Remembering those classic beer ads on TV brings back memories of yesterday, when there were no huge beer wars, and companies weren’t trying to buy out every craft brewery they thought was a threat.

Times have changed, for better or for worse, but the fact remains that the beer industry is not going anywhere and you will always be able to find a new beer to fall in love with.

About Schaefer Beer (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Schaefer Beer is a brand of American beer first produced in New York City during 1842 by the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company.^[1] The company relocated to Brooklyn in the early 20th century. It went public in 1968 with a $106 million stock offering.^[1]

In order to expand capacity for regional sales and fend off competition from national brands Schaefer began construction of a large modern brewery in Allentown, Pennsylvania that same year. Known as the Lehigh Valley Plant it opened in 1972.^[1] In 1974 it was expanded from its original 1,100,000 barrels-per-year capacity to 2,500,000 and then, in 1975, it expanded again to 5,000,000 barrels plus.^[2]

In the mid-1970s, Schaefer Beer was one of the top selling beers in the U.S., ranking as high as fifth in both the 1950 and 1970 rankings.^[3] Though it was producing more than twice as much beer in 1970 the gap between it and the top national brands was dramatically widening. Recognizing the handwriting on the wall, the Schaefer family sold out to the Stroh Brewery Company in 1981.

Stroh’s then took over the Allentown plant in its own bid for national market share. It operated the plant until absorbed by Pabst Brewing Company in 1999. When Pabst opted to become a “virtual brewer” it sold the plant to Diageo just two years later.^[4] In 2008 Diageo sold it to the Boston Brewing Company, brewer of Samuel Adams beer.

Pabst retained the license to Schaefer and today outsources a reformulated brew it labels “Schaefer” and sells in niche markets in the United States.^[5]