My memory of normal Schlitz was that it was possibly the least bitter lager before Keystone was a thing. To me it was like soapy unripe banana water before Keystone Light took that flavor profile even further. I actually kinda liked the Bull, though. For a malt liquor, I think it's one of the cleaner ones. Especially compared to the higher octane ones that started popping up in the early 00's. It basically tasted like a stronger and slightly sweeter MGD to me.
Yeah, in the US AB pioneered pasteurization of bottled beer starting in the 1870s (when they were still in the #30-40 range of US breweries, and even before their "Budweiser" brewed for Conrad) - can't find a definite date for when the then much larger Pabst and Schlitz breweries or their bottlers adopted the process for their bottled beers. Probably by the 80s? (Voechting, Schape & Co. were Milwaukee-based bottlers). The MGB-GT was a runner now.
In the run of somewhat obscure foreign vehicles that my dad got to fix up because "I'm a mechanical engineer and I was a helicopter mechanic in 'Nam, I can fix anything (but didn't take the availability of parts into account, so they never really got fixed up) " was a Triumph Spitfire that had a detachable hardtop. Folks thought it was an MG at first glance, and then he'd go on and on about all the differences between it and an MG. Others in the series were a '67 Vespa (rare for the US, there's probably a ton of them still kicking overseas. It was honestly the coolest, real mod shit) and a Soviet-era Ural Wolf. And boats. You've never heard anyone curse the Swedes in the past century as much as my dad while working on a Volvo turbodiesel inboard.
Remote bottling of keg beer was common around 1900. Olympia shipped beer to its own bottler in San Francisco. Later Olympia founded the Acme brewery when they rebuilt after the earthquake. Weinhard also considered SF an important market, and shipped kegs from Portland to California Bottling Co. in SF.
Does anyone have a tally of the Pabst brands in current production? I think the only labels I see at my local Total Wine are: PBR, Pabst Light, Old Milwaukee, Special Export, Old Style, Schmidt and probably something else I'm forgetting. Oh, yeah. And weirdly we're now seeing six-pack bottles of Lone Star.
Based on a quick look at label approvals for the beers brewed at Anheuser-Busch in last year or so, there's also: National Bohemian Rainier Schaefer Schaefer Light Stag Stroh Stroh's Light Malt Liquors Schlitz Bull Colt 45 Country Club St. Ides NAs Texas Select NA PBR NA OM NA This does not include brands brewed at other breweries (City, etc.) and, of course, might not be up to date, since the Schlitz label is still approved. After Pabst bought most of the Stroh+Heileman portfolio (1999), when it was still owned by S&P/Kalmanovitz Charitable Trust, the CEO claimed they owned ~75 brands (must have included line extensions like "Light" varieties) but were only selling about 40.
I can’t help but think they would have saved the brand if they adopted a marketing campaign of “Tastes like Schlitz.”
Man sad to hear this. One of the first beers I drank when I turned 18. Cowboy that worked for my dad would open the can, squeeze a lime on top of it and then proceed to drench it with salt. When this became a thing I was like "man he was ahead of his time".
First tried the 60's formula in 2011 in the "Tall Boy" cans...I thought is was a great beer for the style. I bought it a few times a year to switch things up, but it was always hard ti find. It seemed to have changed or had consistency issues over the years though, as I never thought it was as good back when I first tried it in 2011-2012...or once the 60's formula tag was dropped from cans and bottles.... The AB and City brewed versions in the last year or two taste nothing like the Miller brewed 60's formula... almost like generic labeled "beer"..its inevitable demise is not suprising...as per usual, Pabst dedicates virtually no marketing towards any of thier brands. Most average beer drinkers didn't even know it was still around....I think if they pushed it a bit more at a reasonable price point, it would do ok like Hamm's...
I too thought the 60's formula Schlitz was pretty good. Just like you discussed, this 'version' of Schlitz was hard to find. Too hard so I chose to stop looking for it. Cheers!
The Miller brewed 60’s formula has been gone for a couple years once the contract Pabst had with Miller ended…whatever is left in the wild is either City Brewed or AB brewed…both different from the 60’s formula and not as good, in my opinion…
It's interesting that the "last batch" of Schlitz being brewed by Wisconsin Brewing Company is being made using some sort of recipe from 1948 when the entire premise of the relaunched 1960s "Gusto" Schlitz was that the original recipe of Schlitz was "lost" and had to be reconstructed using interviews from employees who worked for Schlitz at the time. Maybe that 1948 recipe was discovered after the relaunched Schlitz in 2008. Or maybe it's all marketing BS.
