1977 Schlitz Beer Sign Acquisition

My latest acquisition is this vintage plastic 1977 Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. hanging lighted beer sign. It has a stained glass look (but is plastic) that is beautiful when plugged in. And it works!



My aunt lives in Apple Valley, California and she recently put her home up for sale following the passing last year of my uncle. She had the sign in her covered patio and gave it to me.

According to Wikipedia:

In Milwaukee, [Joseph] Schlitz was hired as a bookkeeper in a tavern brewery owned by August Krug. In 1856, he took over management of the brewery following the death of Krug. Two years later he married Krug's widow and changed the name of the brewery to the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co.

The company began to succeed after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when Schlitz donated thousands of barrels of beer to that city, which had lost most of its breweries. He quickly opened a distribution point there, beginning a national expansion. Schlitz built dozens of tied houses in Chicago, most with a concrete relief of the company logo embedded in the brickwork; several of these buildings survive today, including Schuba's Tavern at the corner of Belmont and Southport.

Schlitz died May 7, 1875, when on a return visit to Germany; his ship hit a rock near Land's End, Cornwall, and sank.

The company flourished through the 1970s, being ranked as the No. 2 brewery in America as late as 1976. But problems with its production, specifically its attempt to cut costs in the brewing process by using a high-temperature fermentation, which produced a product that the public deemed inferior, combined with a crippling 1981 strike by workers at the Milwaukee plant, led to serious financial difficulties. On June 10, 1982, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. was acquired by Stroh Brewery Company of Detroit, Michigan. The regular beer is still produced, though in relatively small quantities, by the Pabst Brewing Company, along with four malt liquors (Schlitz Malt Liquor, Schlitz Red Bull, Schlitz Bull Ice and Schlitz Very Smooth Lager).

Schlitz reintroduced the original 1960s formula, along with a new television advertising campaign in 2008, relaunching it in Chicago, Florida, Boston, Minneapolis-Saint Paul and more recently Milwaukee and New York. The beer has also become available in Ontario, Canada brewed by Stroh's Brewing, a subsidiary of Sleeman Breweries. On October 1, 2008 the original Schlitz was introduced into liquor stores and taverns in Madison, WI.

I checked eBay and found this sign listed with a "buy it now" price of $74.99.