The Return Of Schlitz Beer To Milwaukee

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Updated: 1:38 PM Aug 1, 2008 The Return Of Schlitz Beer To Milwaukee One Time Top Selling Beer In America Posted: 10:52 AM Aug 1, 2008

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It's the beer that made Milwaukee famous. Now Schlitz is making the city nostalgic.

Schlitz is back on shelves in bottles of its original formula in the city where it was first brewed in 1849.

It was the top-selling beer for much of the first half of the 20th century. But recipe changes and a series of snafus made Schlitz -- in many a drinkers' opinion -- undrinkable, turning the beer into a joke.

But now its owner, Pabst Brewing, is recreating the old formula, using notes and interviews with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again, known as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous."

In Milwaukee, the comeback is creating a buzz. Stores are depleted of their stock within days.

Sixty-seven-year-old Leonard Jurgensen says the beer reminds him of better days. He says Schlitz was important, and people drank it on special occasions. He had it on his wedding day 45 years ago.