Technically, this is not 'breweriana' - however, that's the name I gave to this on-going series of beer, wine, and spirits related collectibles so I'm sticking with it!
While the diminutive Plasticville and Marxville buildings were the staple of toy train layouts for many years, companies like Lionel, K-Line, and MTH did start making larger ones more suited to O-gauge layouts. However, they were rather bare bones, relatively plain, mostly unlighted, and not having a lot of details. Later, firms like Woodland Scenics and Menards would offer more detailed structures which were lighted and offered a ton of interesting details and of the two, Menards gave you more bang for the buck. They were made of cheaper materials which brought down the price, their lighting system didn't require expensive transformers, hubs, etc., and they feature gobs of details. All of this meant you could get large buildings in true O-scale for a relatively modest price comparatively.
When Menards came out with this Sprecher Brewery I had to get it for the layout. Sprecher is located in Milwaukee and as my layout was slowly becoming more Milwaukee-themed, it was a natural. The only issue I had personally was that Sprecher didn't come to Milwaukee until after I left in 1978. This was one brewery I never knew! Oh well, it's still a cool addition to the urban landscape of my Milwaukee North western layout. I never took measurements but the photo below shows how it fits in with the rest of the layout.
Ed
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