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Stroh's Ice Cream, founded by the Stroh Brewing Company of Detroit, Michigan, is owned and distributed by Dean Foods of Dallas, Texas.
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Stroh's Ice Cream is a regional brand distributed mainly in the Midwestern United States. It used to be owned by namesake company, the Stroh Brewing Company, which had a large presence (and in some cases, like the Detroit area, still has) in this region.
History
The Stroh Brewery Company, like many other alcohol-producers in the United States, was left searching for ways to restructure its company at the advent of Prohibition in 1920. With the closing of saloons across the nation, ice cream parlors increased in popularity as a new place for the average man to frequent. Julius Stroh, the head of Stroh's Brewery at the time, decided to convert the beer-brewing facilities of its factory in Detroit to producing non-alcoholic products such as near beer (beer with its alcohol extracted), birch beer, soft drinks, malt products, and ice. It also produced ice cream under the "Alaska" brand. At the end of prohibition in America in 1933, the ice cream operation proved to be popular and profitable enough to continue alongside the brewing operation.
In the early 1980s, Stroh's built a new ice cream production facility on Maple Street in Detroit, right down the road from its main brewery, which was demolished in 1985. Stroh's sold the facility in 1989 as a part of corporate restructuring at Stroh's. Stroh's Brewing Company was purchased by Pabst Brewing Company and the Miller Brewing Company in 1999 and moved from Detroit to Milwaukee, WI. Stroh's Ice Cream was run by Melody Farms for several years, all the time keeping the Stroh's name, until that company was purchased by Dean Foods in 2005.
Today
Stroh's Ice Cream is still sold primarily in the Metro Detroit area. The primary ice cream plant remained in Detroit until February 2007, when it was announced that the facility would be moving to Belvidere, Illinois, though the Detroit distribution facility would continue to operate.