The Rock is rolling along
Beer advocates are lamenting the departure of Rolling Rock Extra Pale lager from Latrobe, Pennsylvania. It marks the end of an era for the beer offered by one of the few breweries to survive the wrong-headed National Prohibition Act of 1919.
From 1939 until this week, Rolling Rock, or "Double R" or "Rock" as it is known regionally, was brewed at the Pennsylvania-based Latrobe Brewing Company. The brand, purchased by Labatt Breweries of Canada in 1987, then by the Belgian brewing conglomerate InBev SA in 1995, was recently purchased in May by brewery titan Anheuser-Busch. When you say Mud, you've said it all.
This last transaction was the beginning of the end for Rolling Rock in little Latrobe, Pennsylvania because the brewery was not included in the deal. Anheuser-Busch, citing "quality control" (company-speak for cost effectiveness - always follow the money), is moving Rolling Rock operations to New Jersey in August.
A glimmer of hope
However, all may not be lost for the skilled but unemployed brewery workers in the city of 9,000 because InBev is negotiating with Wisconsin-based City Brewing Company (DBA City Brewery) for sale of the facility. If the deal is concluded, City Brewery plans to produce other brands in Latrobe. If not, Latrobe might go the way of so many other failed northeastern towns that absorbed one too many economic body blows.
"But B2, B2, what 'other brands' will be produced by City Brewery" you ask, overtaxed brain cells dying by the millions and brow furrowed like a corn field at planting time. C'est simple, vous les paysans! In addition to several macro brew brands, City Brewery also markets beverages such as Arizona Tea and Mike's Hard Lemonade.
Double R fans love the taste
But hold on a moment ... what about Rolling Rock beer? Where I was raised, just about every Upstater of legal age (more often younger) was weaned on Double Rs. Not an earth-shattering brew to be sure, but decent. Some of my friends used to complain about the "cabbage" flavor, but of course some of my friends complained about everything (Our buddy Bobby H. once complained to our grade school principal that we shouldn't have summer recess because he liked class so much -- we beat him up for that.).
Nevertheless, that particular taste is caused by DMS (dimethyl sulfide), a characteristic of some bottom-fermenting yeasts, and Rolling Rock was intentionally made to reflect that taste. Not everyone liked it, but its distinctive flavor stood out among our other bland, too-clean American lagers. Sure, lager is a light-bodied beer but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't possess flavor.
33 theories about the "33"
You Rock aficionados out there (and you know who you are) may already be waxing nostalgically over the potential demise of the beer's distinctive green bottle, white horse head logo, and enigmatic "33" label mark. And why the 33, for crying out loud?
Some say the 33 signifies the thirty-three words in the brew's slogan, which are: "Rolling Rock from the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you." Others contend it commemorates 1933, the year Prohibition was repealed, or perhaps ...
What am I doing? It is pathetic that we humans can be so simpleminded, pathetic because quirky marketing idiosyncrasies such as this tend to promote consumer loyalty. And tend to make me squander perfectly good white space writing about them. But I still like the beer, perhaps as much for the memories as the taste. Oftentimes it's the little things in your life that infuse it with, if not permanence, then at least a small measure of stability.
It's only beer after all, but it bothers me that we are losing another link in the chain.