One of America’s oldest beer brands is being discontinued after a nearly two-century run.
Schlitz Premium, a beer brand that dates all the way back to Milwaukee in the 1840s, went from being one of the largest breweries in the U.S. to being placed “on hiatus,” its parent company Pabst Brewing Co. said on Friday.
The company confirmed the brand’s discontinuation after Wisconsin Brewing Company said it is brewing the final batch of the beverage at the end of May, Fox Business reported.
“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, told Milwaukee Magazine in a statement.
“Any brand or packaging configuration that is put on hiatus is still a cherished part of our history and hopefully our future. We continually look for opportunities to bring back beloved brands, and customer feedback is important in shaping those discussions,” he continued.
The Schlitz brand was once the largest brewery in the U.S. before it was bought out by Anheuser-Busch in the 1950s, and was known by the slogan, “The beer that made Milwaukee famous.”
August Krug founded the company in 1849 and opened a brewery and tavern in Milwaukee, according to the report. Jospeh Schlitz took over the business after marrying Krug’s widow and made it into one of the largest beer brands in the world.
The brand got its big break after the brewery sent beer to Chicago in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, when residents had little access to clean drinking water.
The brand began losing popularity in the 1970s after it changed the recipe to cut on costs and the flavor of the beer changed. The brand was sold in 1982 to Stroh Brewing and then to Pabst in 1999, per the report.
Kirby Nelson, brewmaster at Wisconsin Brewing Company, said the company wanted to give the longtime beer brand a celebratory send off, “one with dignity and respect.” the company wanted to give the historic beer brand a proper farewell after learning production was ending.
Wisconsin Brewing Company said it is planning to brew “the last Schlitz” on May 23 at its brewery located in Verona, Wisconsin. The limited release would be scheduled for June 27.
“Milwaukee-area bars and breweries are also planning farewell events tied to the final batches,” according to the report.
The outlet reached out to Schlitz and Pabst but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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