The Return of Retro Beers

There has been a lot of attention devoted to the return of retro-beers as several old time favorites have returned to the shelves of beer stores. Pabst Brewing Company has re-released Schlitz in Minneapolis, Chicago and western Florida in addition to Milwaukee, the city where Schlitz was created in 1849. The beer was the top seller in the United States during the early and middle 1900's. The brewing company is hoping to attract old Schlitz drinkers as well as new, and younger customers, and results in Milwaukee have been encouraging.

Pabst decided to revive the beer after feedback from customers as well as the success of their own retro beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon. PBR started popping up in urban city bars where it became popular with young adults. PBR has now started to catch on with the older crowd who drank it while they were young.

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Stone Brewing Company Takes a Big Green Step

California's Stone Brewing Company will begin treating its own wastewater shortly. While the move will help out the environment, Stone has said that the primary motive behind the change was to save money. The problem started when the local wastewater treatment facility was unable to handle Stone's wastewater because it contained to many dissolved solids. The city gave Stone a cap on the amount of waste they could send to the local plant, which led to Stone having to truck the rest to a plant in San Diego at the cost of $12,000 a month. Last year, Stone sold 2.1 million gallons of beer which was good enough for 20th best among all craft brewers. The company expects to surpass that total again this year despite the shaky economy.

Stone makes excellent beer and I am a fan of any move that will help them save money as well as help preserve some natural resources. If anyone has yet to try Stone's Arrogang Bastard or their Smoked Porter, I suggest you get to a beer store ASAP.




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Bell's Returns to Chicago!

Bell's beer is returning to Chicago and Illinois after a two year absence. President and Owner Larry Bell decided to pull the beer from the state in 2006 after a dispute with his distributor, National Wine & Spirits Inc. Bell signed a new deal with Central Beverage Company and has allready shipped 750 kegs to Chicago. Bell warns that it will be a slow, steady process; saying "We can't turn the tap on just like that. It's going to be a process. It will take a little bit of time."

I thought that the timing of this news story was interesting considering I was fortunate enough to actually meet Larry Bell this week at the Lazy Boy Saloon in White Plains, N.Y. Bell was in town for a beer conference and was clearly excited about his beer being back in Chicago. I has not been lucky enough to taste any of Bell's beer since it is not distributed in New York, but I have heard that I need to get my hands on it somehow.

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