R.I.P. Schlitz 1849-2026

 

Pour one out for a once-iconic American beer:

It’s last call for Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous.

The Pabst Brewing Co. has confirmed it is ceasing production of the iconic lager that has quenched the thirst of American beer drinkers for 177 years.

“Unfortunately, we have seen continued increases in our costs to store and ship certain products and have had to make the tough choice to place Schlitz Premium on hiatus,” Zac Nadile, Pabst head of brand strategy, said in a statement last month to Milwaukee Magazine.

That means other retro beer brands in what could be called the Pabst portfolio, like bottles of Blatz and Old Milwaukee, will also be harder to find, the magazine reported.

“Any brand or packaging configuration that is put on hiatus is still a cherished part of our history and hopefully our future,” Nadile said. “We continually look for opportunities to bring back beloved brands and customer feedback is important in shaping those discussions.”  [snip]

The demise of a blue-collar beer like Schlitz marks the end of an era.

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. was founded in 1849 by a German immigrant who took over a small Milwaukee brewery after marrying the widow of the original owner, August Krug — and renamed the business after himself.

While “The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous” soon became the Schlitz slogan, it was actually the Great Chicago fire in 1871 that helped turn the brand into a national name, when word spread that the company had been shipping barrels of beer to aid the devastated Windy City.

By the 1950s, Schlitz was the biggest brewery in the United States, and its new advertising slogan declared: “When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer.”

Budweiser overtook Schlitz that same decade. Then, in 1976, came what became known as the “Schlitz Mistake” — the company changed its recipe to boost profits and alienated legions of loyal customers in the process.

The following year, Schlitz suffered another self-inflicted wound when it greenlit an advertising drive that came to be known as the “Drink Schlitz or I’ll kill you” campaign featuring menacing tough guys responding with threats when asked it they’d consider switching to another beer.

Meanwhile, Schlitz’s bottom line was buffeted by the rise of light beers and changing American tastes, and the lingering perception that it was an uncool beer of the past.

The beleaguered brand even became the unintended victim of a 1991 skit by “Saturday Night Live” called “Schmitts Gay,” which was actually a parody of the macho beer ads put out by some of Schlitz’s competitors.

Schlitz was sold in 1982 to the Stroh Brewery Co., which stopped brewing the beer in Milwaukee. Then Schlitz was sold to Pabst in 1999, which in recent years had brewed it at an Anheuser-Busch plant in Texas.

One last batch of Schlitz will be brewed on Saturday by the Wisconsin Brewing Co. at its facility outside Madison. And they’ll be using the recipe from 1948 when Schlitz, not Budweiser, was the king of beers.

Schlitz deserves to go out with “dignity and respect,” brewmaster Kirby Nelson told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Schlitz was never one of our beers of choice (see "Schlitz Mistake, above), but we wouldn't mind getting a few bottles of that last batch being brewed using the 1948 recipe.  For people of a certain age, the pre-1970's Schlitz will be remembered as a "basic American lager," nothing especially memorable or distinguished, but certainly very drinkable, like a PBR. What happened over the past 50 years is sketched out above and explains the brand's (likely) demise.

But it's a somewhat bittersweet moment -- another iconic American brand that's fading into history, the comments of the brand strategy guy above notwithstanding.  Maybe they could reassess based on what the brewing company making the final batch is doing and find a niche in the market down the road.  But more likely, there's no future for a brand that lost its appeal, its reputation, and its loyal base years ago.

(Photo:  various historic Schlitz bottles in Oconomowoc, WI / Morry Gash/ AP file)