10 Once-Popular Beers That Are Nearly Impossible To Find Anymore
Beer has become an American staple for things like summer barbecues, but the world of beer brands can be vicious. A lot of beer has risen and fallen along the graph of success, hitting those rocky peaks of popularity before taking a nosedive and becoming difficult to find or dropping out of existence altogether. Some beers, despite hitting the skids, are still regarded as classics today. From the sweaty brows of industrious business owners over a hundred years ago came these giants among beers, fan favorites that are now, sadly, reduced to cult followings in most cases. Here is a list of some such beers that you can no longer find without doing a little digging.
Read more: We Tried 8 Budget Boxed Cabernet Sauvignon Wines: Here's How They Rank
Olympia Beer
Olympia Beer is what's known as an American adjunct lager, which means it's a fizzy, pale beverage with moderate alcohol by volume (ABV). This puts it in the same category as beers like Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Olympia was generally affordable, and some considered its quality to be well balanced with its low price point. Beginning its journey in Tumwater, Washington, Olympia Beer has always been recognizable by its stylish vintage-style can label, depicting scenes out of nature in colors of gold, silver, and bronze. These cans often featured the little tagline, "It's the water," implying that the sheer quality of its beverage was derived from the pristine brilliance of local water sources.
Olympia Beer is actually America's 26th oldest beer, hailing from way back in 1895, when it was created by a man named Leopold Schmidt in the form of the "Capital Brewing Company," which later became the "Olympia Brewing Company" in 1902, per Open Library. This business had quite a journey, changing hands a number of times until finally, it was purchased by the beer giant Pabst in 1980. Some cite the drink's eventual decline as beginning with the closing of the Tumwater brewery, which meant that the beer no longer benefitted from Tumwater's tasty natural well water. Due to its discontinuation, Olympia Beer is hard to get a hold of these days, but the company has at least issued a statement on Instagram about a potential return to Tumwater, saying that it "remain[s] hopeful that we can bring our beloved beer home someday."
Stag
Stag is the second American adjunct lager on this list, so it was another moderate ABV drink with low levels of bitterness. Fans have cited things like a nice grainy aroma and Stag's thin but lasting head as reasons they enjoyed it. It's been known to some as a solid beer with a simple, yet satisfying flavor profile. With a focus on strong hops, which can really influence the flavor of a beer, Stag advertised itself as a drink for the "confident and capable" with an eye toward appealing to American sports fans everywhere. The name brings to mind that proud beast of the forest, the deer, which is actually thanks to the winning idea of one customer who entered and won an early naming contest for the beverage. During Prohibition, Stag (as with all alcohol from law-abiding providers) was unavailable. But unlike other breweries, its maker, Western Brewing Company, recovered with alacrity when the ban ended.
At the height of its popularity, the beer was sold in 22 states around the U.S. It was even able to score a little collaboration with the creators of cartoon classic Mr. Magoo, famously running an ad in which the oblivious little man invades a library to enjoy a cold glass of his favorite drink. Stag is no longer a U.S. mainstay, but its hometown of Belleville harbors something of a cult following. There, you can expect a rich culture maintained by Stag-loving people who keep the memory of this time-honored beer alive and well, and for whom tradition is a proud part of their hometown's vibe.
Falls City Beer
Falls City Beer is what's known as a Czech or Bohemian pilsner, meaning it's got a toasted character of breaded malt with a dark color and a slightly sweet flavor hidden in the mix. In Falls City's favor, fans cite things like the beer's crisp finish, hoppy aroma, and easy drinkability. The beer got its start in 1905, when Kentuckian Ben Schrader formed a little coalition of grocers and local bar owners to fight Louisville's ongoing beer takeover by big beer corporations. It was the Falls City Brewery, and it was about to make history. Specifically, they were opposed to something called the Central Consumers Company, which they claimed was hogging all the local beer sales. In 1906, a year after Falls City hit the scene, brewmaster Otto Doerr joined the crew, and in 1908, Falls City acquired its very own bottling plant.
