Where To Find Lucky Logger Beer?

Lucky Lager is an American lager with brewing and distribution rights held by the Pabst Brewing Company. The beer was originally launched in 1934 by the San Francisco-based General Brewing Company and grew to be one of the most prominent beers in the Western United States during the 1950s and 1960s. While Lucky Lager is still available in Canada, it appears that the beer is no longer in production, with the last brewery producing it closing in 2003. However, there are mentions of the beer being produced at Columbia Brewery in Creston as recently as 2020.

Where to buy Lucky Logger beer

Lucky Lager is an American lager with US brewing and distribution rights held by the Pabst Brewing Company. Lucky Lager was originally launched in 1934 by the San Francisco-based General Brewing Company and grew to be one of the most prominent beers of the Western United States during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 2019, Pabst announced that the beer brand would be revived and brewed by the 21st Amendment Brewery, based in San Leandro. The beer is described as an unfiltered lager that "pours with a pale straw colour and a clean white head, with the aroma of sweet corn, toasted bread and light notes of citrus fruits from delicate hops."

The US version of Lucky Lager is brewed exclusively for the Bay Area, whereas the version sold in Canada can be found pretty much everywhere on Vancouver Island. In Canada, Lucky Lager is owned by Labatt Breweries, which is in turn owned by the multinational giant AB InBev.

If you are looking to buy Lucky Lager, you can find it in the following places:

• In the Bay Area, California, US
• Throughout Vancouver Island, Canada
• Columbia Brewery in Creston, Canada

History of Lucky Lager breweries

The first Lucky Lager brewery was established by the General Brewing Corporation of San Francisco on 31 August 1933. The business office was located at 369 Pine St. in downtown San Francisco. The Articles of Incorporation list three individuals who were officers of Consolidated Beverages, Inc., and they, along with the other three original incorporators, remained as company directors well into the '50s. The plant was built in the Bayview neighbourhood of So. San Francisco, near Hunter's Point, at 2601 Newhall Street.

The first Lucky Lager brewery was controlled by Coast Breweries Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C., which was a consortium founded to hold the assets of several B.C. breweries. The first beer hit the market on 6 July 1934, after three months of aging. In December 1934, Coast Breweries introduced "Lucky Lager" in British Columbia.

In 1935, Lucky Lager's president, Baron Paul von Gontard, was replaced by brewmaster Julius Kerber. Von Gontard relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and went on to start a couple of other breweries in the late ‘30s that all went bankrupt. In January 1936, after less than a year in the leadership position, Kerber died. The company's secretary/treasurer, Eugene S. Selvage, replaced him as president of the company, a position he would occupy for the next twenty-five years.

In 1949, General Brewing Corporation's Board of Directors voted to change the name of the company to the Lucky Lager Brewing Co. Lucky Lager became the best-selling beer in California, so the company decided to build a plant in southern California near Los Angeles, in the small town of Azusa. By 1954, the consortium had been renamed Lucky Lager Breweries Limited and three years later was purchased by Labatt Breweries.

In 1958, Coast Breweries was purchased by Canadian Labatt Brewery, which continued to brew Lucky Lager. In 1963, Lucky Lager Brewing Company changed its name back to General Brewing. In 1969, it changed its name again to Lucky Breweries, Inc.

In 1971, millionaire beer baron Paul Kalmanovitz bought Lucky Lager Brewing and merged it with Maier Brewing Company to form the General Brewing Company with S&P Corporation as its parent. The Azusa brewery was closed immediately, and the San Francisco brewery closed in 1978. In the late 1970s, General Brewing took advantage of the "generic brand" marketing craze in the US by producing beer with plain white labels emblazoned with the word "BEER".

In July 1985, the Vancouver brewery shut down, and the Olympia Brewing Company in Tumwater, Washington, began to produce Lucky Lager in the US. In July 2003, this brewery was also closed. Lucky Lager continued to be sold in its original Northern California range at Lucky Stores supermarkets, which although not affiliated, sold Lucky Lager as an unofficial value store brand, until Lucky Stores supermarkets were bought out by Albertson's and the name of the supermarkets changed around 2000.

