Rolling Rock

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Rolling Rock is a brand of Cream Ale. The brand is owned by Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, Missouri.

It is distinctive in several ways. It is one of the brands of beer distributed in green glass bottles with painted, rather than printed labels.

Rolling Rock bottles showing their distinctive painted labels.

The number 33 is printed on bottles of Rolling Rock. A widely believed explanation is that prohibition was repealed in 1933. However, according to James L. Tito, once CEO of Latrobe Brewing, the 33 signifies the thirty-three words in their slogan, which are: "Rolling Rock From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you." An executive wrote the number of words in the slogan to indicate how much space it would take on the bottle and that draft was sent to the printer. Therefore their first batch of bottles had the number 33 imprinted on them and during the Great Depression there was no reason to throw away perfectly good merchandise. This tradition is held in place by the company itself: even as the wording of the labels changes over the years (the new wording on low-carb Rock Green Light labels, for example, discussing the nutritional information), the main paragraphs are carefully structured to retain a length of 33 words. There are several other lesser known theories within Latrobe, PA explaining the "33". The most common theory among local residents of Latrobe is that there are 33 steps leading to the church at St. Vincent College. (Latrobe Brewing was a large donor to St. Vincent before Anheuser-Busch purchased the brewery.)

The term pony bottle is derived from the horse on the bottle, and refers to the smaller sized 7 ounce bottle. Some pony bottles have paper, rather than painted, labels.

Rolling Rock is considered to be something of a premium beer and has benefited greatly from the trend toward the consumption of less mainstream alcoholic beverages that has been developing in the United States since the 1970s.

From 1939 until 2006, Rolling Rock was brewed at the Latrobe Brewing Company. In May, 2006, Anheuser-Busch purchased the Rolling Rock and Rock Green Light brands from InBev. Anheuser-Busch began to brew Rolling Rock at their Newark brewery plant in New Jersey in mid July 2006. The final batch of Rolling Rock was shipped from Latrobe on July 31, 2006. Anheuser-Busch has said Rolling Rock's original pledge on the label will be preceded by these words: "To honor the tradition of this great brand, we quote from the original pledge."

[edit] Rolling Rock in popular culture

In November of 2006, Rolling Rock launched an advertising campaign featuring a guitar playing party ape in a scene reminiscent of many lowbrow beer commercials. Later, a supposedly separate countercampaign by a group called "The Friends of Rolling Rock" was launched, criticizing the "beer ape" ad and its creator, Rolling Rock’s Vice President of Marketing, Ron Stablehorn. This has been outed as a viral marketing scheme by Rolling Rock - neither "The Friends of Rolling Rock" or Ron Stablehorn exist in real life. ^[1]
In the movie Old School, Rolling Rock is one of the two major beers featured, the other being Corona. Both beers were seen in glass bottles and aluminum cans, a rare sight for the two "premium" beers.
In The Deer Hunter Robert DeNiro's character orders several Rolling Rocks for his and Meryl Streep's character, stating that it is the best beer out there.
Rolling Rock is the primary beer brand featured in The Station Agent
The words from the labels of Rolling Rock beer were rearranged into a comic "poem" by comedian Demetri Martin, entitled "All of the Words on a Bottle of Rolling Rock Beer in a Different Order". ^[2]
Syndicated sports columnist Norman Chad often references Rolling Rock in his weekly column.
Internet video game critic James Rolfe is seen drinking it in some of his reviews but drinks more if he is angry.
In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Stan (played by Mark Ruffalo) and Patrick (played by Elijah Woods) are seen consuming Rolling Rock beer while discussing Patrick's new love interest, Clementine (Kate Winslet).
Singer/songwriter Cal Donnolley wrote "Rolling Rock Blues" in 1998.See link below.
In the now defunct HBO sitcom Lucky Louie, Rolling Rock was seen quite frequently.
Rolling Rock is often the preferred beer of Repairman Jack in the series of novels by F. Paul Wilson.
The song "Drinking in L.A" by Bran Van 3000 was used as the theme tune to a Rolling rock T.V advert in the UK
Wrestler The Sandman A.K.A.Jim Fullington uses a version of a Senton Bomb named The Rolling Rock.
Rolling Rock is the beer of choice of the Angry Nintendo Nerd.
In the early computer game "The Seventh Guest" one of the riddle puzzles is answered with the phrase "Rolling Rock Bottle Cap"