Buried at the end of the article is the real story. "Schlitz" hasn't existed since the early 70's. They cut costs and ruined the formula and brand. In 2008 it was "revived" and a new beer took the name. Now someone else is brewing a completely different reconstructed formula for "the last batch" and throwing the name on it, again. And im sure itll happen again and again after that.

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fallinditch 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

After sales slumped in the 70s they created a disastrous advertising campaign which is a case study in customer alienation: effectively 'drink Schlitz or I'll kill you' :-

https://youtu.be/hC8mqPLHDVU

https://youtu.be/f_baloTGt5M

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valleyer an hour ago | parent [-]

That's not my read of the message of those ads at all.

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fallinditch an hour ago | parent [-]

See

Oh, Schlitz: How a Historic Ad Campaign Helped Kill America’s Biggest Beer Brand

https://vinepair.com/articles/schlitz-history-ad-campaign

	▲	applfanboysbgon 23 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		People can write anything for a newspaper, but that doesn't make it true. There is no evidence presented that this advertisement campaign had any meaningful negative imapct on Schlitz's perception, or indeed that it was widely perceived as "drink Schlitz or I'll kill you". It would be very, very strange if it was widely perceived that way, because the advertisement is clearly threatening someone who intends to take away the actor's Schlitz. "Don't take away my Schlitz or I'll kill you" is pretty far removed. Now, you can remark on whether or not that's an effective advertisement, but this seems like a bit of journalistic sensationalism and the brewery's troubles seem more related to engaging in enshittification before it was cool.

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schumpeter 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Did I hallucinate drinking it in high school around 92-94?

	▲	throwaway041207 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		No, it was around but it was probably just Stroh's in the can at that point. I drank a ton of it at a dollar a can in the early 00's (RIP J&J's Pizza, Denton, TX). This would have been after the PBR buy out and it was probably whatever the Stroh's formula was. I drank a bunch of these PBR owned zombie brands over the last 20 years, Black Label, Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Lone Star, etc [1] and I've always wondered when I'm drinking one if it's the same flavor as one from previous years or even if the flavor is consistent across regions (assuming PBR was just slapping labels on contracted brewing). [1] https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/447/