In 1982, Labatt moved off Vancouver Island and demolished the brewery to prevent any competition. Labatt brewed Lucky out of Edmonton, Alberta, in the same brewery where they produced Budweiser for all of Western Canada, and is still brewed there today.

In 2019, Pabst Brewing Company, owner of the Lucky Lager brand in the U.S., announced that the beer brand would be revived and would be brewed by 21st Amendment Brewery, based in San Leandro.

Taste and smell of Lucky Logger beer

The taste and smell of Lucky Logger beer are described as \"very clean, perhaps a bit nutty\" with \"toasty\" notes and \"hops that are there but not strong\". The beer has a \"light and smooth\" mouthfeel and is \"very drinkable\".

Lucky Logger pours a \"pale amber almost orange in colour\" with a \"light tan head\". The aroma is of \"deep caramel\" with a \"very light hop presence\". The taste is similar to the aroma, with \"deep clean caramel\" and a \"one-dimensional\" profile. The mouthfeel is \"medium-bodied with lively carbonation\".

Lucky Logger is a simple beer, but it does that one dimension well. It is a \"pleasant drink overall\" and is \"definitely worth picking up a sixer\".

Advertising and marketing of Lucky Lager

Lucky Lager's marketing strategy relied on its packaging and label, with the brand taking a different route by focusing on simple marketing and a quality product over expensive advertising and excessive rebranding. The original label for Lucky Lager has undergone many changes since its launch in 1934. The distinctive red cross, with a circle in the centre and the words "Lucky Lager" printed on both arms, was designed by Charles Stafford Duncan, the art director of the McCann Erickson advertising agency in San Francisco. It won the highest award for the most distinctive beer package from the Pacific Advertising Club Association in 1939 and the Altman Prize of the National Academy of Design.

The large red cross was made less prominent in the 1950s but remained on the labels and advertising. The label was redesigned, and the cross was made smaller in 1962, although it was still the focus of the design. In the late '60s, the cross was removed entirely and replaced with a large cursive "L" to maintain relevance in the beer market.

Tongue-in-cheek phrases like "aged just right" and "slow-brewed Western-style for man-sized taste" were some early slogans in the mix. Lucky Lager became the first beer to include the date it was brewed on the can itself, adding to the beer's image of authenticity and brand transparency. The brand ran a number of ad spots over the years, both in print and on TV. Its main slogan in the early '50s was "It's Lucky when you live in California," before changing to "It's Lucky when you live in America" when distribution expanded. Sing-song-y radio ads took over the airwaves, and later, TV spots highlighted the lager's easy-open pull tab and "unfullfeeling" drinkability. The overarching theme of these ads was that Lucky Lager was of higher quality than its competitors, with no gimmicks necessary.

One of the more unusual promotions was the "Talking Package". It was a robot made of Lucky Beer containers; its body was a beer barrel, the neck, arms and legs were made of beer cans, and the head and feet were large bottles. One hand held a beer bottle, as well. Inside was a microphone and a speaker. An operator hid nearby where he could see the people in front of the robot. Spectators could go up to the "talking package" and ask him questions about Lucky Lager, and the Lucky robot would respond.

Lucky Lager in popular culture

Lucky Lager has made several appearances in popular culture. In the 1956 film *Please Murder Me*, a Lucky Lager billboard is spotted in the background of one scene. In the 1961 film *The Exiles*, the characters are seen drinking Lucky Lager, and local liquor stores advertise its sale. The brand also appears in the barroom brawl scene in the 1968 movie *The Devil's Brigade*. In the 1970 film *Five Easy Pieces*, Jack Nicholson's character drinks Lucky Lager. In the 1976 film *The Bad News Bears*, Walter Matthau's character gives the team Lucky Lagers to celebrate. Lucky Lager is also featured in the 1982 Black Flag video *TV Party* and in the television show *Greg the Bunny*, in the episode "Rabbit Redux". In the 1993 film *Kalifornia*, Lucky Lager is the favourite drink of Brad Pitt's character, Early Grace, who famously exclaims, "THIS AIN'T LUCKY LAGER!" before beating a biker senseless.

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