Ballantine IPA

Most of us here didn’t, I presume. I think Old Tankard was discontinued around the 1930’s? @jesskidden can fact check me here

 

No, it was first released in the 1930s - Pabst's recent promotional of it claimed the original '30s era recipe, didn't it? Pabst had built a new "ale brewery" in Peoria, IL right after Repeal, where they brewed both Old Tankard Ale and Pabst Blue Ribbon Ale. Never looked into it closely, but I assume the new ale brewery (at the time, many traditionalists in the industry did not mix ale and lager brewing in one facility) was near the Premier Malt Syrup plant - Premier and Pabst merged right before Repeal.

Not sure when BRA disappeared (late '50s?) but Old Tankard Ale continued on into the 1970s, at least (at which time it was a pretty lame US ale - nearly indistinguishable from standard light lagers - at least the ones I had).

Pabst, by then owned by S&P re-introduced it in the early 1990s, under Pabst's "Specialty Brewing Co." 'dba' of the time aimed at the "microbrew" market - even comparing it to Samuel Adams in ads, with some suggestion in brewing industry press that it was "similar in flavor" to Ballantine India Pale Ale - then also being brewed at Pabst's Milwaukee brewery. (So, the same beer or a blend of/or different high gravity alt. version of BIPA?).