E-Malt.com News article: USA: Last bottles of Rolling Rock rolled off the line July 26

Wednesday, July 26 marked the last day Rolling Rock will be brewed and bottled at Latrobe Brewing Company. The last bottles of Rolling Rock beer - in the famous green bottles with the painted horse head label - rolled off the bottling line at 6 p.m., marking an end to 67 years of beer production at the Latrobe plant, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review posted July 27. It is the end of an era for the Latrobe Brewing Co.

July 26 marks the last official working day for some Rolling Rock employees in Latrobe. Thursday July 26 and Friday July 27 will be spent cleaning the Latrobe brewery. Gates to the facility will be locked on Monday, July 31, which will also be the official last day for workers.

Anheuser Busch has bought the Rolling Rock brand name and will move production of the beer to another plant.

The last cases will be shipped Sunday before the plant officially closes Monday, pending a sale to City Brewing Co. of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

For the 61-year-old Ed Dobies, it means an end to 42 years working at the only job he has ever known. Wearing a City Brewing hat, he held a Rolling Rock hat in one hand and an empty beer bottle in the other as he walked out of the No. 1 door to sign his retirement papers.

His last day was mixed with fun and sadness. "I got a lot of hugs from the girls," he said. "It's a little scary knowing you're not going to be back in there again. I thought everybody would be down and out. I'm glad to see everybody happy. "

Nick Carota, 56, of Latrobe, a 30-year veteran, memorialized the event by writing a farewell song, "Among the Green Bottles." A fellow worker, Tod Wilson, played the song on his guitar for employees in the parking lot.

"People say I have a way of putting things to words. I'm sort of flabbergasted," Carota said. "It came off the top of my head in about 20 minutes. It just seemed to fit."

Inside the plant, City Brewing officials mingled with workers, passed out the hats and answered questions from employees as the final bottles rattled down the line.

"They're preparing for what hopefully will be an acquisition of the plant," said Greg Inda, chief financial officer of City Brewing.

Outside, tractor-trailer trucks lined up outside in the parking lot waiting to be packed with the remaining inventory.

Workers were told by company officials the last bottles would roll off the production line at 6 p.m. Cases of beer would be shipped from the plant until Sunday when the facility would shut down pending the sale to City Brewing.

The plant also produced a commemorative bottle that will be given to employees.

Plant Manager Mario LeDuc could not be reached for comment. Brenda Williams, a spokeswoman for InBev, did not respond to requests for comment. Joe Mulheren, chief shop steward for Local 144 of the International Union of Electrical Workers-Communications Workers of America, said City Brewing officials toured the plant along with executives of Seagrams Distilling who are considering a contract with City Brewing.

Mulheren spent part of the day with a crew filming a documentary about Rolling Rock. He went to a friend's house wearing a Rolling Rock shirt and passing out City Brewing hats to friends as the cameras rolled.

"I took off the shirt and jumped in the pool," he said. "When I came out, I put on a City Brewing hat. It was the start of a new relationship with City Brewing."

When InBev, Rolling Rock's owner, announced in May it was selling the product line to Anheuser Busch Cos. for $82 million, city residents and workers were shocked. The company had been owned by the Tito family from 1939 until 1987 when it was sold. The company had been sold again before InBev acquired it.

Rolling Rock had become an icon among beer drinkers for its long history, green bottles, well-known label and the mysterious "33" on the back of the bottle.

While InBev sought another buyer for the plant and equipment pending a July 31 shutdown, employees held their breath waiting for a buyer to step in. City Brewing entered the picture with a purchase offer and began negotiating with the union over concessions before it would agree to purchase the plant.

Dobies said he was told not to discuss the new wage and benefits package with reporters but said the employees "gave up a lot."

"We're not allowed to say. It's a considerable amount. It's a big loss for them. They had no choice."

Dobies' father went to work at Latrobe in 1957. He got his son a job there in 1964. He recalled his first day on the job when he walked into the plant and was amazed by the size of the brewery's interior.

"It looked gigantic," he said. "Everything was done by hand. We even emptied cases by hand. That's how slow it was. We could fill 400 cases an hour. Now we run 1,600 bottles a minute. On that first day, I said I only got 40 more years to work. Now 42 years later, I'm saying where the hell did all the time go."

Dobies lived through some anxious moments over those four-plus decades. He remembers the day former owner James Tito called a mass meeting in 1987 and told the workers the brewery was being sold to Sundor. Then the plant was sold to Labatt Breweries.

"There were a few anxious moments," he said. Then AmBev took over and the company merged with another brewer to form InBev. "That was the end of it," he added.

Tom Oliver, 54, of Derry, had 10 more minutes left on his shift. He works in shipping and would be helping ship the last cases of Rolling Rock from Latrobe over the weekend. Anheuser Busch already has started brewing Rolling Rock in New Jersey.

"It gives you some hope," said Oliver, who has worked there for 33 years. "You could tell there was some sadness but the workers are doing as best as they can as the day winds down. Everybody I've talked to is sorry to see the brewery go. It's like a friend passing."


28 July, 2006