EDITORIAL – Rock is rolling right out of PA

“From the glass lined tanks of old…” Newark??

There’s change brewing in Latrobe, Pa…. “From the glass lined tanks of old…” Newark??

There’s change brewing in Latrobe, Pa. Last Friday, Rolling Rock said goodbye to its home in Latrobe. The recipe and label of the green-bottled brew were purchased for $82 million by Anheuser-Busch, who has tapped the small brewery and will relocate it to Newark, N.J.

Workers won’t find this change cool and refreshing. They’ll lose about 250 jobs at the Latrobe Brewery unless another company buys the facilities, according to an article in the Tribune-Review.

Sure, Anheuser-Busch poured out millions of dollars for the right to make Rolling Rock but, as many will attest, the charm of ‘Rock lies in its origins. Latrobe conjures up images of blue-collar, working class families on Sunday afternoons throwing back those emerald green bottles and watching ‘dem Stillers — who spend spring training at local St. Vincent College. As the bottle boasts, this “premium beer” is tendered from the lush, green mountains of Western Pennsylvania.

And Newark? It just doesn’t give off that same warm, clean feeling that we expect from Rolling Rock — unless heavy urbanization and pollution is more your thing.

Rolling Rock is a beer, an industry that’s tied to our area, and many are sad to see it go. Bars in Latrobe and the outlying area vow not to carry the brew in protest and out of respect for the workers who will lose their jobs in two and a half months when the Latrobe Brewery closes its doors.

Many Rolling Rock fans worry that moving brewing to Newark will not only change the feel of the brew, but also the taste.

While this is this a sad day for beer, it serves as just another sign that Western Pennsylvania needs to find other ways of making a mark on the economy.

Slowly, larger companies are swallowing our local and regional businesses. Goodbye Kaufmann’s, hello Macy’s. Sayonara steel. And now we’re losing our beloved ‘Rock to the man. A giant faceless corporation from somewhere in Missouri.

But to be fair, outside of Western Pennsylvania, the face of Rolling Rock is probably just as foreign. Still, it seems that the days of company towns are coming to a close. The job security these towns and cities used to have is fading as large, global corporations are swallowing the small guys up because it’s a “good investment.”

If history tells us anything, business consolidation is just one step closer to outsourcing industry to foreign countries where the worth of employees isn’t as high. Buying General Tso’s-brand beer might be delicious, but it’ll leave you sober and disappointed an hour later.

The loss of Rolling Rock in Latrobe will be hard felt. The company pays more than $300 thousand in property taxes to the Latrobe area, including the local school district. And rumor is another of the town’s big employers, Timken, is on its way out of town, too.

These small towns don’t have the luxury of depending on companies to keep their lives afloat in the global economy. Towns are going to have to find a new way to create jobs and stimulate growth to maintain their way of life or risk disappearing.

On the bright side, if Rolling Rock is selling out, we might finally find out what the hell “33” means.