Schlitz Beer, It Made a City Famous\n\nIt was \”the beer that made Milwaukee famous.\”\n\nAnd it\’s back.\n\nPabst Brewing Co. began rolling out its original formula Schlitz beer on draft in several Midwest cities in mid-June. It will hit bars in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee and Chicago in the next few weeks.\n\nSchlitz beer was, at one time, one of the most popular beers in America. The Schlitz brewery was founded by Joseph Schlitz, a German immigrant to Milwaukee, in 1850. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Schlitz donated thousands of barrels of beer to Chicago, which had lost most …read more

I recently stumbled across this webpage from the Wisconsin Historical Society profiling an original Schotz brewery smock from the Laverne and Shirley show, a 70’s sitcom hit set in Milwaukee. For those who don’t recall, the show revolved around two bottle-cappers from the fictional Shotz brewery, Laverne and Shirley, and their two foils, Lenny and “Squiggy.” Lenny and Squiggy are also employed by the brewery, as truck drivers.
My beerSmarts triva cards state that the Milwaukee brewery Blatz was the inspiration for the brewery, whereas the Wikipedia entry on Laverne and Shirley (more credibly, in my mind) suggests that it …read more

On this, the eve of the eve of Thanksgiving, Char over at Weary Parent has listed a host of links of interest to those still considering how best to celebrate Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, one of the first items on the list is Behind the Vines post on why thanksgiving must include wine.
In fact, as a beer lover who also enjoys wine, I had simply assumed that I would drink wine with my Thanksgiving meal. But that particular post got me thinking, why shouldn’t Thanksgiving include beer instead? In fact, as outlined in this article from Michael Jackson, it’s much more …read more