Pabst Brewing Company
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| Pabst Brewing Company | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Woodridge, Illinois |
| Year opened | 1844 |
| Active beers | |
| Ballantine Ale | Blonde Ale |
| Black Label | Pale Lager |
| Blatz | Pale Lager |
| Champale | Malt Liquor |
| Colt 45 | Malt Liquor |
| Country Club | Malt Liquor |
| Jacob Best | Pale Lager |
| Lone Star | Pale Lager |
| Lone Star Light | Light Pale Lager |
| McSorley's Ale | Blond Ale |
| McSorley's Irish Style Lager | Pale Lager |
| McSorley's Black and Tan | Porter |
| National Bohemian | Pale Lager |
| Old Milwaukee | Pale Lager |
| Old Style | Pale Lager |
| Olympia | Lager |
| Pabst Blue Ribbon | Pale Lager |
| Pearl | Pale Lager |
| Pearl Light | Light Pale Lager |
| Piel's | Pale Lager |
| Rainier Lager | Pale Lager |
| Schaefer | Pale Lager |
| Schlitz | Pale Lager |
| Schmidt's | Pale Lager |
| Special Export | Pale Lager |
| St. Ides | Malt Liquor |
| Stag | Pale Lager |
| Stroh's | Pale Lager |
| Pabst Ice | Ice |
Pabst Brewing Company is an American company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best. Best known for Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, it is historically associated with Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it was founded, although its corporate headquarters are currently in Woodridge, Illinois. Pabst retains a datacenter in San Antonio, Texas, the previous location of its headquarters. In 1999, the Pabst Brewing Company began transferring its production to Miller Brewing Company on a contract basis. In 2001, it closed its last brewery in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The pending InBev purchase of Anheuser-Busch, announced in July 2008, prompted Pabst to claim to be the largest American-owned brewer. In fact, it is a "virtual brewer," a marketing company whose 85 brands are brewed by either Miller or Lion. The Pabst brands make up 2.8% of the American beer market.
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[edit] History
The original brewery was founded as The Empire Brewery, later Best and Company, in 1844 by the immigrant German brewer, Jacob Best. The brewery was run by Jacob, Sr. and his sons Phillip, Charles, Jacob, Jr., and Lorenz; Phillip took control of the company in 1860.[1] They started the brewery on Chestnut Street Hill in Milwaukee with a capacity of 18 barrels (2.9 m3). Later, in 1863, Frederick Pabst, a steamship captain and son-in-law of Phillip Best, bought a share in Best and Company, by which time the brewery was already selling a lager which they began bottling in 1875 under the name Best Select.
Pabst was also renowned in Milwaukee for its brewery tours. A statue of King Gambrinus welcomed visitors, who gazed upon a vast, beer-filled warehouse as they were informed that another, equally-sized warehouse sat in the basement--for distribution to Wisconsin alone. Visitors to Pabst's tour were rewarded with sometimes bottomless glasses of beer at its end-of-tour Sternewirt Pub. Complete with a statue of Captain Frederick Pabst and waitresses pouring from pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Pabst Dark, and Andeker, the pub was popular with both tourists and locals, especially students from nearby Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. [2][3]
In 2004, Students at Oregon State University approached marketers at Pabst Brewing Company. Pabst agreed to sponsor an unofficial fraternity based on Pabst Blue Ribbon's famous letters.[4]
Pabst's long obsolete Pabst Brewery Complex in Milwaukee has been targeted to be developed into restaurants, entertainment venues, stores, housing and offices. The $317 million project is currently the subject of much debate in Milwaukee.[5]
[edit] Pabst Blue Ribbon
Pabst Blue Ribbon, also known as just PBR, is the most famous product of the Pabst Brewing Company. Originally called Best Select, and then Pabst Select, the current name came from the blue ribbons that used to be tied around the bottle neck, a practice that ran from 1882 until 1916.
