Knockin' the Rock
We're talkin' Rolling, not Slippery.
I don't drink a lot. I can buy a six pack of beer and two months later, end up wondering if the last two in the fridge are any good any more. I'm supposed to have a glass of wine every night according to my doctor, to help keep the colesterol down. I drink it occasionally, but far from every night.
That said, when I do buy beer, it's one of two brands. Rolling Rock or Yuengling. I guess it's one of the few footholds left in my house of my Pennsylvania roots, but there it is. I buy those beers pretty much because they are a piece of home, and I like 'em. It has to be both of those though. There are plenty of good beers not from Pennsylvania, but I like the fact that these come from home. Likewise, there are other Pennsylvania beers, like Schmidts and Iron City, but I'm sorry....loyalty will only get you so far. Besides, both of those would require a ton of effort to find here in Florida, and there's a good reason for that.
So now I read where Anheuser-Busch bought Rolling Rock, plans to close down the Latrobe brewery, send half the town to the unemployment line, and make the stuff someplace else...like in Maryland. What the hell is that? Don't they get it? Rat bastards! I know the stuff gets exported, and people overseas won't know or care, but people like me all over this country, if they know (and I'm doing my part to spread the word) are not going to be happy with the folks at Bud. I remember drinking (slightly illegally) green grenade pony bottles in college. I remember the first time I saw Rolling Rock in a store in Florida. It was like old home week. There are people like me all over this country who buy that stuff, sorta because they like the beer but a lot more because of where it comes from and what it means to them. I mean, if you put the stuff in a glass along with 5 similar beers, I doubt I could pick it out. I buy it because it's from home. Now, Budweiser is yanking that rug right out from under me, and lots of other people like me...and we won't be buying Rolling Rock any more. Yes, a boon for the folks at Yuengling (such as it is...remember I don't buy a ton of beer, but some other folks like me do.)
If I were the folks in Latrobe, I'd not let that brewery close. I'd find a way to buy that sucker. So you're not making Rolling Rock any more. Make a new beer and start your own business. If you brew it they will drink. Then, 20 years from now when Anheuser-Bush comes calling with a keg of money to buy you out again...tell 'em to get bent.
I don't drink a lot. I can buy a six pack of beer and two months later, end up wondering if the last two in the fridge are any good any more. I'm supposed to have a glass of wine every night according to my doctor, to help keep the colesterol down. I drink it occasionally, but far from every night.
That said, when I do buy beer, it's one of two brands. Rolling Rock or Yuengling. I guess it's one of the few footholds left in my house of my Pennsylvania roots, but there it is. I buy those beers pretty much because they are a piece of home, and I like 'em. It has to be both of those though. There are plenty of good beers not from Pennsylvania, but I like the fact that these come from home. Likewise, there are other Pennsylvania beers, like Schmidts and Iron City, but I'm sorry....loyalty will only get you so far. Besides, both of those would require a ton of effort to find here in Florida, and there's a good reason for that.
So now I read where Anheuser-Busch bought Rolling Rock, plans to close down the Latrobe brewery, send half the town to the unemployment line, and make the stuff someplace else...like in Maryland. What the hell is that? Don't they get it? Rat bastards! I know the stuff gets exported, and people overseas won't know or care, but people like me all over this country, if they know (and I'm doing my part to spread the word) are not going to be happy with the folks at Bud. I remember drinking (slightly illegally) green grenade pony bottles in college. I remember the first time I saw Rolling Rock in a store in Florida. It was like old home week. There are people like me all over this country who buy that stuff, sorta because they like the beer but a lot more because of where it comes from and what it means to them. I mean, if you put the stuff in a glass along with 5 similar beers, I doubt I could pick it out. I buy it because it's from home. Now, Budweiser is yanking that rug right out from under me, and lots of other people like me...and we won't be buying Rolling Rock any more. Yes, a boon for the folks at Yuengling (such as it is...remember I don't buy a ton of beer, but some other folks like me do.)
If I were the folks in Latrobe, I'd not let that brewery close. I'd find a way to buy that sucker. So you're not making Rolling Rock any more. Make a new beer and start your own business. If you brew it they will drink. Then, 20 years from now when Anheuser-Bush comes calling with a keg of money to buy you out again...tell 'em to get bent.
John put this out here at 8:05 AM
3 Comments:
Go John, on the Rock comments. We up here heard about this about a week and a half ago, and I was incensed (and disappointed), seeing as how I cut my teeth on RR (remember how many words are on the back of the bottle? Know what the 36 -- or is it 34? -- stands for?) I actually have a picture of my husband feeding a bottle to our daughter when she was about 5 months old, and feeding a RR to himself on my parents' patio ... which I promptly captioned, "Same As It Ever Was"
Guess it's not the same anymore. :_(
No it's not...and it's a shame those assholes bought the place just to shut it down. I'm guessing it could be bought fairly cheap, since they don't plan to use it. I'm thinking those people in Latrobe need to get some investors, buy the place and start brewing their own beer. Let the people who make it own it, and the care that would go into brewing beer there would start a new tradition. Budweiser doesn't know what they're messin' with. Nice Talking Heads reference too! :)
I read the newspaper article to my husband, and we both nearly cried. It was a sad moment in Billtown, I can assure you. But we were comforted by the concept that maybe one of the up and coming smaller or micro-brews will buy the brewery in LAY-trobe, and give us northeasterners better access to something we don't get much of here. Once A-B gets their hands on RR, I don't think we'll much want it anymore. But I'm ready for a newbie. Besides...we could use our own Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams type brew in PA. Yuengling Black & Tan and Lager notwithstanding.
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