The Extra-Dry Beer New York Baseball Fans Remember From The '60s And '70s

The New York Mets have signed numerous sponsorship deals over their six-plus decades, from Coca-Cola to Brooklyn-born pudding manufacturer Kozy Shack. However, one former sponsor of the could arguably claim the closest connection to the city that gave the Mets their name, but will likely only be remembered by fans who followed the game back in the '60s and '70s — the extra-dry New York beer Rheingold. 

Rheingold had its roots in the late 19th and early 20th century, when New York City was at the center of the American beer industry, and the city heaved with breweries until Prohibition shut them down. Nevertheless, by the 1950s Rheingold's pale lager was so popular it was not unusual for more New Yorkers to vote in the "Miss Rheingold" competition than in some presidential elections.

With the advent of television in the 1940s and '50s, brewers realized how valuable advertising their brands during televised ballgames could be. In the early 1960s, a wave of beer companies began sponsoring MLB teams, and in 1961, Rheingold signed a deal for $1,200,000 per year with the Mets to sponsor radio and TV broadcasts of their games, along with purchasing 100,000 Mets tickets. 

Between 1962 and 1973, Rheingold would become the Mets' official beer – when the team played their first two seasons at the Polo Grounds, Rheingold provided a branded scoreboard, upon which the "h" and the "e" would illuminate to indicate a hit or error. When Shea Stadium opened, Rheingold would provide another, more high-tech scoreboard still fondly remembered by fans.

Rheingold once enjoyed a 35% market share in New York, while it captured loyalty among the working-class. By the 1970s, however, New York's beer industry was facing increasing pressure from rising production costs and national competitors like Anheuser-Busch and Coors. In 1978, the last bottle of Rheingold beer was sold, and its once-thriving Bushwick plant was torn down in 1981. Yet the memory of Rheingold still inspired great nostalgia. One review on Beeradvocate recalls: "All I have to say is that Rheingold was the absolute best tasting draft beer EVER. To this day nothing has come close. How I wish I could drink it again."

In 1996, the brand was resurrected and returned as the official beer of the Mets, while in 2010 a new company relaunched Rheingold, which still has a limited availability in the New York area. Rheingold's official website explains that the distinctive dry taste of Rheingold is due to it having been "krausened," a German technique that requires fermenting the beer twice. Unlike many modern beers, Rheingold is packaged with no added water and is brewed just as it was 30 years ago, with their website proudly stating: "No other beer can make that claim!"

While Rheingold may not have reclaimed its former glory, beer remains as intimately tied to baseball as the signature hot dogs only available at MLB ballparks. If you're heading for a game yourself, be sure to check out be sure to check out our list of 13 Major League Baseball stadiums with exceptional beer selections.