Rolling Rock

Rolling Rock

File:Rolling rock bottles.jpg Rolling Rock bottles showing their distinctive painted labels.
Manufacturer	Anheuser-Busch
Introduced	1939
Style	Pale lager
Website	www.rollingrock.com

Rolling Rock is a brand of pale lager beer. Although founded as a local beer in Western Pennsylvania, it was marketed aggressively and eventually became a national product. The brand was sold to Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, Missouri in mid 2006, which transferred brewing operations to New Jersey.

Rolling Rock beer is distinctive in several ways, including use of green glass bottles with painted-on labels rather than glued-on paper labels.

The number 33 is printed prominently on all bottles of Rolling Rock. A widely-held belief is that it marks the repeal of prohibition in 1933. However, according to James L. Tito, former CEO of Latrobe Brewing, the "33" signifies the 33 words in the beer's slogan: "Rolling Rock - From the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe, we tender this premium beer for your enjoyment as a tribute to your good taste. It comes from the mountain springs to you."

A founding executive is said to have written "33" at the end of the slogan to indicate the number of words it comprised as a guide for the bottle printers. However, they thought it was part of the text and incorporated it into the label graphics. Hence, the first batch of bottles carried the number "33" and they remained that way since they were continually collected and reused (also, during the Great Depression, there was no reason to throw away perfectly good merchandise and start over). This tradition has been sustained by the company as the wording on the labels has changed over the years, and the verbiage is carefully structured to retain a length of 33 words. There are several other lesser-known theories or urban legends about the "mysterious" number 33, including the fact that 33 is the highest degree in Freemasonry, but none has been verified.

The term pony bottle is derived from the horse on the bottle, and refers to the smaller sized 7-ounce bottle. Some pony bottles have paper (rather than painted) labels because of space restrictions.

Rolling Rock is considered to be something of a premium beer and has benefited greatly from the trend toward the consumption of less mainstream alcoholic beverages that has been developing in the United States since the 1970s.

From 1939 until 2006, Rolling Rock was brewed at the Latrobe Brewing Company. In May, 2006, Anheuser-Busch purchased the Rolling Rock and Rock Green Light brands from InBev and began brewing Rolling Rock at its Newark facility in mid July, 2006. The final batch of Rolling Rock was shipped from Latrobe on July 31, 2006. Anheuser-Busch has said that Rolling Rock's original pledge on the label will be preceded by these words: "To honor the tradition of this great brand, we quote from the original pledge of quality." This appears on current production (2007) painted bottles, along with "Latrobe Brewing Co., ST. LOUIS, MO."

Residents of the Greater Latrobe Area organized a boycott of InBev and Anheuser-Busch brands to demonstrate their disapproval of Rolling Rock leaving the area where it was born. [1] Although Anheuser-Busch has claimed that the recipe has remained the same, some Rolling Rock enthusiasts claim the taste of the beer has slightly changed since the move to Newark.

In September 2006 the brewery was purchased by City Brewing Company and now brews Samuel Adams beer for the Boston Beer Company. [2]

