The Valentin Blatz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It produced Blatz Beer from 1851 until 1959, when the label was sold to Pabst Brewing Company. Blatz beer is currently produced by the Miller Brewing Company of Milwaukee, under contract for Pabst Brewing Company. History Johann Braun opened City Brewery in 1846. Valentin Blatz established a brewery next door in 1850 and merged both breweries upon Braun's death in 1852. In that year, Valentin's little brewery produced 350 barrels of lager. That beer was for local consumption only, due to short shelf-life. In 1868 Blatz's brewery produced 16,000 barrels. After a fire destroyed much of the original brewery in 1872, Blatz was able to enlarge and update his facilities with new brewing technology. In 1875, Blatz was the first Milwaukee brewery to have a bottling department to package beer and ship nationally. It incorporated as the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company in 1889. In 1891, the company sold part of its brewing interests to an English syndicate. By the 1900s it was the city's third-largest brewer. During Prohibition, Blatz produced non-alcoholic beverages such as malt soap, sodas and near beer, from 1920 to 1933. In 1933, Blatz was issued U-Permit No. WIS-U-712, granting permission to resume brewing beer. In 1953, Blatz was involved in the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike. In 1958, Pabst Brewing Company, then the nation's tenth largest brewer, acquired Blatz, the eighteenth largest, from Schenley Industries. In 1959, the federal government brought an action charging that the acquisition violated Section 7 of the Clayton Act as amended by the Celler-Kefauver Anti-Merger amendment. The sale was voided in 1959 and Blatz closed that same year. In 1960, the assets of Blatz, including its labels, were sold to Pabst. In 1969, Blatz was acquired from Pabst by the G. Heileman Brewing Company. Heileman, in turn, was acquired by the Stroh Brewery Company in 1996. On 8 February 1999, prior to its dissolution in 2000, the Stroh Brewery Company sold its labels to the Pabst Brewing Company and to the Miller Brewing Company. By 2007, Blatz was once again part of Pabst. Today The "Blatz" beer label currently is produced by the Miller Brewing Company of Milwaukee, under contract for Pabst Brewing Company. The Blatz Brewery Complex and Valentin Blatz Brewing Company Office Building in downtown Milwaukee are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The brewing