When we were in PA for Abby’s graduation a month ago (I’m so behind on the blogging) I saw a sad item in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that Rolling Rock was bought by Anheiser Busch. (unfortunately, I have to link to the evil Tribune-Review, because the Post-Gazette story has gone behind a paywall).

Production in the brewery in Latrobe, PA ends this month; from now on, Rolling Rock will be brewed in New Jersey.

Fortunately, InBev, the Belgian company that currently owns Rolling Rock, may have found a buyer for the Latrobe brewery itself.

Still, it’s the end of an era. Rolling Rock was probably the best known (and most palatable) of all autochthonous Western Pennsylvanian beers. Not that there are many left at all. Last fall, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, makers of Iron City and IC Light went bankrupt (admittedly, this is not much of a loss; there’s a reason the stuff is not sold outside Pittsburgh).

I have found no word on whether or not Anheiser Busch will continue the poetic, painted-on labels with the enigmatic “33″ on them.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 24th, 2006 at 10:18 pm and is filed under beer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.