Overview
- Wisconsin Brewing Company will brew a one-time "Last Schlitz" in Verona starting in late May, with pre-orders and a taproom celebration planned.
- Pabst has stopped producing Schlitz this year, and Milwaukee bars are using remaining stock for farewell parties as supplies run out.
- Brewmaster Kirby Nelson says the send-off beer follows Schlitz brewhouse logs from 1948 to reflect the brand’s peak style.
- Nelson and industry sources point to steep volume declines and minimum batch rules at an Anheuser-Busch plant in Texas as the trigger for retirement.
- Founded in 1849 and once the nation’s top seller, Schlitz later came under Pabst’s ownership in 1999 with a 2008 classic-formula revival, which helps explain the deep local nostalgia at venues like Wolski’s Tavern and Milwaukee Brat House.