Well-liked Beer within the 50s – A Cultural Historical past Story!

Ingesting beer within the Fifties was a really totally different expertise from what we get pleasure from at the moment. American beers had typically been accused of missing in selection and the craft beer revolution, providing beer lovers a plethora of many various beer types, was nonetheless one other 20 to 30 years away.

The possibilities had been that you’d be ingesting a distinct beer from any person two states down from you because the period of multi-national conglomerates was but to kick in. (Anheuser-Busch was nevertheless rising and by the tip of the Nineteen Sixties can be the most important provider of beer within the US, a place they’ve maintained since!)

It was extra probably you’d be ingesting beers out of your native brewery or one in a close-by state. Solely a handful of beers had been well-liked sufficient to have been distributed nationwide.

So what beers would your dad, or extra probably your grandfather, be ingesting within the Fifties? Are any of them nonetheless brewed? What occurred to the remainder of these as soon as much-beloved beers? Let’s check out among the hottest beers of the Fifties.

The High Promoting Breweries of 1950

The vary of beers out there to American beer lovers has exploded because the early Eighties, each with types brewed by American craft beer breweries and imports from overseas. However whereas beer drinkers at the moment could have a a lot wider selection, beer within the Fifties was far more of a regional affair.

Though there could also be a wider selection, extra of the beer market at the moment is managed by the highest three brewers. In 1950 American brewers produced 83 million barrels of beer a 12 months with 68 million barrels produced by firms aside from the highest 4 brewers.

Examine this with the early twenty first Century when American brewers had been producing over 180 million barrels of beer a 12 months however solely 8 million barrels had been produced by firms outdoors the highest three brewers.

In 1950 the highest brewer within the US was Schlitz who brewed 5 million barrels of beer and had a 6% market share. In 2017, Anheuser-Busch had firmly cemented its place as America’s largest brewing firm with a 50% share of the market and producing a staggering 90 million barrels a 12 months.

The highest three brewers now management over 90% of the market.

What’s much more staggering is the distinction in barrelage between the primary brewer and the brewing firms in Tenth place. In 1950 the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co, America’s high brewer, produced solely 3.4 million barrels greater than the now-defunct Pfieffer Brewing Co. produced.

By 2017 the highest beer producer, the large that’s Anheuser-Bush, was producing over 87.5 million barrels greater than the Tenth-placed greatest brewer within the USA, Mike’s Onerous Lemonade Co.

America’s Largest Breweries in 1950

With solely 4 of these brewers nonetheless rating within the high 10 beer producers in 2017 and most now defunct, it does make you surprise – if it wasn’t for the mass corporatization of the brewing trade would a few of your dad’s favourite beers of the previous nonetheless be out there.

Or had been they only low cost beers of the time and we’re higher off with the beers we’ve got at the moment?

A few of the manufacturers of the Fifties nonetheless reside on regardless that the breweries could have closed their doorways a very long time in the past. Though we could by no means actually know what the Ballentine IPA, Previous Type, and even Schlitz beers of the 50s tasted like, they’re now nostalgically brewed typically by breweries owned by the Miller Coors Company in vegetation far-off from their unique houses.

Is it simply nostalgia or do a few of these beers want reviving (in the event that they haven’t already)?

Well-liked Beers within the Fifties

Schlitz Beer

“The beer that made Milwaukee well-known”, because the slogan on each can used to boast. We will’t have a look at the preferred beers of the Fifties with out beginning with Schlitz and their namesake beer.

Schlitz had been producing this pale ale-style lager since 1849 and shortly resumed producing beer after the times of prohibition (Some would say suspiciously shortly!). Inside a 12 months of prohibition ending the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Firm was the top-selling brewery on the planet and in 1950 was the largest beer model within the US.

Because the ’50s went on Anheuser Busch would aggressively broaden its empire and vie with Schlitz beer for the title of high beer in America.

A collection of dangerous selections, together with altering the formulation for the beer for cheaper elements and a disastrous advert marketing campaign within the 70s, meant Schlitz closed their Milwaukee brewery within the early 80s and the corporate was bought to Stroh Brewery Co. and later acquired by Pabst Brewing Firm.

