LATROBE, Pa. – A line of trucks idled outside the loading docks at Latrobe Brewing Co. on Friday. In a few hours, they would haul away some of the last cases of Rolling Rock beer brewed here.
Latrobe says goodbye to Rolling Rock – Yahoo! News
Updated (8/08/06): Anheuser-Busch — the maker of Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob and other beers — bought the Rolling Rock brand, the recipe for its mountain-brewed extra-pale lager and the entire Latrobe Brewing Company from the Belgium-based InBev SA company in May for $82 million. After weighing several options, said David A. Peacock, vice president for business and finance for Anheuser-Busch, the company decided to move operations to Newark.
Latrobe’s Fizzle is Newark’s Fizz — NY Times
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Off The Broiler 
No! This is the drink that goes with a liverwurst and onion on rye. This is the beer Daddy drank on the 19th hole. The first beer I ever tasted. Sad!
I plan to never drink Rolling Rock again. It is ridiculous of Anheuser to buy the beer company and not brew it in Latrobe. They might not lose a large amount of money outside of our Southwestern, PA Tri-state area but I hope they lose a large sum of money within that area. They need to get their heads out their asses and buy the plant off of City Brewing and brink the green bottles back to Latrobe.
Rolling Rock has been my only beer of choice since 1998 when I turned 21.
so long, rolling rock…my long-time favorite (since i turned 18 in 1983), rolling rock cannot be the same without it’s source of water. “from the trash-strewn shores of new jersey, we tender this utterly indistinguished McProduct of the monolithic Anheuser-Busch corporation, as a tribute to our calculated disdain for authenticity. it comes from the sludge of the east river to you….”
why!why!why! doesn’t the great Anheuser-Busch conglomerate have the ability to create and market their own beer brands without absorbing the cherished brands with history and tradition that we love. I was weened on rolling-rock, I have spent many an evening contemplating the enigmatic “33”. This beer was a part of my personality, the tough little beer that could stand up to the huge homogenized megabrews. It will be sorely missed. I will not drink New Jersey Swill!!. I will find another beer worthy of my adoration and cast my support to them, hoping beyond hope that they will not fall prey to the profit thirsty mega-brews. Good Bye dear friend your memory will not be tarnished in my house with green bottled bud light
So will Rolling Rock now taste like the swamps of Jersey (with apologies to the Boss) rather than the mountain springs of Old Latrobe? What was Anheuser-Busch thinking? I’m hoping against hope they move Rolling Rock back to Latrobe where it belongs, because it won’t taste the same regardless of the recipe, & bring jobs back to a depressed area.
the day i learned the brwery was clsong, my heart broke. rolling rock has been a
part of my family since i was born. it was the beer my grandfather drank after his
shift at the now almost cloased latrobe steel. it was the plnat that my father worked
at, cleaning those glass lined tanks and it was the first beer i ever tasted. i have
purschased enough rolling rock beer to last 6 months, and that will be the end of
the beer in the green bottles for me. you cannot brew rolling rock without the
mountain spring water and i don’t think they truck it all the way to new jersery.
There is a word, the word is mystique. New Jersey is not home to the word, Latrobe is. A. Busch is full of morrons and idiots who don’t understand this. Their market share analysis is wrong they will lose many many many former drinkers of Rolling Rock. If you are dumb enough to move the name you may as well change it too. I will never drink another R.R. again and I don’t even live close to Penn.!!!!
Growing up in Latrobe for the first 25 years of my life included many precious things that only Latrobe could offer. Stealing sips of Rolling Rock from my dad’s keg-fridge as a child b/c that’s what the adults drank. Looking up Mr. Roger’s senior picture in an old Latrobe High School yearbook. Taking returnable bottles on Saturday mornings back to the brewery before my bartending shift would start. Serving cans of Rolling Rock to golfers from the ‘beer cart’ at Arnold Palmer’s country club. Heading to the bar for a cold Rock after watching the Steelers practice on the greens of St. Vincent College. Just kicking back with a six-pack while fishing on the Loyalhanna Creek. Visiting the Rolling Rock Company Store with my girlfriend every time we came back to Latrobe for a visit. So many things about my hometown will always be carried with me in my heart no matter where I go. I would like to take this time to thank A-B for taking away such an important part of so many lives. Not that the feelings of people from a small town such as Latrobe matter to such a large beast as A-B. Like so many people, I will never be able to drink Rolling Rock again. F**k you, Anheuser-Busch. F**k you very much.
