Like at the Schlitz and Miller breweries, Pabst was beloved by its longtime employees, many of whom had been on the job since its heyday in the 1970s. The same could be said of its loyal drinkers, many of whom snubbed Schlitz and Miller the same way Cubs fans don't root for the White Sox. But all of that love evaporated the day Pabst brewery closed its doors in October 1996. The local taverns started dumping it. Customers started boycotting. The brewer's union sued on behalf of disgruntled unemployed workers. As Milwaukee historian John Gurda told CNN that month, "The closing of the brewery is more or less like a death."