Schlitzin' down memory lane
20.06.2008 05:00
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- Source: JS Online
Dozens of readers responded to our call for their memories about Schlitz. Here’s a sample: ***My wife and I were in Salzburg last April on holiday. We stopped for a late coffee/dessert at the Caf Mozart in the old city. Our waiter was a gentleman who I took to be in his mid-50s....He asked where we were from, and I told him Milwaukee, fully expecting to have to go through the usual drill of explaining that it's a very nice, heavily German-influence city about 90 miles north of Chicago. Our waiter needed none of that. He was positively excited to hear we were from Milwaukee and, with an odd note of enthusiasm, asked, "Do they still sell Schlitz there? It's a really terrific beer, you know." When I told him what had become of the great lady, and how my father once worked there shortly after the Second World War, he became positively sentimental and expressed his regrets. He said he had heard the legends of the reformulation and its failure, but did not realize the results were quite so catastrophic. - Jim Owczarski, Milwaukee ***My memory is not of myself drinking Schlitz, it is of my dad. He passed away in 1984. Just seeing the Schlitz logo, I can see him with a Schlitz in his hand, and it makes me smile. I even still have some of his old Schlitz cans with the pull tabs. Since I was not of drinking age while Schlitz was around, I'm looking forward to holding one and drinking it saying, "Hey Dad, I wish you were here!" - Karen Doro, Franklin ***I used to go to the bowling center in Oconomowoc with 17 of my closest friends. They would all order Budweiser and I got the lone Schlitz. I figure I was just ahead of my time. I didn't order the Schlitz to be different. I ordered it because I actually liked the taste. My father used to order a case of Schlitz a week and give myself and my siblings a small glass to drink. I liked the Schlitz logo and beer tasted like, well, good beer. To this day I still remember the good taste of Schlitz....When I travel to Wisconsin in July to see the Brewers play I plan to pick up a case or two. - Jeff Reich, Midland, Mich. ***My father-in-law, Bob Taugher, worked for Schlitz until they closed in Milwaukee. I didn't drink Schlitz until I married Bob's daughter. It was a good beer, as my brothers-in-law will also attest....When my son was stationed in the Army at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., last year, he called one night to excitedly tell me that he found Schlitz in a bar just off post. It's interesting what unites families and generations, isn't it? - Mike Weigl, Addison ***My mother worked at a Schlitz distributor in Pewaukee while I was in grade school. One day she came home from work and shared a tongue twister she heard at work: "She sits and sips Schlitz." The next day I shared it with my classmates at Zion Elementary School, in the Town of Delafield, and was instructed by the teacher to never share vulgar language with classmates again. - Steve Secosh, Brookfield ***When I graduated from high school in 1967, I got my first job at Schlitz in the Engineering Department. I was the only female in a large department of engineers and my job was to file blueprints which were put into horizontal drawers. I had to climb up ladder which where 10 or so feet high. Also, at the time females could not wear pants or pantsuit to work. Needless to say, I only lasted about three months on that job....Now, 40 years later I am working in the same complex for Kaplan College, and from the first day I stepped on to the Schlitz Park grounds all the old memories came back. - Chris Ertl, Milwaukee ***When I was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas, many years ago, Falstaff beer was what everyone drank. Being from Milwaukee, of course I ordered Schlitz whenever I could. Not only did I get funny looks but I also had to pay a nickel more. It was well worth it, of course. Goes to show you what little those Texans knew. - Dean Filandrinos, Brookfield ***I was born in Milwaukee in 1953, and after WWII, my dad bought and opened a tavern on W. Vliet St. called the Park Bottle House. I distinctly remembered the Schlitz sign on the front of my dad's tavern. He opened up at 6 a.m., catering to Harley and Miller Brewing Co. workers, clearing his overhead by 10 a.m., with the rest of the day going to feed what would eventually become a family of seven kids. In 1957 he had enough money saved up to become the Schlitz distributor in Manitowoc, staying there for two years, then buying the Schlitz distributorship in Racine and running the business from 1959 until the early 1970s, when health problems and the decline of the Schlitz brand forced him to sell. Anyway, my memories of the old Schlitz beer were very fond. After working as a teenager loading trucks or cutting grass at Dad's warehouse on a hot summer day, there was nothing better than drinking a cold "Little Joe" 7-ounce in the beer cooler. It tasted great, and the thought of sneaking the beer before going home added to the pleasure. I loved that beer up until they started the "accelerated fermentation" that ruined the flavor and body. - Dan Donahue, Seattle
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