One of America’s Oldest Beer Brands Ceases Production After 177 Years

If you plan to pour one out, maybe save that tallboy of Schlitz.

It’s officially last call for the iconic Milwaukee beer brand that dates back nearly two centuries.

Pabst Brewing Company, which has owned the brand since the late 1990s, will cease production on Schlitz after dwindling demand for the once-dominant beer, the company confirmed to Milwaukee Magazine.

Schlitz

The news first came from Wisconsin Brewing Co., which plans to produce a farewell batch of the beer based on brewing logs from the first half of the 20th century.

Tapped out

While the development will surely tug at the heartstrings of many beer drinkers, especially those in Milwaukee where Schlitz maintains a cult following, the brand has seen its fair share of ups and downs over the years.

Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives

First brewed in 1849, Schlitz peaked in the 1950s and ’60s when it became the number-one beer across America. However, a controversial recipe change in the 1970s tanked its popularity, leading to a sell-off the following decade.

Under the Pabst umbrella, Schlitz failed to regain enough momentum to become a national brand, even as the brewery made clear on modern cans that the beer inside was brewed with a “Classic ’60s Formula.”

Schlitz

Nonetheless, Schlitz was a dive-bar favorite in the Midwest, equally famous for its easy-drinking taste profile and heavy nostalgia factor. Cans even featured prominently in the TV show Mad Men.

AMC Global Media

Whether this is truly the end of a great American beer brand remains to seen.

Schlitz has come back before, and the acquisition of Anchor Brewing Company by Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya may suggest the possibility of a buyer out there (though beer drinkers are still waiting for the return of Anchor Steam.)

For now, though, the American public will have to settle for Wisconsin Brewing Co.’s swan song of Schlitz.

According to the local outlet OnMilwaukee, the brewery will sell 16-ounce four-packs of the beer using an online preorder system, with pickups starting June 27.

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