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Old Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery in Chicago

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, January 11, 2021 10:13 PM

rdamon
There is a bagel restaurant called Brooklyn Water Bagel who claims to be able to create the same type of water found in NY.

They're just doing what the Sparklett's Water people did decades ago: adjusting the proportions of the various salts and other trace minerals in the water.  In the Brooklyn case they're matching an analysis of the Catskill water that comes down the aqueducts from upstate.  Sparklett's was cagier: they figured out what combination gave the best taste at 'water cooler' temperature, then set their proprietary coolers to that temperature...

Doesn't quite come up to to Glen Summit Springs water, but it is the next best thing...    

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Posted by rdamon on Monday, January 11, 2021 6:49 PM

There is a bagel restaurant called Brooklyn Water Bagel who claims to be able to create the same type of water found in NY.

https://www.brooklynwaterbagel.com/about/ 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Monday, January 11, 2021 5:17 PM

tree68
I've heard that some soda/pop/etc manufacturers actually tune their product to local tastes.

There may be something to that.  Years back on a trip to Maine the wife and were having our daily "fix" of Coca-Cola (I'm being careful here and spelling it out!) and noticed a difference in the taste from the product in New Jersey. The Maine stuff had a bit more "snap" to the flavor and texture, if you follow my meaning, and was slightly less sweet.  Good stuff though! 

I tried "Moxie" while I was up there too.  Don't ask. 

Well, you can if you want to, I'm over it now. 

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Monday, January 11, 2021 3:01 PM

MP173

This doesnt relate to PBR, but I read a book on AB a few years ago in which Busch family members could tell from the taste which brewery location the beer was brewed at.  There were slight differences in the water quality from different locations and a Busch family member, if involved in the business could tell the difference.

 

Ed

 

And then there were the racy stories involving Harry Caray and the Busch family!

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, January 11, 2021 10:48 AM

MP173

This doesnt relate to PBR, but I read a book on AB a few years ago in which Busch family members could tell from the taste which brewery location the beer was brewed at.  There were slight differences in the water quality from different locations and a Busch family member, if involved in the business could tell the difference.

I've heard that some soda/pop/etc manufacturers actually tune their product to local tastes.  But I'm sure that water also causes differences there.  Any Coke bottle collector can attest to the fact that Coke (like most others) was bottled in small local factories for many years.  

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Posted by MP173 on Monday, January 11, 2021 10:42 AM

This doesnt relate to PBR, but I read a book on AB a few years ago in which Busch family members could tell from the taste which brewery location the beer was brewed at.  There were slight differences in the water quality from different locations and a Busch family member, if involved in the business could tell the difference.

 

Ed

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Posted by 54light15 on Monday, January 11, 2021 9:02 AM

When I was in London, U.K. I would buy at the corner off-license Guinness Foreign Extra Stout brewed in Nigeria. 7.5% alcohol. Great stuff! The Guinness we buy here in Ontario is made in New Brunswick.  

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, January 11, 2021 8:32 AM

Backshop
The Guinness tastes different, and better, in Ireland.

And a 'different' different and better in Australia.

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Posted by Backshop on Monday, January 11, 2021 8:12 AM

The Guinness tastes different, and better, in Ireland.

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, January 10, 2021 11:27 PM

CSSHEGEWISCH
Also consider the specialized tank cars used by Adolph Coors to ship its weak beer to other parts of the country.

My understanding was that the tank cars transported wort; the finished beer -- such as it was -- was carried as bottled or canned.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Sunday, January 10, 2021 10:04 AM

Also consider the specialized tank cars used by Adolph Coors to ship its weak beer to other parts of the country.

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Posted by northeaster on Saturday, January 9, 2021 7:04 PM

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?

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 8:02 PM

But not the brothers of Alpha Smegma Omaha.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 7:42 PM

Sister of TKE and DKE.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 5:31 PM

Gramp

All those studious Wolverines, lol. 

 

Makes me think of the only frat I ever considered joining:

Tappa Kegga Brew.  

Ever hear of it?  Wink

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 4:40 PM

Gramp

Still, always loved the Walnut Room in the Loop store. So many great memories. 

 

Yes.  I think that is still operating though not in the same way as 40 years ago. 

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Posted by Gramp on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 4:16 PM

Still, always loved the Walnut Room in the Loop store. So many great memories. 

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 4:04 PM

CSSHEGEWISCH

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.

 

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. 

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Posted by Gramp on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 2:51 PM

All those studious Wolverines, lol. 

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Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 2:40 PM

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! 

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 2:20 PM

charlie hebdo
Some fond memories of Strohs!

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.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 1:54 PM

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.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 1:02 PM

NittanyLion
 
Overmod

Every so often, you see companies killing off a core brand or identity for some reason or other.  Burger King essentially killed Carroll's and Wetson's -- not that there was too much actual long-term loss there -- to expand its core business brand.  New Coke (and Arch Deluxe etc at McDonalds) are examples where this failed in spades; Datsun is one that ... eventually ... had the desired effect.  (On the other side of one of the most colossally overpriced ridiculous agency campaigns -- remember 'Built for the Human Race"?  I sure do...) 

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

Agree whole heartedly!  And in the world of Covid they are paying for it.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by NittanyLion on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 12:30 PM

Overmod

Every so often, you see companies killing off a core brand or identity for some reason or other.  Burger King essentially killed Carroll's and Wetson's -- not that there was too much actual long-term loss there -- to expand its core business brand.  New Coke (and Arch Deluxe etc at McDonalds) are examples where this failed in spades; Datsun is one that ... eventually ... had the desired effect.  (On the other side of one of the most colossally overpriced ridiculous agency campaigns -- remember 'Built for the Human Race"?  I sure do...)

 

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

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 10:25 AM

tree68

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.  

And we sold a lot of beer by the case. 

 

Ah yes,  those Michigan party stores.  Some fond memories of Strohs!!

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 9:52 AM

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.  

And we sold a lot of beer by the case. 

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Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 9:27 AM

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. 

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 10:51 PM

54light15
40 years ago I drank PBR in long-neck 16 oz. bar bottles that came in a heavy brown carton. It was cheap and fresh from a brewery in Newark, N.J. and it tasted a lot better than the PBR you could buy in a 7-11.

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.  

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 10:03 PM

Grab It Here... "Where ma saves pa's dough"   Presumably this grocery chain js now either defunct or changed the name and slogan. 

Pick n Save.  Shrunk in numbers,  but still exists in Milwaukee,  I believe.

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