Though Schlitz beer continues to be alive at the moment (brewed by Pabst), many would argue it’s only a low cost nostalgic imitation, however it stays a sentimental favourite among the many Midwest.

The unique classic recipe of Schlitz beer isn’t remembered too fondly in the event you have a look at among the on-line opinions (I doubt any of you could have ever tasted a Fifties Schlitz!).

It might sound fairly good within the tasting notes, a crisp but gentle beer with a slight sweetness and completed with a mix of Cascade, Mt Hood and Williamette hops, however in actuality, it was like most of the beers of the time which used corn adjuncts giving it an overwhelming sickly sweetness and a skunk odor from the hops.

A fundamental beer in its easiest type!

Ballentine IPA

IPAs often is the present darling of the craft beer scene, however it hasn’t all the time been that manner and there have been occasions, particularly within the Fifties when an IPA was seen as a novelty.

Initially hailing from Newark in New York, Ballantine is cited as America’s first IPA and have become extraordinarily well-liked within the mid-Fifties. Intelligent promoting noticed Ballentine Beer as the primary tv sponsor of the New York Yankees, and through this era the beer was elevated to the quantity three place within the high beers of the US.

Maybe it was additionally the 7.9 % ABV of the beer, which, though solely pretty alcoholic now, was thought of an entire booze bomb on the time, or maybe it was the truth that it was extra bitter than most different beers of the day ( a novel hop oil was used in the course of the brewing course of), however Ballantines is a fondly remembered beer by many beer lovers of the Fifties.

Because the nation’s palate tailored extra to gentle lagers within the Nineteen Sixties and 70’s the gross sales of Ballantine started to fall and by 1996 the beer was useless within the water, solely remembered nostalgically by older guys who lived by means of the late 50s and early 60s.

Pabst Brewing Firm launched a recreation of the unique Ballantine IPA in 2014, which those that have tasted it say it’s not too dangerous truly.

Pabst Blue Ribbon or Pabst Choose

One other beer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Pabst Brewing Firm was initially established there in 1844 however is at present primarily based in San Antonio.

Within the late Forties, Pabst bought the Hoffman Beverage Firm in Newark and, in 1948, the Los Angles Brewing Firm. The manufacturing and gross sales of Pabst beers soared within the early Fifties however gross sales began to say no after the retirement of Fred Pabst, the CEO.

Reducing their costs labored within the quick time period and their most well-known model, a fizzy, pale lager, Blue Ribbon was referred to as “The Premium beer at a Well-liked Worth”.

Pabst proudly boasted of their win of “America’s Greatest” way back to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, though whether or not they truly received an award in 1893 is unclear.

The beer had nevertheless received many awards at different festivals, so many who Pabst had began tying silk ribbons across the neck of each bottle with many patrons asking their bartender for “a bottle of that “blue-ribbon beer”.

Pabst as a model nonetheless exists at the moment, though, by means of a collection of acquisitions, mergers, and takeovers, Pabst is now extra of a beer advertising firm than a brewer. A lot of the beers it sells are literally contract-brewed for Pabst by firms like MillerCoors.

In 2020, most of the beers of the Fifties which had been brewed underneath a 20-year settlement with MillerCoors got a reprieve when MillerCoors agreed to proceed brewing such heritage manufacturers as Schlitz, Previous Milwaukee (a price range Schlitz model), Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), Ballantine and Lonestar from Texas.

Lone Star Beer

“The Nationwide Beer of Texas”

Likelihood is that in the event you had been dwelling in Texas within the Fifties you’d be sipping on a Lone Star Beer.

The primary giant mechanized brewery in Texas, the Lone Star Brewery was based by Adolphus Busch of Anheuser-Busch together with a gaggle of fellow San Antonio businessmen. Lone Star beer was the first model of this new firm.

After prohibition, a brand new brewery was arrange underneath the title of Sabinas Brewing Firm and it wasn’t till 1940 that the corporate was rebranded to as soon as once more be Lone Star Brewing.

Lone Star beer is finest described as a basic adjunct American lager. It has a light-weight golden look with a contemporary crisp style and is made with Pacific Northwest hops, malted barley, and corn extract.

