Lucky Lager is a beer that has a strong cult following on Vancouver Island. At one time Lucky was actually brewed on Vancouver Island in Victoria but in 1982 Labatt Breweries of Canada moved off the Island and proceeded to tear down the brewery to prevent any competition on the Island. Labatt now brews Lucky out of Edmonton, Alberta in the same brewery where they produce Budweiser for all of Western Canada. In 1995, Labatt was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. Interbrew was then subsequently purchased by Brazilian brewing giant Ambev in 2004 and the company became Inbev. July 13, 2008 will remain an ominous day for Lucky beer fans as this was the day that Inbev merged with Anheuser-Busch and Lucky officially became owned by Budweiser.
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The following is a history of the Lucky Beer Company in the United States: Lucky Lager Brewing Company opened a second brewery in Azusa, California in 1949, and bought smaller breweries in Vancouver, Washington in 1950 and in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1960. The Salt Lake City brewery was closed in 1967.[1]
Lucky Lager Brewing Company changed their name back to General Brewing between 1963 and 1969, and then changed the name to Lucky Breweries, Inc. in 1969.
During the late 1960s Lucky Lager's market share faltered among younger drinkers. This led to the ill-fated introduction of King Snedley's Beer. According to some accounts King Snedley's was just Lucky Lager repackaged with a different brand and marketed toward counterculture hipsters. The new brand flopped and was withdrawn from the market, then reappeared briefly in 1975.
In 1971, millionaire beer baron Paul Kalmanovitz bought Lucky Lager Brewing and - again - changed the name back to General Brewing Company. The Azusa, CA brewery was closed immediately. The San Francisco brewery was closed in 1978. This left Vancouver, WA and Cranston,RI as the only locations where Lucky Lager was brewed.[2] In the late 1970s, General Brewing took advantage of the "generic brand" marketing craze in the US by producing beer with plain white labels emblazoned with the word BEER. Again, rumors surfaced that BEER was simply repackaged Lucky Lager. When the generic craze died, and the microbrewery movement took off, General had a hard time maintaining profitability as a brewer of inexpensive beers. The fact that Lucky Lager tasted no worse than expensively-advertised "premium" brands such as Budweiser or Miller did not impress a market of drinkers where image was frequently more important than taste. The brewery's fortunes began to decline.
After the Vancouver brewery shut down in July 1985 , the Olympia Brewing Company brewery in Tumwater, WA began to produce this lager. On July 1, 2003 this brewery was also closed. Since then, Lucky Lager has been brewed in Irwindale, CA (along with other brands such as Olympia and Rainier brands).
Lucky Lager was once famous for its 11oz stubby bottles featuring a rebus under the cap. Since the closure of the Tumwater brewery, this famous bottle has been discontinued.
The label for Lucky Lager has also seen many changes. In the 1950s the big red X was made less prominent, but it still remained on the labels and on advertising. In 1957 the X was reduced in size somewhat; the same logo, different size. In 1962 the label was again redesigned and the X was made smaller still, although it was still the design's focus. This can with the smaller "X" is sometimes called the 'bug' can by collectors because there is a small "dated" seal that can appear on different spots on the label, like a bug moving around. The "bug" design was then replaced by a label that got rid of the "X" entirely and replaced it with a large "L".
The "L" was written in the cursive form with the rest of the letters following. The origin and reason for this new design (X to L) is somewhat unknown, but is said to have been created by the son of a Lucky Lager distributor in the Northwest.
In recent years, the popularity of the beer has declined, but in selected areas in North America, the beer is still available. Lucky is commonly found all across Southern British Columbia. It enjoys a dedicated following on Vancouver Island, and, though generally considered a "non-premium" beer, is popular in many southern BC towns such as Lake Cowichan, Ucluelet, Duncan, Chemainus, Cherryville, Campbell River, Comox, Courtenay, Cumberland, Gold River, Port Alice, Port McNeill, Port Hardy, Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Ladysmith, Cassidy, Sooke, Cedar and Victoria. (As a side note, Labatt Brewing Company declared Cumberland, BC to be the "Luckiest Town in Canada" in early 2002 due to its incredible rate of consumption). Labatt markets Lucky Lager as a budget brand in Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario. Lucky Lager can also be found in certain areas of the United States, most commonly Michigan.
Lucky Beer is available at Salmon and Bannock in Vancouver & The Pemberton Station Pub in North Vancouver.
In the 1993 film Kalifornia, Lucky Lager was the favorite drink of Brad Pitt's character, Early Grayce.
Jack Nicholson's character drank the old oil can style of Lucky Lager throughout the 1970 movie, Five Easy Pieces.
Cans of Lucky feature prominently in many scenes in the film The Van, in one scene being sold out of a cooler for 35 cents at a van show.
Lucky Lager was also featured in the bar room brawl scene in the 1968 movie The Devil's Brigade starring William Holden.
In the 1961 independent feature The Exiles (1961 film), the majority of the time, the characters are drinking Lucky Lager and local liquor stores advertise the sale of Lucky Lager with neon signs.
In the 1968 Russ Meyer Film, "Vixen!", Lucky Lager is being enjoyed in the backwoods of British Columbia.
Lucky Lager was in the closing of The Bad News Bears (1976) . Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) gives the team Lucky Lager stubby grenades to celebrate!
Lucky Lager was also featured in the 1982 Black Flag video "TV Party".
In the television show Greg the Bunny, a Lucky Lager sign can be seen in the background in the bar scene of the 'Rabbit Redux' episode.
Lucky Lager was first commercially introduced in 1934 by the General Brewing Company. The General Brewing Company was founded in San Francisco, California by Eugene Selvage, who remained the owner and CEO until 1961.[3][4][5] General Brewing became Lucky Lager Brewing Company in 1948 and began building and acquiring new breweries throughout the Western States. The following decade saw Lucky Lager grow to be the sales leader in the entire West.[3] In the 1960s, Lucky Lager Brewing Company sponsored the Lucky International Open.
During the early fifties, a brand slogan was "It's Lucky When You Live in California." It was seen on many billboards in Northern California.,
Lucky Lager Brewing Company was folded into a consortium led by three BC breweries. General Brewing later split off from the consortium and was eventually brought into the Pabst fold. The BC breweries later became Labatt's and thus there are two lines of ownership of the Lucky Lager brand. The Labatt brand is today more prevalent in Canada, especially the west coast, Manitoba and Ontario.