Piels Beer - coming back to NY

No idea. But I'd be surprised if it's a big hit, not because I had it, or have any info, but just because the shelves are crowded.

 

Also, "Piels" has been a NYC regional budget brand for over half a century, just seems unlikely they'll be able to sell it for more than twice what it went for less than a decade ago.

 

JK, have you had a chance to taste these 'new' Piels beers?

Hopefully Captain Lawrence is producing a high quality lager with these beers.

Cheers!

 

I take it they're only in NY State at this point, so, no, haven't seen it or had it. But my comment (and I'm sure I noted it in other posts in this thread, like this one) is it just seems crazy to use the "cheap-beer" era labeling and design dating from the Schaefer-Stroh ownership period if they want to brew and market a "high quality" lager.

Note that in the pre-Pro era, Piels was all-malt so it wasn't a "Pre-Prohibition American Adjunct Lager", as shown on my page at https://sites.google.com/site/americaanditsbrewingindustry/home/new-york-brewers/piel-bros

If they want to go "retro" that's the era beer they should be brewing, maybe even go back to the PIEL BROS name to further break with the cheap-beer period. (Of course, this family had nothing to do with the brewery in the pre-Pro era.)

 

I can happily report that it tastes better than I remember. Nice bready taste, a nice little snap. Nothing groundbreaking but something I’ll buy again. I bought a 12 for a party and put 5 of them down, no problem. Couldn’t believe it when I saw it in the store.

 

Just picked up 12 pack. tastes much better than expected. A slight bite. Does not taste like AAL.

 

Given my handle (born in college 20 years ago) I figured I had to post on this thread. Drank A LOT of Piels back in the day. It was $9.99/case if I recall correctly, a bargain compared to 30 'Stones. Can't wait to try this again!

 

I don’t know exactly what I paid for it because I bought a bunch of other stuff for a party but I’m guessing $10 will get you a 12-pack now instead of a case.

 

According to website, only available in 14 NYS counties right now :


Bronx
Brooklyn
Dutchess County
Manhattan
Nassau
Orange County
Putnam County
Queens
Rockland County
Staten Island
Suffolk County
Sullivan County
Ulster County
Westchester County

 

I have always wanted to try Piels beer!
My family has a connection to Piels . My grandfather spent his career working at Piels brewery in Brooklyn. My dad was also a summer employee at Piels while he was going to college at Brooklyn Poly. My dad is now 73 and still talks fondly about Piels ("the beer I grew up drinking").
Let me know when Piels is back on the market. Unfortunately my dad & I now live in Florida, but perhaps you could send some our way. I think it would be worth the postage just so my dad can have another Piels, and a first Piels shared with his son.

Thanks & good luck bringing back a classic NY brew.

M. Petersen

 

I found this article (see link below) and I thought others would be interested in reading it.

Some extracts from the article:

“It's no easy task, as Degnan readily admits. "When Pabst handed over the recipe, it was nearly unrecognizable as being beer," he says. "We got together with a master brewer, a consultant, who put together, based on historical accounts and other resources, the kind of beer that was being made in Bushwick [Brooklyn] in the 1950s to re-create the recipe. What we have now is true to that. The 4.7 percent ABV lager is brewed with Zeus and Crystal hops, packaged in throwback 12-ounce cans, and made at the Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in Westchester County, New York.”

And:

"In the month after we brewed, we were automatically getting grouped in with contemporaries like Pabst, Schaefer, and Rheingold, but people try it, they taste the quality, they get the hops-we call it the Bushwick kick-and they come back again for it."

I wonder how they use the hops in this beer (e.g., IBUs, does it have a lot of hop aroma,..)?

There is a nice review of this beer here by @digitalflood

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/52682/343671/

Cheers!

https://beerandbrewing.com/the-return-of-a-new-york-beer/

@jesskidden @TongoRad

 

Yeah, well, they sure don't know their "own" history.

