Stroh Brewery Company
Artist: Not Given
Lithographer: L. Prang & Co., Boston
Copyright Date: 1890
Size: 22" x 29"

Anyone who lives in the sixteen-state area from Iowa to Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. and who likes beer has undoubtedly enjoyed many a bottle or can of Stroh's, though this poster predates canned beer by nearly half a century. Lithographed in 1890, the poster's theme of a young woman in peasant blowse and bodice, with a wreath of hop vines and barley spikes in her hair, is of central European origin. In fact, the same theme is actually in use at the present time by the government-sponsored malt exporting office of Czechoslovakia. Stroh's founder and namesake, Bernhard Stroh, was born in Germany in 1822. He left his homelanmd while in his twenties and, after a short stay in South America, settled in Detroit. Having learned the brewing trade in Germany, Stroh set out to found his own brewery, which he did in 1850. Stroh's Lion Brewery, as it was originally called, was a smash success right from the start. In fact, by the time Bernhard Stroh passed away in 1882 the Lion Brewery was the largest in Michigan, and in those long ago days Michigan had over 140 breweries. Today Michigan has but three breweries, with Stroh's far and away the largest. It's also one of the largest in America, ranking seventh in sales among U.S. brewers in 1976.

--Will Anderson, The Beer Poster Book, 1976.