well goodbye rock………….ive drank rock faithfully for over 30 yrs now,,,,,,,,,,,my last one will be soon…i vow to never drink a jersey rock, blasphemy it is…….in fact i will never drink a bud product………looks like miller and yuengling for me now…………what a sad state………….BOYCOTT BUDWEISER……….BOYCOTT BUDWEISER……….
ITS TRUELLY A SHAME…………..i learned to drink rock from my grandfather. pony bottles forever…………
I moved here twenty years ago from PA. (Southeastern WV) At first….it was hard to find, I would occasionally “import” it back from visits home, all the while pestering the local storekeepers, my older brother in the same boat. It became easily found locally in a short time…. We were both weaned on Rocksters, collectively amassing over half a century of Rolling Rock enjoyment…. So much for “standards”….is nothing sacred to profit driven mega corps???? New F**king JERSEY!?! Goodbye dear friend….
As a faithful Rock drinker for over 30 years, I was greatly saddened by the demise of the Latrobe brewery. However, I was willing to wait to see what the new beer tasted like before vowing never to drink Rock again. Well, I had my first NJ Rock yesterday and it is no longer Rolling Rock. In fact it’s not even close. So now I can say I will never drink another Rolling Rock. A sad day indeed!
They should atleast make a pulic statement about the 33 on the bottles. As a former pittsburgher, I continued to retrun to the Rolling Rock six packs to remind me of home and a younger time. Farewell.
You’ll drink what I tell you to to drink. Quit your crying and enjoy a delicious refreshing Rolling Rock. Do it now!!!
Sincerly,
God
If it ain’t from Latrobe, it ain’t Rolling Rock. Those Schmucks won’t get my money.
Twenty of my friends, all long time Rolling Rock drinkers, tried AB Roling Rock in a scientifically designed taste test. We could not determine any difference between Budweiser and AB Rolling Rock. Don’t be fooled. It is Bud in a Rolling Rock container. Good bye to a friend of nearly forty years. Bugler, sound taps.
From the first time I cracked open a bottles of Rolling Rock my life changed. Never has there been a better, more crisp bottle of liquid happiness. I have drank Rolling Rock, I have bled Rolling Rock… and now I will mourn Rolling Rock and nuture my already sizable hatred for AB. I feel like I have lost a lover. Like my girlfriend has died in a car crash. Recently I purchased a 12-er of Rolling Rock only to discover that it was one of the newest batch made in New Jeresy. Its heresy, its a shame and I proudly poured all 12 bottles down the drain. It was more than beer, it was a unspoken brotherhood of good taste. I’m so alone.
-Matt
Hey!!! All you haters! Don’t you think Anheuser-Busch would have kept the Brewery in Latrobe if it was an option to them?? Get off it, geeeze.
“InBev plans to sell its brewery in Latrobe, Pa., separately to focus its U.S. business on imported beers. It is in discussions with potential buyers to determine the best available options for the brewery and its employees. ‘The decision to sell the Rolling Rock brands was based on InBev’s strategic approach to the U.S. market, which is to focus on the high-growth import brands in our portfolio,’ said Doug Corbett, president of InBev USA.”
SEE? Its InBev who abandoned you and your precious town of Latrobe, for the high end import money makers, NOT A-B.!
IT’S the Water Stupid
I am sitting in a motel room in Broken Bow, Nebraska. I am enjoying the last half of a 6 pack of Rolling Rock. I carefully checked the bottle to make sure I wasn’t getting a six pack of bud in a green bottle. I have drank beer all over the world, and I finally settled on one I really enjoyed, Rolling Rock. When A. Busch bought it my heart sank. I’ve been to Newark, NJ. I wouldn’t drink anything that came outa there. I make my home in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. If they had also purchased the brewery and continued to brew Rolling Rock in Latrobe, they would have kept me as a customer. My heart goes out to all the employees in Latrobe, PA.
