Once-Loved Beers You Sadly Can't Find Anymore

Americans drink a lot of beer, around 28 gallons per adult annually. With nearly 10,000 breweries operating across the country, there's no shortage of options. Yet many once-popular beers have disappeared from store shelves and bar taps over the years. The reasons are typically straightforward: declining sales, consumer tastes shifting toward different styles, or changes in ownership trying to shake things up. Breweries need to regularly evaluate and prune their line-ups to stay competitive.

Beer styles cycle in and out of popularity. What's trendy one decade often fades the next. But for many drinkers, these discontinued beers bring back memories of specific periods of their lives, from college years to first jobs to regular gatherings with friends. Some of these brews played important roles in shaping today's diverse craft beer scene. While others are living second lives through dedicated homebrewers who attempt to recreate beloved recipes. Let's take a look at what happened to some of America's favorites.

In the world of craft beer, few names carry as much weight as Stone Brewing. Founded in 1996 by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner in San Marcos, California, Stone quickly developed a reputation for bold, hop-forward beers.

Stone Levitation was the brewery's answer to the session beer category — a 4.4% ABV amber ale that somehow managed to deliver the robust, complex flavor experience beer enthusiasts expected from Stone in a package you could enjoy all afternoon without regretting it the next morning. Lower-alcohol beers can be hard to brew correctly, but Levitation delivered a rich, roasty malt complexity alongside the bright, citrusy hop character that became Stone's calling card.

One reviewer on Beer Advocate wrote: "This beer is balanced nicely with plenty of hops. Smells of sweet malt, a little musty ... tastes of raisins. The label says it all: There's more character in this 4.4% alcohol beer than any other beer I can think of in this range. Well done, Stone."

When Stone eventually discontinued Levitation in 2015 during a portfolio reshuffling, they did something nearly unprecedented in the competitive craft beer world, they published the complete recipe, allowing homebrewers and fans to preserve it's legacy in garages and basements across the country.

Dogfish Head Brewery is known for its innovative Ancient Ales series, which recreated historical beer recipes based on archaeological evidence. These beers were developed in collaboration with molecular archaeologist Dr. Patrick McGovern, an expert in ancient beverages.

The series began with Midas Touch which was released in 1999. It was a sweet yet dry beer made with ingredients found in 2,700 year old drinking vessels from the tomb of King Midas in central Turkey. In the ornate vessels they found an unusual drink, a mix of grape wine, barley beer, and honey mead. Dogfish's version was brewed with honey, white Muscat grapes, and saffron.

Next came Chateau Jiahu in 2005. This beer was inspired by 9,000 year old preserved pottery jars discovered in Jiahu, a village in Northern China. Analysis of the jars revealed they were used for brewing a fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit. Dogfish's version used orange blossom honey, muscat grape juice, barley malt hawthorn fruit, and sake yeast. 

The series ran for two decades with different beers released every few years, the last one released in 2010. As of recent years, Dogfish Head no longer actively brews new batches of these ancient ales on a regular basis.

It looked like a stout but drank like a crisp summer beer. For 10 years, Saint Arnold's Santo occupied a unique space in the craft beer world — a black Kölsch with a light body, floral hop notes, and subtle dark malt character, inspired by Mexican dark larger.

Launched in 2011, Santo came to life through an unusual creative process. The Houston brewery had commissioned Texas artist Carlos Hernandez, known for his Day of the Dead Rock Star paintings, to create his interpretation of Saint Arnold himself. The resulting artwork was so striking that instead of using it for an existing beer, they decided to create an entirely new one worthy of the label. After years of test batches and experimentation, Santo was born.

Santo became a Houston institution, showing up on tap handles and store shelves throughout the city. As one local beer writer, Anthony Goritty, put it: "Saint Arnold Santo used to be possibly one of the most readily available beers in Houston. If you couldn't find Santo, you're in the wrong place." The beer also found footholds in markets like San Antonio and New Orleans.

