When Schlitz Went to Schitz
The beer that made Milwaukee famous never recovered from its cost-cutting moves in the 1970s
“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til its gone.” – Joni Mitchell
Quick question for anyone bemoaning the demise of Schlitz: Why didn’t you drink it?
The last rounds of “the beer that made Milwaukee famous” began pouring over the holiday weekend with at least some people trying to give it a dignified send off.
The 177-year-old label once adorned the top-selling beer in America – a status it lost to an executive blunder from which it never recovered.
In 1976, Robert Uihlein Jr. decided to reformulate the beer his great‐great uncle August Krug began selling in 1849.
He’d taken the helm in 1961 as a fourth-generation heir to the brewing giant. He came armed with a Harvard education, the approval of Milwaukee’s civic society, and a drive for modern corporate efficiency.
Uihlein shortened aging times, accelerated fermentation, replaced ingredients and used more stabilizers. One of them was called “Chill-Garde” and it gave the beer a consistency that some customers described as “slime” and even worse, “snot.”
The move would become a business school case study on what not to do – a disaster on par with New Coke. But Uihlein didn’t live long enough to turn the tide like Coca-Cola. He died of leukemia at age 60 and Chill-Garde might as well have been his epitaph.
The brewer carried on with his legacy, pushing back against critics, insisting the slimy flakes floating in their glasses were not a problem. But soon Schlitz secretly recalled millions of bottles and did not address the fiasco publicly.
Too bad its customers had taste buds.
When you’re out of Schlitz … there’s always Budweiser.
Sales went into a tailspin as competitors guzzled market share. Schlitz doubled down on its folly, famously launching what marketing history records as the “Drink Schlitz, or I’ll kill you” campaign.
The ads featured tough guys, including a boxer and a wilderness man. Asked to switch beers, they glared menacingly into the camera: “You want to take away my gusto?”
Somehow, these humorously cast macho men couldn’t intimidate anyone into drinking skanky beer. Competitors were already moving ahead with softer characters catching the eyes of beautiful women while drinking light beers.
“Tastes great! Less filling!” was making a killing.
Gusto went busto.
