Posted on 03/14/2004 10:31:08 AM PST by ServesURight
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Software developer Matt Dixon sips beer from a red, white and blue aluminum can in a smoky corner of Betty's Food and Spirits, a dimly lighted hangout for local artists, college students and restaurant workers.
Framed prints of 1950s pinup girls hang on the walls, and ceramic dog figurines line a shelf above the bar, where bartenders pour 13 different microbrews for $3.75 a pint.
But the best-selling beer is the $1.50-a-pint Pabst Blue Ribbon, a former blue-collar favorite decades removed from its heyday.
Pabst Blue Ribbon, or simply "P-B-R" if you're in a hurry to order, is mounting an unlikely comeback in cities across the country. After a steady decline since the 1970s, sales rose about 5 percent in 2002 and 15 percent in 2003.
"It's just cold and refreshing," Dixon says between gulps. "It's not a bad beer. You just have to get beyond the fact that it's what your dad drinks."
In 2001, sales of the 160-year-old brand had fallen to less than 1 million barrels, about one-tenth its peak in 1975, said Pabst Brewing Co. senior brand manager Neal Stewart.
Betty's owner Elizabeth Lessner said distributors laughed at her when she began asking for kegs of Pabst three years ago. Now it's so popular her supplier frequently runs out.
"People are really sick of the Budweiser-type marketing with naked girls and cars. Pabst is kinda hokey and nostalgic and people like it," she said.
The San Antonio-based Pabst Brewing Co.'s marketing strategy - or lack thereof - eschews conventional advertising in favor of generating word-of-mouth buzz.
While you won't find any Pabst Blue Ribbon commercials on NFL telecasts or FM radio, Stewart said you might notice the company sponsoring an art gallery opening or running ads for bands in local publications.
But chances are, the only place you'll see the Pabst logo is at a local bar or convenience store beer aisle: The company's marketing budget is miniscule by industry standards.
In 2002, Pabst spent $427,000 on measured media, which includes television, magazines, billboards, radio and newspapers, said Eric Shepard, citing research by a marketing firm commissioned for his trade publication, Beer Marketer's Insights.
Anheuser Bush spent $419 million and Miller spent $275 million, he said.
Pabst's low-key approach has resonated with customers.
At Betty's, Tanya Brooks ordered a Pabst and explained that she's sick of beer advertising that exploits women. The 28-year-old waitress said she'd be disappointed to ever see a Pabst Blue Ribbon advertising campaign.
"My dad drank PBR. It was never about being sexy," Brooks said. "It's a beer that you drink with your friends."
PBR's packaging also adds to its nostalgic appeal. The ribbon logo is much the same as it was in the early 1900s.
"The sashes coming out from the ribbon have been wider, at times they've been longer, but it's been a slow process," Stewart said. "There's never been drastic changes."
But perhaps as important as the beer's image is its dirt-cheap price.
"You don't have to pay five dollars to have one," Dixon said. "I don't feel like dropping 20 bucks every time to get drunk."
At the Cave, a bar known for live music across the street from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Pabst Blue Ribbon is one of the most popular - and cheapest - beers, said owner Dave Sorrell.
"It's what I drink," he said. "It's just a plain, old, simple beer."
Beer distributors across the country confirm the brand's success but say they don't quite understand it.
In Nashville, Tenn., sales shot up 99 percent in 2003, said DET Distributing Co. general manager John Curley.
"It's almost got this cult-type following," he said. "I have never seen that kind of growth, especially in a brand that's been down and out, and in most people's minds had basically been written off."
On Chicago's north side, Louis Glunz Beer Inc. added Pabst Blue Ribbon to a list of beers it recommends to bars and stores after sales went up by about 35 percent in each of the past two years, said general manager Jerry Glunz.
"All the sudden Pabst was not that kind of beer you had to sell in only the cheap joints anymore," he said.
Stewart said the comeback began about three years ago when young consumers in Portland, Ore., adopted the beer.
There had been no change in marketing. Pabst somehow appealed to trendsetters: punk rockers, people into bluegrass, kayakers and mountain bikers, he said.
The brand is the top seller in Portland's Lutz Tavern, which began carrying it in 1999 to replace a discontinued regional beer.
"It's really popular with not only the college students but also the working class guy and the Social Security crowd," said Lilias Barisich, whose family has operated the bar since 1954.
The revival spread to cities like San Francisco and Seattle before hopping across the country to the Northeast, Stewart said.
By some accounts, its young buyers are rebelling against established, mass-marketed brands.
"There's a theory that there's a niche out here for a consumer that's anti-marketing," said Shepard, Beer Marketer's Insights executive editor.
Despite PBR's success, its parent company is still a distant fourth in the domestic beer market, he said. In 2003, the Pabst Brewing Co. sold an estimated 8 million barrels overall and 1 million barrels of PBR.
By comparison, Anheuser Busch sold about 103 million barrels, Miller 38 million and Coors 22 million, Shepard said.
"It's a nice story for Pabst that Pabst Blue Ribbon has caught on and is quite popular in many markets, but I don't know if any of the major brewers are quaking in their boots," Shepard said.
ON THE NET
Beer Marketer's Insights: http://www.beerinsights.com/
Pabst Brewing Co.: www.pabst.com
FAGABEEFE = A B A A G F E F E E =I've got Pabst Blue Ribbon on my mind.
FAGABEEFE came from Barf's attempts to unscramble the clue.
Had some Stella down in Cayman this past summer. It was said that it was a the favorite amongst the divers. Anyway, damn fine beer. Wish I could find it here in Indy.
I'll still buy a case of 16-ounce PBR cans for an occasional break from Yuengling, especially in the summer.
I vas BORN in Zinszinnati! But left well before attaining legal drinking age.
If you're gonna spend that much on a bad hangover, you might as well shell out a few extra dollars and get something that actually tastes good. My current faves are Stella Artois and Blue Moon Belgian White.
Locally (Texas) the cheap choice is Lone Star or Pearl but neither is the beer that it was just a couple years ago. They both got bought (I believe by Miller) and are brewed in Dallas now.
Back in the "punk" days of Emo's (1991-1994 was the heyday of the original Houston location) a bottle ofbeer was $1 on sale and $1.50-2 otherwise. Beer of choice was Shiner Bock; enough touring bands got their first taste of Shiner at the Houston or Austin Emo's that the beer was actually taken national (although it doesn't seem to be as widely available these days).
Now the "cheap" beers (beer that costs $2.50 a six pack at the store) runs $2 a bottle with "name" brands and "microbrews" running $2.75-3.50 each.
It's no crime to drink microbrew, yuppies drove up the prices on the cheap beers.
Il Duce (the Mentors) was about as punk as they came and he wasn't a beer snob (high or low class). He'd drink whatever beer someone bought him (I have photos of him drinking 6 brands of beer one night ranging from Rolling Rock to Shiner to Newcastle Brown Ale) and he never complained about the brand.
Murder or suicide in your opinion?
I'm from Milwaukee, and I oughta know
It's draft brewed Blatz beer, wherever I go.
Kegs, cans and bottles all taste the same.
The three best is one beer, Blatz is the name!
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