The Old-School Midwestern Beer You Probably Haven't Seen In A Long Time

People have more choices today than ever before when it comes to picking out a refreshing beer. But before craft beers like popular IPAs were scooping up market share, milder lagers dominated the industry. Unfortunately for lager lovers, some of those brands failed to retain customers and eventually became old-school beers we don't see much of anymore. One of those brews was once a staple at backyard barbecues and fishing expeditions in the great outdoors: Hamm's. However, these days you don't often see folks knocking back a can of this historic brew.

Initially sold out of St. Paul, Minnesota starting in 1865, Hamm's is one of the oldest beers in America. It became especially well-known for its commercials. One old-school commercial features a cartoon bear (wow, what advertisers could get away with years ago) balancing on a log while a jingle highlights that Hamm's is made "from the land of sky blue waters." Another commercial from the 1970s showcased a man driving a jeep with a real bear as a passenger, until he reaches his destination (which appears to be work?) and cracks open a thirst-quenching Hamm's among friends.

It was popular throughout the United States for decades, though folks in the Midwest were its biggest fans. "Hammpions," as they're affectionately referred to, still enjoy the mild lager which boasts a low ABV of 4.7%, allowing consumers to enjoy a cold one without getting sloppy too fast. Outside the Midwest, though, Hamm's can sometimes be tough to track down these days.

It's not often people see someone kicking back with a can of Hamm's in most regions of the United States nowadays. Part of the reason is that ownership of the company exchanged hands multiple times over the decades. Originally, the beer was the brainchild of Theodore Hamm, a German immigrant who worked as a butcher in Chicago before founding Hamm's. In 1968, the company was sold to Heublein. Olympia bought it after that before Pabst Brewing acquired Olympia in 1983. In 1997, Stroh Brewing became the owner of the brand and possessed it until 2012, when the behemoth MillerCoors (a collaboration between SABMiller and Molson Coors) bought it.

Most of those companies already had a flagship beer brand, and it's hard to believe they would prioritize marketing, producing, and distributing Hamm's over their own proven bell cows. As a result, it slowly became less and less relevant in the public eye. MillerCoors still brews Hamm's today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and distributes it to locations around the globe. But while its distribution net may be wide, that doesn't mean it's selling at a high volume.

The beer did enjoy a resurgence of sorts in 2019, and there are still plenty of locations around the country where folks can find the nostalgic brew. Still, this may be a case of MillerCoors being perfectly content having Hamm's garner a minuscule profit for the company rather than nothing at all by ditching the brand altogether. After all, there are still plenty of thirsty "Hammpions" in the Midwest that wouldn't want anything occupying their beer koozie other than an old-school Hamm's.