Pabst Brewing Company

19th century , The original brewery was founded in 1844 as The Empire Brewery, later Best and Company, by brewer Jacob Best. The brewery was run by Jacob Sr. and his sons Phillip, Charles, Jacob Jr., and Lorenz. Phillip took control of the company in 1860. Lisette Schandein took over as vice-president of the company through 1894 after her husband's death. Two factors helped position the company for significant growth: the untimely death of Milwaukee brewing competitor C.T. Melms in 1869 due to an infection from a needle, and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Melms' brewery was sold to Best and Company after Melms' death, which greatly expanded capacity for the company. Then, with the fire in Chicago a couple of years later wiping out the Chicago brewing industry, the company was in a position to grow with less competition to worry about. By 1874 Phillip Best Brewing Co. was the nation's largest brewer. 20th century in Milwaukee in the early 20th century During much of the 20th century, Pabst was run by Harris Perlstein, who was named president by Frederick Pabst in 1932 after a merger of Pabst Brewing and Premier Malt Products Co. (the latter of which Perlstein had been president). Pabst was renowned in Milwaukee for its brewery tours. Visitors to Pabst's tour were rewarded with sometimes bottomless glasses of beer at its end-of-tour Sternewirt Pub. Complete with a statue of Captain Frederick Pabst and waitresses pouring from pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon, Pabst Bock, and Andeker, the pub was popular with tourists and locals alike, especially students from nearby Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. 21st century , Milwaukee In 2001, production was contracted to Miller Brewing Company, and by then, what remained of the Pabst company operated out of San Antonio. This project was completed in Spring 2017, with the taproom featuring both newly developed and historic beers in the Pabst portfolio. The project was completed in 2017 and closed in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the taproom taken over by Central Waters Brewing Company in 2021. In November 2018, a lawsuit by Pabst against MillerCoors reached the trial stage. Pabst argued that MillerCoors wanted to put it out of business by ending a longstanding contract through which MillerCoors brews Pabst's beers. Pabst said that MillerCoors is its only option for the brewed annually for the company, since Anheuser-Busch did not do contract brewing. Pabst exercised its option to purchase Molson Coors's Irwindale, California, brewery in 2020, and in 2021 sold the Irwindale brewery to City Brewing. The transition of production from Molson Coors to City Brewing was underway in 2022. By early 2025, Pabst had entered into a second production agreement with AB InBev. ==International production==

Pabst Blue Ribbon America has a licensing agreement and joint venture arrangement with China Pabst Blue Ribbon. It is produced, marketed and distributed by CBR Brewing Company, which jointly owns the company along with Guangdong Blue Ribbon Group under a sub-licensing agreement with the Pabst Brewing Company. CBR is a British Virgin Islands owned company but it is based in China. China Pabst recently released a new beer called Pabst Blue Ribbon 1844 for consumption in the domestic market; it sells for US$44 a bottle. In 1999, Sleeman Breweries in Guelph, Ontario, a division of Sapporo Breweries, acquired Stroh Canada which owned the Canadian rights to a folio of brands, including Pabst. Sleeman then became the Canadian manufacturer and distributor of those products. ==Product lines==

Pabst Blue Ribbon Pabst Blue Ribbon, also known as "PBR", is the namesake of the Pabst Brewing Company products. Originally called Best Select, and then Pabst Select, the current name came from the blue ribbons that were tied around the neck of the bottle, a practice that ran from 1882 until 1916, and discontinued due to a silk shortage during World War I. After Prohibition, the blue ribbons were once again tied around the neck of the bottle, a custom that endured from 1933 until 1950. Besides the 4.7% alcohol by volume Original, there are now also Pabst Extra a stronger 6.5% lager, Pabst Easy which is their low calorie light beer offering (3.8% ABV), and Pabst Non-Alc with less than 0.5% ABV. In July 2019, the organization began testing a Hard Coffee line of drinks under the Pabst Blue Ribbon name in states along the East Coast, In 2020, the judge allowed the case to proceed. In January 2021, Pabst announced it was discontinuing Olympia beer. The suit was dismissed in 2022 as the plaintiff "could not show a concrete threat of future harm". Rainier Beer Rainier Beer was first brewed in Seattle, Washington by the Rainier Brewing Company. It is popular in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Schmidt's of Philadelphia Schmidt's of Philadelphia, which had no connection to the St. Paul Schmidt Beer, was brewed by the Christian Schmidt Brewing Company, founded in 1860. Schmidt Beer Schmidt Beer was first brewed by the Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1855. It is popular throughout the Upper Midwest. National Bohemian National Bohemian was the flagship beer of the National Brewing Company in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Bohemian-style American beer. Ninety percent of National Bohemian sales are in the Baltimore area. == Former independent brands ==

Andeker Pabst introduced a premium brewed European style lager called Andeker in 1939. Red, White and Blue Red White & Blue was a brand of beer produced and sold by Pabst from before Prohibition until the mid-1980s. Pre-Prohibition advertisements lauded its mellow taste and drinkability. After years of average sales, the brand saw significant growth in the early 1980s due to creative marketing campaigns. However, Pabst reformulated it to reduce costs and by the mid-1980s it was known as a "cheap beer". Sales steeply declined and the brand was discontinued. ==Awards==

Awards at the Great American Beer Festival: Awards at the World Beer Cup: Golden Icon Awards by Travolta Family Entertainment: Pabst Brewing Company won "Large Brewing Company of the Year" at the Great American Beer Festival in 2011, 2012 and 2016. ==Advertisements==

Image:Pabst Malt Extract.jpg|Pabst Malt Extract 1896 Image:Pabst-brewing 1897 malt.jpg|Pabst Malt Extract 1897 Image:Pabst-brewing 1897 beer.jpg|Pabst Malt Extract - Advertisement - 1897 Image:Pabst 1897 new-amsterdam.jpg|Pabst New Amsterdam - Advertisement - 1897 Image:Pabst Extract Advertisement 1917.jpg|Pabst Extract 1917 ==See also==