Rheingold

[Jason Perlow]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/199119p-171805c.html

After 30 years and one frosty fight with Mayor Bloomberg, Rheingold Beer will soon be brewing again in Brooklyn.

Company officials are set to announce a Brooklyn homecoming for the extra dry brew this morning at the Brooklyn Historical Society, capping another chapter in the beer's storied history.

[JerseyRED]

There was a time I was able to purchase Rheingold at the local Westwood, NJ A&P liquors.

Now I'm hearing that you would be lucky to find it in NYC.

Is this true? Has Rheingold faded away again? I couldn't find any news about Rheingold through Google and their website has a copyright date of 2005.

I know it's not the best of brews but I occasionally liked the retro, sweet taste of Rheingold on a hot summer's eve while clogging my arterys with buffalo wings.

Any info would be appreciated.

Rich

[jesskidden]

There was a time I was able to purchase Rheingold at the local Westwood, NJ A&P liquors.

Now I'm hearing that you would be lucky to find it in NYC.

Is this true? Has Rheingold faded away again?

←

Seems like Rheingold has been "reborn" several times by several different "entrepreneurs". While the idea probably sounds like a "sure thing" to someone outside of the brewing industry, ("Gee, look at all these wacky new beers on the market. They must be selling like hotcakes but I don't recognize any of these names. I bet an OLD famous brand would really take off!"), very few have survived and thrived.

It's been tried a number of times- currently Narragansett in NE, Champagne Velvet in IN, Reading in PA, Weidenmeyer in NJ, Huerich in DC (the beer’s since been renamed “Foggy Bottom”), etc. Failed attempts in NH with Frank Jones, Ortlieb’s in PA, Sheridan in MT (IIRC), etc. Maybe North Coast's Acme line is the exception but I don't really think Acme is being marketed to or bought by old Acme beer drinkers. The new Narrangansett's supposedly doing OK in New England but time will tell.

It seems to me that most of the old regional brewers lost their market and their loyal fans to the Big 5 (eventually the Big 3) long ago and that's a big part of WHY they went under in the first place. And most beer drinkers (both BMC-ers and the new micro fans) STILL love to redicule the little local and regionals, whether they still exist or not.

If you make a good, all malt pre-Prohibition "new" version of a beer, you'll certainly get a response of "that ain't what XXXXXX beer used to taste like!" from the old-timers (who've been drinking Miller Lite for the past two decades anyway). Make a typical "American industrial light lager" and...well, what's the point? (Besides learning that A-B has better advertising than some start-up outfit.) And that seems to be what this coming new version from Drinks America (marketer of Trump Vodka!) of Rheingold http://www.drinksamericas.com/brands/rhein.htm seems to be- less calories than Corona? Oh, boy....

A lot of the Rheingold promo material is not just "nostalgia" based, but nostalgia for the Miss Rheingold Contest, not even the beer itself. Take a look at the book "Great American Beers- 12 Brands That Became Icons"- the Rheingold chapter is mostly about the contest.

Now I'm in the minority of most of craft beer drinkers in that I still do miss *some* of those old beers- Rheingold on tap (rare in it's adopted home state of NJ by the 70's when I started getting into beer) WAS a lot richer and creamier than Bud (hey, I liked Schaefer draft, too <g>- 25 cents a glass- put down a dollar and you could get 2 glasses, play three games of pinball and still leave a quarter tip).

I remember walking into an "old man's bar" near Rutgers University in the early 70's, getting a lot of stares (long hair and all that...) but ignored them when I saw three tap handles- all Rheingold!- and broke out into a big grin. I could take or leave the bottles (well, the Chug-a-Mug was fun package) tho' I still have nostalgic feelings for Rheingold out of New Bedford MA that we bought in 16 oz. deposit bottles that came in plastic bag 6 packs, that we'd keep cool in the bay as we built a cabin in Maine one summer.

And the Rheingold brewed McSorley's was a real nice rare find on draft and was one of the best US ales when they finally started bottling it again in the 70's. (The current version owned by Pabst is nothing like the "real" thing.)

Edited February 23, 2007 by jesskidden (log)

[AzianBrewer]

What a waste of time...In addition to FX Matt's contract, Kelly Taylor of Greenpoint Beer Works (contract brewer for Heartland Brewery in NYC) was contracted to brew about 31,000 to 62,000 gallons back in 2004. It was a short lived experience.

[budrichard]

I can gaurantee that today's Rheingold will not be anything like the Rhiengold of yore! The ingrediants are not being raised as they were years ago and the actual brewing will be different. Probably this effort is being funded by Bud anyway. Beer is basically an agricultural product and farming along with brewing has changed. Wisconsin used to have many small breweries any of which would be considered much better than the crap being brewed today by the big brewers. They are all gone except for a few like Leine's or Point and none of them taste and have the body they had 40 years ago. None of them will come back. -Dick