The distinguishing quote on the bottom of the can reads as follows: "This is the original Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. Nature's choicest products provide its prized flavor. Only the finest of hops and grains are used. Selected as America's Best in 1893," a reference to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, where the company historically has claimed the beer won a hot contest.[6]
However, some contemporaneous accounts indicate that many vendors were frustrated by the fair's refusal to award such prizes. One account says that the only prizes awarded by the executive committee were bronze medals in recognition of "some independent and essential excellence in the article displayed," rather "than merely to indicate the relative merits of competing exhibits."[7]
Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association and one of the most prominent names in the world of beer and brewing, published the following tasting notes for Pabst Blue Ribbon in 2008: "A contrasting counterpoint of sharp texture and flowing sweetness is evident at the first sip of this historic brew. A slowly increasing hoppiness adds to the interplay of ingredients, while the texture smooths out by mid-bottle. The clear, pale-gold body is light and fizzy. Medium-bodied Blue Ribbon finishes with a dusting of malts and hops. A satisfying American classic and a Gold Medal winner at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival." [8]
The beer is primarily known today as the choice beverage of the counterculture. In 2002, after years of decline, sales of PBR skyrocketed in areas like Portland, Oregon, and Richmond, Virginia much to the confusion of company heads. As it turned out, its low price and gritty, urban image appealed to the city's thriving hipster scene, resuscitating the brand and lending it a great deal of trendy cachet. Another contributing factor to its resurgence may have been the lasting popularity of the cult 1986 David Lynch film Blue Velvet within the hipster subculture. In the film, it is the preferred beer of antagonist Frank Booth (portrayed by Dennis Hopper); immortalized in a memorable line where he profanely declares the superiority of PBR to be above that of rival beer, Heineken.[9]
Despite their website featuring art competitions and photos of young people dressed in alternative fashions, Pabst has chosen not to fully embrace the countercultural label or appeal to it arguably because the very same "authenticity" that made it popular would be challenged by over-marketing, as was the case with the poorly received OK Soda. Instead, the company has opted for subtlety, finding clever ways to target its growing niche through the surreptitious sponsorship of indie music concerts, local businesses, dive bars, and radio programming such as NPR's All Things Considered. These techniques have proven effective and have been rewarded with remarkable growth in sales- the production of PBR has more than doubled since its revival in the early 2000's. Pabst's success is seen by some analysts as a model for advertising to a new generation of media-savvy, anti-consumerist youth culture.[10][11]
[edit] Old Style
Old Style was first brewed in 1902 by the G. Heileman Brewing Company in La Crosse Wisconsin under the name Old Style Lager; it has since grown popular in Wisconsin, the Chicago metro area, Minnesota, eastern Iowa, Lincoln, and Southwestern Michigan.
The original Heileman's/Old Style brewery in La Crosse is now owned by the City Brewing Company. City Brewing Company is now brewing La Crosse Lager, which is the original Old Style recipe and is krausened for thirty days. This beer may also be the basis for the brewery's nationally-distributed DB Hobbs brand.[12] This brewery is also the location of what is called "The World's Largest Six Pack," a series of storage tanks historically painted like the cans of beer. Prior to 1999, the tanks looked like the Old Style cans, and are currently painted like the La Crosse Lager cans.[13]
[edit] Awards
Awards at the Great American Beer Festival:
| Year | Award | Category | Beer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Silver | American Lager | Pabst Blue Ribbon |
| 1990 | Silver | Malt Liquor | Olde English 800 |
| 1991 | Gold | American Lager | Pearl Lager Beer |
| 1991 | Gold | American Malt Liquor | Olde English 800 |
| 1992 | Gold | American Malt Liquor | Olde English 800 |
| 1992 | Silver | American Lager | Hamm's |
| 1992 | Silver | American Dry Lager | Olympia Dry |
| 1993 | Gold | American Dry Lager | Olympia Dry |
| 1993 | Bronze | Mixed/Non-Alcoholic | Pabst NA |
| 1994 | Gold | American Light Lager | Pabst Genuine Draft Light |
| 1994 | Gold | American Malt Liquor | Olde English 800 |
| 1994 | Silver | American Dry Lager | Olympia Dry |
| 1995 | Gold | American Light Lager | Pabst Genuine Draft Light |
| 1995 | Gold | American Malt Liquor | Olde English 800 |
| 1995 | Gold | American Specialty Lager | Olympia Dry |
