Save Our Schlitz
Like many of you, I'm annoyed that Schlitz is being shuttered. I’m further annoyed media are not asking critical questions of the company that currently owns the brand and why this is a necessary action, everybody just seems to be accepting it as if this is a fact of life/American capitalism. I don’t think that’s just or fair and as I posted a few days ago in my first comment from this username, my initial instinct was the following…
“Do we really have to accept a West Coast private equity equity holdings company (Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings/Partners) killing off an absolutely iconic Milwaukee brand with little fanfare? Much like sports teams are met with pushback for attempting to move and fans rally around to save them, I think a Save Our Schlitz campaign to pressure them to sell to a local brewer like Wisconsin Brewing Co (who is brewing the final batch) makes a ton of sense. There is clearly still a local market for Schlitz even if the PE company running them now doesn't want to do the work to push the beer nationally.”
After a few days of sitting on it, I still feel this strongly. Some cool fellow Milwaukeeans responded to that comment with good thoughts/ideas to offer…
“This kind of can-do, grassroots spirit is what gave birth so many of these iconic brands in the first place. PE is cancer.”
“Wisconsin Brewing should continue the 1948 formula under a name like Schlatz if they can’t use the name”
“Could probably go with something like "Milwaukee Fame" or a send up name. I've seen that done like Lakefront has a St. Paddy's day not-Guinness called snake chaser. “
Seeing those comments (along with fandom elsewhere on the internet) gave me reassurance that I’m far from alone in loving this beer and its rich history, so now I wanted to follow-up and start a thread to see if we can push a Save Our Schlitz campaign even further. If you have ideas, please chime in here. For example, one early idea I have is an email campaign to those associated with Blue Ribbon Partners (I’ve done some early research on names/emails here) requesting as civilly as possible that they put the brand up for sale at a reasonable price to Wisconsin brewers. Whatever your ideas may be, let’s not allow them to kill the brand that Made Milwaukee Famous without pushback.