what took them so long?

Original Schlitz coming back to Chicago
April 04, 2008
(Crain’s) — Schlitz, known as “the beer that made Milwaukee famous,” is bringing its original taste back to Chicago on Monday.

Woodridge-based Pabst Brewing Co. has recreated the original formula for the beer, which was a top seller nationwide in the 1970s before it was reformulated. The recreated beer will be sold in brown longneck bottles and labels noting the “Classic 1960s formula.”

“We are going after the baby boomers who remember Schlitz when they first started drinking,” says Jerry Glunz, the general manager of Lincolnwood-based Louis Glunz Beer Inc., which is distributing the beer in Chicago. “This is a different beer than the (current Schlitz line in the can), and this beer will stand up to its former glory.”

He says the beer will be available at about a dozen locations on the North Side of Chicago on Monday, the 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition.

He says the locations will include: Schubas Tavern, Southport Lanes & Billiards, Cardinal Liquors, 1000 Liquors, Chicago Brauhaus, Sheffield’s Bar, the Long Room, Simon’s Tavern, Green Mill Cocktail Lounge, Glunz Bavarian Haus and the House of Glunz.

Pabst Brewmaster Bob Newman researched the old formula and interviewed previous brewmasters to find the correct recipe, Mr. Glunz says.

Mr. Glunz said the beer declined in popularity because of changes to the formula in the 1970s and a switch to cans in the 1990s.