Mrs Auggie why don’t you shut the f*** up. We don’t need your king of sneering remarks about Latrobe. It IS precious to us.
I have spent many a great BBQ and goodtimes with friends while enjoying RR, our beer of choice. It was unique both in its taste and where it came from. I am very disappointed that yet another thing that I took for granted is gone now. I bought out the package store ($319.00) during the first week of August when the last authentic RR was shipped out of Latrobe. Once that is gone I will begin trying other beers except for AB products. My tast buds will continue to long for a cold RR on Friday long after I have exhausted my supply. So long…
Bud is doing the same thing that made them the biggest in the first place. They will buy you out or sell their beer so cheaply to the retailers that you will be driven out. They also tried to buy Yeungling and are currently going after the small breweries in the New England states.
I had a “new” Rolling Rock last night, had “St Lois MO.” on the bottle. I call it new because it is NOT the same, different flavor. I have been a RR fan for 15 years, nice light beer in the summer or when you want to take it easy. What a shame AB has to ruin a good thing for us. I will no longer be drinking one of my staple beers, so long Rolling Rock, nice knowing ya.
been drinking RR for 20 years, bought the AB S!@# and it sucked, told myself I will give it a couple month and it still tastes like crap. Problem is that I don’t mind Bud, but no more AB Rock until they tell me that it has changed back. It will never happen. First RONDO now Rolling Rock.
This is new new to me and when I heard it I was not happy. You see I not from the Latrobe area, I’am not even from the northern part of the country. I am from Florida and I have been drinking Rolling Rock since 1996. But here’s the irony, I was a big Budwieser drinker for years untill I had a Rock and I haven’t been back since. And based on the comments that has been made about the new Rolling Rock taste I don’t think I’ll be liking it, but I’ll just have to wait untill it comes down this way first. Rolling Rock is one of the best drinking american beers I have tasted in all my years of beer drinking. And over the many,many years I have drunk a lot of damm beers! I also agree ,A.B. is making a big mistake by taking the beer from the Latrobe PA. factory. LONG LIVE the great taste of ROLLING ROCK!
I have been faithfully drinking the Rock for 20 years now..the first 5 I wasn’t legal. When I heard of the buy out I started buying as much Old Latrobe as I could. Unfortunately for me I love the stufff too much. My supply has dwindled but my affection has not. I’m going to enjoy one of the remaining few.
I race motocross and I’m 50 years old. I’ve enjoyed r.r. for 7years and drank mainly no other brand.Why becouse it had no presevatives and pesticides. It was clean and i could race the next day with top results. It did’nt leave you feeling cloudy the next day.A clean fresh beer within a 4 month period after brewing depending how it was kept. I’LL miss it and the good times.I hope AB doesnt load it up with presevatives like they did bud. They had a winner.Rolling Rock is the best tasting. Shame to see it go!
My thoughts exactly. A friend in the Army long ago said there was nothing better than sitting back in a Lazy boy drinking a Rolling Rock. I checked it out for the first time backin 81. Well, maybe theres a few things better but…. Rolling Rock has been my beer of choice since then. Went to great lenghts to make sure a RR was always available. No, I won’t be drinking any NJ Rolling Rocks. MY problem is – how can they still sell the label “from the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe”? This is America – wheres a good class action lawsuit when you really need one?
Man… What a disappointment. I’ve been drinking RR since the mid-70s. Didn’t turn 21 until 1983 though. Didn’t matter. I’ll NEVER forget the field parties that we held in back “In the Day”! ALL of course were hosted by KEGS of Rolling Rock!
I joined the USAF in 1983 and traveled all over. Rolling Rock was a staple in my frig all the while. Now I’m crushed that the Old Green bottles will NO LONGER be allowed in my house!
The only thing WORSE for SW PA in losing Rolling Rock is the Pittsburgh Steelers losing Coach Cower !!!!!!!!
BTW, where are the Chinese going to buy the old Latrobe Brewing Company ??
