What beers do you wish would return?

I know this was not for me, but I enjoyed it. Like a weak ESB, but i was camping in the Redwoods at the time and bought 3, 4-packs..seemed to fit the vibe. Pity they didnt keep it. But the "Big Guys" are like that. They will release a beer that "aint half bad", then a year later it is gone. Does anyone remember the Busch Copper Lager..that was a bloody good beer for the cheapest price point.

 

I'd pick up throw-away (maybe cans?) of Tiger Head when I saw it and thought it could be fresh, but was never impressed - was just never hoppy enough for me. (Ditto for Ortlieb's version of Neuweiler Ale.) When Falstaff was closing Narragansett in the early 80s, there was a rumor among the PA distributors that Schmidt's was going to pick up Ballantine Ale for northeast distribution. I panicked. "Oh, no - they'll ruin it like they did their other ales..."

20th Century Ale, however, was some great stuff

and IIRC it might have been the same beer as Schmidt's version of McSorley's (I can't remember now where I heard/read that, and how reliable a source it was).

It would make sense since McSorley's small potential market was the reason Schmidt original sold it to Joe Ortlieb after buying the Rheingold brands - too small for a 3.5M bbl brewery to bother with. That's why they also sold the ex-Phila. brand Esslinger's, (via Ruppert > Rheingold) to The Lion.

I guess Schmidt's had accumulated a lot of brands by then - in the 50's, the Scheidt brands (both Valley Forge and Ram's Head Ale were still being marketed, along with Prior light and Double Dark), Reading, POC, Koehler, Duquesne, Ortlieb and they were still coming out with their own new beers (Classic, Oktoberfest, Kodiak Cream Ale, some malt liquor with a kinda "Thunderbird" label...), too.

Well, Premium also came in 12 oz. deposits, but they probably weren't nearly as well-distributed or popular as the "pounders". I recall one PA distributor I frequented had an entire aisle of pallets of the 16 oz. deposit cases from PA and out of state brewers.

Never thought about 16's for LCA, yeah would have been a nice package (and price!). Falstaff used green 16's returnables for Ballantine Ale but I only saw them in New England. (They also put their very similar Croft and Pickwick Ales in 16 oz deposits, but they were in brown glass).

Yeah, they used the 12 oz. Steinie for Porter, Premium and, after buying the labels from Mount Carbon, Bavarian. Steinie quarts for both Premium and Chesterfield. (Man, doesn't that look good!)

I was buying Chesterfield Ale in returnable/refillable bottles (sometimes brown, sometimes green) in NYS's Finger Lakes/Southern Tier region in the early '80s. Up around (hip) Ithaca, it was sold in health food stores and restaurants.

 

Twentieth Century Ale had a great label. IIRC, it was a pre-Pro Adam Scheidt brand.

There was a column by Ben Novak in the Centre Daily Times from State College PA on Feb. 18, 1987 that mentioned Twentieth Century Ale. It said:

The only commercial brewer on the East Coast with facilities to make real ale is the Christian Schmidt brewery in Philadelphia. There are reports that they have produced an "absolutely incredible" ale under the label "Twentieth Century Ale." The label comes out under the name of the Adam Scheidt Brewing Company...It's a limited edition and we hope a few will be sent to the Centre County market.

Schmidt's only had a couple of months left to live when that was written.

Do you have anything on Adam Scheidt Beer? I can't remember anything about it, but I wrote down that I had it in March 1986, which was the same time I had Twentieth Century Ale. I found an 1984 newspaper advert that mentions Adam Scheidt Lager Beer, but haven't found anything else about it.

The malt liquor was probably Golden Hawk. Schmidt's also made Coqui ML, a label they acquired from Ortlieb's. Coqui might still me made.

Schmidt's sure did produce a lot of brands at the end. I thought some of them were just Schmidt's beer with different labels. This included Reading, Duke, & Ole Pub. I thought that the Ortlieb's brewed by Schmidt's tasted different, but it was still less malty than the beer that Ortliebs had brewed.

 

Hi Jack - I like the newer version never had the original or may have not sure getting old, if I recall sweet dark amber color an easy drinker good went well with BBQ

 

When I first got into craft beer years ago I was all about Founders, Centennial is still my "fridge" beer, but I miss several of theirs and they're not on the calendar, so how about:
Reds Rye
Founders Russian Imperial Stout
Double Trouble
Devil Dancer
Red Dawn
and if memory serves, they had a pretty solid Pale Ale years ago.
Lagunitas:
Hairy Eyeball
Imperial Stout
Cappuccino Stout
Old Gnarlywine

Haven't seen any of the above in years.
Is that what happens when "Big Beer" buys craft?

 

I do not view this solely as a "Big Beer" thing.

Sierra Nevada has not been purchased by "Big Beer" (yet) and they have discontinued a lot of brands over the past few years and instead have 'consolidated' to being mostly a hoppy beer (e.g., IPAs) company.

A simple case of chasing the bucks!?!

Cheers!

