Schaefer and Rheingold along with Ballantine beer, brewed in Newark, New Jersey were the three biggest blue collar beers of the New York's industrial era. P. Ballantine & Sons was better known for their ale: "Just make the three ring sign and ask the man for Ballantine!"
Midwest
beers Schlitz, Budweider, Pabst broke into the New
York market during the city's long 1949 brewery strike, making major
inroads into the market. Schlitz opened a brewery in Brooklyn to serve
the changing tastes of the beer consuming public. Both Schaefer and
Rheingold shut down in 1976.Schaefer was "the one beer to have when you're having more than one". Or two, three or six maybe. Also, "what d'ye hear in the best of circles? Schaefer all around!" was another slogan. It was the official beer, at various times, of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. By 1970 it was the biggest selling brew in the world.
You could vote as many times as you wanted in the annual Miss Rheingold pageant at any belly up bar in New York. "My beer is Rheingold the dry beer. Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer. It's not bitter, not sweet, it's the extra dry treat -- Won't you try extra dry Rheingold beer?"
Showing
its germanic heritage, the beer was named for the gold guarded by the
Rheinmaidens in Wagner's Das Rheingold, first part
of his operatic tetrology Der Ring des Niebelungen. Once, Schaefer and Rheingold neon beer signs were in every bar window in New York. Now, apartment houses occupy the sites where their Brooklyn breweries once made the region's most popular beers.