HOW DEPRESSING.
-ERIC
Troy, Ohio
Goodbye RR!!!! Been drinking Rock for as long as I could. Got the neighbors and friends hooked on the beer everyone hated. It does taste different and I don’t like it. Like everything else American it has become generic in taste. No more P.O.C., no more Stroh’s dark, no more Black Label, what else is in store for us? Sad day when AB took over. But maybe that’s what AB wants…everyone to stop drinking it and then they’ll close the plant completetly to eliminate the competition. -CHUCK Cleveland,OH
Well what can I say. I don’t follow the news and didn’t even know they sold out. I have drank nothing but RR since 1977 and without even knowing that AB bought them I did start noticing the different taste (heaver with lack of crispness) and that Yeasty coating on my tongue in the morning that I NEVER GOT from Rolling Rock in all those years…. If the store was out of RR the only thing I would substitute would be Molson from Canada….. I guess in my case when I found out that AB had started brewing RR is solidified my suspicions that “something has changed here” so when AB says they are keeping the same formula it’s total BS…..They aren’t called the “KING OF YEAST” for no reason…..I’m very sad that Latrobe is going through all these hassles for big business take overs…. what’s next …. maybe Arnold Palmer should have bought the company and kept things in Latrobe….Guess I be getting the Molson from now on…….Jim….now living in Coastal Maine
It is indeed a sad time for beer lovers. It is especially sad for all of us that have appreciated a truly fine beer over the years. That fine beer of course is ROLLING ROCK. I too have noticed the different taste, just not the same as it used to be. I plan to continue to purchase RR even if it is from NJ. It is difficult to find decent beer here in Cincinnati. Of course it is also fun to be a life long Steelers fan and reside in the land of the Bengals. At least the green bottles and Steelers websites can help me maintain memories of days gone bye. Go Steelers! Go Rock!
Hey people. I feel your pain! Like when Stroh’s left the D
People of the Rock,
I hesrd of the takeover when I was in the process of moving from overseas back to the states. I was dismayed that another brewewy was being swallowed up by Busch. I knew then it meant that the flavor I loved would be no more. What made me angry was that I could not do anything about it. I don’t buy R. R. any more. It is not the same.
Now the marketing department is woried about how their commercials are perceived. What irony. They market a product that belongs to PA that comes from Jersey and they worry about their ads. If I were them, I ‘d worry about how to get the clientel back. Too late, JACKASSES.
Anyone who has ever been to the Rathskeller in State College knows about RR ponies. They sold them by the case there and it was a great tradition. If you’re familiar with the bathrooms at the Skeller, you’ll cringe when I say this, but I’d sooner drink the piss from the troughs in there than drink RR now, or any AB product for that matter. I’m sure it won’t be “cost effective” to produce those great little 7 oz bottles anymore. RR was pretty special having offered “a little nip” to its customers. Now that’s gone I’m sure. AB, thanks for stealing one more piece of iconic Pittsburgh magic from us. Oh yeah, and your new RR commericals SUCK. They’re stupid and make no sense. An ape? What were you thinking? RR never had to advertise, at least here in Pittsburgh. It was that great. Nothing better with a fish sammitch. Nothing.
One of the great engineering feats of the early 20th century was reversing the flow of the Chicago River which formerly ran into Lake Michigan. The reason for this excercise was to keep Chicago’s raw sewage off the Chicago Lakefront. Instead, it now flows outward to St. Louis where they bottle it and call it Budweiser! Anheiser Busch seens to have continued their proud tradition buy taking a beer brewed from the mountain spring waters of the Laural Highlands in Western PA and sending it to Newark (yum yum)… remember, beer is at least 90%water! I live in Chicago now but I grew up in Latrobe in the early 70’s. I fondly remember the late night raids on the brewery loading docks while the night watchman pretended not to notice. Untill recently I drank RR for nostalgic reasons. Now I’d sooner have a bucket of raw sewage than a bucket of ponies!
