Stroh’s Bohemian-Style Pilsner Long-Awaited Return to Detroit is Aug. 22

DETROIT, MI — It’s about time to raise your glass in a team drink for Stroh’s, which announced last month that it would again be brewing it’s iconic Bohemian-Style Pilsner in Detroit after a decades long absence.

Stroh’s was last brewed in Detroit June 1985. The family sold its label to Pabst Brewing in 1999, after a price war sent sales plummeting. The company said in a news release Tuesday that the beer will be available in Michigan stores, bars and restaurants beginning Aug. 11.

Brew Detroit LLC, a 68,000-square-foot brewing facility at 1401 Abbott Street in Corktown, received label approval for the beer on June 8.

The beer was first brewed in Detroit in 1850.

“Stroh’s is Detroit,” Dan McHugh, CMO of Pabst Brewing Company, said in a news release. “By reintroducing Stroh’s Bohemian-style Pilsner and brewing in the city, we are tapping into the history and heritage of Stroh’s and the innovation and hard work of the people of Detroit.”

Pabst Brewmaster Greg Deuhs said in the news release that the beer is “a crips, balanced pilsner with a floral aroma, subtle hop spice, and a rich, bready maltiness made from Saaz and Magnum hops and Vienna malt.
Pabst continued to brew Stroh’s Lager and Light brands, but loyal Stroh’s drinkers complained after it left Michigan that the beer “doesn’t quite taste the same,” Eric Phillips, Stroh’s brand manager with Pabst, told The Detroit News.

The beer is based on an old Stroh’s recipe, Phillips said, and Pabst worked closely with Brew Detroit to closely replicate it. Now that the beer is again brewed with Detroit water, the pilsner should have “some of that traditional Stroh’s taste to it.”

The alcohol by volume is a bit higher than in some beers — 5.5 percent — and it will be sold exclusively in Michigan in 12-ounce bottles.

Image credit: Pabst Brewing Co.