Goodbye, Michelob Original Lager.

Appreciate the thoughts...can't get this kind of old time impressions anywhere else..

 

Great info...those were two that I always considered similar...but maybe my impressions were wrong...Oly a lighter bodied easy drinker and same for Hamms? For what it's worth my buddy from Seattle who is pushing 60 now calls Oly piss water and Rainer the superior beer back in the day...

 

I have fond memories in the late 60s of Heidelberg. The impression from the Oly tour was that their beers were carefully made, but that didn't make them agreeable to my palate.

 

Your buddy probably didn't start serious evaluation before the mid 80s. By then the northwest brands had new owners, and the shuffling went on for years. For a while both Oly and Rainier were Heileman products. I wasn't a fan of Oly and have vague memories of Rainer. Blitz went through several owners (Pabst, Stroh, Heileman). Lucky went to S&P (Maier). Carling Heidelberg closed in 79, I expect the brands were changedwhen new owners took over more often than not.

 

I'm 28 and love Michelob Lager, however I've literally never seen an ad for it in my life. Plenty of people my age guzzle Miller High Life, so maybe Michelob could make a comeback if marketed right.

 

Think I might’ve mentioned it in this thread already but yes, that Rye PA was really good. Only beer I’ve had since that came close in that vein was Magic Hat Ticket to Rye.

 

Just put it back in the old lamp bottle. That should jumpstart it.

 

They still sold the $1 Michelob bottles til maybe 5 years ago. I loved going in there for those. To be honest, Michelob was a pretty good beer.

 

(104) Weekends were made for Michelob 1977 TV ad - YouTube

 

Dumb question but Michelob has always been under the AB umbrella right? I noticed on my bottle of Michelob Lager that is says "Michelob Brewing"...I know now that is just a marketing ploy but was it always?

My guess is it was never its own brewery but I have been wrong many times before..

 

Michelob in the US has been an AB brand for over 100 years. I didn't see specific info on the origin, except that a beer brewed by Anton Dreher from the "Michelob" region (German name for a Czech area) had been imported. I have no idea why they would identify the brewery that way now (was identified as AB in the 70s).

 

Just a note. There were quite a few competitors to Mich in the 70s and 80s. Most didn't made much of a dent, though. Andeker, Augsburger, Waldech, Henry's, Herman Joseph, Stroh Signature, Lucky Red Carpet, Schmidt's (PA) Classic, Horlacher Perfection, Schlitz Erlanger, Special Export. . . Henry's was a big boost to the BlitzWeinhard company when introduced, though. Special Export did well for Heileman.

 

Most were regionals, as were most of the companies at the time. It didn't stop me from at least trying most of them. Andeker was nationally distributed and (I thought) far better than Michelob.

 

How old is that bottle? In 2008, Anheuser-Busch created a line of "craft" beers under the Michelob brand name and used "Michelob Brewing Co." as a 'dba' name, see the ad in POST #468 above. I recall watching an official AB video where they actually had a new "Michelob Brewing Co." installed over a doorway entrance to what appeared to be a pilot brewery the St. Louis complex.

AB's official history of Michelob Beer (pre-bottling- 1953).

 

They were slightly past date....April 2023..... but not THAT outdated

 

Yes, there was a ‘connection’ to Anton Dreher (junior). The first Michelob beer was brewed in1896 in St. Louis.. Below are some more details from a soon to be published article:

“Adolphus Busch travels to Bohemia

The history of Europe in the latter 1800’s and early 1900’s was very dynamic and fluid with changing names of countries and border changes over those decades. What we now call the Czech Republic is comprised of regions with one of the regions called Bohemia. In the latter 1800’s Adolphus Busch traveled Bohemia (which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire) to enjoy the Pale Lagers brewed there, what we would term Bohemian/Czech Pilsners (or Czech Pale Lagers like the Czechs). One brewery renowned for their beer was in the town of Michelob. That brewery in the town of Michelob was owned by Anton Dreher who was the son of the famous brewer of the same name (Anton Dreher Sr. developed Vienna Lager in 1841). The high quality all malt Pale Lagers where highly favored by Adolphus Busch and after his visits he decided to brew a beer like this and even ‘borrowed’ the town’s name Michelob for this new product. This all-malt beer would be a super-premium product for Anheuser-Busch although the actual classification of “super-premium” was likely not used by breweries of that time. Another distinguishing feature of Michelob is that it was a draft only product which would not be bottled until the 1960’s. Beers brewed with adjuncts (rice for the case of Budweiser) were considered to have improved beer stability in the latter 1800’s and early 1900’s and likely this was a consideration to not bottle Michelob at that time.”

Cheers!

 

A few days ago I went back to the only store in my area that was selling Michelob Lager earlier this year and I looked and there was none around.

 

If this is really the end for Michelob, what are some good alternatives?