How it started
Early history and production of Rolling Rock
The Latrobe Brewing Company brewery was founded in 1893 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, as part of the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. Forced to close in 1920 due to Prohibition, it was purchased by the Tito brothers and reopened in 1933 selling “Latrobe Old German” and “Latrobe Pilsner” beers. Rolling Rock brand beer (famous for its green "pony bottles"), was introduced in 1939, leading to Latrobe becoming one of the largest brewers in the United States.
It was purchased by Labatt Brewing Company in 1987, which in turn was purchased in 1995 by the Belgian brewing conglomerate Interbrew, which merged into InBev in 2004, thenAnheuser-Busch InBev following a 2008 merger with Anheuser-Busch.
In May 2006, InBev had announced that it was selling the Rolling Rock brands to Anheuser-Busch, (brewer of Budweiser), the largest brewer in the United States. This sale, however, excluded the Latrobe brewery, leaving an uncertain future for the Latrobe brewery, which only continued producing the Rolling Rock Brands through July 31, when production was moved to an Anheuser-Busch facility in Newark, New Jersey.
Operation by City Brewing Company
On June 21, 2006, InBev signed a letter of intent with City Brewing Company from La Crosse, Wisconsin, "giving it exclusive rights for an undetermined time to negotiate a purchase of the plant." City Brewing currently operates the historic G. Heileman Brewery in La Crosse. However, with the sale of the plant still in limbo, the Latrobe Brewing Company plant officially shut down on July 31, 2006, and the plant sat idle.
From Wikipedia’s article on Latrobe Brewing Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2