The official drink of downtown Lincoln (among many other places) will undergo a reinvention — the people of Pabst will not only tinker with the flavor of Heileman’s Old Style, but it’s going to cost more too.

Pabst Brewing Co., which owns the Old Style brand, said this week it will soon be marketing Old Style as “authentically kraeusened.” That process more thoroughly ferments beer to give it additional flavor, along with a smoother finish, said Keith Hill, a Pabst brand manager.
[…]
Old Style, like most Pabst brands, has been sold as a bargain beer for years.

The “new” Old Style will be in stores and taverns by February. It will be more expensive to brew and will be sold at higher prices, similar to prices for Budweiser and Miller Lite, Hill said.

I’m kind of torn about this. Old Style is probably my favorite of the cheap beers. You can get a pitcher of it at O’Rourke’s for what you pay for a pint of beer at many Omaha bars. Recrafting it and making it more expensive seems to kind of miss the point — that poor people, college students and slumming hipsters like it for its cheapness.

At the same time, though, I’m kind of curious about the “original” Old Style taste, which this move claims to restore. I think I might be more receptive to a new “premium” Old Style — Old Style Classic, if you will — sold alongside the Old Style I’ve grown to know and love. As it is, I’m probably just going to revert back to Milwaukee’s Best Light.

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