Rolling Rock
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| Rolling Rock | |
|---|---|
 Rolling Rock bottles showing their distinctive painted labels. |
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| Brewery | Anheuser-Busch |
| Style | Pale lager |
| First Brewed | 1939 |
Rolling Rock is a brand of pale lager beer. Although founded as a local beer in Western Pennsylvania, it was marketed aggressively and eventually became a national product. The brand was sold to Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, Missouri in mid 2006, which transferred brewing operations to New Jersey.
Rolling Rock beer is distinctive in several ways, including use of green glass bottles with painted-on labels rather than glued-on paper labels.
The number 33 is printed prominently on all bottles of Rolling Rock. A widely-held belief is that it marks the repeal of prohibition in 1933. However, according to James L. Tito, former CEO of Latrobe Brewing, the "33" signifies the 33 words in the beer's slogan: "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."
A founding executive is said to have written "33" at the end of the slogan to indicate the number of words it comprised as a guide for the bottle printers. However, they thought it was part of the text and incorporated it into the label graphics. Hence, the first batch of bottles carried the number "33" and they remained that way since they were continually collected and reused (also, during the Great Depression, there was no reason to throw away perfectly good merchandise and start over). This tradition has been sustained by the company as the wording on the labels has changed over the years, and the verbiage is carefully structured to retain a length of 33 words. There are several other lesser-known theories or urban legends about the "mysterious" number 33, but none have been verified.[1].
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 because of space restrictions.
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 and began brewing Rolling Rock at its Newark facility in mid July, 2006. The final batch of Rolling Rock was shipped from Latrobe on July 31, 2006. Anheuser-Busch has said that 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 of quality." This appears on current production (2007) painted bottles, along with "Latrobe Brewing Co., ST. LOUIS, MO."
Residents of the Greater Latrobe Area organized a boycott of InBev and Anheuser-Busch brands to demonstrate their disapproval of Rolling Rock leaving the area where it was born.[2] Although Anheuser-Busch has claimed that the recipe has remained the same, some Rolling Rock enthusiasts claim the taste of the beer has slightly changed since the move to Newark.
Anheuser-Busch appears poised to roll out a red lager version of Rolling Rock called Rolling Rock Red. While the number 33 has been a traditional part of Rolling Rock iconography, Rolling Rock Red's label has a “3.”
[edit] External links
- Rolling Rock official website
- Why is there a 33 on Rolling Rock beer labels?
- SaveRollingRock.org - News and information on the sale of the Rolling Rock brand.
- Rolling Rock anthem-Rolling Rock Blues
- "Latrobe says goodbye to Rolling Rock", Michael Cowden, Associated Press, July 28, 2006
- http://www.brewblog.com/brew/2008/01/rolling-rock-re.html#more
