> Frisbee® MCNGP wrote:
> > The Orig> >
> >>Tasty cheap beer. I mean, yes, it is cheap beer,
> >>but there's just something about it.
> >>
> >>The tradition?
> >
> >
> > I thought they went out of business years ago?
>
> Years ago? I guess an expression like that depends on one's age. >
> Or did some other brewery
> > buy them out?
>
> Yes, Heileman was bought by some Australian sharpie and driven out of
> business. Stroh bought the labels and they gave up the race, as well, a
> few years later. Pabst then bought most of the Heileman and Stroh
> labels (a veritable who WAS who of brewing in the first 3/4 of the last
> century) and soon closed all it's breweries and has Miller and a few
> regional brewers brew the beers they now market. IIRC, one of the
> regionals is the original Heileman brewery in LaCrosse, now known as
> City Brewery, so I assume that's where it coming from, back home. >
> Based on the record of the outfit that now owns Pabst (the same outfit
> that once was known as Falstaff and General and Pearl), they will slowly
> allow the label to die, but will feed off of it like a vampire 'til then.
I'm coming in a bit late on this one-- AFAIK, Old Style has been in continuous production despite changing hands a number of times. Skilnik would know best, but I don't think there's been a time in Chicago since the 1950s when you couldn't get Old Style.
The City Brewery that bought out the old plant and repainted the can silos does not produce Old Style, but rather a beer called LaCrosse Lager that claims to be using the original Old Style recipe and is "fully kreusened."
--NPD