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Schlitz anew

Milwaukeeans revive the brew that made their city famous

By Emily Fredrix ASSOCIATED PRESS | Saturday, August 16, 2008

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It's the beer that made Milwaukee famous. Now Schlitz is making the city nostalgic.That beer with the old-time mystique is back on shelves in bottles of its original formula in the city where it was first brewed more than a century and a half ago.

Schlitz was the top-selling beer for much of the first half of the 20th century, but recipe changes and a series of foul-ups made the beer - in many a drinker's opinion - undrinkable, turning what was once the world's most popular brew into little more than a joke.

But after decades of dormancy, the beer is back.

Schlitz's owner, Pabst Brewing Co., is re-creating the old formula, using notes and interviews with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again. The maker of another nostalgic favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, hopes baby boomers will reach for the drink of their youth, otherwise known as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous."

"We believe that Schlitz is if not the, one of most iconic brands of the 20th century," said Kevin Kotecki, president of Pabst Brewing Co., which bought the brand that dates to 1849 from Stroh's in 1999.

In Milwaukee, the comeback is creating a buzz. Stores are depleted of their stock within days. They're taking names for waiting lists and limiting customers to just a few six- or 12-packs each.

People like Leonard Jurgensen say the beer reminds them of better days. The 67-year-old, who grew up on the edge of the brewery downtown, said decades ago that it seemed that everyone in the city either worked for the brewery or knew someone who did. If there was a special occasion, you drank Schlitz. Mr. Jurgensen had it on his wedding day 45 years ago.

Schlitz's comeback has been slow, just like its fall from the top. It was tested in a few markets and is also available in Minneapolis, Chicago and western Florida.

Its ties to Milwaukee are deep. Schlitz began its life at a brewery founded by August Krug in 1849. Joseph Schlitz took over and opened the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. several years later.

Nostalgia could prove a driving factor in sales, Mr. Kotecki said. Pabst is certainly using it in its marketing, reusing its '60s-era advertisements urging drinkers to "Go For the Gusto" and simple maroon and gold packaging, marked with fanciful script.

The Woodridge, Ill.-based company wants the brew to go national but is taking a slow approach, reintroducing it first in places like the Midwest, where the beer was popular.

Hearing from Schlitz-thirsty consumers prompted Pabst to revive the brand, Mr. Kotecki said. A malt-liquor form of Schlitz has been available for years in cans. But fans say it's not the same.

Schlitz became a top seller, Mr. Jurgensen said, after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 wiped out its competitors. It was the world's best-selling beer from 1903 until Prohibition in 1920 and regained the crown in 1934 until the mid-1950s. That's when a strike by Milwaukee brewery workers interrupted production and made way for others, like St. Louis' Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., to eat into Schlitz' market share. That company, which makes Budweiser and Bud Light, has held the top spot to this day.

Before it vanished, the beer changed - for the worse.

According to Mr. Jurgensen, considered by Pabst to be the foremost "Schlitzstorian": First, brewery control shifted from immediate family members to more distant relatives, who wanted to expand the business. With demand high, the new owners wanted to make more, so they shortened the fermenting process. And they let customers know it through heavy marketing. There were also quality-control issues for barley, so the beer went flat quickly. Customers associated the flatness with the quickened brewing time, and they weren't pleased. To fix the flat problem, the brewers added a seaweed extract to give the beer some foam and fizz. But after sitting on the shelf for three or four months, the extract turned into a solid, meaning drinkers got chunky mouthfuls.

It was all too much for drinkers to swallow.

By 1981, the Schlitz brewery closed. The owners sold the brand to the Stroh Brewery Co. in Detroit in 1982, which eventually sold some of its lines to Pabst.