Goodbye, Michelob Original Lager.

@jesskidden, do you know the back (and continuing) story of ZiegenBock? This beer has always seemed like an ‘outlier’ for AB – very limited distribution (Texas only) and limited production amount.

For example, was ZiegenBock a pet project of an old AB Chairman? Any reason why AB InBev still produces this product?

Cheers!

 

I know. I hate spotting an error a day later. Sometimes I think I'm typing what I'm thinking and I leave a word out in my haste to capture the thought. The other day I should have typed "an old farmhouse", thought I proofread it, but noticed a day later it read "an farmhouse". Oh well......

 

Autocorrect doesn't help as much as it should, either.

 

Well, it was started around the same time, mid-90s, when AB was brewing other "specialty" beers like their Elk Mountain & Red Wolf brands and their line of "revived" AB brands called "American Originals" (Faust, Muenchener and Black & Tan, with more to follow). The other macros were doing similar beers.

Texas would pass CA as the largest beer market in the US around that time (Texas beer sales made up about 12% of the entire US total) so it made sense for them to take Shiner Bock as, um, "inspiration". Although, Spoetzl - already owned by Gambrinus since '89 - was still pretty small at the time, in the 150k bbl/yr range - so how much share could they have had in Texas' 21 million barrel beer market?

AB also did similar targeted "regional" brands, like Michelob Golden Draft in MN (where Miller Genuine Draft - w/same initials - was a huge seller) and they did a SNPA-imitation in CA called Pacific Ridge Pale Ale. I guess Zeigenbock survives because it sells, adds some production for their Houston brewery and keeps AB's TX distributors happy?

 

And now Texas has Yuengling Traditional Lager being brewed in-state at the Ft. Worth Molson-Coors brewery.

A few weeks ago I was visiting family and friends in Texas and my sister had bottles of Yuengling Traditional Lager in her fridge. I decided to try one and FWIW it tasted just like a PA brewed beer for my palate. Also, for my palate Yuengling Traditional Lager is a very similar beer to both Shiner Bock and ZeigenBock. There is little doubt that Amber AAL beers are popular in Texas but I wonder how many brands of this sort of beer are 'needed' here.

Cheers!

 

Are they, though? I suppose it's based on how one defines "Popular" but Texas' beer market is still around 20M bbl. a year and Spoetzl brews about half a million barrels of beer a year and, while Texas is no doubt their largest market, they distribute to most of the US. So, again...

Yeah, doesn't look like Pabst did much with their revival of this (a recurring story for Pabst):

since the HEB website notes "Item is no longer available."

 

Yup!

Pabst will introduce new beers to their product line, then poorly market those new products, and discontinue them.

I really miss the Ballantine IPA they 're-introduced' back in 2014.

Cheers!

 

"My name is Raymond J. Johnson Junior."
"Now you can call me Ray, you can call me Ray J., you can call me R. J., you can call me R. J. J., you can call me R. J. J. J..."

 

I think it is gone for real now. I was just in Ocean City, MD and saw a bar with an ad for them that said "$3 Michelob bottles until they're gone!".

I tried this for the first time last year, after seeing a single case of this at my local beer store. I was excited to see it, so I bought it. I actually REALLY like it, it's everything a "regular" American beer should be.

I don't know why Michelob didn't promote this more in recent years, their Michelob Ultra is huge so perhaps that could have increased the popularity of regular Michelob.

 

Back in the day Michelob cans really stood out as a terrific package. God knows (only) how many 12-packs I went through.......That it has disappeared is testament to the transitory nature of brand loyalty.

 

Hopefully they'll resurrect the non-Ultra portion of the Michelob brand down the line. The fact that Michelob has gone from a premium full-flavored beer brand to one associated with dieting is still weird to me. Plus, with the sudden surge of lagers in the market - it feels like they might be missing a potential opportunity. I think some of that comes down to how large companies work in general, though. They're like a battleship, big and powerful, but they're not going to outmaneuver anyone.

 

Like Sir Francis Drake versus the Spanish galleons.

 

Call me naive. Call me a skeptic. Say I'm living in the pre-craft, pre-internet past. But I'm not sure the largest brewer in the US, a subsidiary of the world's largest brewing co. would first announce the discontinuation of what once was their second largest brand with a 100+ year history with a sale at a bar in an east coast tourist town.

Maybe Michelob is being dropped --- but I'd check with AB's St. Louis headquarters to confirm. Easy enough to do at their CHAT option
https://contactus.anheuser-busch.com/contactus/AB/contact_us.asp

JK: Just wanted to confirm that AB still brews Michelob Lager (the original Michelob).
AB: We do! Unfortunately we are only producing limited batches at this time.
ME: Is is a regional product or simply up to the AB distributor (and the retailers they supply) to carry it?
AB: It is still nation wide! ...We are still bottling Michelob! The last production dates were at the end of April so I believe this is why there is not much availability out there at the moment.

 

ISO: Michelob Original.

Okay, maybe not today.

 

I still see it in a number of stores in Casper but I haven't checked the dates..

 

They should have stopped at Michelob Light, which I really liked.

 

It’s not the Lager, but I remember enjoying a Michelob AmberBock from time to time back in the day.

 

"We'll put you on the list and when the order bank opens up again we'll let you know. Oh, you'll have to leave a deposit."

(That's how you have to buy a new car these days! Just like in the 1950s. Except the delivery date is 4 months from ordering. So, if the engine blows up on your 10 year old car and you figure "Ah, what the hell...it had 100k miles, time for a new one anyway..." don't expect to go down to your friendly dealership and pick one up - even if you don't like the color or want half the bells 'n' whistles that jacked the price up to over $10k more than you wanted to spend.)

 

It's still available for me for now.
It's not the greatest beer in the world, but, for what it is, it does pretty well.
I still prefer High Life over it, but, sometimes a nice crisp, clean, highly quaffable brewski is just what the doctor ordered.
I know they no longer keg it, which might have something to do with the declining sales, as nobody sees it at bars hidden in the cooler.
The old sexy bottles were definitely a good marketing ploy, as it looked like it should cost more than a Bud.
I did enjoy the one-off test batch "seasonals" they did back when.
That was college days, and the price point was affordable. They were a bit thin, but after a 6'er, it didn't really matter.
It's a shame that the Amber Bock is so disappointing. I love Bocks, but even Shiner is better than the Amber Bock, and that's saying something.
Shiner sux.
To all Michelob fans, drink it while you can! It's summer time and the perfect weather for a Mich.
Because tonight belongs to Michelob. Insert Phil Collins Tonight, Tonight song here.