Pfeiffer History update

I spoke with Paul Koeller, the lead author of The House of Heileman, a history book about the G. Heileman Brewing Co. A few things that I learned from him that updated the existing history. Heileman brewed Pfeiffer until 1979, seven years longer than the last recorded Michigan appearance of the beer. He also gave me the name and contact information of the head brewer at City Brewery in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The brewery does contract brewing for Pabst and others and the brewer is said to have a collection of recipes that are as old as 100 years and hand-written. This may be my shot to find it.

Genesee

It sounds like the company that owns Genesee is going to make a push into Michigan this year. I found this article from the Rochester Business Journal that mentions many interesting things. It's a very well-done piece in general. Most interesting is that it mentions the undercapacity of the Rochester Brewery along with the brewery owners' desire to acquire brands. Combine that with the fact that Pabst, Strohs and a cadre of other brands are for sale and it makes one go hmmmm.

Eureka!!

Everything I thought I knew was wrong. First off - apologies to SABMiller and acknowledgement that I violated a cardinal rule. I trusted what others had written about Pabst's current ownership and went blindly down that road. Miller doesn't own Pabst. Miller is the contract brewer for Pabst. The brewery and its many brands is owned by Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation, which is based in California. The charity tried and failed to sell Pabst and the other brands, including Stroh's, in 2005 at the direction of the Internal Revenue Service. The charity may again be marketing Pabst and its brands, according to a New York Post article.

The fact is, Pabst continues to register the trademark for ``Pfeiffer's Famous,'' and updated the trademark as recently as 2005.

Also, a shout out to Rex Halfpenny, editor of Michigan Beer Guide. I queried him about finding recipes for Pfeiffer and his answer was very interesting. His research of older Stroh recipes in their archives showed that the brewers used weights of hops and malt as both were a commodity at that time and didn't use names or styles per se. It points to the fact that most of the beer brand differentiations were made by process and less by ingredients.