Schlitz Confusion

All I know is that I saw Schlitz in a gas station in Oklahoma City on a cross-country trip in 2011 and said I had to buy it (thinking it a classic beer one rarely sees {at least in NYC, where I lived at the time}). I was appalled by what I tasted and this was when I still drank beers like Corona and President with regularity. I am sure nostalgia is a factor, but yikes.

 

I'd try either if it was available on the Oregon Coast.

 

According to email and Facebook entries from Pabst, sent to BA "oldsyd" last year which he posted in this Schlitz Gusto thread (posts #41 and 45) the only Schlitz being brewed and marketed is the "Gusto" 60s formula, but is no longer labeled as such:

Wasn't it the other way around - they (well, MillerCoors) recently began kraeusening Old Style again, in 2009?

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Or did they drop the term again from the label?

 

Hey, hey, no need to bring Iron City into this

 

This is what a recall as being the case, but it was before the Eugene ("the Russians are coming!") Kashper buyout, right? And so the recipe may have changed yet again!

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Go for the gusto!

 

Funny even as kids we though IC was slumming it, usually hit Schmittys or Rolling Rock. Looking back Rolling a Rock is terrible, IC is a step up.

 

Yeah, possible - but it seems Pabst, pre-Kashper, at least believed that "old beer labels never die, they just fade away..." so when their revivals failed (Schlitz Gusto, Primo, McSorley's, Old Style Kraeusened, Olympia 90% Malt, Ballantine India Pale Ale) they just slowly disappear. Pabst Blue Ribbon's phenomenal resurrection in this century was consumer-driven and when the brewery's marketing department (or what is left of it) tried to duplicate the magic, it's fizzled.

The Schlitz "Gusto" came and went fast in NJ from what I saw (we weren't a prime market during their heyday) but I guess I'd base whether a current Schlitz is the 60s Recipe or the old discount beer on the price - if it's priced at "above premium" (i.e., more than AB or MC flagships) it's probably "Gusto", if it's priced lower than PBR or the same as Pabst's numerous discount brands, it's reverted to "cheap beer" formula.

 

Here in Boston gusto was still sold at discount price. Now that the packaging has changed the price did not...so I'm assuming the beer didn't either

 

I researched a lot of this a year ago, but I don't remember where I gathered my info.

My understanding:

1). Any Schlitz currently in bottles in the 60's "formula". The 60s formula was never introduced into cans and my recollection is that Schlitz hasn't been canned in several years. I think there was some confusion at the time because there were stores that had both the "60's" bottles and the lesser formula cans on the shelf at the same time. Please feel free to correct me if cans are indeed on the shelf somewhere.

2) I bought a 12-pack less than a year ago and it was clearly labeled "Original 1960s formula" on the box, but nothing on the bottle itself. I can't imagine that it wasn't really the Gusto version since it tasted more bitter and slightly hoppier than a typical AAL.

3) The 1960s recipe was lost but they found a guy who had brewed for them back then and he helped recreate the recipe from memory. Obviously there's a good chance that he didn't remember it 100% accurately being that it was 50 years ago.

Again, this is all from memory, but I believe most of this (if not all) is correct.

 

This is the place I bought it last fall:

https://www.thepartysource.com/express/item.php?id=10547

So, they are charging $9.99 for a 12-pack of Schlitz and $8.49 for a 12-pack of PBR, so I would assume that it's still "Gusto".

 

You got me there! I wasn't aware of that.

 

Look at the timeline in the history section of their webpage. It states that in 2007 "The premium “Classic ‘60s Formula” that made Schlitz the top American Lager for decades is reintroduced. "
It doesn’t mention that the old formula was discontinued or all Schlitz is the 60's formula. Kind of vague and now I want to know...

I do like the 60’s formula in bottles and love to take the tall boy cans out on the boat!

 

It looks like the 16 oz cans are still available, but curiously the "Classic 60's Formula" is no longer written along the top.

https://www.facebook.com/Theykilledschlitz

 

It sure is kinda vague and it makes me suspicious.

The fact that they list hops they use to brew Schlitz that were not available until the 70's and later makes me even more suspicious.

If the story is correct that they contacted an old brewer to reconstruct the 1960s formula, he would know darn well which hop varieties were used to brew Schlitz in the 60's.

Cheers!

 

And folks who post on this thread would like you to believe that the "Classic 60s Formula" beer is inside despite the lack of labeling.

Cheers!

 

I used to drink the classic 60's formula and the only thing it had going for it was that I was under age and it was beer.

It looks like the marketing department did not consider that some people would actually read what they had to say and then know enough to fact check it. Its a lot like calling your beer "the king of beers" or being brewed in "the land of sky brewed waters," "the Champagne of bottled beers," or "brewed with pure Rocky Mountain Spring water."

 

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Kashper and company are to busy flooding the market with Not Your Father's Root Beer to worry about the recipe of Schlitz gusto or not!

 

I believe sometime in 2013 we started getting the "Chicago's beer" Old Style packaging in the Twin Cities, replacing the "authentically kraeusened" label. I imagine it didn't take the Metropoulos boys long to realize the economics of taking a sub-premium beer upmarket.