Some of the best beer in the world was Budweiser… made exactly the same way in the same heavy dark-amber bottles in their Newark brewery. They came in special heavy cartons, and were supposedly unavailable beyond a certain (rather short) radius from the brewery, by ‘special order’ only; they were never subject to excessive heat or vibration; they were never more than about 6 weeks past what would later be termed the ‘born-on’ date. And yes, you had to get the empties back ASAP and the store would call you if you lallygagged.
When I was 9 my father would give me the ‘first sip’ from one of those heavy, cold bottles – it was a delight, and I wish they could still provide it.
I suspect the same problem characterized these as did the 20oz longneck returnable Cokes in Doylestown and the Mexican glass bottles for Glen Summit water – too much market on eBay compared to the deposit. Then there was all that cleaning and sanitizing.
When I couldn’t get Pabst, I drank Budweiser in those same heavy long neck bottles. It was fresh and pretty good compared to the Bud that was available in grocery stores. The long necks in the heavy carton was only available at a beer distributor. I stopped with the Bud when I started home brewing. I don’t home brew anymore as the styles I used to make are widely available now.
Some friends are very into collecting brewery memorabilia and it’s interesting how brewing and railroads kind of grew up together. One guy has a large lithograph of a long-gone Toronto brewery and it shows the tracks running through the place with little puffing 4-4-0 locos running around.
I handled a lot of those heavy cardboard beer cases (24 long necks) when I worked at a “party store” (a Michigan combination of a liquor store and a convenience store) in the 1960’s.
I will always think Macy’s made a mistake in dissolving some of the old department store titans that had deep cultural ties in their cities, like Field’s, Filene’s, Kaufmann’s, and Hecht’s
Don’t shed too many tears for Field’s. They pulled the same stunt when they purchased J. L. Hudson’s in Detroit. Also, it appeared around here that the biggest complainers about the disappearance of the Field’s brand were those who couldn’t afford to shop there in the first place.
Stroh’s gives me a headache, unfortunately, and not because of excessive consumption.
The brewery was a popular spot for “tours” by local college students, mostly for the free beer at the end of the tour.
Strohs also made ice cream. I worked at the concession stand at Camp Dearborn after graduation from high school. Handled a lot of those three gallon cans, and the girls certainly earned their pay scooping it out.
Ahh- the Michigan party stores! The best beer store in the whole world is the Main Street Party Store on Main street, (natch) in Ann Arbor. I have never seen such a selection anywhere in North America or Europe. What a place!
As a former men’s shoes and men’s suits and coats buyer for Fields in the late 1970s, it was sad when Macy’s dropped the name. But it really wasn’t Fields anymore for years after it was bought by Carter Hawley Hale and later by Dayton Hudson. Now they are closing the Water Tower Place store. Department stores have been dinosaurs for years and their extinction has been accelerated by online b7ying and then COVID.
In the early 1960’s, I was undergrad at Babson Institute (now collage) in Wellesley, Mass. and located just minutes away was the Carling Brewery (Canadian beer) in Natick which also offered tastings: very popular but also in those days was a nickel draft at a little pub in Newton Lower Falls, another favorite place for collage boys. This whole topic brings to mind Miller Beer and their fleet of refrigerated rail cars which was supposed to keep their beer cold and fresh throughout the land. Anyone know that piece of rail history?