Posted on 07/27/2006 4:55:56 AM PDT by Dane
Last Call For Rolling Rock Beer No Longer Brewed In Latrobe
POSTED: 2:21 pm EDT July 26, 2006 UPDATED: 2:49 pm EDT July 26, 2006
LATROBE, Pa. -- Wednesday marked the last day Rolling Rock will be brewed and bottled at Latrobe Brewing Company.
The official last day for workers will be Monday.
A deal was put in place to allow Rolling Rock workers to keep their jobs.
The union approved an agreement with City Brewing on Sunday.
The Wisconsin-based company will buy the Latrobe Brewery from In-Bev USA.
The Rolling Rock beer brand was sold to Anheuser-Busch.
Production of the beer will move to Newark, N.J.
It's a microbrew... next time I have some I will try and see where it's made/distributers.
"Store tells me that I may not be able to get it anymore, it was bought by Anheuser-Busch."
Find another store because whover told you that is full of it. A-B bought 35% of the Goose. GI will soon be available in virtually every store where Bud is found, via A-B's distribution network. And no, the owner John Hall insists that A-B will have no control over the beer.
I interviewed Hall a few months before they made the announcement and the subject came up of micros not having the money or distribution to go national. He got very excited about the question and agreed that a merger or acquisition was about the only ways a smaller brewery could ever expand. A few months later, I realized that my hypothetical question was already Goose Island's reality.
Glad to hear that!
But how can GI produce enough beer to sell in that many outlets?
Gennie Cream LIGHT???
C'mon, real men don't drink light beer!
Of course Stoh's being located in Detroit probably didn't help either.
"But how can GI produce enough beer to sell in that many outlets?"
They've been brewing under-capacity for years and have been taking in some private label business to keep their output up. I wouldn't be surprised if they contracted out the brewing of some of their beers until they can expand their production facilitities in the same way Redhook did when A-B bought into them.
I did enjoy Stroh's Signature in the 80's though.
There are so many good quality micro brews out there, INCLUDING several bigger microbrews, I don't know why anyone would ever choose an A-B product on purpose.If you're ever in New England, I suggest:
and
So, taste in products equates to masculinity! I don't think so. I good friend of mine is 6'4", 250, and spits nails. He loves wine coolers (yuch!)
But, I didn't find a good pic of the regular Cream Ale, so I posted what I could find. I never tried the lite.
My wife and five children can speak to you about my masculinity!
I never cared for RR personally; I just hate to see another local brewery engulfed by the Eagle. One of the greatest joys in life is sampling the local suds when traveling.
Local breweries aren't dead yet. Here in Texas we have Shiner, still brewed and bottled at the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas, and there's the excellent Rahr Brewery in Fort Worth, brewers of Rahr Ugly Pug, a delicious dark lager. Sadly, however, my favorite "lawn mowing" beer, Schlitz, long ago ceased to be brewed in Milwaukee; it's now "The Beer That Made San Antonio Famous", cranked out of the Joseph Pabst works in the Alamo City. Sic transit gloria mundi.
As long as RR is going away, could they at least tell us what the "33" meant?
Reasonable good. Not great considering the price.
From BEER: A History of Brewing in Chicago:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569803129/sr=8-5/qid=1154004603/ref=pd_bbs_5/102-9985987-1184119?ie=UTF8
"For the first quarter of 1996, Stroh production fell by ten-percent while sales of its Heileman products slipped one-percent to 1.7 million barrels. Almost half of the Old Style production went to beer drinkers in the Chicagoland area.
Lacey Logan, spokesperson for the Stroh Brewing Company, pointed out that the brewery had actually chosen to reduce sales, in large part due to its decision to eliminate the weakest selling brands in its extensive portfolio. The continued discount pricing led by Anheuser-Busch and Miller, however, was causing unavoidable problems for Stroh. “This type of pricing strategy driven by these two large brewers does damage to all [brewers],” Logan complained. “It not only drives margins down, but in the long term, it diminishes brand equity and value.”
By 1998, it was clear that Stroh was in trouble. Not only was the brewery struggling with its continuing trend of falling sales and the incessant hammering down of profit margins due to the continuing price wars, but its debt load, increased substantially by its purchase of Heileman, was squeezing out the meager profits the brewery had actually been making due to its drastic cost-cutting actions.
The ending of an arrangement with Pabst to contract brew a number of their brands in Stroh-owned plants, which accounted for around fifteen-percent of Stroh’s total production, was the final nail in the coffin for Stroh, as Stroh board member William Howenstein conceded.
In December of 1998, the family-owned Stroh Brewing Company announced that it was closing its brewery in Tampa to further cut capacity. In addition, mid-level managers at the Detroit headquarters were getting pink-slipped.
Although spokeswomen Logan declared that “Stroh has the wherewithal to go it alone and [would] take necessary steps to remain competitive,” the industry waited for the other shoe to fall.
They didn’t have to wait long. On February 8, 1999, William L. Henry announced that the Stroh Brewing Company had signed agreements with Pabst and Miller to sell off its portfolio of brands. Pabst picked up a significant number of brands that had once helped Heileman propel itself to the number three brewing operation in the U.S., including Chicagoland favorites, Old Style and Special Export. Said John Stroh III, a fifth-generation member of the Stroh family and president and CEO of The Stroh Cos., Inc., the parent company of the brewing operation, “My family and I struggled with this decision. Emotionally, it was extremely difficult one to make, knowing that it would impact our loyal employees, and recognizing that it would mean the end of our family’s centuries-old brewing tradition that had become, in essence, an important part of our identity. Emotions aside, this was not a cavalier financial decision either. Over the years, we have had several opportunities to sell the business, but due to the family’s commitment to our brewing heritage, we felt none were compelling enough to pursue. However, in light of this attractive offer, and the long term competitive outlook of the brewing industry, we concluded that it is the appropriate time to exit the beer business and focus on the family’s other ventures,” said Stroh.
Terms of the buy-out deal were withheld but an industry estimate topped out at around $400 million. In the next few months, and with final approval from the federal government, Miller and Pabst started taking over production of Stroh’s beer portfolio.
Thanks, or the nest time your in Connecticut stop by with a six pack and I'll provide the steak!
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