Pabst Blue Ribbon City

White text on a blue, bottle cap background. 

Pabst Brewing Company can trace it's lineage all the way back to 1862 when Frederick Pabst married Maria Best, daughter of the founder of Best Brewing Company. Joining Best Brewing in 1863, Pabst worked with the Vice President of Best Brewery to expand, taking advantage of the 1871 Great Chicago Fire that destroyed most of the breweries in Chicago, giving the Milwaukee brewing scene a boom. In 1889 Pabst became president of Best Brewing and in 1890 changed the name to Pabst.

Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), the hallmark of the company, was first brewed in 1893. Originally called Best Select and then Pabst Select, now it is called Pabst Blue Ribbon in homage to the blue ribbons that were tied around the bottle neck from 1882-1916.

At it's peak, Pabst sold 18 million barrels per year. By the 1980s sales began to decline until in 2001 sales were below 1 million barrels per year. Changing up the administration, the beer began to have a revival in the 2000s, many accredit this to the "hipster" movement, and their desire to avoid the mainstream.