Lucky Lager

Lucky Lager is an American lager with U.S. brewing and distribution rights held by the Pabst Brewing Company. Originally launched in 1934 by San Francisco-based General Brewing Company, Lucky Lager grew to be one of the prominent beers of the Western United States during the 1950s and 1960s. In 2019, Pabst announced that the beer brand would be revived and would be brewed by 21st Amendment Brewery, based in San Leandro.

The General Brewing Company was founded in San Francisco, California by Eugene Selvage (who remained the owner and chief executive officer until 1961). Eugene teamed up with Paul C. von Gontard, a grandson of Aldophus Busch, and German brewmaster Julius Kerber, to launch a state-of-the-art brewery that could brew beer that rivalled those made in Europe. Lucky Lager, the first beer of General Brewing Company, was commercially introduced in 1934. That same year, General Brewing Company also formed a strategic partnership with Coast Breweries in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, as part of a consortium of several Canadian breweries. The General Brewing company expanded and opened Lucky Lager Brewing Company, a second brewery in Azusa, California, in 1949. Later in the 1950s and 1960s, the expansion also reached Vancouver, Washington, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Lucky Lager was launched in San Francisco by a series of newspaper, billboard, and street car advertisements. The ads announced Lucky would be a beer of high quality and would follow the tradition of German beers – being made with high-quality ingredients, in a high-quality brewery, and with thorough aging. It was launched to significant fanfare and grew steadily, becoming the number two-selling beer in California by 1937. Starting in 1935, Lucky encouraged people to take the taste test and that they would choose Lucky.

The General Brewing Company invested $1,000,000 to open its first brewery in San Francisco. It was planned and designed by Frederick H. Meyer, San Francisco architect, in partnership with George L. Lehle, a brewery engineer from Chicago. This construction was the most modern brewery of its time, with a capacity of 100,000 barrels per year and capabilities of doubling production. By brewing just Lucky Lager, the General Brewing Company achieved a record of selling its entire daily production since the beginning of operations. The main reason for its success with consumers was the high beer quality, which came from aging the beer adequately, unlike many of its post-Prohibition competitors of the time. Moreover, the production was set up in a way that no hands touched the beer or its container until the final step (bottling). General Brewing Company posted a bond of $1,000 as a guarantee that the age-date of the beer was authentic.

After WWII, General Brewing began rapid expansion to meet increasing demand. This included expanding into Azusa, California, in 1949, Vancouver, Washington, in 1950, and Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1960.

At the same time, the Maier Brewery was producing Brew 102, a favorite beer in postwar Southern California.

From 1950 to 1960, Lucky Lager grew to be the sales leader in the entire Western region.^{[citation needed]} This was coupled with continued distribution expansion in an effort to saturate the western market. By 1962, Lucky Lager was producing and selling over two million barrels of beer per year.

In 1958, Coast Breweries was purchased by Canadian Labatt Brewery, which continued to brew Lucky Lager.