One day, and two stories about prohibition. One is a very fun publicity stunt by a famous Milwaukee brand, the other is a dark, morbid tale of how nefarious the war on alcohol was, and what prohibition really cost us.

First the fun. In 1926, a jewelry store in Milwaukee had something unusual sitting in its window. Not a ring, not a watch. A single bottle of Schlitz beer, insured for $25,000.

“Tender Memories.” It had been bottled on June 3, 1919, just before the brewery stopped making its regular beer as Prohibition approached. Seven years later, Schlitz was calling it the last bottle of the beer that made Milwaukee famous, and treating it accordingly. By day, it sat surrounded by expensive jewelry in the store's display window. By night, it went into the burglar-proof safe. Schlitz said it couldn't be bought at any price.

Turns out that wasn't even the only performance. Four years later, in 1930 (or 1932, there is some discrepancy), the same claim resurfaced twice more, once back in Milwaukee at an industrial trade show, and once in Chicago, where a performer held the bottle up for photographers. Same insurance figure both times. Same story. Apparently there may have been more than one last bottle.

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And exactly one hundred years later, there's a genuine sequel. This year, Pabst put Schlitz on hiatus. In May, Wisconsin Brewing Company got permission to brew one final limited batch, using Schlitz's own specifications from its glory days in the late 1940s.

In 1926, Milwaukee was showing off the last bottle. In 2026, Wisconsin brewed the last batch.