Boozin’ Blog

I’m not talking about just one can of PBR; I’m talking about the whole thing. Yup, Pabst has been sold.

It’s actually been on the auction blog for sometime now. It turns out that the previous owner, a non-profit, was violating a few rule by, you know, making a profit from the beer company. So, they were told that they had to find a buyer and unload it.

It took them a while but finally investor C. Dean Metropoulos made the right offer. Never heard of Metropoulos? How about Chef Boyardee, Duncan Hines or Ghirardelli Chocolates? He’s been behind them, too. So, he’s not a beer guy; he’s a food guy so I suppose that’s something.

Pabst isn’t the only brand included in the deal. He’s also getting Schlitz, Old Style, Lone Star and Colt 45 - a line up of nostalgic beer brands. In all, this company is the country’s fifth largest beer seller. And that’s without owning even one brewery. Actually, Metropoulos isn’t getting much more than the brands.

The last actual Pabst brewery closed years ago. All of the beer brewed for this label during this recent revival of the brand, popular with classic beer brand lovers and hipsters, has actually been brewed by MillerCoors under contract with Pabst.

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The trend of nostalgic beer brands continues with the return of Schlitz beer to its native Milwaukee this week. The beer, now being brewed by Pabst Brewing Co., is based on the original recipe.

(It appears that “original” means the recipe that was being used in 1960. I’m not really sure why that’s a significant forumulation to choose but there you go.)

The new/old beer has been dribbling across the US for a few months now. It hit beer store shelves in Florida and Minnesota late last year. Then it was released this year in Chicago during the month of April to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the legalization of 3.2 beer under Prohibition.

But now it’s being released exactly where it belongs – Milwaukee. After all, it is “the beer that made Milwaukee famous!”

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