Talking about beer
So Anheuser-Busch, manufacturer of some of the nation's most execrable beers, is buying Rolling Rock. Worse, they plan to move production of the beer in the little green bottles from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, to one of its breweries in New Jersey. They will likely put the Latrobe Brewing Co. up for sale, but if there are no takers, a lot of people in Latrobe will lose their jobs.
I have a love-hate relationship with American beer. I love some of it and hate a lot of it. When I was in college in Michigan, the bar most popular with students served Schlitz and Budweiser. I drank the latter most of the time, both in Skiles Tavern and when we bought beer at Columbia One-Stop, the drinking age having been lowered to 18 in 1972. If we were poor, we drank Old Milwaukee, which was the worst one of all but was really, really cheap. Bud is slightly better than Schlitz, but all three are pallid, watery imitations of what beer ought to taste like. Most of the beer I buy to drink at home is foreign. Canadian, Mexican, German, Irish. Tour the world with beer.
So it is with some trepidation that I view the acquisition of Rolling Rock by the maker of Budweiser. I'm sure Anheuser-Busch would tell you that Rolling Rock will taste the same whether it is brewed in Latrobe or New Jersey. I don't believe that. Beer isn't as tied to the local soil and climate as wine is, but I think the water used in the brewing plays a part. I originally wrote that Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville won't allow anyone else to brew their Lagers, but have since been advised by Sara Bozich that they own a second brewery in Tampa, Florida. I hadn't been aware of that, but I'll bet true afficionados can tell the difference between the Pottsville and Tampa brews. And in any case, you still have the family supervising production.Maybe beer just seems to taste better because you know it was brewed in a specific place by people devoted to turning out a good product.
As for Latrobe, it might look to the example of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, former home of the G. Heileman Brewing Co. Some of my relatives worked there, and one was president of the union in the 1930s and 1940s. A number of years ago, G. Heileman was sold to some Texas company, which kept the brand names and allegedly the recipes but moved brewing elsewhere. After a few years, some of the former managers at the brewery in LaCrosse bought the facilities and brought them back to live as City Brewing Co. Still, the employment numbers aren't nearly what they were in the G. Heileman days.
Pennsylvania's economic development folks ought to do more to keep the state's distinctive products here. Local products, just like local restaurants, make a city or state stand out. Last summer, we visited friends in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nice city, but almost nothing but chain restaurants, the same ones you find everywhere. Olive Garden, Red Lobster, the usual list. Life gets blah without local.