Signs of Beer: Schmidt Scenics and Sitting on Schlitz

I see these scenic Schmidt Beer cans so often but I do not think I have ever written about them. They look good afor me harken back to days of hunting and fishing in the North Woods someplace while listening to a Vikings or Twins game on the radio.

Schmidt Scenic Cans from G. Heileman era

As it goes with collecting not all of them are that collectible. The early flat top cans that you needed to use an opener on command the most interest. The cans I have pictured abovecome from the G. Heileman ownership time and thus  are not very valuable. One collector even said he has recycled quite a few of them. 

This style of Schmidt can were first produced when it was still Jacob Schmidt Brewing (early 1950s.) Artist Les Kouba produced the art on these early cans.  After 1954 the brewer changed hands a few times until Rainer was producing the beer in the early 90s and this type of can were still being produced. As the the decade progressed the label seems to have gone dormant as a dominate brand in its home terrority- Minnesota and the Dakotas. I have seen it in liquor store coolers in the last few years but in small quanities in bottles.

As a child of Minnesota, Schmidt was nearly everwhere along with Grain Belt and Hamm's. It was sort of the last stand of regional labels dominating the market. In my first years of life I lived in the shadow of its large brewery on W. 7th Street in St. Paul. My ancestors actually lived behind the complex on James Ave. 

Sit on this Schlitz stool, Potzie!

Schlitz was at numerous times during its existence the largest beer producer in America. It was the original beer that made Milwaukee famous. Schlitz also brewed Old Milwaukee which I had thought was the beer that made Milwaukee famous. Perhaps they both did. 

Another fact, Schlitz started to use brown bottles to reduce spoilage of the beer in 1912. Other brewers followed suit. 

And yet another fact, the opening credits bottling line sequence of the TV sitcom Laverne and Shirley was shot at the Schlitz Brewery in Milwaukee. 

At some point they began marketing Schlitz with the "Real Gusto!" rejoiner. The pictured camp stool cooler utlizes that campaign and goes one further to add "... in a great light beer." 

Trying to cut costs and increase volume, Schlitz misplaced the traditional recipe in late 1960s early 70s. Following a labor dispute in 1981, they closed their Milwaukee operations and sought to sell the company. 

Sometime in the 1980s, Stroh acquired Schlitz while Anheuser-Busch purchased one of Schlitz' breweries in Baldwinville, NY.  As time progressed, the Schlitz label became associated with cheap beer. Eventually, Stroh started to flounder potentially as a result of their purchase of Schlitz. To me Stroh was always cheap beer. In 1999  Pabst stepped in and bought Stroh and then sought to revive Schlitz by recreating the original recipe based on Schlitz brewers' recollections and research of the company's documents.

Schlitz is still around but not as prevalent as it was in the past. In 2014, Pabst was purchased by another group and now is headquarted in Los Angeles.