Schlitz Beer is no more

[late]

A local bar called Deweys had Deweys Dark, long, long time ago. One of my favorite beers..

It disappeared.

There used to be a beer expert named Micheal Jackson (no relation to..) and he was on a friday talk show. Called him up, and he said it was made by a brewery in Providence that went under. We commiserated over the loss.

My all time fave beer was made by Augustinian monks in Austria. Yeah, burly guy in robes would heave the barrel up on a steel counter and tap it in one smooth motion. That is also gone.

It took me a while, but I learned how to make barley wine. That's a beer in the high teens and quite bubbly. Iron fist, velvet glove.

Can't drink, and the stuff I loved is gone. Sure, there is a ton of breweries now, maybe things have changed, but I never found one that even came close.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Blatz, Hamm's, Meister Brau, Falstaff, Keystone, Olympia, Kreuger, Miller High Life, Red Dog, Pete's Wicked Ale....all gone.

.

Grain Belt

.

 

[Concerned American]

A local bar called Deweys had Deweys Dark, long, long time ago. One of my favorite beers..

It disappeared.

There used to be a beer expert named Micheal Jackson (no relation to..) and he was on a friday talk show. Called him up, and he said it was made by a brewery in Providence that went under. We commiserated over the loss.

My all time fave beer was made by Augustinian monks in Austria. Yeah, burly guy in robes would heave the barrel up on a steel counter and tap it in one smooth motion. That is also gone.

It took me a while, but I learned how to make barley wine. That's a beer in the high teens and quite bubbly. Iron fist, velvet glove.

Can't drink, and the stuff I loved is gone. Sure, there is a ton of breweries now, maybe things have changed, but I never found one that even came close.

I drank a half gallon of barley wine some years ago on New Year's Eve, LOL, woke up with the worst headache I've ever had. That was my first and only foray into barley wine.

 

[late]

I drank a half gallon of barley wine some years ago on New Year's Eve, LOL, woke up with the worst headache I've ever had. That was my first and only foray into barley wine.

One bottle was usually enough. After 2 bottles walking got.. interesting.

 

[Concerned American]

One bottle was usually enough. After 2 bottles walking got.. interesting.

I like some Belgian beers---Duvel and Chimay. After a couple Chimays (10.5 %) I have a bit of trouble walking, LOL and talking.

 

[candycorn]

 

[Alex_northern_germany]

Shlitz decline is a case of if it aint broke don't fix it.


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History of Schlitz Brewing Company​

Schlitz Brewing Company began in 1849 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when German immigrant August Krug opened a small tavern brewery on Chestnut Street (now Juneau Street) bluewaterhealthyliving.com. Joseph Schlitz, another German immigrant, started as a bookkeeper at the brewery. After Krug’s death in 1856, Schlitz took over, married Krug’s widow Anna Maria Hartig Krug, and renamed the company the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. Wikipedia+1.

Growth and National Expansion​

Under Joseph’s leadership, the brewery expanded rapidly. In 1870, it moved to a larger facility, and by the 1890s had grown into a multi-block complex bluewaterhealthyliving.com. Schlitz capitalized on the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed many local breweries, by shipping beer directly to Chicago via rail, establishing a strong foothold there American Craft Beer. The slogan “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous” was coined around this time bluewaterhealthyliving.com+1.

Peak and Decline​

By 1902, Schlitz became the largest beer producer in the U.S., producing about a million barrels annually bluewaterhealthyliving.com. It held the top spot multiple times in the early 20th century, often competing with Anheuser-Busch Wikipedia. After Prohibition ended in 1933, Schlitz surged, becoming the world’s top-selling beer in 1934 and holding that title for decades Yahoo.

The decline began in the 1970s when management altered brewing methods to cut costs, including accelerated fermentation. These changes produced inconsistent, flat-tasting beer, alienating loyal customers and eroding market share American Craft Beer+1. (adding corn syrup and other changes gave it the bad taste posters on here seem to remember.)

I never had the chance to try Schlitz myself, so I can’t judge the beer. But I am German and trained as a brewer and maltster, and I always find it sad when old breweries or historic beer brands disappear.

Of course, cost optimization is part of every brewery. Brewers constantly work on efficiency, fermentation management, lagering time, raw materials, energy use, filtration, consistency, and output. That is normal. A brewery is also a business.

But there is a line. If optimization changes the character of the beer, reduces consistency, or makes loyal drinkers notice that “their” beer is no longer the same, then the business has damaged the product it was trying to make more profitable.

The German immigrant roots of many old American breweries make these stories especially interesting to me. Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz, Miller, Anheuser-Busch and others are not just beer brands. They are also part of German-American brewing history.

Maybe another brewery will buy the rights and keep the name alive somewhere else. But a name brewed somewhere else is not always the same as a living brewery culture.

When an old brewery disappears, it is not only a product that disappears. A small piece of local history disappears with it.