Despite its popularity, in early 2021, Saint Arnold's founder announced Santo's discontinuation in a heartfelt facebook post: "... The final batch of Santo is on the shelves ... the reality is that we don't discontinue beers, the market does. Once sales drop below a level, stores would rather carry one of our other beers and so it gets replaced."

Bridgeport Brewing opened in 1984 and quickly became Portland's defining brewery. A local beer expert, Jeff Alworth, told Oregan Public Broadcasting "BridgePort Brewing, for the first 15 years of its life, was the Portland brewery ... it was one of those founding breweries that people really connected with."

The IPA was its most popular. It was released in 1996 and won multiple awards including a gold medal at the World Beer Championship, two silver medals at the World Beer Cup, a gold at the Brewing Industry International Awards in Germany, and two silver medals at the Australian International Beer Awards. Alworth, on his Beervana blog, wrote about Bridgeport IPA: "It predicted where the market would be headed a decade and a half later — toward mid-bitterness hoppy beers saturated with flavor and aroma. It was not the first American IPA, but it was the most influential here in Portland."

The brewery's decline stemmed from several key factors. First, in 1995, Bridgeport was purchased by the Texas-based Gambrinus Company, which made business decisions that gradually distanced the brewery from its Portland roots. Second, Portland experienced an explosion of new craft breweries, creating unprecedented competition for the once-dominant Bridgeport. Finally, it's location in a once gritty, industrial neighborhood transformed into the upscale Pearl District, making the valuable real estate impractical and uneconomical for beer production.

When BridgePort announced the end of brewing operations in 2019, it wasn't exactly a shock to local beer watchers who had observed the brewery's fading relevance. Still, the closure marked the end of an era as Portland's beer scene had lost one of its founding fathers.

Discontinued beers don't need to be expensive craft options to be missed. Busch Light Apple, an apple-flavored lager that was pulled from shelves in 2022, still has fans demanding its return. Anheuser-Busch released it in summer 2020 with little fanfare, but the beer quickly became a surprise hit, selling more than 1 million cases in just nine weeks. Customers were drawn to its light, refreshing apple flavor, making it one of the company's most successful recent product launches.

Despite this remarkable success story, Anheuser-Busch pulled it from production after just two summer seasons, leaving fans bewildered and upset. The discontinuation sparked an immediate grassroots campaign for its return, including a Change.org petition that has garnered more than 13,000 signatures. The comments on this petition range from amusing to desperate. "My granddad is 99 years old and has 4 months left to live and all he wants is bush apple to come back," wrote one supporter.  

Busch has occasionally teased the possibility of bringing it back, particularly around National Apple Day, when their social media posts spark fresh waves of speculation and hope for the beer's dedicated fan base.

When Jeff Lebesch pedaled his bicycle through Belgium in the 1980s, sampling local beers and dreaming of bringing those flavors home to America, he couldn't have imagined the craft beer revolution he and his then-wife Kim Jordan would help spark. New Belgium Brewing Company, founded in their Fort Collins basement in 1991, grew from a tiny operation into one of craft beer's most recognizable names, known for both innovative brews and industry-leading environmental practices.

Several pioneering brews that helped build the company's reputation have disappeared from shelves over the years. One such beer was Abbey, a Belgium style dubbel that was phased out in 2021 after three decades of production. A reviewer for Beer and Brewing wrote: "The flavor is classic dubbel. All of the aromatics (banana, clove, caramel, and a kiss of honey) are there, along with just enough background hops bitterness to provide support."

The discontinuation of Abbey came after Lion Little World Beverages (a subsidiary of Kirin Holdings) acquired the brewery in 2019. The new owners decided to refresh the product line up, including changing the recipe to their flagship beer Flat Tire, as part of their portfolio strategy.

When homebrewers Pete Slosberg and Mark Bronder released Pete's Wicked Ale in December 1986, the craft beer movement was just beginning. Inspired by British traditions, Slosberg had been attempting to clone Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale but instead created something new, a beer that was darker than English brown ales, lighter than porters, and more bitter than both. This creation helped establish what would become known as the American brown ale style.