| 1996 | Gold | American Light Lager | Pabst Genuine Draft Light |
| 1996 | Silver | American Lager | Pabst Blue Ribbon |
| 1997 | Gold | American Style Specialty Lager | Olde English 800 |
| 1997 | Gold | Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverages | Pabst NA |
| 1998 | Gold | Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverages | Pabst NA |
| 1998 | Silver | American Style Light Lager | Pabst Genuine Draft Light |
| 2000 | Silver | Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverages | Pabst NA |
| 2003 | Gold | American Style Light Lager | Old Style Light |
| 2003 | Gold | American Style Lager | Old Milwaukee |
| 2003 | Silver | American Style Lager | Rainier |
| 2003 | Bronze | American Style Light Lager | Old Milwaukee Light |
| 2003 | Bronze | American Lager/Ale or Cream Ale | Old Style |
| 2004 | Gold | Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage | Old Milwaukee NA |
| 2004 | Gold | American Style Light Lager | Rainier Light |
| 2004 | Gold | American Style Lager | Old Milwaukee |
| 2004 | Silver | American Lager/Ale or Cream Ale | Special Export |
| 2004 | Silver | American Style Light Lager | Old Milwaukee Light |
| 2004 | Silver | American Style Specialty Lager | Schlitz Malt Liquor |
| 2004 | Bronze | American Style Lager | Schlitz |
| 2004 | Bronze | American Style Premium Lager | Pabst Blue Ribbon |
| 2004 | Bronze | American Style Specialty Lager | St. Ides Malt Liquor |
| 2005 | Gold | American Style Premium Lager | Pabst Blue Ribbon |
| 2005 | Gold | American Style Lager | Stag |
| 2005 | Gold | American Style Light Lager | Old Milwaukee Light |
| 2005 | Silver | American Style Premium Lager | Olympia |
| 2005 | Silver | American Style Lager | Rainier |
| 2005 | Bronze | American Cream Ale or Lager | Special Export |
| 2006 | Gold | American Style Lager | Pabst Blue Ribbon |
| 2006 | Gold | American Style Light Lager | Old Milwaukee Light |
| 2006 | Silver | American Cream Ale or Lager | Lone Star |
| 2006 | Bronze | American Style Lager | Blatz |
| 2007 | Gold | American-Style Cream Ale or Lager | Lone Star |
| 2007 | Gold | American Style Light Lager | Old Milwaukee Light |
| 2007 | Silver | American Style Light Lager | Pabst Blue Ribbon Light |
| 2007 | Silver | American-Style Cream Ale or Lager | Old Style |
Awards at the World Beer Cup:
| Year | Award | Category | Beer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Gold | American Style Malt Liquor | Olde English 800 |
| 1996 | Silver | American Style Malt Liquor | Schlitz Malt Liquor |
| 1996 | Bronze | American Style Malt Liquor | Country Club Malt Liquor |
| 1996 | Bronze | American Style Ice Lager | Schlitz Ice |
| 1998 | Gold | American Style Malt Liquor | Schlitz Malt Liquor |
| 2006 | Gold | American Style Premium Lager | Pabst Blue Ribbon |
| 2006 | Gold | American Cream Ale or Lager | Old Style |
| 2008 | Gold | American-Style Cream Ale or Lager | Special Export |
| 2008 | Gold | American-Style Light Lager | Old Milwaukee Light |
| 2008 | Silver | American-Style Cream Ale or Lager | Lone Star |
| 2008 | Silver | American-Style Light Lager | Lone Star Light |
Golden Icon Awards by Travolta Family Entertainment:
| Year | Award | Category | Beer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-2007 | Golden Icon | Best Domestic Beer | Old Style Light |
[edit] Notes
- ^ A History of Milwaukee and Wisconsin Breweries
- ^ Fowler, Brenda. "WHAT'S DOING IN; Milwaukee." The New York Times, June 4, 1995.
- ^ Platt, Jeff. "Milwaukee Beer History." Suds, Wine & Spirits, 2006.
- ^ Associated Press. "Oregon State fraternity gets boost from PBR>" Modern Brewery Age, December 6, 2004.
- ^ Daykin, Tom. "PabstCity's glass half empty?" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2005-2007.
- ^ Pabst Blue Ribbon Web site "The brewery's flagship beer was finally renamed Pabst Blue Ribbon following its win as 'America's Best' at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago."
- ^ Bancroft, Hubert Howe. The Book of the Fair: an historical and descriptive presentation of the world's science, art, and industry, as viewed through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, designed to set forth the display made bythe Congress of Nations, of human achievement in material form, so as to more effectually to illustrate the profess of mankind in all the departments of civilized life. Chicago, San Francisco: The Bancroft Company, 1893. 10 v. [approx., 1000p.]: illus. (incl. ports.), 41 cm.
- ^ "365 Bottles of Beer for the Year," Workman Publishing, 2008. http://www.workman.com/products/9780761149354/
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snhiofL2Rh4
- ^ "'Pabst gives marketing campaign a blue ribbon for effectiveness'". Columbus Business First (November 16, 2007).
- ^ "`Murketing' to Hipsters Saves Pabst, Boosts Apple: Book Review". Bloomberg (June 27, 2008).
- ^ Kroger: Great Meals - Wine - House Wines.
- ^ Kirby, Doug; Smith, Ken; Wilkins, Mike. "Return of the World's Largest Six Pack." Roadside America, 2008.