Served anyplace in Texas the place you would discover beer, Lone Star could not have been one of many largest nationwide beers in gross sales, however was very fashionable in its dwelling state. References in fashionable tradition to Texas almost all the time namedrop Lone Star beer.

Within the well-liked cleaning soap opera Dallas JR Ewing was typically seen with a bottle of Lone Star in a bar, and George Cooper Snr the daddy of Shelden Cooper is commonly seen to be having fun with his favourite beer, Lone Star, in episodes of Younger Sheldon.

Like most of the beers which had been well-liked within the Fifties, Lone Star was purchased and bought a number of occasions earlier than the model ended up being owned by Pabst Brewing Firm by means of the acquisition of Stroh Brewery and all its acquired beer manufacturers.

Lone Star as soon as once more was brewed in San Antonio however just for a short time because the Pearl Brewery was seen as outdated and too costly to function if it had been to be up to date. Lone Star continues to be produced at the moment however is contracted out to breweries resembling Miller Brewing Firm in Fort Price.

Previous Type Beer

That is one in every of my grandfather’s favourite beers, I typically keep in mind him fondly reminiscing in regards to the Previous Type beers. I all the time assumed he was simply referring to any beer of the previous, however no, there was beer, and nonetheless is, referred to as Previous Type!

Initially brewed by the G.Heileman Brewing Firm of La Crosse, Wisconsin, that is one other model of the Fifties which was acquired by Stroh’s Brewery within the Nineties with all G.Heileman’s manufacturers and mental properties coming underneath the possession of Pabst Brewing Firm.

Pabst now oversees the manufacturing of a number of Heileman manufacturers together with Previous Type underneath the G.Heileman title.

You’d be forgiven for considering Previous Type is a Chicago beer, there are such a lot of taverns within the city that also sport an “Previous Type” signal hanging outdoors the door within the method of a civic flag.

Intelligent advertising, together with a sponsorship cope with the Chicago Cubs in 1950, made it the selection beer of not simply Wrigley Subject however most of Chicago’s taverns.

An uncomplicated, unchallenging lager (it was even referred to as “Previous Type Lager” at first), Previous Type provides you a strong glass of beer with no further hops, no added floral aroma, only a lager produced within the “Previous Type” – a double fermentation course of which was historically used within the lagers of Germany provides it further carbonation and extra of a richness in taste than many American adjunct lagers.

Rheingold Beer & Schaefer Beer

The “Brooklyn Beers”

Rheingold Brewery was a New York State brewery that had been promoting Rheingold beer since 1883 and held 35% of the state’s beer market at its peak within the Fifties and early 60s.

Schaefer beer was a model of beer first produced by the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Firm (New York Metropolis) in 1842 earlier than relocating to Brooklyn within the early twentieth century. Schaefer beer was one of many top-selling beers within the US rating as excessive as fifth within the mid-Fifties.

Though Brooklyn now appears to be an epicenter for beer, individuals would have laughed at you 50 years in the past for saying that. For many of the latter a part of the twentieth century, Brooklyn was seen as a cultural wasteland, not the hipster hangout place it’s now.

However within the Fifties two Brooklyn breweries within the type of the Rheingold brewery and the smaller Schaefer brewing Firm dominated the beers of New York State.

Rheingold beer was the preferred of the 2 Brooklyn brews and even sponsored the Miss Rheingold magnificence pageant that gave strategy to the Miss America pageant. Schaefer beer was the smaller of the 2 with the catchy promoting slogan ” the one beer to have if you find yourself having multiple”.

The beer was so well-liked that the general public providing was valued at $108 million when put up on the market in 1968.

Because the bigger nationwide manufacturers got here to dominance within the Nineteen Seventies, each Rheingold and Schaefer shut up store and Brooklyn was now not cool for beer lovers (for a few a long time anyway!).

Right now each manufacturers have been revived, primarily out of curiosity worth. Drinks America of Wilson Ct. purchased the rights to Rheingold Brewing in 2005 and in 2010 launched a reformulated Rheingold beer to the New York Metropolitan market in addition to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Georgia.

