Little Kings was created in 1958. It was sold in these little 7 oz green bottles. The draft tap system at the Montgomery Inn broke down, and customers wanting to buy a shot and a beer chaser balked at buying an entire 12 oz glass of beer. Restaurant owner Ted Gregory asked Schoenling to package its ale in smaller bottles. In 1988 Hudepohl-Schoenling awarded Gregory a plaque proclaiming him to the the originator of Schoenling's famous little green 7 oz bottles.

It should be noted that Schoenling wa snot the first brewer to use a 7 or 8 oz package. Smaller sized cans and bottles were sometimes marketed as "just the right amount" for those who didn't want to consume a full 12 oz's. In some cases, such as the Fox Deluxe 8 oz can from the 1930s, it was sold as the perfect amount for a nightcap. In the 1950s smaller cans were marketed for women (who were assumed not to want as much to drink) or for Malt Liquor, which had a much higher alcohol content.

These little bottles were really popular. I remember stopping with buddies to buy an 8 pack before heading to the drive-in to watch "Moonraker" in 1979. Or buying a bottle to drink with a sandwich or some pizza. I'm pretty sure there were signs advertising it in pizza places like Marion's and Cassanos. Best of all, Little Kings Cream Ale was really good.

At some point it became Schoenling's main brand, replacing their beer as their main focus. Their last canned Schoenling Beer appeared in the mid 1970s after the brewery decided they could not compete with the big nationals huge canning lines. Instead, they concentrated on bottles and draft. Little Kings remained in the popular little bottles (and on draft if I remember right) and did not appear in cans until about 1985 when the brewery began canning again. It came out in different sizes, including 12 and 24 oz cans. Schoenling still made their beer, as well as Big Jug and Top Hat (which also appeared in cans). But Little Kings was their mainstay and sold all over the eastern and Midwestern US.

In 1986 Schoenling purchased their last hometown rival, Hudepohl, to form the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Company. Advertising themselves as "Cincinnati's Brewing Company" all of the new joint brewery’s production moved to the Schoenling facility. They kept producing Little Kings, as well as Hudepohl, Pace, Christian Moerlein, Midnight Dragon, and a host of other brands. Production reached 500,000 barrels a year by 1988 (To put that in perspective, that was about 150th of what Anheuser-Busch produced).