“The spontaneously hip beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, is loved by all…pictured a group of duck hunters celebrating a successful outing with their favorite beer.”
On a July afternoon, Evan and Daren Metropoulos, the new owners of Pabst Brewing, showed up at the lounge on the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental in midtown Manhattan. They had come to discuss their plans for Pabst, which their father and co-owner, C. Dean Metropoulos, bought in May for about $250 million.
The Oriental does not serve Pabst Blue Ribbon, the company’s flagship brew, so the brothers ordered a lemonade and an iced tea. A hotel like the Mandarin may seem an unlikely meeting place for the owners of a beer that has long traded on its working-class image—the Lutz Tavern, a dive in Portland, Ore., is more like it, where 16-ounce tallboys go for $1.75. But the Metropoulos brothers were very much at home. They were passing through on their way to a wedding in Rhinebeck, N.Y., of an old friend from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where they have summered since they were boys.
Evan, 29, divides his time between Miami Beach, Los Angeles, and New York City. Daren, 27, lives in Los Angeles, in Hugh Hefner’s old residence, a 7,300-square-foot English manor house he recently bought for $18 million.
Evan, in a green polo shirt and gold necklace, has a generous build and gregarious manner. Ideas for the future of Pabst’s portfolio of brands spilled out of him in an entrepreneurial stream of consciousness. Daren, who occasionally interrupted, was in a navy blazer and button-down shirt. He is narrower, quieter, and cleaner shaven than his effusive brother. Evan had been thinking about Red White & Blue beer, one of the company’s roughly two dozen defunct brands, which they hope to revive.
“What if we made that the military beer?” asked Evan. “What if we gave a huge portion of the proceeds to military charities—a grassroots program with military families? Why shouldn’t Red White & Blue be the absolute American beer for the American soldier? We’ll bring, you know, the Rotary Club, the veterans.” “To help collaborate and get involved,” added Daren.
“To support our troops,” Evan continued. “We could develop a whole beer brand around our troops. So that when you see Red White & Blue at your barbecue, you know that money’s supporting people who have died for our country. Those are ways that Budweiser will never be able to relate to. They’re not American, like us.” “This is an American company serving the American people,” noted Daren.
Evan began to get worked up, saying: “If you knew that 25 percent of your proceeds from Red White & Blue Beer were going to support these charities, then shame on you for drinking Bud Light! What the hell are you drinking that for? To support some foreigners?”
The brothers went on to lay out the Metropoulos strategy—a series of grassroots campaigns targeting regional markets. Celebrities, musicians, and local festivals would figure prominently. Lone Star, their Texas label, might sponsor rodeo riders. Primo, a Hawaiian beer, might build relationships with big-wave surfers. These campaigns would be supported by their father’s knack for winning over distributors, as well as new product and flavor launches to build out Pabst’s portfolio of brands.
Not present that evening, but central to the plans, was their father, 64, a billionaire known as “Mr. Shelf Space” for his ability to boost the sales of supermarket brands. The senior Metropoulos started out with a feta cheese business in Vermont and has established a long record of turning around names like Bumble Bee Tuna, Perrier-Jouët, Chef Boyardee, Duncan Hines, Aunt Jemima, Vlasic Pickles, Swanson frozen dinners, and Ghirardelli Chocolate. He bought Pabst from the charitable trust of Paul Kalmanovitz, the company’s late owner, acquiring a trove of musty American beer brands, among them Colt 45, Old Milwaukee, Primo, Rainier, Schaefer, Stroh’s, Schlitz, Schmidt, Lone Star, National Bohemian, and the flagship, Pabst Blue Ribbon. The company, based in Woodbridge, Ill., has about 200 employees and more than 80 trademarks and 42 beer brands, fewer than half of which are active.
Read the reast of the story by By Matt Schwartz in Businessweek: http://bit.ly/ho1ILz
Read “Move Over Budweiser – Pabst Blue Ribbon is the New Low Cost, Drinking Man’s Beer” – http://bit.ly/f2NHPY
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Police are warning all men who frequent clubs, parties & local pubs to be alert and stay cautious when offered a drink by any woman.
Tecate
Get a Tecate in a can…cut a lime in half and squeeze the juice in the beer and on top so that their is a layer of lime juice on the top of the can…then take salt and shake it on the top of the can in the lime juice. This action can be repeated until the beer is empty. This way of drinking Tecate was introduced to me in Mexico playing golf in Juarez Mexico on Compestre Golf Course. This is one of the better course in Juarez and caddies are required. Before you get your caddie selection, the caddies place wagers on who is the best golfer in the foursome by reviewing the golf clubs, golf bag and player. I was not tuned in on where I stood in the pecking order but I do know that the $2 Tecates were being pushed on be and I was not turning them away. How the caddies served them up for us was cracking open the Tecate, using half a lime and a lime press to squeeze the lime juice into the can and then giving salt packs to add on top as needed. This being my first experience with drinking Tecate like this, I found that I prefer Tecate in a can now and do recreate the Jaurez drinking experience with each can. But as for adding the lime in other Mexican beers, I typically decline unless it is a Corona since this is my least favorite of the Mexican beers…and the whole rumor of why Coronas are filled at varying levels because the brew-makers are pissing in the beer helps to reinforce the lime addition to a Corona.
I have to admit to being a Budweiser drinker since earlier than I was legal to drink and have been loyal to the brand up until now. However, most recently, I have found a new loyalty to the “every day, drinking man’s beer”. Unfortunately for me, light beer is not an option…not a fan. So what makes me switch from a staple beer like Budweiser to a new brand? Read on…
Men’s Journal
Who said beer is only for consumption?
Banned in 13 States. This has to get your attention now. The cap on beer alcohol content was thought to be 14%. No More. Samuel Adams has its Utopia brew at 27% alcohol.
This was the first beer that I entered into 
