My sister recently asked me if I remembered Red, White, and Blue Beer. I didn't pay too much attention to beer back when it was available, but it seemed to ring a bell. A Google search turned up an interesting blog article titled "Fourteen Dead Beers." From the introduction: I remember a few of the ones on the list, including Wiedemann, Falstaff, "generic" beer in the B&W can, Meister Brau, and Billy Beer. (I'm pretty sure Falstaff was what they had on tap at Jet Stadium in Columbus back in the day, but I'm relying on memory here and that's always a dicey proposition. ) The article can be found here.
Wow, lots of misinformation in those brief descriptions of those brands... Red, White and Blue became a Heileman brand when Heileman bought Pabst in the early 1980s, kept some brands (Henry Weinhard, Lone Star, RW&B) and breweries (Lone Star in TX, Pabst in GA, Blitz-Weinhard in OR) and, so as not to get in trouble with the DoJ's Anti-Trust Division, spun-off a new Pabst. And, of course, Pabst is not "...mostly owned by Miller...". The long closed National Brewing Co., merged with Carling in the mid-1970s and was bought by Heileman a few years later. National Premium continued to be brewed by both Heileman and Stroh until the later sold the brand off in 1999 to MD's Frederick Brewing Co. It was recently revived when a new company bought the brand at auction. The Ruppert brands were bought by Rheingold in the mid-1960s, and then by C. Schmidt's & Sons (which bought most of the Rheingold brands in the late 1970s), followed by Heileman which bought Schmidt labels in the late 1980s. Heileman was still brewing "Knick" into the 1990s, at least. A number of brewers made a generic BEER product (the S&P breweries -General, Falstaff & Pearl -but also Dubuque Star, Pittsburgh, The Lion, Schell), but I don't think Miller was one of them. In the photo in the article, one can clearly read "New Ulm, MN" so that can was brewed by the August Schell Brewing Co. Trommer's White Label All Malt Beer was also a lager beer, of course and while the brewing company shutdown in 1951, the brand was bought and continued to be brewed by Piel Brothers into the 1960s, at least. (I've heard of a draught version existing into the '70s). Wiedemann was a Heileman brand from the mid-1960s into the mid-1980s, and then went with the Heileman spin-off, Evansville Brewing Co. in the late 1980s. Pittsburgh later took over many of the Evansville brands when they closed.
The Generic beer label says New Ulm MN. The only brewery I know of there is Schell's. No mention in the short write up.
I have seen your website but have you written a book? I find the history of the purchases/acquisitions and trading of brands to be absolutely fascinating. The macro world today seems quite boring compared to all of the blowups in the 1950s-1980s. I found an old Falstaff beer sign in my father's attic that I believe he acquired during a brief stay in the midwest in the early 60s. Their boom to bust story (as I can find it) seems not unique in that timeframe but I am not certain anything I read is the truth (unless you wrote it.)
Falstaff was eventually nationally distributed by the early 1960s when they were the 4th largest brewer in the US, but they were particularly big n the South. Don't have state stats for NC but they were #2 in South Carolina in the early '60s, running neck and neck with AB with each having a bit under 20% of the market (in '64, they even beat AB). Also, #2 in Alabama and Mississippi in that period as well as in Tennessee, where Falstaff was #1, outselling AB for several years in the '60s. Well, for that matter outside the South, Falstaff even outsold AB in Missouri in that period - In 1962, Falstaff had 36.9% of the MO market compared to AB's 26.6%.
I remember bottled Trommer's being available in the mid-70's before the Rheingold brewery in West Orange closed.
I had an uncle that swore by Red, White, and Blue - I probably snuck a few of those beers from him back before I was legal.
Red White and Blue was under $4 a case back in the day, maybe 1973-74 or so. Pony cases of Rolling Rock was $3.50 , got colder quicker and we usually opted for that.
I still have a unopened can of Billy Beer at my parents house. I was not old enough to buy so my mom got it as a joke for me.
Falstaff's success was probably helped immensely by that beer being a sponsor of the nationally-broadcast Baseball Game of the Week with Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean (he of the “He slud into third base jis' under the tag” fame to help me fondly remember him and the beer's name. (I'm and old fart, but I don't think I ever drank any Falstaff.)
Yeah, you know, now that you mention, I have heard that - maybe from you in a previous thread or conversation? - but I never saw or have seen it since (breweriana shows, etc). I was looking over some Piel's info the other day (since that brand is apparently about to be revived) and was surprised it was even mentioned after Schaefer completed the purchase of Piel's: According to the US Trademark office, Piel Bros.Inc. continued to renew the "Trommer's" name even after leaving the industry, the last renewal being in 1989, when the Piel beers were by then coming out of Stroh breweries. The Rheingold brewery in Orange, of course, had been Trommer's NJ brewery. Liebmann (Rheingold) bought the brewery in November, 1950 and two months later, Piels bought the brand and their Brooklyn brewery in Feb., '51. Another interesting aspect of Piel's/Trommer's (the third of the last 3 Brooklyn breweries) is that the brand was apparently of interest to all 3 of the major breweries in the region. Besides the final deal with Schaefer (which started after Piel's Brooklyn closed but the Willamasett, MA brewery was still operating independently after the rest of Associated was sold to Heileman in 1973), both Rheingold and Ballantine looked into purchasing it.
Yeah, actually the #3 Brooklyn brewer after Schaefer and Rheingold in the immediate post-war period, over 1m bbl. in 1947 - twice as large as Piel Bros. at the time. And, of course, most likely the largest selling all-malt beer in the US at the time.
I remember drinking a few Falstaffs and seeing my father drink them. Back then, I was mostly Bud and Old Mil.
