In 1850, German immigrant Bernhard Stroh founded the Brewery of B. Stroh in Detroit. By the late 1800s, Stroh’s widow and sons reincorporated the business as B. Stroh, began shipping its products as far as New England, and established a forerunner of a distributorship in Cleveland, Ohio. The brewery survived prohibition by selling non-alcoholic beverages, hopped syrup, and ice cream. However, the company’s refused to develop a lighter beer to suit customer demand in the post-WWII era. As industry competition grew, Stroh modified its recipe in 1977 and rose to the 3rd most popular beer in the 1980s. However, a 1990s price war forced the company to close.