There is a time and place for everything. Even PBR. In the can.
For me the time was about 1:45am and the place was a dive bar with good music where I was offered a “stimulus package”, including a shot of old crow and a can of PBR for $5.
Pabst apparently won a ribbon for this beer one day in the 1850s and knowing that it was probably a tabulation error, they plastered the award on the label and have given a bad name to blue ribbons everywhere since. A lager by definition, I’m sure that PBR is brewed with all kinds of corn and rice and yummy extracts, but honestly – this beer pulls it off.
I’m sure that the beer snobs out there would never be seen in public with a PBR in their hand (they’d put theirs in a glass to hide it) but for a cheap lager, this beer ain’t that bad. You’re not going to find many beers more poundable and certainly not going to find anything as tasty for a buck at your local bar. Have to knock it a few points on sexiness, but the tallboy can and familiar blue ribbon score it points for packaging. Aftertaste was not wonderful, but if you keep drinking them – you don’t have to deal with that for a while. And hell, you can always kill it with your shot of old crow…
Face it – in a hot room with loud music, when presented with a row of macro beer taps – PBR in the can just fits the bill. Cheap and wet.
Related Posts:
“Cheap and wet” is a glowing recommendation for certain things, though I’m not sure beer is one of them. Still, nice post!
There are generally two kind of bars that I seek out on a regular basis. Craft beer bars that serve a wide selection of great brews, and dive bars that serve ice-cold PBR.
And sometimes I like to start my evening at the former and ratchet it up at the latter.
What’s even scarier- in college I used to drink “Red, White and Blue” which as I understand it, was PBR’s “cheaper” beer. Think Busch Light.
Now THAT is scary!
PBR won our cheap beer shoot out a few years ago (http://www.singlespeedoutlaw.com/issue5/taproom.shtml).
Sometimes you just need to roll with it…
Thanks for the link Joe, looks like a fun taste test: PBR beats Natty Bo and a 40 of Fosters :)
Pabst actually won that “ribbon” in 1893 at the worlds fair exposition. It was all a bit of a farce, but check out the story in Maureen Ogles Ambitious Brew.