Rolling Rock in popular culture

• Rolling Rock is seen many times throughout many of the early episodes of The Sopranos.
• The song title 'Jaked On Green Beers' by Alkaline Trio was inspired by Rolling Rock. Frontman Matt Skiba said "This song was named after something our dear friend Erik Anderson once said. We were in a hotel room drinking Rolling Rock in bottles, Erik came in and asked if we were, "getting jaked on green beers?" Once the laughter subsided, we decided to name our newest song that. It really had nothing to do with the song's lyrical content."
• In December 2006, a lyric from the song A Million Dollars off of The Joel Plaskett Emergency's DVD/EP Make a Little Noise, was nominated for Lyric of the Year by CBC Radio 3. The lyric that was nominated was, "let's get wrecked on Rolling Rock and stroll down to the sea".
• In November of 2006, Rolling Rock launched an advertising campaign featuring a guitar playing party ape in a scene reminiscent of many lowbrow beer commercials. Later, a supposedly separate countercampaign by a group called “The Friends of Rolling Rock" was launched, criticizing the "beer ape" ad and its creator, Rolling Rock’s Vice President of Marketing, Ron Stablehorn. This has been ousted as a viral marketing scheme by Rolling Rock - neither "The Friends of Rolling Rock" or Ron Stablehorn exist in real life.
• In the movie Old School, Rolling Rock is one of the two major beers featured, the other being Corona. Both beers were seen in glass bottles and aluminum cans, a rare sight for the two "premium" beers. On the dvd commentary for the film actor Luke Wilson makes light of Will Ferrell "knocking back some Rolling Rocks and getting them bones".
• In The Deer Hunter Robert DeNiro's character orders several Rolling Rocks for his and Meryl Streep's character, stating that it is the best beer out there. The film takes place in Pennsylvania, home of the Latrobe Brewing Company.
• Rolling Rock is the primary beer brand featured in The Station Agent
• The words from the labels of Rolling Rock beer were rearranged into a comic "poem" by comedian Demetri Martin, entitled "All of the Words on a Bottle of Rolling Rock Beer in a Different Order".
• Syndicated sports columnist Norman Chad often references Rolling Rock in his weekly column.
• Rolling Rock is consumed often in the television show The West Wing.
• In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Stan (played by Mark Ruffalo) and Patrick (played by Elijah Woods) are seen consuming Rolling Rock beer while discussing Patrick's new love interest, Clementine (Kate Winslet). (Also it's worth noting that Patrick opens the Rolling Rock bottles with a bottle opener, however all Rolling Rock bottles manufactured are of the 'Twist-Off' variety.) Not necessarily true, the returnable bottles were not twist-offs.
• In Vanilla Sky, Sofia Serrano (played by Penélope Cruz) hands David Aames (played by Tom Cruise) a bottle of Rolling Rock while he's at her apartment for the first time.
• Rolling Rock is seen several times in the popular sitcom "Friends"
• Both Rolling Rock and Rock Green Light have appeared at different times on the HBO series Entourage alongside corporate cousins Budweiser and Bud Light as the beers of choice for Vincent Chase and his entourage.
• The popular college movie "Van Wilder" features several bottles of Rolling Rock
• Singer/songwriter Cal Donnolley wrote Rolling Rock Blues in 1998.
• In the now defunct HBO sitcom Lucky Louie, Rolling Rock was seen quite frequently.
• Rolling Rock is often the preferred beer of Repairman Jack in the series of novels by F. Paul Wilson.
• Rolling Rock is featured in many of the party scenes in the film Swingers.
• The song "Drinking in L.A" by Bran Van 3000 was used as the theme tune to a Rolling rock TV advert in the UK
• Wrestler The Sandman uses a version of a Senton Bomb named The Rolling Rock.
• In the early PC CD-ROM game The 7th Guest, one of the riddle puzzles is answered with the phrase "Rolling Rock Bottle Cap"
• Kurt Cobain stated it was his favorite beer because, "It was like Rock N' Roll backwards" from Heavier Than Heaven.
• The Angry Video Game Nerd drinks Rolling Rock while recording his video game reviews. It is also his favorite beer.
• In the movie Rocky Balboa Stallone's character is seen ordering a pony bottle of Rolling Rock. This was confirmed in an interview to be Rocky's beer of choice.
• In That 70's Show Red Forman is drinking some Rolling Rock in a couple of episodes.

External links

• Rolling Rock official website
• Why is there a 33 on Rolling Rock beer labels?
• SaveRollingRock.org - News and information on the sale of the Rolling Rock brand.
• Rolling Rock anthem-Rolling Rock Blues
• "Latrobe says goodbye to Rolling Rock", Michael Cowden, Associated Press, July 28, 2006