Schlitz beer will be brewed for the last time on Saturday.

Wisconsin Brewing Co. brewmaster Kirby Nelson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he’ll make an 80-barrel batch of Schlitz that adheres to the specifications set by the company in its 1948 heyday to retire the beer with “dignity and respect.”

Pre-orders begin Saturday for products that will become available on June 27. The final barrels will be made in Verona, WI. That’s 90 miles west of Milwaukee, where Schlitz was first served in a tavern brewery more than 175 years ago.

“This is back to Schlitz’s glory days,” Nelson said.

Schlitz was founded in 1849. When Prohibition ended, it was America’s biggest beer company and one of Milwaukee’s largest employers, according to the Journal Sentinel. The beer brand continued enjoying success.

But by the 1970s, the self-proclaimed “beer that made Milwaukee famous” was struggling to compete with Milwaukee brewers Miller and Pabst.

Schlitz changed its ingredients to cut costs, which is said to have further hurt its popularity. When the company looked to let go of 200 workers around 1981, more than 700 employees hit the picket line. The company announced it was shutting down its Milwaukee operation before selling it to Stroh Brewing Co., in 1982. Soon after Schlitz shuttered operations in its hometown.

Schlitz was acquired by the Pabst Brewing Company in 1999 and relaunched in 2008, but was unable to recapture the magic of its prime.

A Pabst representative told Milwaukee Magazine that discontinuing Schlitz was a “tough choice” dictated by increased storage and shipping costs, but wouldn’t rule out bringing it back some day.

©2026 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.