>>>You know the beer I miss the most? Strohs.
You don't have to miss it. They merely assume you won't notice any difference.
A letter from Pabst Brewing Company
"Before Stroh's beer became part of the Pabst family, Stroh's beer was brewed at five or six of the Stroh breweries around the country. But it was no longer brewed in Detroit after the original Stroh brewery was shut down due to age and inefficiency. It was about this time (and even before) that most breweries included to the use of corn adjunct or corn syrup in their formulas. I do not know exactly at what point the Stroh's Brewery made the switch, but by the time the Pabst Brewing Company bought the Stroh's label (1999), Stroh beer had already been brewed with corn adjunct for many years.
But Stroh did continue to "fire brew" its name brand at great expense. Several gas-fired kettles were installed in each of the Stroh breweries to continue the tradition, and indeed the marketing image, of fired-brewed beer.
When the Pabst Brewing Company bought the Stroh labels, a decision had to be made whether to endure the the extra cost necessary to continue fire-brewing Stroh. In order to evaluate the effect of fire-brewing on the taste of the beer, special blind taste sessions were conducted with trained panelists to see if a difference could be perceived by anyone.
The result of these sessions revealed that less than half of the panelist could detect a difference. Statistically, that means that any one, whether trained or not, could simply toss a coin to answer the question. Since all Stroh breweries were shut down except one, and since almost all production was contracted out to the Miller Brewing Company, the decision was made that the extra expense of installing gas-fired kettles at all the Miller plants simply was not justifiable. An old marketing postion long enjoyed by Stroh alone was abandoned in favor of being able to offer the brand to the public at reduced cost.
The move was difficult choice to make, but has turned out to be the right choice. The Stroh brand is now enjoyed by both old and new customers alike".
"the decision was made that the extra expense of installing gas-fired kettles at all the Miller plants simply was not justifiable. An old marketing postion long enjoyed by Stroh alone was abandoned in favor of being able to offer the brand to the public at reduced cost."
What spin. In beer-talk, reduced cost is called "popular-priced." In the real world, it's called "cheap."
Pabst did the same thing with Old Style. Used to be "krausend," putting a little new beer into a almost totally fermented batch of OS. It scrubs the beer a bit and adds some carbonation. Miller skips this process and has also made OS a cheap beer.
Pabst has no breweries. It's nothing more than a business that contracts out their beers, a "virtual" brewer.