After more than 175 years in production, Pabst Brewing, the parent company of Wisconsin Brewing Company, confirmed Friday that Schlitz Premium is making its last call, bringing an end to the historic lager known as “the beer that made Milwaukee famous.”
The beer, which began brewing in Milwaukee in the 1840s and grew into one of the country’s most iconic brands, is being put “on hiatus” as part of a cost-cutting effort.
“Unfortunately, we have seen continued increases in our costs to store and ship certain products and have had to make the tough choice to place Schlitz Premium on hiatus,” Zac Nadile, Pabst’s head of brand strategy, said in a statement to Milwaukee Magazine. “Any brand or packaging configuration that is put on hiatus is still a cherished part of our history and hopefully our future. We continually look for opportunities to bring back beloved brands, and customer feedback is important in shaping those discussions.”
The History of an American Icon
While we may now be pouring a final pint of Schlitz, the affordable beer was once the flagship brand of the largest brewery on the planet.
Its story began in 1849, when August Krug opened a small brewery in Milwaukee and hired a young bookkeeper named Joseph Schlitz. After Krug’s death in 1856, Schlitz married Krug’s widow, took over the operation, and renamed it the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co.
The company changed hands once again when Schlitz was lost at sea in an 1875 shipwreck off the coast of Cornwall, England. Control of the brewery passed to the Uihlein brothers, who kept the Schlitz name and continued building the business.
Schlitz grew alongside Milwaukee’s booming brewing industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After Prohibition ended in 1933, the brand reached new heights, becoming the world’s top-selling beer in 1934 and holding onto that title for decades.
The lager’s fortunes began to fade in the early 1970s when the company altered its recipe in an effort to cut costs. The changes alienated many longtime drinkers, and Schlitz quickly lost market share as its reputation suffered.
In 1982, the Uihleins sold the brand to Stroh Brewing, which was later acquired by Pabst in 1999. Nearly a decade later, in 2008, Pabst relaunched Schlitz using a recipe modeled after its 1960s-era formula.
Priced at around $3 a six-pack, the revived lager found modest success as a value beer, particularly in parts of the Midwest where the brand’s legacy still resonated with drinkers.
Now an icon of Milwaukee’s beer-baron era is calling it a night.
Thankfully, there’s still time to give one last hurrah. Wisconsin Brewing Company will brew the brand’s final batch on May 23, with a limited release scheduled for June 27 alongside a celebration event (i.e funeral) at the brewery, giving fans one final chance to raise a glass to the historic lager.
Preorders can be made on Wisconsin Brewing’s website.
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