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 beer ...
Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...
's
Jax Brewing Company
Jax Brewing Company, originally Jacksonville Brewing Company, was a regional brewery in Jacksonville, Florida operating from 1913 to 1956. It was the second brewery to open in the state, after Florida Brewing Company in Tampa in 1896.
Histor ...
, 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, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
Its
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old S ...
building is now a historic landmark in New Orleans and houses restaurants, apartments, and entertainment venues.
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 an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame 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 beer ...
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 ...
.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
Jax Brewing Company, originally Jacksonville Brewing Company, was a regional brewery in Jacksonville, Florida operating from 1913 to 1956. It was the second brewery to open in the state, after Florida Brewing Company in Tampa in 1896.
Histor ...
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
The Pearl Brewing Company (also known as the Pearl Brewery or just Pearl) was an American brewery established in 1883 in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, United States. In 1985, Pearl's parent company purchased the Pabst Brewing Company and assumed ...
. 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 is currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of ove ...
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
In
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 thre ...
' 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 orders a Jax Beer in Act 1, Scene 1.
See also
*
List of breweries in Louisiana
Brewery, Breweries in Louisiana produce a wide range of beers in different beer style, styles that are marketed locally, regionally, and nationally. Brewing companies vary widely in the volume and variety of beer produced, from small nanobreweri ...
*
Jackson Brewing Company (San Francisco) Jackson Brewing Company may refer to:
Companies
* Jackson Brewing Company (New Orleans), former brewing company in New Orleans
* Jackson Brewing Company (San Francisco), former brewing company in San Francisco
See also
*Jax Brewing Company
J ...
*
List of defunct breweries in the United States
At the end of 2017, there were total 7,450 breweries in the United States, including 7,346 craft breweries subdivided into 2,594 brewpubs, 4,522 microbreweries, 230 regional craft breweries and 104 large/non-craft breweries.
The following is a p ...