A “flight of beer” used to mean the trajectory a cold one took when it was tossed from the fridge to an outstretched hand nearby, while a sour-tasting beer was most likely defective, and hazy was how you might feel after drinking, not what was inside a can. The rise of craft beer into the mainstream has changed a lot more than just terminology, encouraging brewmasters to attempt new brewing techniques with unique flavor combinations, altering the expectations of both beer fanatics and the average consumer. Additionally, fewer young people are drinking beer overall, and many have less money to spend on beer, which has led to some former favorites falling in popularity.
Beer lovers these days can buy everything from IPAs brewed with exotic hops to limited edition runs from the local grocery store. So what is to become of the old-school beer that used to fill up fridges, line the shelves in convenience stores, and fill up barrels in dive bars? Craft beer isn’t the only culprit for crushable classics falling by the wayside either. Let’s take a closer look at what caused big-name breweries to slow down the production of and, in some cases, “can” household favorites completely.
Read more: Bartenders Chime In On 12 Drink Orders That Ring Alarm Bells
Michelob Original Lager Beer
Two men enjoying Michelo Original Lager Beer outside – Louisiana Beer Reviews/Youtube
When Adolphus Busch and Eberhard Anheuser started brewing beer in St. Louis, Missouri in the late 1850s, they could not have comprehended the beer behemoth Anheuser-Busch would go on to become. The brewer’s meteoric rise is thanks, in part, to Michelob Original Lager Beer. This smooth and malty beer hit the market in 1896, starting life as an expensive draft beer for connoisseurs before going more mainstream when the brewery perfected a pasteurization process in 1961 and started bottling the brew. However, this process meant changing the all-malt recipe to include rice, leaving a bitter taste in some beer fanatics’ mouths.
Following a steep rise in popularity in the 1960s and ’70s, Michelob Original Lager Beer’s popularity declined in the ’80s due to an influx of imported beer and the growing popularity of lighter beers. Anheuser-Busch introduced Michelob Ultra in 2002, touted as a beer for people following the then-popular Atkins Diet with the tagline: “Lose the carbs. Not the taste.” The focus of Anheuser-Busch shifted to Michelob Ultra, and although Michelob Original Lager Beer remains available today, it’s no longer as popular among beer enthusiasts or casual consumers.
Craft beer has brought new eyes to traditional lager brewing techniques, highlighting all-malt recipes like the early days of Michelob Original Lager Beer, which has left some beer lovers wondering why they don’t bring it back in its original form.
Budweiser
Two people clinking beer cans – Mehaniq/Shutterstock
Developed 20 years before Michelob in 1875, Budweiser was Anheuser Busch’s first mainstream beer, an American-style pale lager. The “King of Beers” was America’s best-selling beer up until prohibition in 1919, then became the go-to beer when prohibition ended in 1933. By the 1950s, Budweiser was once again the best-selling beer in the country, where it remained for decades, thanks to its clever advertising campaigns in the ’90s.
However, Budweiser is no longer the King of Beers, according to former loyal Bud drinkers, and ironically, for a brand synonymous with incredible advertising campaigns, this is partly down to an advertising misstep. In 2023, Bud Light partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a promotional advertisement, creating a storm that has left Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch reeling ever since. Anson Frericks, a former employee of AB InBev, who owns Budweiser, explains in “Last Call for Bud Light: The Fall and Future of America’s Favorite Beer” that “Dylan was sponsoring a March Madness competition with apparently no knowledge of what March Madness actually is. Authenticity was lacking. So was logic.”
Bud Light’s partnership with Mulvaney led to a massive drop in sales for Bud Light and Budweiser alike. While it remains one of the best-selling beers, fewer people are drinking, and the craft beer movement is attracting many younger drinkers, which makes it hard to see how another clever ad campaign can return Budweiser to the top of the tree.
