The Return of a Milwaukee Classic
April 14th, 2008
By Scottie Tuska
Schlitz is Back!
Milwaukee beers get a bad rap, but heck don’t most of the Ameircan mega-brews. Schlitz was once at the heart of Milwaukee’s brewing powerhouse. But don’t be worried, there’s plenty of brews still being brewed in my hometown and a lot of them aren’t half bad.
The “Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous” is back and I just happened to have seen a few sightings and tasted the original recipe not to long ago. No, they’re not returning to the 1849 recipe, which would be awesome, but they have returned to the “classic” 1960’s recipe. Now I know we’re going to have detractors from both sides. Some may call the beer utter crap, but I have to say it isn’t half bad. As their other classic catchphrase put it, you get “just a kiss of hops.” It’s in the same category as American style lagers like Premium or Pabst, but I think it might just be better.
As it turns out Schlitz is under the umbrella of the Pabst Brewing Co. The Milwaukee brewer happens to own few other cheapies including Old Milwaukee, Black Label, Old Style, etc. The list just goes on and on. It seems that Pabst is using its newfound hipster cred to expand its other brands and what better beer than Schlitz. The dominance of the lite beer from 1980s onward shifted the playing field. When Schlitz and Pabst didn’t pursue this new market and dismissed mass marketing they fell from top five brands nationally to nonexistant. The emergence of Micro Breweries seems to have been the catalyst for the diversification in the marketplace. The intersting fact that lies at the end of this is that Miller is brewing its former competitors under contract and in a sense preserving “What Made Milwaukee Famous”.
So why did Schlitz fall out of the limelight, maybe this is the answer.
Tags: Hops, Miller, Pabst, Schlitz, The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous
Comments & Discussion
Dude, I’m drinking a bottle of Schlitz as I write this. I’ll have to admit, most beer from Milwaukee sucks (the Beast, Old Style, Miller), but Schlitz kicks fucking ass. And yes, it’s in that same “cheap but not dirt chealeague of beer, but it’s a step up from both Premium and Pabst. p”
Sure, you remember Schlitz, but do you remember the Brewers? How about their pitcher, Mel Famey?
Mel made his own home brew and would sneak it into the dugout. After a few inning his pitching became so erratic that he would begin to walk in runs. After a while, other teams would refer to Mel’s home brew as
“The Beer that made Mel Famey walk-us”.
sorry….