Curious if anyone has heard about Coors retiring Batch 19 line of beer? When I look it up here on BA they say it is a retired beer. I thought it was a decent beer when I gave it a try. I had a real hard time finding the Third Shift Lager here in Las Vegas. When I did I was very pleasantly surprised. I really liked the Third Shift but with the availability problem and with talking with some friends in the beer know here I thought Third Shift would be the first to go down in flames. Like I say I liked the Third Shift better but a lot of people are not really aware this one exists. Batch 19 was always readily visible at most stores in the area. So is this really the end for Batch 19?
I know it may read like snark, but: http://www.millercoors.com/contact-us or 1 (800) 645-5376 for the most reliable info. (Granted, not every brewer's toll free reps are accurate or knowledgeable - calls to Diageo/Guinness and Heineken have resulted in me giving them more info than they had at hand. My favorite was reading off of Heineken's own website to their rep who claimed to not have access to the internet! Prison labor, maybe?).
Thanks for the info I will give this a shot and hopefully some of our other beer bro's on here might be able to chime in in the meantime?
I did not find that darn banner on my computer. Seriously I do not believe this has been retired and if they did put that out it was either an oop's or some strange gimmick play.
I was enthused about this beer quite a while ago. It was before I started drinking mostly craft, and then I quickly noticed that other similar products had better flavor, to me, and none of the added adjuncts. Still, not a bad tasting lager. I noticed it in the cooler next to the 'crafty' stuff not too long ago. For what they wanted for a 12 pack ($14.99, I believe), I can get SN products, usually for $2.00 cheaper, so...there you go.
I agree with the price point thing as well. I can get Deschutes 12 pk.'s and Redhook 12's or others for the same or less than Batch 19. Just thought it was a pretty good beer and was surprised they would squash it.
I don't think I've ever actually seen Batch 19 around here (though I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the Third Shift Lager that was also mentioned in the first post, and not too long ago either.)
I was at a bar when they released it the first time, and they were doing a sample thing. I did try it, and it's not bad - a million times better than Coors or Coors light. I still wouldn't go out of my way for it, or actually buy it, but if it was at a party or something, I'd drink it. Same with Bud's American Ale, when that was out.
It's been discontinued by the distributor in Milwaukee but that doesn't tell me that they've stopped making it. Same issue with Bud Black Crown in these parts.
Batch 19 has been discontinued here in Southern California. It looks like Total Wine just outside of Palm Springs has a 'Limited Quantity' available, so the demise of the brand must have been recent.
That was the initial marketing for the beer - it referred to its status as the pre-prohibition recipe for their lager at the time. It was a pretty great american adjunct lager, but they were asking far too much for it - in Kansas at least, it was priced only a dollar below actual craft offerings. I picked up a few times. They should have put it in cans and priced it closer to normal Coors.
