The Brewery
The West End Brewing
Company
a.k.a.
The F.X. Matt Brewing Company
a.k.a.
The Home of
Utica Club
History
The West End Brewery was founded in 1888 by Francis Xavier (F.X.) Matt. FX had come to Utica in 1885 from Germany where he had worked at the Duke of Baden Brewery in the Black Forest region. In Utica, FX worked at the Bierbaur brewery for several years. He then re-organized it into the West End Brewery in 1888. At this point, there were 12 breweries operating in little old Utica but now only one remains.
The brewery is currently run by the 3rd and 4th generation of the Matt family: Fred and Nick. Fred's brother, F.X. Matt II passed away in January, 2001. He was often seen in brewery commericals in the 80's stating: "when your name's on the outside, you're very fussy about what's inside." While under his guidance, the brewery survived the beer consolidation period, tough financial times, helped create the 15K Boilermaker road race which finishes at the brewery, and stumbled through many a beer craze. He will be missed.
