Re: [rogerd@UIC.EDU: The "Retro Beer" fad comes too late to save Falstaff (fwd)]

Is Hauenstein still available? :) c j ----- Forwarded message from Roger Deschner <rogerd(a)UIC.EDU> ----- Authentication-Results: smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu sender=CBS-HB(a)LISTSERV.UIC.EDU; sender-id=neutral; spf=neutral X-Authentication-Warning: smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu: Host proxy-1.cc.uic.edu [128.248.155.225] claimed to be proxy-1.priv.cc.uic.edu X-X-Sender: rogerd(a)tigger.cc.uic.edu Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 11:25:20 -0500 Reply-To: Roger Deschner <rogerd(a)UIC.EDU> From: Roger Deschner <rogerd(a)UIC.EDU> Subject: The "Retro Beer" fad comes too late to save Falstaff (fwd) To: CBS-HB(a)LISTSERV.UIC.EDU Precedence: list X-Greylist: IP, sender and recipient auto-whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.6 (smtp-relay.enet.umn.edu [128.101.142.227]); Fri, 03 Jun 2005 11:25:24 -0500 (CDT) X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.51 on 128.101.142.227 (forwarded from the BOSS list) But this does beg the question: Why do some old retro brands such as PBR hit it big, some like High Life that started to fade gain a new following, while others like Falstaff fade away and die? You can get as involved about trying to explain fads and such as you want, but I think the reason is very simple - How does the beer in your can taste? PBR and High Life taste better than Falstaff, and always have. The landscape is littered with dead beer brands that mostly deserved to die. Schlitz could be next to go, having never recovered from a conscious decision to lower product quality - a decision that wrecked the company and remains a staple in business school textbooks. What surprises me is that Falstaff lasted this long. I wonder if the huge statue of King Gambrinus atop the abandoned Falstaff brewery in New Orleans is still there? I last saw it from the rooftop of the Dixie brewery, whose brewers lusted after it. Roger Deschner rogerd(a)uic.edu ===== The selling of bad beer is a crime against Christian love. ======= ============ -Law, The City of Augsburg, 13th Century. ================= It's last call for Falstaff By Gregory Cancelada Of the Post-Dispatch Wednesday, Jun. 01 2005 The longtime St. Louis beer was created by William J. Lemp Brewing Co., which sold the brand in 1920. The last Falstaff brewery here closed in 1977. Pabst Brewing Co. of San Antonio has discontinued selling Falstaff beer, which once was an icon in the St. Louis area's rich brewing history. Production of Falstaff left St. Louis in 1977, when the flagship brewery was closed, but many local residents remember the 102-year-old beer and Falstaff Brewing Corp. before its demise. Pabst, which owns the Falstaff brand, decided to stop selling the beer because of dwindling sales, said Allen Hwang, Pabst's marketing director. Pabst only sold 1,468 barrels of Falstaff nationwide last year, and that figure was falling, he said. "It's now at such a low rate that we couldn't sustain any type of minimum (production) run on the product," Hwang said. Last month, Pabst shipped the last cases of Falstaff beer to wholesalers. The brewer hasn't yet decided what to do with the brand, such as selling it to another company. "Right now we're evaluating what we're going to do," Hwang said. Paul Smith, co-owner and bar manager at Mangia Italiano at 3145 South Grand Avenue in St. Louis, is sorry to see Falstaff disappear. "We sell more Falstaff (locally) than anyone," he said. "It's a St. Louis staple." Needing a low-priced American beer to fill out his menu, Smith added Falstaff because of nostalgia and the St. Louis connection. On Wednesday, Smith stocked up on Falstaff and now has about 100 cases stockpiled. To mark the end of Falstaff, Mangia Italiano and Pabst will host a "Farewell to Falstaff" event on Tuesday night, starting at 10 p.m., one of several planned for next week. The famous William J. Lemp Brewing Co. of St. Louis created Falstaff in 1903. When Prohibition forced the closure of the Lemp brewery, local brewer Joseph Griesedieck purchased the Falstaff name in 1920 and changed his company's name to Falstaff Corp., eventually to be renamed Falstaff Brewing. Falstaff was the country's third-largest brewer from 1957 to 1960, according to beer industry consultant Robert Weinberg. Its production peaked at 7 million barrels in 1966. As the beer industry steadily consolidated under pressure from Anheuser-Busch Cos., Falstaff saw its position decline to 10th place by 1975. That year, Falstaff sold a controlling interest to Paul Kalmanovitz, a reclusive immigrant whose brewing investments had made him one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Within a few months after Kalmanovitz bought control of Falstaff, he had dismissed dozens of company managers and moved the headquarters to San Francisco. Falstaff closed its last St. Louis brewery in 1977. The Falstaff brand eventually came under Pabst after Kalmanovitz acquired the brewer in 1983. Pabst doesn't own any breweries, contracting other brewers to make its products. ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------ * * Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *