Pabst Blue Ribbon—you have a fan.

That’s right; Richmond has dubbed you the working man’s brewski. PBR, formally known as Pabst Select, has long been known in River City as the underdog beer that we love to drink—it not only tastes pretty good, but it comes with a good helping of street cred. And everyone from scenesters to button-down types are touting its comeback.

“Back in the early 90’s it was Black Label that was known as the beer of Richmond…now we have PBR,” says David Garrett, beer buyer for Carytown Beer & Wine. “It’s cheap—that’s why it’s popular.”

In fact, Pabst has become so synonymous with our capital city that one of the top definitions on UrbanDictonary.com pegs PBR as the “People’s Beer of Richmond.” And on the popular social networking site MySpace, a “Richmond” page proudly sits with over 8,000 friends, boasting a vintage PBR can as its logo for our hometown. 

Christian Detres, Marketing Director for RVA Magazine, created the page as a personal nod to Richmond, and picked PBR to represent the city. “It’s the perfect synthesis of party and smart. It’s cheap, plentiful and does the job just as well as those high-falutin’ fancy Yuenglings,” explains Detres.  “Carrying a PBR around says to onlookers: ‘I’m not going to let being poor keep me from having a good time, and I’m not going to let having a good time make me poor.’ Not to say Richmond doesn’t know good premium beer—we know all about Miller Lite.”

All jokes aside, Pabst Blue Ribbon is enjoying a healthy blue collar resurgence. With sales sinking steadily for the past thirty years, many drinkers had counted out the brew until “The Hipster Handbook,” a manifesto of cool, began to bring attention back to PBR once again. By the turn of the century some of the trendiest bars were pouring PBR—from New York, Chicago, and even Portland, which is typically known for its taste for fine microbrews. 

What a difference a few decades make, as now the beer is among the fastest-growing of the top-50 domestic beer brands. It trails only Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors Light, and Corona.

Despite the buzz, the smart folks at Pabst Brewing Company, have resisted the urge to exploit this beer of choice for dissenters and fans of counterculture. To fuel its feisty base, a different form of publicity tactic has been unleashed—such as PBR CD compilations, as well as vinyl singles, that promote local music rather than the fat cats in the music industry. And instead of sponsoring large corporate events, PBR has popped up in small scale neighborhood tattoo parlors, local record shops, and bike rallies.

Here in Richmond, beer drinkers are finding PBR in cans at the likes of Emilio’s, Sticky Rice, and Mars Bar, to name a few. And on tap, we have such hometown heroes as The Hill Café, Galaxy Diner and Roxy Cafe to thank.

“PBR is by far our biggest seller,” confirms Steven Brown, a bartender at Roxy Cafe in the Fan District.

Preston Duncan, a local songwriter and visual artist, was so moved by his love for the good beverage that he penned a note, entitled “An Open Letter to the Noble Brewers of Pabst Blue Ribbon,” that he recently sent to Pabst Brewing. In it he sums up River City’s passion for the brew by writing, “The empty cardboard packaging of a PBR twelve pack is as much of an indication of a Sunday morning as the pastel clad churchgoers that pass our sleepy windows just after our evening has ended.”

Duncan, who admits that he has yet to receive an official response, concludes, “PBR, you are a shimmering gesture of defiance to an industry that bases merit on price and fancy labeling and clever marketing campaigns. There is no PBR Super Bowl ad, no stupid frog enchanting suburban living rooms across the nation. And we don’t want there to be. We like your honesty, your modest presence in the beer aisle, your dusty banner at the gas station.”

Always good to see PBR get some long overdue props. I doubt Style would have covered anything other than a fancy micro brew. More Pabst please.

BTW: Nothing induces a good, long, morning yawn fart than too many PBRs the night before. Try to find something more satisfying than that (other than seeing Pete Humes in lingerie - SASSY!)

This article, is what, 5 years too late? Way to be CURRENT.

Crediting the resurging popularity of PBR to the “hipster handbook” is really bad

many times at a show at alley katz they will sell out of pbr, it’s that popular. and i agree it’s great affordable beer. it definitely has earned it’s title as the beer of rva.

Ah, Richmond...where even the simple pleasure of enjoying a beer becomes a defenseless pawn in the never-ending quest to distinuguish ourselves from one another.  Must we try so hard?  Isn’t it easier to just get another tattoo, and then you can go back to drinking Miller Lite?  You know you want to.

And if that chick in the Lucero shirt can name even one of their songs, I will dance naked down Hanover.  A good time is sure to be had by all.

That stuff is garbage, and beer for lightweights. Drink a real beer like Shiner or Grolsch!

You can get the 22oz man can at Rocks for $2 or $3 bucks and pint drafts for a dollar anytime!!

I can’t believe that in this town of cultured hipster hoo-hahs, nobody mentioned David Lynch’s nod to PBR in his classic film, Blue Velvet.

Frank Booth: What kind of beer do you like to drink, neighbor?
Jeffrey Beaumont: Heineken.
Frank Booth: Heineken? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!

(Booth’s lines are delivered by a delightfully insane Dennis Hopper)

Get the sound clip!
http://tsbolton.com/bertramslair/velvet.htm

I literally grew up drinking Pabst.  It was one of only a few that was available as a 3.2 beer.  Which was the kind you could but and drink at age 18 in Richmond.  many a Friday and Saturday night was spent sipping the suds in establishments along West Grace Street in the Fan.  Or the Tempo Room at Grove & Libbie Ave in the West End.
Glad to see it’s made a resurgence.