It’s been nearly 9 month’s now since our beloved Rolling Rock has fallen into the hands of Satan. In that time, perhaps some of you have moved on. Perhaps no one is still around to read this. But I haven’t moved on, have not gotten over it. At 25 years of age, my love affair with the Rock was shorter than many of yours. But those 7 years were punctuated with many cherished moments and memories of happiness that will never be regained. I can only be thankful that my best buddy and I made the 14 hour drive from Minneapolis to Old Latrobe a couple summers back, before it was too late. Many called us crazy to go to all that trouble simply to tour the brewery of our beloved beer. But of course, these are the same people content to drink New Jersey sewage from a green bottle. Today my friend and I are down to the last four bottles of the real RR, and while it’s lost some of it’s taste over the months of storage, it will be savored. Good bye Rolling Rock. Thanks for all the good times. Thank you also to all the fine people at the Old Latrobe brewery, specifically, for the providing years of liquid joy, and an afternoon where I was able to look in on the magic.
Hey,
Although I do fault InBev for this, i also think AB deserves to suck the milk of from a dead, rotten camel tit for doing this to my favorite beer of all time. Shame on them for even thinking that some NJ swill (and I have lived there, surely!) is going to take the place of my original “Old Latrobe.” What were they thinking some have asked? They were looking only at the bottom line, rest assured. Now we have, as one writer put it, a McProduct that tastes really, to me, nothing like the ORIGINAL.
Curse aplenty to those corporate whores from InBev and AB! May the fleas of a thousand camels nest in their arm pits. May a diseased Yak, leave a gift in their sisters’ hope chests! And the worst curse of all, may they all live in “interesting” times.
I have bought my last six pack of NJ swamp water!!!
RR, I miss you so much. You were the perfect refreshing beer to bring along on fishing trips, to have a BBQ’s during the summer, and to drink during football season. Although life has moved on, i have not replaced you. The loss of you has almost totally converted me to a Jack or Vodka drinker. This is not the same, for you i only had to take off your perfect horse hat to enjoy. Making Jack and cokes, or RBV’s is much more of a process. Yes, i will dabble w/ some of your friends, Molson Canadian, Dos XX’s, but i still have yet to find your equal. Your loss has been a huge disappointment .
If anyone is still out there reading this…..
What have you taken up drinking, now that rock has been ruined by satan? I’ve been on a Dos XX’s kick. It’s not the same, but i do find a similar refreshing flavor to that of our beloved rock. Can someone please help me find a new beer?
Rolling Rock was the only beer that I drank since the early 80’s. It was the best tasting beer on the planet. I was a huge fan and collected anything that had to do with Rolling Rock. I tried the AB Rock and it was not even close to the same taste. It was horrible. I will never drink the AB Rock! I hope nobody will buy it anymore. It is not right that AB even puts that crappy tasting beer in those painted on label bottles. It is not the same beer, they should not be trying to trick the public. I will miss the original.
I think that BUSCH Beer should be sued for false Advertisement .
Leading people to believe that Rolling Rock is made at Old Latrobe when it really is not.
People drink this beer because of it rich history and good taste thinking they are supporting one of the oldest breweries in America.
Being misslead is very wrong and bush knows they are liable.
The bottles should be changed,Because they no longer represent Old Latrobe PA.
I want to see and know who is making my beer and where it comes from Busch!
Rolling Rock,ANHEUSER-BUSCH,Inc,St.LOUIS,MO.
NOT LATROBE BREWING Co,St LOUIS,Mo.
That is missleading and should not be tolerated !
Now you know Where you can stick your Rolling Rock.
Enough said
For Joe Mark: Try Shiner Blonde, if you can get it in your area. I go back and forth between Shiner Blonde and Shiner Bock. Shiner beers (named for the small town in Texas where they are brewed) are handcrafted by the Spoetzl Brewery, est 1909.
I live in Ligonier. RR on tap was a staple around here. I just had my last bottle of real RR two weeks ago (5/07) so the taste was fresh in my palette. I just sampled the “new” rock today. It was freakin’ horrible. Tasted like PBR or Old Mil or something. What a travesty.
