Gene, I don't know if Leinie's is what it used to be, they got bought out by Miller. Now they're doing a lot of quasi-microbrew things, I picked up some Leinenkugel Winter Lager for the Christmas gathering, haven't tried it myself yet. Good job on the spelling though.
The only independent small breweries left are Point and Huber, near as I can tell. Plus Heileman, but it's confusing with them, they went through bankrupcy, I don't know how much of their old stable is left. I think there's nothing left in Milwaukee besides Miller either. Though the microbrewery/brewpub fad is big here, after a slow start. Sadly, age and family have reduced my consumption to where a couple will give me a headache, I don't drink enough to keep up with what's good these days. Some cheesehead I am, eh?
And, to repeat a more on-topic aside, the only antitrust action I recall in the Reagan era was the FTC blocking Heileman from buying Pabst; Stroh, which was #5 or 6 to Heileman's #4 or 5 at the time bought it instead. The whole thing made no sense, since Pabst was on the skids and neither Heileman nor Stroh had the muscle to match Bud/AB or Miller/PO anyway. Must have been some funny politics in that one too. I'm sure Charles "Rick" Rule wouldn't have had a problem with it, if it had gotten to him.
Cheers, Dan. |
