Pabst Blue Ribbon...

Hmmm... now there has been discussions of draught vs. bottle, green bottle vs. brown bottle, throw-away bottle vs. deposit bottle, can vs. green bottle, can vs. brown bottle, keg vs. real ale, but, no, I think we never covered the pop-top can vs. the "needed an opener" can controversy. ("Gee, fellas, don't the beer taste different to you ever since it became easier to get to? And I'm not crazy about the BREWERY decided which side of the can I drink from- I used to like picking my spot and punching the hole where *I* want.)

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 06:30:41 -0600, snipped-for-privacy@lycosmonaut.com wrote (in article ):

Back in the early sixties I often drank Olympia and at that time it came with the instructions "open here" surrounding a church key wedge. Puzzled as to why, I wrote to Olympia and their response was that the wedge was positioned so that when the can was opened as insturcted the Olympia label on the side faced the person drinking.

Sure, I drank one of them. Along with Coors, Brown Derby, Olympia, Schaeffers and all of the other inoffensive swill that was passed off as beer.

I was told by my friend's father who worked at Pabst that Olympia was really just Pabst put in a different can.

Dan

Suppose it all depends on what era you're talking about (and since there are no Pabst breweries, it sure ain't today). Pabst did not purchase Olympia (at the time made up of the former Olympia, Hamm and Lone Star breweries) until the early 80's, well past the era being discussed (pre-pull tab cans).

At some point, Heileman bought Pabst and (since such a move was then typically rejected by the gov't on anti-trust grounds) immediately spun off a "new" Pabst, after it peeled off some breweries and some brands. If I recall correctly, that included prize Pabst brands like Hamm, Lone Star and, especially, Henry Weinhardt but not Oly, which Pabst markets as a discount brand, at least on the East Coast. Pabst eventually winds up being owned by S&P, owners of Falstaff/General/Pearl. Eventually, Stroh bought the Heileman brands, Miller & Pabst split up the Stroh/Heileman brands, and Pabst closed it's breweries, Miller making most of the beers in the Pabst stable of once-famous beer brands

Wouldn't surprise me if many of them are essentially the same beer in different cans but I've found that friends of former brewery workers are often a very poor source of info on beer history/formula, etc.

Pabst, Olympia, Hamms, Coors, Schmidts, Schaeffers, Miller, Budweiser, etc., etc. Even if brewed by different breweries they are all pretty much the same dull beer. Minimal taste and light body designed to be inoffensive to the widest posible audience.

Yeah, but don't underestimate the nostalgic flavor differences.

Schaeffers reminds me of standing in a stream in college chugging can after can while a bunch of hashers sang to me.

PBR on the other hand is all about Doc Hollidays in New York with barmaids stomping on the bar.

Ben

Oh, yeah, I understand. Coors for me brings back good memories of life on and off campus at Boulder, Colorado.

west coast, that Blue Ribbon back yonder was no swill, it was a good ol' beer. I went to Germany and drank the good ones, got back re-adjusted, and now drink Milwaukee's Best. Also have made my own beer, and it was good, have made wine, stomp them grapes add yeast and sugar, etc let it sit awhile, drink up.

haha of course Iv'e drinking PBR (I don't think many college kids haven't) but honestly for the price it can't be beat (READ, I said for the price)... It sure beats other cheap beers like Busch...

You wouldn't hold PBR in such high esteem if you lived in a town where they made really good cheap beer! Schoenling, Weidemann, Burger, Hudepohl, Christian Moerlein...

Put that's not Cincinnati now!