Schlitz Beer
Schlitz Park sign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Photo Spirit/Shutterstock
Budweiser isn’t the only beer that has fallen foul of poor advertising strategy. Schlitz, another American-style lager, was brewed at a brewery that was the biggest in the U.S. for most of the first half of the 20th century and was once one of the country’s most popular beers. The beer was so big it debuted a Super Bowl advertisement in 1969, informing viewers that “when you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer.” However, this wasn’t the ad that proved fatal for the Milwaukee beer born during the golden era of Wisconsin brewing. The “Drink Schlitz or We’ll Kill You” commercials highlighted a variety of Schlitz drinkers who would murder you if you took their beer away.
The misjudged advertising campaign came after many former Schlitz drinkers had already switched loyalties thanks to a money-saving measure in the early 1970s that led to a recipe change, including hops to hop pellets and malted barley instead of corn syrup. Unsurprisingly, Schlitz stalwarts could taste the difference.
Schlitz was once a big name in the beer industry. Teddy Roosevelt was even pictured drinking it back in 1909 after hunting, but the mighty Milwaukee mainstay fell rapidly after the 1970s slips. Ultimately, Schlitz accepted an offer of around $500 million to rival brewery Stroh’s (more on them later) in 1982. Nowadays, you can still find Schlitz if you look hard enough, but it’s hardly the household name it once was, perhaps more famous now for the company’s blunders than the beer itself.
Anchor Steam
Anchor Steam Beer on a table with cake and wine – ZikG/Shutterstock
First brewed in San Francisco at the Anchor Brewing Company during the Gold Rush era, Anchor Steam is a steam beer, also known as California common beer. The name is said to come from the process of making the beer, which didn’t require refrigeration as it wasn’t available at the time. Instead, beer was transported to the roof of the brewery, where it could cool down during the beer making process. Remarkably, the process remained unchanged until 1965, when Fritz Maytag, one of the founding fathers of the craft beer movement, updated it. He also offered tours of his brewery to local craft beer makers who were interested in promoting the local beer movement.
For many, Anchor Steam ranks up there with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Sam Adams Boston Lager as one of the truly iconic craft beers. So, how did the once-iconic brewery end up shutting down for good in 2023? The impact of an ill-fated takeover by Japanese beer giant Sapporo in 2017, the COVID-19 pandemic, and too much competition are the main reasons.
Anchor Steam lovers rejoiced last year when the billionaire owner of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, purchased the company. Sadly, the brewery remains dormant, and people are starting to lose hope that “America’s oldest craft brewery” will ever reopen its doors.
Miller Genuine Draft
Three ice cold Miller Genuine Draft bottles – Monticelllo/Getty Images
Frederick Miller was another major player in the golden era of Milwaukee brewing. Miller Brewing Company started with lagers in 1855 before the release of Miller High Life in 1903, the “Champagne of Beers” that put the brewery on the map. Miller Lite joined the party in 1970s, followed by Miller Genuine Draft, or MGD, in the mid-1980s, both beers contributing to picking up the slack left by slowing sales of High Life. MGD was marketed as a bottled beer that tastes like a draft beer thanks to the cold-filtered process without pasteurization.
Unfortunately, modern tastes and a move towards craft beer have led to a decline in MGD sales since its heyday in the ’90s, resulting in the closure of the original Miller Genuine Draft plant in 2015. Despite Miller’s best efforts to rescue MGD with a rebrand in 2021, consumers are voting with their wallets, and sales keep falling. According to a 2025 report by Coffeeness, Miller Brewing Company is the most searched-for brewery online in 30 of the 50 states, so the historic brewery must still be doing something right, even if it has nothing to do with Miller Genuine Draft.
Fuller’s ESB
A closeup of a bottle of Fuller’s ESB on a table outside – Bogac Erkan/Shutterstock
Extra Special Bitter, or ESB, is a much-loved brew that originates from Fuller’s brewery in Chiswick, London. Fuller’s ESB was first brewed in 1971 and became one of two exported by the brewery to the U.S. alongside London Pride. The ESB style, defined by its smooth taste, combined with maltiness and hoppiness, has been adopted by craft breweries in both England and the United States, so when you see an English-style ale on the menu of your local taproom, Fuller’s can take some of the credit. Fuller’s ESB even won gold at the World Beer Cup in Seattle in the early 2000s and remains an iconic choice for beer aficionados.
