Schlitz Beer Is Over After 175 Years — Here's How It Went Out
The beer that made Milwaukee famous is officially over.
Pabst Brewing Co. is ending production of Schlitz, closing the book on one of the most storied names in American brewing history. To send it off properly, Wisconsin Brewing Co.'s Kirby Nelson brewed one final 80-barrel batch on Saturday, May 23 at the Verona brewery — using Schlitz's original specifications from 1948, the year the brand sat at the top of the entire US brewing industry.
"This is back to Schlitz's glory days," Nelson said. He called the final batch Wisconsin Brewing Company's "love letter to our state."
Pre-orders opened on May 23. The beer will be available June 27, the same day Wisconsin Brewing holds a public celebration of the brand. Nelson will also serve it at Old World Wisconsin's 50th anniversary event on July 4.
How It Started
Schlitz began in 1849 as a Milwaukee tavern brewery founded by August Krug. When Krug died in 1856 his bookkeeper Joseph Schlitz took over, acquired the company, and renamed it after himself. In 1870 Schlitz built a massive brewery on what is now King Drive and Galena Street. Joseph Schlitz himself died at sea in 1875 and the Uihlen family stepped in just as Milwaukee's brewing industry was entering its golden era.
By the end of Prohibition Schlitz was the largest beer company in America and one of Milwaukee's biggest employers. Through the 1970s the company funded the city's Fourth of July fireworks, the Circus Parade, and Old Milwaukee Days — an event that eventually evolved into Summerfest.
How It Fell Apart
By the 1970s Schlitz had slipped to fourth place behind Miller and Pabst. Company leadership tried to cut costs by changing the beer's ingredients. That decision alienated loyal drinkers and the brand never recovered from it. Facing further losses, the company targeted its Milwaukee brewery for cuts and moved to eliminate around 200 jobs starting in 1981. More than 700 workers went on strike. In July 1981 the company announced it was shutting the brewery down entirely.
Schlitz was sold in 1982 to Stroh Brewing Co. which shut down everything remaining in Milwaukee. After more than 130 years the brand left the city it helped put on the map.
Pabst acquired Schlitz in 1999 and relaunched it in 2008 but its presence in Wisconsin stayed small. It became the kind of beer you could occasionally find at a dive bar if you knew where to look — a ghost of something that used to be everywhere.
Now it's gone entirely. Nelson said it deserves to go out with dignity and respect — which is why he's brewing the last batch the way it was made when Schlitz was still the greatest beer company in the country.
"For a brewer such as myself, this is as flattering as it comes," he said.
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