Ohio's Buckeye Beer is back after 28 years

Modern Brewery Age, July 17, 2000

Associated Press--A beer with roots in Toledo, Ohio, is making a come back after 28 years.

About 200 cases a week of bottled Buckeye Beer are being produced at Glass City Brew on Premises Co. in suburban Perrysburg.

The brand, which made its return last week, is a rebirth of a beer that went out of production in 1972.

Dave Kulish, 38, of Toledo, John Spieker III, 42, of Canton, Mich., and Jay Tillman, 40, of Saginaw, Mich., spent five years trying to reproduce Buckeye.

It was the first beer the three brothers-in-law tried in their youth and the beer their parents preferred.

"We think we're pretty close to the original," said Kulish, president of Buckeye Beer Ltd. "We had one gentleman who tried it and he said, 'All I ever drank was Buckeye.' He said it was about 95 percent close. I don't think we're going to get better than that."

In reviving Buckeye, the three knew they would have tough standards to meet, Kulish said. They researched how the beer might have been made, given what was available; tried to match ingredients; talked to former brewery workers; asked fans of the original Buckeye Beer to be taste testers, and revised their formula seven times.

They couldn't be sure of the aging time used for Buckeye, so Kulish visited the former distribution warehouse in Toledo. While poking around in the basement, he found--still written in chalk on a blackboard--a timetable for brewing, aging, and delivery.

"It was all still down there from the day the brewery closed," he said.

A six-pack of the revived brand costs $5.99. It is competing against a variety of fancy beers and ales in at least 41 area bars, restaurants, and retail outlets.

Jim Heltebrake, wine shop manager at The Andersons in Toledo, said that of the 30 cases of Buckeye the store received earlier this week, just three were left Wednesday.

The Buckeye Brewing Co. began making Buckeye in Toledo in 1838. Chicago-based Meister Brau Inc. bought Buckeye in 1966 and brewed the first Meister Brau Lite beer in Toledo.

In 1972, Miller Brewing Co., of Milwaukee bought the Buckeye and Meister Brau Lite labels. The new owner changed Meister Brau Lite to Miller Lite, moved Buckeye beer production to Milwaukee, then stopped making the beer in late 1972.

Miller's nonuse of the Buckeye name allowed the local group to grab the trademark for use in Ohio.

The group does not yet hold a federal trademark, a status that would permit sales of Buckeye across state lines.

The group, however, is confident it will win it. Under federal trademark rules, nonuse of a trademarked name for at least three consecutive years can constitute abandonment of the name.

The former Buckeye label could not be used on the new beer because it remains under copyright protection.