When the Prohibition struck, Falls City managed to hang on by selling soda and "near beer," which is a malt drink with less than .5% alcohol by volume (and, no, it's not a non-alcoholic beer). Falls City enjoyed many years of success, especially in the late 1940s, during which time it was distributing all this liquid gold to other states beyond Kentucky, including Ohio, Indiana, and the Virginias. Eventually, however, big beer corporations won out, and it was a sad day in 1978 when Falls City finally called it quits and shut down the business. Thankfully, Falls City was resurrected in 2010. This beer is still not as easy to find as it used to be though -- unless you're in Kentucky, that is.
Rhinelander Lager
Wisconsin's own Rhinelander lager was created by Otto Hilgermann in 1882. This was yet another American adjunct lager, so it was a crisp, clean drink that went heavy on the carbonation like so many modern beers sold in 12-packs today. Early on, the Rhinelander company had a pretty rough go of it: First, the brewery weathered a devastating fire, and then it had to close temporarily due to the Prohibition. It reopened in 1933, but to make that happen, Hilgermann had to reacquire the building and even the name of his company. And though he got the operation up and running again for decades to come, the Rhinelander Brewery was never able to seriously compete with other, larger companies that went national, leaving little guys like Rhinelander behind.
The company finally had to close in 1967 due to financial struggles. Rhinelander sold its assets, and these changed hands a few times, relocating and eventually landing back where it all began, in Rhinelander, with its own brewing facility and taproom. You may be familiar with Rhinelander's most popular product, the classic Rhinelander "Shorty," a cute little 7-ounce bottle of amber goodness which used to be so popular that there was a baseball team named after it: The Rhinelander Shorties. When discussing why they loved Rhinelander, some fans mentioned pleasant attributes like the Rhinelander's caramel nose or the hint of lemon in its lightly spicy hops profile. This is a beer that will be sorely missed for those who have trouble scoring it anymore.
Schlitz
Another golden, crisp, carbonated lager with malts on the thin side. Described by some as more bold and flavorful than the average lager, fans appreciate the older, more traditional flavors that Schlitz presents, and it is sometimes thought of as a "food beer" because of how well it pairs with meals. In its heyday, Schlitz was no small-town operation -- previously, it was locked in a heated battle with none other than Budweiser, the big bad of national beers. It even innovated the now-standard beer-in-a-can model. By 1902, Schlitz was the largest brewer in the world. It pushed through the Prohibition with malt syrup drinks and near beer, but even this admirable gusto would not save Schlitz from what was coming down the pipeline. There were a number of things that contributed to Schlitz's downfall, which some consider to be self-causing.
For one thing, in the 1970s, Schlitz went about cutting costs by replacing the beer's malted barley with corn syrup, which was apparently ruinous to its flavor. Following this, Schlitz ran a dubious ad campaign sometimes known as its "drink Schlitz or I'll kill you" period. Basically, the ads saw macho guys making kind of fun but threatening comments about what they would do to you in the event you try taking their Schlitz away. Consumers were not thrilled. But old companies can die hard, and Schlitz is still around today -- just not at the level of popularity it used to enjoy.
Lucky Lager
Why do bad things happen to good lagers? Lucky Lager was another fizzy, golden drink that declined too soon. Described by some fans as having things like a light green apple aroma and excellent hops, it was considered a solid beer for the price of something produced so cost-effectively and at such a high volume. Lucky strove to compete with its allegedly superior European competitors by using ads to emphasize the lager's brewing process and the quality of its ingredients. Lucky's iconic can brings back memories today with its simple, yet striking red X on a golden can, focusing on design rather than the name of the beer itself, which turned out to be a pretty successful recipe for brand identification.
Anymore, the rights to Lucky are held by Pabst, and Americans may have a tough time getting their hands on any of these lagers. One Redditor said of Lucky, "I doubt you are going to find that beer anywhere other than southern BC." But as of 2019, that's not true for those in San Leandro Bay, California. 21st Amendment Brewery has since begun brewing Lucky again, this time with a really cool new can design featuring a little paragraph of poetic language from poet laureate Ina Coolbirth.
