The PBR Story

From where I grew up as a kid in rural Alabama, we had a number of folks in the dry county area, who were particular about the beer they drank.  A couple were 'addicted' in some way to Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

I have a list of twenty-odd beers (some even German) which I consider to be sub-standard beers.  They lack taste, character or the 'magic' ingredient.  I include Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) on that list. 

So I noted this morning via a CNBC report....that there is the potential for a worldwide shortage of PBR.

How this would happen?  Well....the folks who own PBR had a deal with Miller-Coors to make PBR in bulk.  No one talks about the financial side of this or the profits for either company.  What they do talk about is that Miller-Coors doesn't want to make the beer any longer (after well over 30 years). 

Somewhere on the paperwork agreement, there is an option to continue on, and Miller-Coors does not appear to be willing to move to the option.  They just want some type of end-date. Naturally, the PBR folks are talking about some legal course, with half-a-billion mentioned in the news piece.

So you come to the 'end' discussion? 

There are basically three problems here.

First, I would have doubts that some judge would go and order Miller-Coors to produce something beyond the contract date. 

Second, you would think that PBR would have realized this less-drinking-trend five years ago, and had some plan 'B' in existence already.  You could have easily gone and bought some brewery or worked out some deal with a Mexican brewery chain. 

Third, is it possible that people just woke up and realized that PBR is just lousy cheap 1-star beer?  Is it perhaps time to retire PBR and just admit it was an bad beer?

So here's my suggestion.  Typically, when you've fallen this far, you get up and rebrand your item.  Why not go out and refreshen the recipe of PBR, make a brewery out of a warehouse in Huntsville, Alabama, and sell it only in bottles. Make it into a decent three-star beer.  In one single move, you'd make it into a premium beer, and charge 50 cents more per bottle.