and served in both houses ...

and Jackson Square. It soon grew to be a prominent

and it, along with Dixie, were the only New Orleans breweries to survive

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

.Jackson Brewing Company (1890-1970)
(2012). Tulane University Special Collections. Retrieved July 29, 2016. In 1935, Jackson Brewing Company entered a legal dispute with Jacksonville Brewing Company over the "Jax Beer" trademark, used by both companies. This resulted in a compromise in which Jacksonville Brewing Company got exclusive rights to sell in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, while Jackson Brewing got states to the west. Jackson Brewing expanded in the 1940s, as demand increased. In the 1950s, the company suffered competition from the growing national breweries. In 1954, it bought exclusive rights to the Jax trademark from the Jacksonville company, which ended brewing operations. This move made Jackson Brewing the 10th largest brewery in the U.S. and the largest in the South. In 1974, Jackson Brewing entered financial straits and was acquired by Pearl Brewing Company. Pearl continued producing Jax Beer until 1984, when it was acquired by

Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It outsources the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and ma ...

and took on Pabst branding. The brewery building remains a landmark in New Orleans. After brewing operations ceased, the building was purchased and turned into space for residences, shops, and restaurants."Jax Brewery reopens in French Quarter". http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20060215/ai_n16218642. Dolan Media Newswires, 2006.

In popular culture

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

' 1947 play ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pe ...

,'' character Steve Hubbell requests Jax Beer from his cohorts for the evening’s poker game in Act 1, Scene 1.

References

{{coord, 29.9561, N, 90.0633, W, source:wikidata, display=title Buildings and structures in New Orleans Defunct brewing companies based in Louisiana Defunct brewery companies of the United States French Quarter Landmarks in Louisiana Food and drink companies of New Orleans Manufacturing companies based in New Orleans Shopping malls in Louisiana Tourist attractions in New Orleans 1890 establishments in Louisiana 1974 disestablishments in Louisiana Defunct manufacturing companies based in Louisiana

History

In popular culture

See also

References