MILWAUKEE -- Schlitz, "the beer that made Milwaukee famous," is back on shelves in bottles of its original formula in the city where it was first brewed more than a century and a half ago, reported the Associated Press. Schlitz was the top-selling beer for much of the first half of the 20th century. But recipe changes and a series of snafus made the beer fall out of favor, turning what was once the world's most popular brew into little more than a joke. After decades of dormancy, the beer is back.
Schlitz' owner, Pabst Brewing Co., is recreating the old formula, using notes and interviews [image-nocss] with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again. The maker of another nostalgic favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, it hopes baby boomers will reach for the drink of their youth. They also want to create a following among younger drinkers who want to know what grandma and grandpa drank.
"We believe that Schlitz is—if not the—one of most iconic brands of the 20th century," said Kevin Kotecki, president of Pabst Brewing Co., which bought the brand that dates to 1849 from Stroh's in 1999. "And there's still a lot of people who have very positive, residual memories about their experience. For many of them it was the first beer they drank and we wanted to give it back to those consumers."
In Milwaukee, the comeback is creating a buzz, said the report. Stores are depleted of their stock within days, and they are taking names for waiting lists and limiting customers to just a few six- or 12-packs each.
Schlitz' comeback has been slow, just like its fall from the top. It was tested in a few markets and is available in Minneapolis, Chicago and western Florida, besides Milwaukee.
Nostalgia could prove a driving factor in sales, Kotecki said. Pabst is certainly using it in its marketing, reusing its '60s-era advertisements urging drinkers to "Go For the Gusto" and simple maroon and gold packaging, marked with fanciful script.
The Woodridge, Ill.-based company wants the brew to go national but is taking a slow approach, reintroducing it first in places like the Midwest where the beer was popular.
Schlitz began its life at a brewery founded by August Krug in 1849. Joseph Schlitz took over and opened the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. several years later. The brew became a top-seller after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 wiped out its competitors. It was the world's best-selling beer from 1903 until Prohibition in 1920, and regained the crown in 1934 until the mid-1950s. That's when a strike by Milwaukee brewery workers interrupted production and made way for others, like St. Louis' Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., to eat into Schlitz' market share. That company, which makes Budweiser and Bud Light, has held the top spot to this day.
A malt-liquor form of Schlitz has been available for years in cans. But fans say it's not the same.
Before it vanished, the beer changed—for the worse. First, brewery control shifted from immediate family to more distant relatives, who wanted to expand the business. With demand high, the new owners wanted to make more, so they shortened the fermenting process. And they let customers know it through heavy marketing. There were also quality control issues for barley, so the beer went flat quickly. Customers associated the flatness with the quickened brewing time. To fix the flat problem, the brewers added a seaweed extract to give the beer some foam and fizz. But after sitting on the shelf for three or four months, the extract turned into a solid, meaning drinkers got chunky mouthfuls. Then they decided not to pull that product off the shelf.
And by 1981 the Schlitz brewery closed. The owners sold the brand to the Stroh Brewery Co. in Detroit in 1982, which eventually sold some of its lines to Pabst.
Miller brews Schlitz for Pabst under a contract at its East Coast facilities. Kotecki said he hopes to eventually have the brand brewed back in Milwaukee, once some changes at breweries in the city are made.
He would not disclose sales figures for Schlitz, but said they are considerably smaller than for the company's top-seller, Pabst Blue Ribbon.Click hereto vew some classic Schlitz ads.
Separately, Bell's Brewery Inc. beers are headed back to Chicago nearly two years after the company pulled its brands out of the Chicago market following a dispute with a distributor, reported The Chicago Tribune. Comstock, Mich.-based Bell's Brewery late last week announced new distribution agreements with Central Beverage Co., Schamberger Brothers and Skokie Valley Beverage Co. that will mark the immediate return of Bell's brands in Chicago.
Bell's, makers of Oberon Ale, Bell's Amber, and Kalamazoo Stout, left the Chicago market in late 2006 after a fight with its distributor at the time, National Wine and Spirits Inc., which had sold the rights to distribute the Bell's brands to another distributor, Chicago Beverage Systems. Illinois state law forbids beer companies from jumping to one distributor to another without a buyout or some other agreement, said the report. Instead of paying, Bell's owner and co-founder Larry Bell decided to pull his brands out of the state even though the market accounted for more than 10% of his sales.
Craft brewers like Bell have complained for years that state laws favor distributors and mass brewers while hurting small brewers' ability to grow, especially in big markets like Chicago, the Tribune said. But few have taken as dramatic action as Bell by abruptly pulling out of a key market. Larry Bell risked litigation when he returned to the Chicago market in 2007 with new brands under a different label. He may face more of a showdown with the return of the Bell's brands, the report said.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.