How many reader's remember riding the subways and reading about the latest Miss Rheingold contestants?

The ads disappeared when large breweries made smaller, local beers unprofitable.

The past decade has seen the rise of many micro-breweries winning local support and delighting beer lovers with a choice of flavors and brands.

It was only a matter of time before some New Yorker in a fit of nostalgia would come up with the idea. The time has come...

New York's Beer is back!

With a new marketing strategy and a very updated Miss Rheingold campaign, a Tufts graduate began reviving the 120-year-old Rheingold Beer as New Yorkers’ beer of choice.

At its peak in the 1950s, Rheingold Beer was one of New York’s top brews – with everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to John Wayne to Bob Hope serving as its representatives.

But local breweries gave way to national conglomerates in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and Rheingold largely disappeared in the Big Apple. In 1999, a Tufts graduate with a long record of successfully reviving brands is infusing new life into the 120-year-old beer by re-establishing Rheingold as a fixture in bars across the city.

“New York is absent a beer of major hometown significance,” Thomas Bendheim – a 1985 Tufts graduate and chief executive of Rheingold Beer – told The New York Times. “This isn’t about rehashing the past, but our brand has a history and authenticity. We’ve been around since 1883.”

To restore Rheingold’s prominence, Bendheim and a group of investors infused $1 million into a new advertising campaign for the beer.

“Rheingold is still paying homage to its heritage, but the focus is on its hometown, reported the Times.

“The beer has a new slogan ‘100 percent New York by volume’ and new packaging, a clear glass bottle with a painted label (a la Corona) that harks back to its own packaging in the 1920s. Rheingold even exhumed its 1930’s ad slogan ‘Good Beer,’ which appears on the bottle caps.”

The company also revived its once-popular “Miss Rheingold” competition. Like most New York institutions, this one bears little resemblance to the icon that New Yorker's remember.

Far from the wholesomeness and the touch of innocence that the 50's glamor girls projected, the thirteen semi-finalists in the new contest were tough talking, bartending ladies. T-shirts and raw sensuality seem to be the new image for the esteemed old beer company.

Miss Rheingold 1962, Kathy Kersh, with NY Mets baseballs	A new look for Miss Rheingold in the new millennium...

It’s a careful mix of the beer’s storied past and its new vision for the future.

Analysts expected the company to rack-up $1.4 million in sales upon relaunch in 2003 and in 2005 the Rheingold brand went under yet another transformation when it was bought by Drinks America with plans for even wider distribution.

The date of the release is currently unknown.

History of the Rheingold Jingle

Tuft's University Press release

Rheingold Beer - Wikipedia

Images Copyright (C) Rheingold Brewing Company, Inc.