Piel Bros. ceased being a independent brewing company in 1962, when they were purchased by the large (2M bbl.) Midwest brewery, Drewrys of IN. Drewry's already owned Hampden-Harvard in central MA in Willimansett (outside of Chicopee), as well brewing former upstate NY brands Fitzgerald and Dobler there.

Piels' barrelage in '61 was around 1.3M bbl., so the other two big Brooklyn brewers, Schaefer and Rheingold were both twice as large (~3M bbl.).

3 years later, Drewry was merged into another large Midwestern brewery, Associated, thus creating the 7th largest brewing co. in the US, with a +4M barrelage, brewing other major brands like Schmidt (MN), Pfeiffer, Sterling, Mickey's Malt Liquor and Champagne Velvet.

In 1973, Associated sold all their breweries and brands to Heileman except Piels (and a few other small ex-NY and NE brands) and the 2 breweries in Brooklyn and MA. Rheingold made a preliminary deal to buy Piels Bros., but that fell through over antitrust concerns and complications with Pepsico's majority ownership of the former.

Later that year, Hawkes - a former Piel/Associated exec (no relationship to the original Piel family AFAIK) - purchased what was left, soon closed the Brooklyn plant (last batch Sept. '73) and made a contract with Schaefer to brew Piels for the NY metro area (NE supplied by the MA brewery). A year or so later, Willimansett was closed, after which Schaefer brewed all Piels under license.

That's how Stroh (which bought Schaefer in 1980) came to brew the brand, followed by Pabst which bought the Stroh brands in '99.

(Think that right. Been meaning to put that chronology together, 'cause it is a confusing one).

 

Still buying it and it still tastes really good. I've had it at multiple parties and family events. Whether more on the beer snob side or a casual drinker-- I have not had one complaint and everyone has liked it thus far since I wrote that review. I found out a couple weeks later about the Capt. Lawrence Brewery making it for them and that only made me happier. I have not seen distribution come in up though in Orange County NY. I can only still find it at one local beer store though I have been told others have found it around the area in other beer stores.

 

What does Piels cost per 6-pack?

How is the beer 'displayed' at that store? Do they have it sitting next to the other cheap AAL beers?

I could envision that the Marketing & Sales effort for Piels could be a bit of a challenge. Some folks may view it as just another cheap fizzy, yellow beer. Craft beer drinkers would likely not be drawn to this beer. It is kinda in between?

Cheers!

 

Would really like to try it, but it's not even available in Suffolk County yet, and only two spots in Nassau. C'mon Piels/Pabst, we're talking NY metro area here! You've got to do better.

 

Pabst dropped the Piels brand a few years back, as noted in the above linked article.

You can rightly blame Pabst for lots of things that happened to their scores of brands, but no longer this one.

 

I hope the recipe is different. Piels was on par with Schlitz, or Keystone. Barely mediocre rice laden beer.

 

Piels w/rice adjunct? Never heard of that. In the pre-Pro era they were well-known as one of the few all-malt breweries and after Repeal according to ads from their Associated era they used corn as an adjunct.

Very unlikely previous MillerCoors-brewed Pabst version of Piels used anything other than corn syrup as an adjunct - which is what MC uses for most of their AAL portfolio (inc. Keystone) and most every Pabst brands they brew (inc. the revived 60s formula Schlitz).

Can't think of a rice adjunct beer being currently marketed by Pabst - maybe Special Export? -which traditional used both corn and rice in its Heileman heyday.

 

It seems like @Piels-beer is an infrequent visitor to BA but maybe someday he will log in and provide us with some updates and respond to some queries in the above posts?

Cheers!

 

Nothing fancy. You can find the 12 pack sitting out in the middle of the domestics. They break apart the 12 packs and sell six packs in the cooler. 12 pack retails for $14.99. 6 pack is now up to $8.99 (was $7.99 when it first came out). I agree though without some more marketing it is really going to be hard for people to realize it isn't the old Piels. I completely was baffled when I drank it and it tasted better than expected. I had not idea at all and just thought PBR somehow decided to bring it back. I would think most people would feel the same unless they maybe read this thread.