However, in most places, you won’t be able to find Fuller’s ESB on the draft list or even in bottles at the grocery store like you could in the 1980s and ’90s. While it helped launch the ESB category of the craft beer scene, it is nowhere near as popular as it once was. This sharp decline is most likely because the style is being replicated by smaller breweries that offer similar options on draft.
Schaefer Beer
Old-school image of frosty glasses of Schaefer Beer – Schaefer/Facebook
Schaefer Beer, a crisp American lager, was first brewed in New York City in 1842. After more than half a century of successful brewing, the company moved its brewing operations to Brooklyn in 1916. Schaefer went on to enjoy even more success, sponsoring the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s and the New York Mets from 1974-79, and being one of the main beer vendors at the New York World Fair from 1964-65. New York’s best-loved beer quickly became one of the best-selling beers in the country with the marketing slogan: “The One Beer to Have When You’re Having More Than One!”
However, Schaeffer fell on hard times in the ’70s, and no sports sponsorship was going to save the company from a sudden fall from grace. One of the main reasons Schaefer’s sales took a nosedive was the dominance of the big breweries like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Schlitz, who had more money for advertising and utilizing modern brewing techniques to offer more varieties of beer to customers more quickly. The Brooklyn brewery closed its doors for good in 1976, and Stroh Brewing Company bought Schaefer in 1981. In 1999, Pabst purchased Stroh Brewing Company, and Schaeffer’s production dropped significantly.
After a hiatus, Pabst relaunched Schaefer with a new light recipe in 2020 and started brewing it in New York State again, but the rebrand of Schaeffer hasn’t yet succeeded in returning the beer to the heights it reached in the mid-20th century.
Milwaukee’s Best Premium
Milwaukee’s Best Premium 15-pack – Harris Teeter
The A. Gettelman’s Brewery started brewing Gettelman’s Milwaukee’s Best Premium in the “Brewing Capital of the World” in 1895. Yet another American-style lager to come out of Milwaukee, this light tipple was an immediate hit and helped solidify A. Gettelman’s Brewery as one of Milwaukee’s major five breweries.” The brewery was taken over by its bigger neighbor, Miller, in 1961, which changed the name of its best selling beer to Milwaukee’s Best Premium. From here, the highly drinkable beer became a firm favorite in the decades that followed for its drinkability and had a resurgence in popularity in the early 2000s after winning multiple awards at the Great American Beer Festival around this time.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as smoothly for the beer as it tasted. Miller not only tried to rename the brand Milwaukee Best Lager (before hastily switching it back), but it also attempted to boost its sales by offering a 15-pack version. Unfortunately for fans of this once beloved brew, Miller discontinued Milwaukee’s Best Premium, along with 10 other economy brands, in 2021. However, the Ice and Light versions of Milwaukee’s Best are still available.
Stag Beer
Old-fashioned Stag Light and Schlitz beer on a shelf – Danny Dragan/Shutterstock
Named by a competition-winner, Stag Beer started life as a special Christmas brew in 1907. The American-style lager is an easy-drinking 4.6% ABV and was so popular that Western Brewing Company decided to make it available year-round. It soon became the Illinois-based brewery’s best-selling beer. At its peak, Stag was available in 22 states, and the Western Brewing Company was churning out 1.5 million barrels of it a year.