AB’s doing a complete short term brand rip off job. Follow along…
First, they make mainstream beers. Latrobe Rolling Rock was not a mainstream beer. They don’t want to sell a “different beer”. But they wanted that market, and RR did indeed develop a great market over the years, considering that it was very popular in places outside of the Ligonier Valley/Latrobe area, it was a “cool” beer to drink in metro centers. Out of arrogance, AB saw this, and as I’m sure they always do, they try to absorb this type of competition. The RR people, having become detached from the satisfaction of developing a small market brand into a type of stalwart powerhouse, saw the money, sniffed it, and liked it. They had number crunchers build a scenario in which the next few years would look shitty, and they had their out (and probably some other numbers for the real time scenario showing that no one was going to get filthy fucking rich, but making much, much more money than you or I do). All systems go.
Take over, market it as the *wink wink* same product, pull the switheroo, put a small semi-disclaimer using the word “legacy” or some other such bs as that on the back of bottle in order to squash consumer driven lawsuits, brew cheap swill to fill the bottles, and ride the short term wave of selling a lot of product until everyone figures out it’s crap, at which time you can either relegate it to cheap 6-pack status, or phase it out, thereby squashing your perceived “competion:”.
That’s my take on it anyway. And I think I’m right. Anyway, life goes on.
Judging from the bottle I was under the impression this beer is from ST. Louis, MO.
Misleading , I hope there’s a Lawyer out there who can represent me!
What a shame. I was weaned on Rolling Rock ( and Duke and Iron City ) a long, long time ago. Now it has gone the way of many other local breweries. However, it had no taste. Why drink RR when you have Yuengling’s, you lucky dogs.
Jeez, and I thought it was just me….
I had been a heavy drinker of RR since the early ’90’s, but recently switched to gin because beer and crossing the 40-year marker apparently is a recipe for a big fat belly…anyway, I digress.
The reason that I used to drink RR is that I could slam down unlimited quanities without getting even a hint of a hangover. AB products on the other hand were deadly for me the next morning — even on as little as a six pack.
I like to use the following little story to explain how RR “was” different.
AB products are the only “beer” that I know of where you can pick up a “cold” six pack, toss it in the trunk of your car with no ice on a 100 degree summer day, drive 3 hours in traffic to the Jersey shore, take the six pack out (now a very warm six pack), put the beer on ice, pack your stuff back up the next day, put the six pack back in your trunk (because it didn’t get drunk), leave it in the trunk all week (in the hot sun), take that same six pack out of the trunk the next Friday night, put it on ice, wait 2-3 hours for it to cool down, pop open a can, drink it, and have it taste the same as it would of had you drank it when first purchased at the long aforementioned liquor store…..THE STUFF IS PURE POISON!!
Try the same with a RR and it would be skunked after the first heating/cooling cycle.
Up until recently, I would get a “bucket of Rocks” at my local watering hole once a week. Recently I noticed that I was getting a nauceous hungover feeling the next day after only 6 stupid little nips. This kept happening week in, week out, but I just put it off as being too old to even handle a few……then I remembered where I had felt that feeling before. It was my younger Budweiser days. The same Bud feeling that moved me to RR in the first place. Oh crap!!! That’s right!!! AB bought RR and then I also recalled hearing about them scrapping the plant in Latrobe.
Well I switched over to Miller lite nips and the “hangover” symptons, while not completely gone are much diminished.
Those a-holes at AB are just filling up the RR bottles with Bud piss.
Bastards!
AB……….ROT IN HELL!!
I hadn’t had a Rock for years and I decided since a twelve was on sale to buy two. Turns out that about 3 six-packs too many. What I always liked about RR was it’s distinctive light Heineken sour taste, like sulphur water was used to brew the beer. It eclipsed whatever hops, if any, were present. A really good change up beer that was smooth with that skunky bite. Well, all that’s gone now. The new beer is a true middle of the road semi-light lager and not an ale with some interesting sour bite. I think AB has made a huge mistake walking away from the signature taste. I could care less where it’s brewed until they change, or can’t replicate, the signature taste of RR. It’s a huge fail for me. I’ll drink it…I even think I’ll use my larger beer stein and mix it with Heineken to see if it becomes closer to the old RR. That’s desparate!