Posted on 07/28/2006 5:24:03 PM PDT by FlJoePa
Latrobe says goodbye to Rolling Rock MICHAEL COWDEN Associated Press LATROBE, Pa. - A line of trucks idled outside the loading docks at Latrobe Brewing Co. on Friday morning. In a few hours, they would haul away some of the last cases of Rolling Rock beer brewed in Latrobe.
"It's over. It's done," said Larry Ewantis, who ran the receiving department for ingredients. "Now they're just cleaning up."
Known for its distinctive green bottle and quality pledge with a mysterious "33" at the end, Rolling Rock has been brewed here since 1939. But Belgium-based InBev SA, which owned Rolling Rock and Latrobe Brewing, sold the Rolling Rock brand to St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. for $82 million in May.
Anheuser-Busch plans to brew the beer in New Jersey beginning in August. The brewery in Latrobe was not included in the deal, and is expected to close Monday.
La Crosse, Wis.-based City Brewing Co. is negotiating to buy the brewery and produce others brands of beer here. Union workers at the brewery have voted to accept a contract with City Brewing.
Ewantis, 56, who has worked at Latrobe Brewing for almost 30 years, fears the brewery will be dismantled and sold for scrap if no deal is signed.
And if the brewery closes for good, the Latrobe native will lose a job and a family tradition. His late father, George, worked at Latrobe Brewing, and his brother Mike, 62, has worked there for 42 years.
"I went from a baby bottle to a beer bottle," said Ewantis, who could see the brewery from his bedroom window as a child. "Rolling Rock is all I've known all my life."
Nick Carota, 56, has also worked at Latrobe Brewing for about 30 years. His father worked there for 46 years.
Carota wrote "Among the Green Bottles," a bitter tune about the brewery's fate set to the melody of an old Kentucky mining song. It goes: "Oh Daddy, won't you take me back to Westmoreland County / Down by the Loyalhanna where the Rolling Rock lays. / Well I'm sorry my son but you're too late in asking / InBev and AB have hauled it away."
Rolling Rock simply is part of Latrobe, he said.
"Even people who didn't work here felt like someone was taking something away from them," Carota said.
Count among them Dave Banner.
Sporting a Rolling Rock T-shirt, the masonry worker was taking advantage of the 10 a.m.-to-noon happy hour at J.L.'s Bar to enjoy its dwindling supply of Rolling Rock.
"I'll drink it till they run out of Latrobe beer," Banner said, gazing philosophically at the bottle in his hand. "This might be the last one, you never know."
Like other disillusioned Rolling Rock buffs, Banner has pledged to boycott the brew once it is made in Newark, N.J.
Steve Lopatich Sr., 79, bought J.L.'s from his mother when he returned from the merchant marine after World War II. For most of the 40 years he owned the bar, Rolling Rock was the only beer on tap, he said.
"Rolling Rock was the biggest seller in here," Lopatich said. "I wouldn't even sell Budweiser. They (Budweiser sales representatives) come down here, I wouldn't even let them in."
But times have changed. Steve Lopatich Jr., 48, runs the bar now. And Budweiser is on tap - in fact it's the only beer on tap.
Until recently, Rolling Rock was on tap too, but the last keg recently kicked, and only Rolling Rock bottles and cans are available, he said. Lopatich has already taken off the Rolling Rock tap handle, several signs and other paraphernalia. They may be collector's items one day, he reasons.
He said he won't sell the New Jersey-brewed version.
He worries about the fate of a Latrobe without Rolling Rock and the money and jobs that came with it.
"We've already seen the steel mills come and go," he said. "It's going to be a downfall. The price of gasoline is killing us already. This is just another poker in the fire."
Never had a bottle of Rolling Rock that wasn't "skunk beer". Nasty stuff.
And why wasn't you drinking P.O.C.? ;-P
"Bud is cold soapy water, so nasty."
Yeah. I came home on leave from Germany in 1983. Passed a billboard celebrating "Bustin' Bud Suds!" Yuk...
Geez... Anyway, our command sergeant major who had spent fifteen years in Germany was retiring and somebody asked him how he could ever get re-accustomed to American beer, and he replied that he would start out by taking German beer and gradually adding to it... Clorox!
;^)
Olympia Beer is now brewed by Pabst Brewing Company in San Antonio Texas"
Pabst has no physical plants. Virtually all their labels, including Oly, are brewed by Miller under contract. The Pabst HQ will soon be moving to Woodridge, IL since the Midwest is their biggest market.
Saw your post and it reminded me of the town I grew up in, Azusa, CA. There was a Lucky Lager brewery there from the time I can remember. They sold out to Miller Brewing in later years.
Just Googled to see if there was any info and a Wikipedia piece has the history of Lucky Lager. It says they also opened a brewery in Vancouver, WA in 1950. I had no idea and I now live in Vancouver, quite a coincidence.
I never did drink much Lucky Lager, it was lousy beer.
For the last 4 years, I've been living in the 5th district in the Northwest of Pa. I have been following the Murtha/Irey race with great interest though.
This is not a thread about your favorite "local beer" or your favorite "micro beer" - it is a thread about Rolling Rock.
I hear you WA (Olympia) and others - I know it has happened to you too. But don't hijack this thread into yet another "my pricey micro-brew is better than yours" thread.
If you have a comment about Rolling Rock (good or bad), post it. If not, please do the right thing and just refrain.
So apropo talking about cold beer and warm wee, together.
Isn't it also a thread about bashing "beer snobs"?
L
I'm from Latrobe and I am serving in Iraq. I will really miss Rolling Rock. I grew up with it. What a shame to see it go. My wife bought me a case to drink when I get home. I loved growing up in LATROBE. I used to run the Rolling Rock 5 mile run every year. We always took rolling rock to Jimmy Buffet concerts. What a shame!!
You hit it right on the head. I remember that feeling. I love RR and I also love Point Special, brewed in Stevens Point Wisconsin. Gives me the same feeling.
Dang. Rolling Rock was a staple of my college days.
"Rolling Rock From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you."
No more greenies. I use to love those little small green bottles.
I'm a little annoyed at them for continuing to print the 33-word pledge. Even with a disclaimer ("we quote from..."), it's still trying to pretend that a beer's taste doesn't depend on where the ingredients come from.
Newark, NJ?!? I wouldn't drink the water in Newark if it came out of a sealed case of imported spring water. Just the atmosphere in Newark is enough to gag a maggot... Nah, the ol' beer is no more. Damn...
It goes very well with spicy foods like hot wings and mexican.
I'm not even a Western PA guy (North Central), but my times at Penn State cemented...should I say CEMENTED my love for Rolling Rock.
God Bless Ya Latrobe, and Thank You for all you have contributed to this world (more than NYC). Arnold (The King), Mr. Rogers, and Rolling Rock is quite a resume.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.