Pabst Brewing retained the license for Schaefer when it acquired Stroh Brewery Firm and at the moment outsources a reformulated Schaefer beer which it simply sells as “Schaefer” to area of interest markets within the US.

Hamm’s Beer

Though Hamm’s didn’t fairly make the highest 10 breweries listing of 1950, no have a look at well-liked beers within the Fifties can be full with out mentioning Hamm’s beer, or maybe extra importantly the Hamm’s bear (sure, you learn that proper – bear and never beer).

Though having been brewed since 1865, Hamm’s the “beer refreshing” didn’t begin promoting with the now iconic cartoon bear till the early Fifties. A unusual promoting marketing campaign helped maintain what was as soon as one in every of America’s best-loved beers within the highlight towards heavy competitors from the rising beer giants of Miller and Anheuser-Busch.

Satirically, Hamm’s is now produced by Molson Coors after many acquisitions and merger offers together with one with MillerCoors underneath a licensing settlement from Pabst Brewing Firm.

It appears the 50s was a time when utilizing an animated kids’s cartoon character was thought of okay for promoting beer. Despite the fact that the bear was by no means seen ingesting any beer, within the Eighties the advertisements had been discontinued as controversy arose about the usage of animals and cartoons to promote what was seen as an grownup product, and in regards to the influence of this on kids.

The Fifties was additionally a time of enlargement for the Theodore Hamm Brewing Firm which bought the San Francisco Rainer Brewing Firm in 1953. An LA-based brewing outfit, Acme Brewery, adopted in 1957 and their closing acquisition of the last decade was the Gunther brewery of Baltimore, Maryland.

Though a few of these expansions had been profitable, some just like the Gunther brewery tarnished the title of the Hamm’s model and should have been a contributing issue to the household promoting the enterprise and leaving the brewing trade in 1965.

Pfieffer’s Well-known Beer

The Fifties was sadly the period that noticed the start of the tip for one in every of America’s favourite beers of the previous, Pfeiffer’s beer.

Ever because the finish of prohibition, and the next WWII, life had been canine eat canine for breweries with over 185 breweries closing down or being purchased out by bigger brewing firms within the interval referred to as “The Nice Shakedown”.

The Pfeiffer Brewing Firm survived these powerful occasions by shopping for Kling Brewery of Flint and the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Firm.

Within the mid-Fifties Pfeiffer had risen to the standing of the best-selling beer model in Michigan. However a employees’ strike in 1958 started to derail their success with the acquisition money owed and competitors of nationwide manufacturers like Budweiser, Miller, and Pabst additionally taking their toll.

Within the following decade of the 60s, Pfeiffer closed the doorways on their unique Detroit brewery in an try to chop prices. Sale to the Heileman Brewing Firm adopted within the 70s which was then acquired by the Stroh Brewing Firm in 1996.

The Pfeiffer title and beers slipped out of the mainstream till in 2018 Joe Pfeiffer (no relation to the unique Pfeiffer household) acquired the rights to the Pfeiffer title and resurrected the German type lagers initially brewed by Conrad Pfeiffer.

Beer of the Fifties – Are they a Factor of Nostalgia or Had been They Nice Beers?

In the event you ask your Grandpa in regards to the beers he used to drink, he’ll little question keep in mind them fondly, and if he’s like my grandfather, he’ll begin on a tirade towards the worldwide dominance of the heavyweight brewing teams.

Your grandpa would possibly even keep in mind a number of of the beers of the Fifties that I’ve missed, or just didn’t have sufficient house to say. Let me know if there are any beers of the Fifties we completely missed that you just assume ought to be on our listing (We are going to attempt to replace it over time!).

Beer was very a lot a regional product within the Fifties however the emergence of dominant nationwide manufacturers was simply across the nook.

Quickly we’d see extra of the beer market managed by only a few main breweries and most of the beers of the previous had been solely produced underneath license as a nostalgic nod to their legacy.

We’re at present going by means of the second age of regional beers with a file variety of craft breweries opening yearly, this time with what many would argue is a wider selection of beer types and, usually, higher high quality beers too.