# How did Old Style beer become popular in Chicago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** beer\ **Created:** [January 1, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019 "2011-01-01T04:03:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/21 "2012-12-18T06:56:00Z")
I don’t know. It seems like the ubiquity of Old Style signs hanging in front of stores all over the city may have lent the brand some cachet. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/22 "2012-12-18T14:29:04Z")
When I was a kid, my dad would shut me up by handing me a can of Old Style and telling me to find the frog hidden in the picture. I’m a little upset that they changed the can to do away with that scene. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/23 "2012-12-18T15:05:16Z")
My dad shut me up by letting me have a sip of his Old Style. Seriously, when I was about 5 or 6, dad couldn’t open a can of it near me without me insisting on a sip. And, to this date, it remains my macro of choice. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/24 "2012-12-18T15:10:32Z")
My husband did [this](http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a203/Missy2U_/?action=view¤t=1020082155.jpg) to our kitchen table. Freehand. 😃 He won’t touch any other beer other than Old Style. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/25 "2012-12-18T15:39:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My dad shut me up by letting me have a sip of his Old Style. Seriously, when I was about 5 or 6, dad couldn’t open a can of it near me without me insisting on a sip. I had my first taste of alcohol at the same age and the same product. I think it’s a Chicago tradition. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/26 "2012-12-19T01:54:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My dad shut me up by letting me have a sip of his Old Style. Seriously, when I was about 5 or 6, dad couldn’t open a can of it near me without me insisting on a sip. Not surprising, since it’s so sweet a kid would like it. It was kept popular by lower-case dopers looking for the frog. ETA: I was a Hamm’s kid. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/27 "2012-12-19T02:10:50Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Not surprising, since it’s so sweet a kid would like it. > > It was kept popular by lower-case dopers looking for the frog. > > ETA: I was a Hamm’s kid. It’s true, it does tend a bit sweet, but so do all those corn-adjunct lagers. It seems less sweet to me than the Miller products, at any rate (and, yes, I know Old Style is brewed by Miller now). I really do think Old Style is a very solid American adjunct lager since they want back to the krauesened version which seems less sweet to me than the non-krauesened one. To my tastes, it’s clearly above the standard BudMillCoors lager products. I still remember the day at the bar I realized this. I was drinking Miller High Lifes, because that’s always been regarded as a reasonable macrolager. After my second or third, I decided to switch to Old Style and was shocked by how much more flavor and beer taste it had. Since then, I’ve just stuck with the hometown favorite when I’m slumming it or at a bar where the selection is very limited. But what is this frog thing? I know nothing about it. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/28 "2012-12-19T03:10:04Z")
The old axiom that differences matter most when there is least at stake clearly applies to lawnmower lager. Its appeal really is one of tribe. Allegiance makes brand - allegiance even makes taste. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/29 "2012-12-19T03:45:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But what is this frog thing? I know nothing about it. Find the frog on the can. Don’t know if it’s still there. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/30 "2012-12-19T05:24:14Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > It was written by the Schlitz people, so I can’t vouch for it. > The gist is–after the fire, Chicago was short of water Schlitz never noticed that Chicago has several miles of frontage on Lake Michigan? ---
**Author:** ![glenvw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6de8d8/32.png) [@glenvw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glenvw)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/31 "2013-06-10T02:34:56Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Old Style beer has always been somewhat popular in the Chicago area. Maybe not THE most popular, but going back as far as the 60’s I can remember it being considered a “Chicago beer”. They even ran commercials for it starring former Chicago cop [Dennis Farina](http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/index.php?c=2813&m=xx) (“_it’s our great beer and they can’t have it_!” It’s at 4:50 on the video.) > > What perplexes me is, up until rather recently Old Style was brewed by Heileman way up in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Quite a ways from Chi Town. So how did it catch on down yonder? Old Style caught on in Chicago when Budweiser went on strike and the bar owners couldn’t get beer so many of them switched to Old Style. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2013, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/32 "2013-06-10T08:06:49Z")
> [@gerald\_campagna](#): > > in 1972 i had one truck, selling beer for old style… in 1976 bud went on strike for three months. The stores were empty i told them to fill up the space with old style til the strike was over in 1978 i had 50 trucks selling 7 million case a year Bill Brasky named “Old Style” beer. The brewery did not want to call it that. To BILL BRASKY! ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019/33 "2013-06-11T04:06:25Z")
After years of being a snobby micro-and-import-only guy, I spent a few months taste testing nothing by macro lager. Old Style came out my favorite. The difference isn’t much, but most others either tasted metallic or had one or two notes I didn’t like. Old Style is just simple beer-flavored beer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-old-style-beer-become-popular-in-chicago/566019.md?page=1)