How Chicago Bars Got So Many Old Style Signs
January 24, 2017 6:45 AM   Subscribe

What's the deal with all of those bars in Chicago with Old Style signs outside?
posted by Chrysostom (21 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Old Style was my beer of choice in college in the mid to late 80s. It was $6.99 a case at Osco Drugs. Anytime I'm back my first beer is an Old Style, then I switch to a good beer.
posted by COD at 7:08 AM on January 24, 2017


The answer was fairly predictable: brewery-supplied signs in the name of brand recognition.

Surely a smart business move on the part of the folks at Old Style to get their beer noticed, what for the up-front investment of some signage. But if you want an "all-in" version of this strategy, rewind about a century and investigate the interesting history of Chicago's tied houses. Schlitzbucks!
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 7:14 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]


A VERY long time ago I worked at the Hang Uppe near the Rush/Division bar crawl area, and I did my share of cleaning up at closing... and smell was something I'll never forget. For some reason, nothing smells worse than stale Old Style. But Old Style was on the taps of every bar Lodge ran at the time.
posted by answergrape at 7:21 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Love the tied houses Schlitz signs.
posted by Mid at 7:27 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


My favorite of these are the "Old Style On Tap" signs. Thank god you've got draft Old Style, I wouldn't want to drink it out of a bottle.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:29 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


This post just made me realize that Old Style signs aren't necessarily ubiquitous outside of Chicago.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:33 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


isn't it a chain of bars called Old Style
posted by beerperson at 7:44 AM on January 24, 2017


Old Style was the first beer I ever drank. At the tender age of three-or-so, my great-grandfather (a retired auto factory worker and prolific Old Style drinker) tricked me into drinking some. "It's Pepsi," he said. "That's a beer can!" I said. "It's Pepsi in a beer can," he insisted, and this sounded reasonable to my tiny brain, so I took a sip.

I didn't try beer again until I was 22.
posted by yomimono at 8:01 AM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]


Thanks for posting this, Chrysostom . I found the end quote from Oswaldo to be very moving: "I’ve reached a point where Old Style — I can even embrace that piece of my dad."
posted by yomimono at 8:12 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm having trouble loading the page, anyone else or is it just me?
posted by Carillon at 8:55 AM on January 24, 2017


Ditto for Vienna All-Beef Hot Dogs.
posted by briank at 9:32 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Thanks for this, and for the link to tied houses! I always wondered about those Schlitz buildings.
posted by misskaz at 10:18 AM on January 24, 2017


There's a small town I pass through in northern Wisconsin, on my way from Mpls-St Paul to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. One small town, middle of nowhere, 6-7 bars in a row on an otherwise empty street, every single one of them featuring an Old Style sign out front.

It's glorious.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:24 AM on January 24, 2017 [4 favorites]


“So this was a great opportunity for a brand like Old Style to say, ‘Hey, what about us? We’re delicious!’”

/looks sideways at Chicago beer historian Liz Garibay.
posted by lstanley at 11:34 AM on January 24, 2017


don't you dare cross Liz, i will cut you
posted by beerperson at 11:41 AM on January 24, 2017


The only commendable thing about Old Style was its use of Vangelis's "L'Enfant" in its mid-80s commercials. When you look up the word "swill" in the dictionary, there's a picture of a can of Old Style.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:10 PM on January 24, 2017


I miss liters of Old Style at The Mutiny for $5.

I also miss the Old Style signs of my old neighborhood.


Ou sont les ZIMNE PIWO d'antan?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:29 PM on January 24, 2017


Old style changed their formula sometime in the 90s and when they did it lost a lot of fans. A few years ago I started drinking something called LaCrosse Lager which was apparently made in the original brewery that made Old Style. I found it pleasantly drinkable lager.
posted by lester at 5:43 PM on January 24, 2017


"Surely a smart business move on the part of the folks at Old Style to get their beer noticed, what for the up-front investment of some signage. But if you want an "all-in" version of this strategy, rewind about a century and investigate the interesting history of Chicago's tied houses. Schlitzbucks!"

I had assumed they were tied houses too, though while there are tons of Schlitz relics, I can't seem to find any reference for where any from Heileman were, and only found oblique references to Heileman having success with tied houses, as part of the immigrant brewing boom.

"“So this was a great opportunity for a brand like Old Style to say, ‘Hey, what about us? We’re delicious!’”

/looks sideways at Chicago beer historian Liz Garibay.
"

"Hey, what about us? We can give you that extra couple percent of buzzed without breaking the bank!"
posted by klangklangston at 7:34 PM on January 24, 2017


I miss Old Style at Wrigley. But good golly, you can't disrupt the Ricketts' revenue stream just because you like something, though.
posted by hwyengr at 8:57 PM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


So if I'm understanding this correctly, tied houses were basically today's tasting rooms, only with a middleman as the owner of the saloon, instead of the breweries themselves?

With all the amazing local beer in Denver, I still spent the entire past baseball season drinking Old Style, because Cubs fans are nothing if not superstitious. CUBBIES!
posted by cyndigo at 3:28 PM on January 27, 2017


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