By the mid-1990s, it had become the second best-selling craft beer in America. One Redditor reminisced: "I lived in NYC in the mid '90s and fell in love with it. My first 'good' beer. I miss it."  

As demand grew, production moved between various contract brewers, and in 1998, the Gambrinus Company acquired the brand. What followed is a familiar story in craft beer history. The new owners changed the recipe, making the beer lighter in flavor and body. Long time fans noticed the difference and stopped buying it, causing sales to plummet rapidly. By 2011, with sales continuing to fall and new craft breweries opening at an exponential rate, Gambrinus discontinued Pete's Wicked Ale. The beer that had once helped define American craft brewing had become a footnote in its history.

Bud Dry was one of America's first domestic dry beers, introduced by Anheuser-Busch in April 1990. This beer style, characterized by lower residual sugars, was first popularized by Japan's Asahi Super Dry in 1987. At its launch, Anheuser-Busch made a significant commitment to the brand. The company reported that Bud Dry would be "... the most extensively funded new brand produced by any brewer." Those around at the time might remember the catchy ads with the slogan "Why ask why? Try Bud Dry."

"The dry beer segment is going to be a growing one," a Busch representative stated at the time, "we see consumers leaning towards lighter beers, and Bud Dry should appeal to them." The company also noted that their product was distinct from its Japanese counterparts: "The products they're producing verge on malt liquors. They've got more alcohol and are generally heavier."

Despite initial market enthusiasm, Bud Dry's popularity declined over time. By December 2010, Anheuser-Busch officially discontinued the brand due to declining sales and changing consumer preferences. Some beer drinkers still lament the absence of dry beers in the American market. As one Reddit user noted: "You can't find a gas station in Canada without dry beer. You can't find a gas station in Australia without dry beer. The Japanese love dry beer. Germans love dry beer. Dry beer is appreciated and enjoyed all over the world, just not here. Not since the early 90s anyway."

Olympia Beer began its history in 1896 when Leopold Schmidt, a German immigrant from Montana, founded The Capital Brewing Company. Schmidt established his brewery at the picturesque Tumwater Falls on the Deschutes River in Washington state.

The brewery's initial facilities were substantial for the time, featuring a four-story wooden brewhouse, a five-story cellar building, ice factory powered by the rushing waters of the lower falls, and a dedicated bottling and keg plant. From here, Schmidt began brewing and selling Olympia Beer.

Olympia became known for its memorable marketing slogan "It's the water," which emphasized the supposed unique brewing qualities of the water that came from subterranean springs near the brewery. This water source became central to the brand's identity and marketing for decades, with the company claiming it gave their beer a distinctive clean taste.

The brand continued production through various ownership changes throughout the 20th century. However, in 2021, Pabst Brewing Company, which owned the Olympia brand at that time, announced the temporary discontinuation of Olympia Beer. But as of now, the beer has not returned to production, and there is no clear indication if or when the iconic Northwest brew might resume its place on store shelves.

Anchor Brewing first opened in 1896, and became known for its distinctive steam beer. The name originated from the brewery's unique cooling process developed before modern refrigeration was available. The wort (a hot mixture of water and malt) needs to be cooled quickly before adding yeast. Being without refrigeration, Anchor pumped this hot liquid up to the brewery's top floor, where it cooled in large shallow pans. Cold San Francisco air flowed through the rooms cooling the mixture, creating visible clouds of steam rising from the windows of the roof, giving the beer its name.

By the mid-1960s, Anchor Brewing was struggling with declining sales and faced closure. Fritz Maytag, heir to the Maytag washing machine fortune, purchased a controlling stake and spent the next 45 years transforming Anchor into a profitable company that helped spark the American craft beer movement.

Maytag eventually sold Anchor Brewing to the Griffin Group in 2010. The brewery changed hands again in 2017 when it was acquired by Sapporo. Unfortunately, hit hard by the pandemic, Sapporo closed the historic brewery in 2023. However, there may be hope for the brand. Hamdi Ulukaya, founder of Chobani yogurt, has since purchased the company with plans to revive the historic brewery, though production has not yet resumed.