The George Walter Brewing Company, one of over three hundred breweries once operating in Wisconsin, was incorporated in 1903 in Appleton, Wisconsin. Formerly called the Star Brewery, it was founded in 1862 by George Muench and changed hands several times before George Walter purchased a half interest in the business in 1880. Walter, a German brewer who had emigrated in 1873, was foreman at another Appleton brewery from 1876 to 1880. He became sole owner of the Star Brewery in 1885 and operated it until his death in 1899; his heirs directed the business until its incorporation as the George Walter Brewing Company four years later. At that time, the brewery adopted “Adler Brau” as the trade name for its products.
Four of Walter's brothers also operated breweries in the United States: John owned the Walter Brewing Company, still in business in Eau Claire; Christian and Jacob operated the Walter Brothers Brewing Company in Menasha; and Martin Walter established the Walter Brewing Company in Pueblo, Colorado.
In 1918, as a wartime conservation measure, the Appleton Brewing and Malting Company dissolved and was combined with the George Walter Brewing Company. The brewery produced “Kingsbury,” a “near beer,” for several years after prohibition was imposed in 1920, but then closed down and rented out most of its space until it resumed beer production in 1933. Several new buildings were added, including a garage in 1934, a bottling house in 1938, and a machine shop and another garage in 1939. The business peaked in 1947 with fifty-two employees producing fifty thousand barrels of beer per year.
Competition from larger breweries led the company to begin canning beer in 1955, but business continued to decline. Other equipment changes and economy measures failed to reverse or compensate for the steady decrease in sales, and the brewery was forced to close in March 1972. The City of Appleton purchased the brewery property in the following year, and in February 1974 the stockholders of the George Walter Brewing Company voted to liquidate the corporation.
