Pabst beer is bigger than you think

While the Budweiser and Coors and Miller companies did what they did to take over the American beer drinking market (light beer, tons of advertising) the Pabst beer company was working their own magic.

Now that Bud is owned by the Belgians, Pabst is the largest American owned brewery.  And it's not by default either.  They've taken over many regional beer companies and now own what a Salon story calls, "many of the best known, mediocre breweries in the country."  These are locally popular budget beers like Stroh's, Old Milwaukee, Lone Star, etc etc.

The complete list of Pabst beers is here.  You might have to put your age in to see the page.  It's a wonder.  All the beers we or our parents have all drunk at some time or other are now owned by Pabst.

I've never thought of a lot of these as "mediocre beers".  Many are great on a hot summer afternoon or evening.

Comments

[Rand]

Pabst has recently reintroduced Schlitz in several markets, including Chicago. Can Falstaff be far behind?

[Paul Philp]

My father is a loyal (and often picked on my members of our family) Pabst drinker since 1965. It was in 1965 when he toured the Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee on his honeymoon with my mom on July 20th of that year.

I saw your post and sharred it with him. He is in town visiting this week. He wanted me to post a comment and tell you how happy he was to see your post about Pabst and their current standing in the American Beer Market.

There is a place in my hometown of Traverse City, MI - where Mom and Dad still live - that has many of these "Retro-Beers" available on tap or in the can. It is a really rather trendy place called The Blue Tractor. I guess they know of a couple of other such places in Michigan as well.

[Diane]

Paul, tell your dad hi. We love Traverse City, we head up there most every summer. Not this one however, an exception to the rule.