Stag is yet another classic American beer that fell foul of a rebrand. Western Brewing Company ceased operations in August 1988, leading to a Pabst buyout of the Stag Beer brand in the early 2000s. Pabst ditched the classic golden stag design in 2019 for a more modern and edgy-looking stag. The famous golden Stag, which had been on cans and bottles since the centenary of Western Brewing Company in 1951, along with the misleading motto “Golden Quality Since 1851,” was reintroduced by Pabst in 2022, but many loyal Stag drinkers were already over Pabst’s antics by this point. Stag Beer is still relatively popular in the Midwest, especially in Belleville, Illinois, the former home of the Western Brewing Company. However, the logo change, shifts in beer drinkers’ preferences, and increased competition have led to a significant drop in Stag sales in recent years elsewhere. Perhaps, like one Stag lover in southeastern Missouri, people could try spicing their next Stag up by adding a pickle spear.
Stroh’s
A can of Stroh’s outside in a garden – John James/Facebook
Stroh’s was the brainchild of a brewer named Bernard Stroh, who moved to Detroit after studying the art of brewing in his homeland of Germany. The company began brewing Stroh’s Beer, originally a bohemian-style lager, in 1850 and managed to survive prohibition by pivoting to non-alcoholic beer, which gave it the upper hand over other breweries in the area that had to ramp up operations from scratch after prohibition in 1933. From this point, Stroh’s grew and grew, eventually making its way into the top three American breweries by the 1980s.
Stroh’s fall was just as epic as its rise, it just happened much faster. In an attempt to ride the waves of Stroh’s success in the 1980s, John Stroh, the CEO at the time, risked the business by purchasing the struggling Joseph Schlitz Brewing of Milwaukee. (And we already know what happened to Schlitz.) This decision meant the company had no money to pump into a light beer, the in-vogue beer of the time, and lost out to its bigger rivals. The struggling company attempted to sell to Coors in 1989, but the sale fell through. A decade later, it sold to Miller and Pabst, with the sale money mainly going to pay off debts. The Stroh’s brewing operations returned to Detroit in 2016, but this homecoming hasn’t led to too big of a bump in sales, and the beer remains a nostalgic throwback, topping lists for Michigan’s favorite “trashy beer” rather than being the market leader it once was.
Carling Black Label
A Carling coaster on a black background – DenisMArt/Shutterstock
Carling Black Label was once one of Canada’s biggest beer exports to the U.S. After success across Canada, the brewery entered the U.S. market in 1898, and it flourished, like many of the breweries on our list, after prohibition. Made using Canadian barley malts and selected aroma and bittering hops, the highly drinkable lager hit the spot for consumers across the United States. A partnership with struggling auto manufacturer Peerless Motor Car Company that involved converting an auto factory into a brewery meant Carling could brew beer in the U.S. for relatively low costs. By 1957, Carling was the sixth biggest brewer in the U.S., selling 3,000,000 barrels a year at the time.
The level of competition from larger brewing companies led to Carling cutting costs, which ate into profits and ultimately led to the American division of the company being sold. The company changed hands several times in the decades that followed, including to Stroh’s Brewing Company in 1994, which, as you may have guessed, signaled the beginning of the end for Carling’s time at the top. Carling Black Label, now just Carling, remains a big name in the U.K. beer scene, but it’s no longer a big player in America and is pretty challenging to find in most states these days.
Olympia Beer
An old-fashioned Olympia Beer sign with the slogan “It’s the Water” – Tony Varni/Facebook
German brewmaster Leopold F. Schmidt founded Capital Brewing Company at the base of Tumwater Falls in Washington State in 1896. The company rebranded in 1902 and became Olympia Brewing Company, introducing the famous slogan “It’s the Water” at this time, too. This sweet-tasting light lager quickly became synonymous with Pacific Northwest brewing.
The success of the beer wasn’t enough to keep the brewery safe when one of the big boys came knocking, like many other mid-level breweries with regionally-loved beers, and Pabst purchased Olympia in 1983. The production of Olympia Beer was moved to California in 2003, leaving a large empty brewery on the Deschutes River in Tumwater, questions about whether or not the water actually matters, and an abandoned dream along with it. Pabst decided to finally stop production of Olympia Beer in 2021, citing a slowing down of sales. People who miss this old-school beer can head to Great Western Brewing of Saskatchewan, which still produces the brew and distributes it in Canada.
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