 

As do most craft brewers, SN is trying to make what sells. They are partly influenced by their distributor network. If a distributor isn't satisfied by the markup on a boring, slow selling porter or stout, they won't stock it. SN will likely provide a NEW product that has a higher markup, as do other brewers. The churn of products actually can work against a relatively big company like SN. There are additional development and promotion costs as well as the possibility of unsold product. A series of duds in the market could also negatively affect long-term sales. There are big fixed costs associated with brewing that have to be covered. Apparently founder Grossman is very well off. But I don't think he'd like to shovel money back into the business in order to produce "legacy" products.

 

Founders KBS Maple Mackinac Fudge
Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout

First two to come to mind, likely will think of more later.

 

Almost everything Stone has ever discontinued--which is almost everything they've ever made. I miss non-hazy Enjoy By, Mocha IPA, coffee milk stout, Double/Oak'd/BBA Arrogant Bastard, Smoked Porter, Americano Stout, Citrusy Witbier, etc., so much!

 

I'm fairly certain this will end up being a rotating release. People loved it and it was one of my all time favorites

 

The stores and distributors are driving the SKU consolidation. The largest quality craft brewers are forced to select between three SKUs (SNPA, Hazy Little Thing and "Seasonal") through their primary sales channels (big box/grocery). There is a 3-6 month rotation of the Seasonal category, so Oktoberfest and Celebration for Q3 and Q4, and two more selections for Q1 and Q2.

In addition, Distributors continue to consolidate, and they are pushing their primary 5-10 breweries to consolidate their SKUs as well. Stores are told by distributors they will not bring requested beers in to market, even if a store is willing to purchase beyond the minimum quantity. The Distributors (largely Blue (Reyes) and Red (Bud) tied houses) rather promote their primary breweries, not competing products within their portfolio.

Purchasing from quality beer stores keeps them in business, and gives you access to a broader range of beers they can carry. Another way to improve the current state is to stop buying mediocre "local" brewery products or "the latest thing" and purchase the styles and beers you love on a consistent basis.

 

Can you further elucidate here? Is there something 'different' now (2022) vs. how distributed beer was managed a few (e.g., 5) years ago? Is the plethora of 'new' local breweries driving the distributors to 'cut down' on the number of brands they are willing to distribute from the larger, distributing breweries (e.g., Sierra Nevada, BBC, etc.)?

Cheers!

 

I think one issue with distribution is the consolidation of companies. Larger distributors will have uniform policies that make niche distribution more difficult. But distribution for craft brewers has always been difficult. I think one motivating factor for some to move to regional and national distribution was to attract big distributors. Unfortunately, many have a hard time attracting enough retail buyers.

 

Victory Hop Wallop
Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale

 

Victory-Lager
Great Lakes-Dortmunder Gold (not reitrered-just no longer distributed to PA?)
Jacks Abby-Calyptra
Foreign Objects-Future Sight
Finback-Land
Greenpoint-Sippy Cup
Other Half-No Layup's
Big Alice-Off The Cuff
Allgash-Hoppy Table Beer

 

Sierra Nevada Kolsch.

But no, no. Put out some more IPA's please.

 

Bottle conditioned IPAs

 

Keep an eye on Stone's variety pack's. They occasionally contain RUINATION. Last year's Christmas pack had it therein.

 

@moodenba 's comments covered the Distributor consolidation.

On the Blue House side, Windy City was absorbed here by CBS in 2020 (they were managed separately until the merger). Reyes has also been on a purchasing spree in California.

Sierra Nevada, Deschutes, Sam Adams are in a tough spot because there is simply much greater supply of beers (regionals and larger distributing local breweries) over the past several years. The number of breweries have doubled in size, but most of them are brewpubs and aren't found in the larger stores. That said, the extra 7,000 net breweries the past ten years (2,500 net the past five) are still absorbing a significant portion of craft beer demand, which is only a tiny sliver (13%) of the overall US beer market.

Hard Seltzers, Modelo and Michelob Ultra is what has been increasing overall in the "malt beverage" market the past few years. Modelo has become the top selling beer (even over Bud Light and the other AALs) in several major markets including LA and Chicago. BA craft beer geeks cared about the Constellation purchase of Ballast Point, but the company's focus in terms of beer has always been growing Modelo and Corona. Mission Accomplished.

US 2021 Beer Market Total Beer 187.6 BBLs

• Big Domestic Beer 66%
• Import Beer 21%
• Craft Beer 13%

 

Yeah, I was figuring that could be the situation. In my area the smaller craft breweries are all packaging (e.g., canning) their beers and while not all of them are distributing they sell a fair amount as to go beers at the taprooms.

I have posted many, many times in past threads that if the larger, distributing breweries can not figure out how to provide fresh beer for sale at the beer retailers they will continue to lose sales. I can anecdotally report that I am buying more canned beer from local breweries since they are of high quality and fresh. Earlier today while grocery shopping at my local Wegmans supermarket I had in my hand a sixpack of Sierra Nevada Dankful IPA that was canned in June 2021. That situation is just a travesty.

Cheers!