One For My Homeys

Beer (& More) In Food ^ | 5-7-2007 | Bob Skilnik

[toddlintown]

In June of 1991, while the reorganized G. Heileman Brewing Company was once again trying to get back on its financial feet after a series of business setbacks, the brewery announced the creation of a new malt liquor called PowerMaster. This new brew would be added to its collection of other high-octane brews, including its best seller, Colt 45. PowerMaster would have an alcoholic content of about 5.5 to 6 percent, depending on the legal restrictions on alcohol content in beer by some western states.

“Upper strength malt liquors, those with a higher alcohol content, are growing,” noted a brewery spokesman, ” in an industry trade journal. Some industry observers, however, weren’t too sure about bringing one more malt liquor into the beer market, especially with the growing wave of neo-prohibitionism and a trend towards moderation in the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

“It’s a gutsy move on Heileman’s part,” said an industry observer, “but I’m not sure they can pull it off.” But one could also see Heileman’s logic in introducing yet another malt liquor. The national malt liquor market had shown increases of 300,000 barrels in each of the last two years to 6.1 barrels in 1990. In an otherwise stagnant market and in a rebuilding phase, Heileman was willing to bring on PowerMaster and pit it against the Stroh brewery’s Schlitz Malt Liquor, Anheuser-Busch’s King Cobra and Miller’s Magnum.

About the same time that PowerMaster was making its debut in Chicagoland, Reverends George Clements and the bete noire of the Chicago Roman Catholic Archdiocese, Father Michael Pfleger showed up at Heileman’s La Crosse, Wisconsin offices and demanded to speak with the brewery’s president, Thomas Rattigan. The priests contended that the new PowerMaster with its high alcohol kick was being targeted at black communities.