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Posted on 05/16/2026 5:27:53 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
VERONA, Wis. -- It's the end of an era for one of Wisconsin's most iconic beers.
Pabst Brewing Co. is no longer brewing Schlitz, the brew that played a huge role in cementing Milwaukee as America's Beer Capital. The last batch will be brewed, not by Pabst, but by Wisconsin Brewing Company in Verona.
WBC Brewmaster Kirby Nelson said he'll be basing this final batch on operations logs from 1948, when Schlitz was in its prime. The beer was America's top-seller in 1950.
"Since Schlitz is ‘The Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous,’ I decided to brew a beer that would be representative of the time Schlitz was on top of the brewing world," Nelson said. "This brew will represent The Golden Age of Schlitz."
First brewed in 1849, Schlitz became America's biggest beer producer in 1902 and held that title for decades. The urban legend goes that Schlitz offered to donate thousands of beer barrels to Chicago in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
A recipe change in the 1970s torpedoed the beer's popularity and Schlitz was eventually sold to Stroh in the 1980s. Pabst bought Stroh, and thus Schlitz, in 1999.
WBC will begin brewing the last batch on May 23. Nelson will hold a kickoff event at the brewery's Verona taproom at 12:30 p.m. Those interested in pre-ordering the beer can do so that same day.
The beer will make its debut at 5 p.m. on June 27, with a celebration at the Verona taproom that will include Schiltz on-tap, 4-packs and live music. Nelson will also give a talk at the event.
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Always remember, when you’re out of slits, you’re out of pier!
I can remember a tv ad with James Coburn as the Schlitz endorser.
They’ll probably start brewing khat (Catha edulis) for their new population of thieving African Wisconsinites.
Schlitz is what my father drank. Not much to choose from in 1965.
Back in the 80s my buddies and I discovered Shlitz dark on draft.
You’d be shocked how good it is when it’s chilled properly.
So much so, we’d have it at keg parties on a regular basis.
Schlitz, the beer that has been peddled and resurrected more times than Christopher Lee’s Dracula.
This ‘disappointment-in-a-can’ will rise again, if for no other reason than there is the state of Wisconsin.
My dad was a beer-maven back in '65!
Among my friends in college, the "when you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer" meant that you already drank your good beer and the only thing left to drink was a six pack of Schlitz someone brought weeks ago.
When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of here!.................🙄
I was a Schlitz drinker when I first started drinking, and was until 1976. Then came the Anheuser-Busch strike. In order to keep up with demand Schlitz, rushed their brewing process and turned their once fine beer into flat slop.
Lol! You forgot Old Milwalkie beer, and Miller. (Though Miller werent as bad as those others) Old Mildew as we called it was the mechanics beer of choice back before mechanics started chargin folks outrageous hourly prices fo4 service. I spose now they drink some imported executive label beer now or sumthin. Old Mildew was “cheap as stagnant swamp water, and nearly as tasty”
> A recipe change in the 1970s torpedoed the beer’s popularity… <
Old saying: If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
But too many executives feel the need to shake things up. Gotta be an innovator, a visionary. So if it’s not broken, break it.
I use to drink in the 60’s and very early 70’s. We would put a couple of cases in an ice filled 30 gallon garbage can. Let it sit for a while and then drink it all. I even remember some of what happened.
Schlitz has been on a downward trend for a while. Back in the 1990’s I worked as an engineer with Anheuser-Busch Corporate Engineering. One of the projects I was assigned to was the conversion of the old Schlitz brewery in Baldwinsville, NY to an Anheuser-Bush brewery.
An old Schlitz joke -
It was the last game of the season and all the other relief pitchers had been used for a double header, and Mel Famey had driven to the park with his car full of cans of Schlitz. Truth be told, he was pretty nervous before the game, because he knew he would be called on in the late innings.
When he started to pitch in the 9th, he ended up loading the bases, and then walking in the winning run for the other team.
As the players from the winning team went out to the parking lot outside the stadium after the game, congratulating themselves over beating the Brave’s ace reliever, one of them noticed Mel’s car practically buried in empty beer cans.
One of them exclaimed, “Schlitz, the beer that made Mel Famey walk us!”
“A recipe change in the 1970s torpedoed the beer’s popularity…”
I wonder what was the logic here?
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