LA CROSSE COUNTY, Wis. — GPS and Google Earth will tell you the Mississippi River town tucked beneath the bluffs is La Crosse, Wisconsin.
But Midwestern viewers of ‘70s and ‘80s television know better.
“Pure brewed in God's country,” the smooth voice proclaimed in a prolific series of TV commercials.
“God's country” was La Crosse in Old Style days.
Back then, a half dozen 54-foot-tall beer tanks – painted like Old Style beer cans – became a post card tourist attraction branded the “World’s Largest Six-Pack.”
It was also a time when La Crosse, through a series of G. Heileman acquisitions, saw itself become home to the nation's fourth largest brewer.
Then, in a matter of years, all of it came apart, starting with a hostile takeover bid in the late 1980s by a foreign investor. By the time the dust had settled, the G. Heileman Brewing Company, Old Style’s maker since 1902, was gone.
“Boy it hurt, it really hurt,” says Randy Hughes, who was, at the time, Heilman’s brewmaster.
“It was June of ‘99 when we mashed in the last Old Style here,” Randy says. “We lost that identity, and nothing really came forward to take the place of the brewery as far as an identity for La Crosse.”
The shuttered brewery reopened under the “City Brewery” name, while the Old Style brand returned to store shelves under new ownership - brewed elsewhere.
Until now.
“Looks great, looks fantastic,” Randy says looking skyward in front of the brewery.
The famed half-dozen beer tanks are newly wrapped and dressed once again as the “World Largest Six-Pack,” making official what's been rumored for months.
Pabst – which now owns Old Style – is bringing production back to La Crosse.
“We just missed the six-pack, it's been part of our town for so many years,” Nancy Bowell says as she stands across the street taking pictures.
The stream of people is steady.
“You would not believe how many people stop and take their picture in front of those tanks,” Jon Reynolds, a former G. Heileman marketing manager, says.
The week the wraps went up, Randy smiled broadly in a selfie, the glistening tanks over his shoulder.
“It's hard not to be emotional about it,” he says.
The wound inflicted by the death of G. Heileman was deep.
“Very hard, very personal,” the former brewmaster says.
Kramer's Bar, less than a block from the brewery, was among the La Crosse taverns that pulled Old Style from its taps.
Anticipating the return of Old Style brewing up the street, Kramer’s owner, Mike Aliesch, put the beer back on tap.
“Old Style, the name is synonymous with La Crosse and beer,” Mike says.
The return has even deeper meaning for Mike.
On one of his his bar wall hangs a picture of Mike’s grandfather standing among a group of co-workers surrounded by wooden kegs at the brewery.
“That's him in the middle,” Mike says. “1915 or something like that.”
The Mayor of La Crosse, Mitch Reynolds, says La Crosse has larger employers, but few more deeply connected with the city.
“I think there’s a symbolism to it,” the mayor says. “It clearly was a fan favorite throughout the Midwest for decades and decades. It’s ours and just glad to have it back here.”
Legend has it that some La Crosse bars turned the Old Style signs above their doors upside down in protest of the brand's departure.
“People were sad,” Tammy Keating, the owner of L&M tap, says.
To this day, L&M’s Old Style sign hangs upside down, though Anita says it has nothing to do with the brand's exodus from La Crosse. Instead, she says, it was a mistake made during a lightbulb change years earlier, that stuck.
Tammy plays a song on the juke inspired by her sign.
“I'll meet you underneath the upside downside Old Style neon sign,” Tammy sings along with the recording by the Pat Watters Band.
Old Style is newly back on Tammy's taps too. “Part of the city’s heritage,” she says. “People are excited to have it back in La Crosse.”
The excitement extends to the home of Paul Nelson.
“It took 24 years, but here it is,” the collector of beer memorabilia says.
Paul holds in his hand a bottle from the last batch of Old Style brewed in La Crosse, until the next batch is scheduled to come down the line later this month.
“Pure brewed in God’s country,” he says respectfully.
Consider it an answer to a prayer.
“Got to see the six-pack,” Diane Berzinski says while taking snapshots of her husband Mike in front of the Old Style wrapped beer tanks. “It's a big deal, it really is.”
For some in La Crosse – including former brewmaster Randy Hughes – you might say it’s the world's largest deal.
“I can die happy now,” Randy says.
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