Red Dog
The youngest beer on our list is also one of its most recognizable. Reg Dog's famous beet-red bulldog has no doubt flashed before your eyes some number of times with its placid expression and droopy jowls. The drink itself is a gold lager with what's described sometimes as a "medium finish." It's brewed with two different barley malts and five kinds of hops. It showed up in 1994, a product of Miller, and at least some of its success is attributed to its colorful label, which may have helped it stand out on shelves -- honestly, very strong branding. And the branding didn't stop there: Popular ads saw shots of bulldogs and background growling noises beneath a gruff narrator who describes "genuinely good beer" and tells the viewer that it's their own call whether to try Red Dog because "You are your own dog."
But the quality was not found in commercials alone -- Red Dog's brewing process was called "dry hopping," which means the hops were added to the beer later than normal during the brewing, which some regard as having a positive impact on the flavor. Despite what you may have heard, Red Dog isn't dead. There was a petition to reinstate it after an alleged "discontinuation," but this dog, while tough to come by sometimes, is still alive and kicking (a little more gently than it used to).
Jax Beer
Initially brewed by German-American beer pioneer William Ostner, Jax Beer was known as a light lager, which means that it was lighter than some of the other standard lagers on this list. The lightness is usually achieved by using things like corn or rice in the brewing process, and one notable result is a much lower level of hops. Jax has been known for its smooth taste, with some fans approving of its creamy head, mildly floral aroma, and light body with decent carbonation.
Back when it was a budding beer company, Jax did surprisingly well during The Great Depression -- to be fair, something called "The Great Depression" sounds like the ideal time for a beer. And no doubt it was helpful that Jax was cheaper than some of its competitors from Wisconsin and St. Louis. Over time, it became known as "The Drink of Friendship," thanks to one of its more popular advertising campaigns. Eventually, though, Jax declined, and making things a bit complicated, sold its copyright to the Jackson Brewing Company, a different business in New Orleans, Louisiana. Then this second group was bought out by the Pearl Brewing Company in Texas, where Jax is still made to this day -- you might have to head down to San Antonio to try it, though.
Ballantine IPA
Born out of a family of Scottish immigrants in 1890, Ballantine IPA was an American pale ale, which means it carries a stronger aroma and more powerful flavor than other styles of IPA. As with all IPAs, though, it was heavy on the hops, but some people are incredibly fond of the bitterness this creates in the flavor profile. Some fans fawned over Ballantine's aroma of resinous pine and the depth of its amber color. Over the years, Ballantine has been passed around from owner to new owner, eventually landing in the lap of Pabst, who discontinued the IPA in 1995.
Pabst can't seem to make up its mind, though: Ballantine IPA was brought back to life in 2014, where it was brewed in Cold Springs, Minnesota. Is it the same old IPA that fans remember? Some say there is now a hint of grapefruit to the taste, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your preferences. And is it available to buy now? Information is scarce, but it looks like it might have been discontinued again.
Schaefer Beer
Finally, we have one more American adjunct lager -- another golden classic, perfect for sipping cold as it fizzes and froths in a mug. Fans have loved Schaefer for its value pricing, making it the kind of "mow-your-lawn" beer to enjoy cold during a break in yard work on a hot summer day. One reviewer remarked on its exceptional appearance, calling it a "movie prop beer" after pouring it into a tall glass. Schaefer used to be known by its clever tagline, "The one beer to have when you're having more than one!"
But you know how these things go by now -- the copyright to Schaefer was eventually picked up in the early 1990s by (who else?) Pabst, and Schaefer Beer's popularity dwindled. Fortunately for New Yorkers, Schaefer made a fairly recent comeback in 2023, though it's now brewed only by F.X. Matt Brewery, located in upstate New York. The newer version comes in at a low 3.8% alcohol volume, which doubles down on the old slogan and makes it easy to pop more than one down the hatch in a sitting.
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