Projo Beer Blog

July 27, 2008 - August 2, 2008 Archives

It was the beer my father used to drink. Maybe it's the beer your father drank too.

And now it's making a comeback.

In Milwaukee, the return of the beer that made Milwaukee famous "is creating a buzz," according to the Associated Press. "Stores are depleted of their stock within days, they're taking names for waiting lists and limiting customers to just a few six- or 12-packs each."

For those of us who remember its most recent taste and reputation, this might be hard to believe, but Schlitz was the world's best selling beer from "1903 until Prohibition in 1920, and regained the crown in 1934 until the mid-1950s," according to the Associated Press.

The story attributes the beer's demise over time to a strike by brewery workers, a change in the fermenting process, barley problems that made the beer go flat quickly and, finally, an attempt to solve the problem by adding seaweed extract, which would turn solid if the beer sat on the shelves too long.

The owner of Schlitz, Pabst Brewing Co., is recreating the old, pre-seaweed formula, using notes and interviews with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again, according to the Associated Press.

It's being reintroduced in the Midwest before it goes national.

I can't wait to crack one and toast Dad.