Pabst Blue Ribbon

Portland, Oregon orders, sells, and consumes more Pabst Blue Ribbon than any other city in the world. Which is strange as Portland also has more craft breweries per capita than any other city in the world. With so many craft brews and local beers circulating in this city, how did PBR become one of the most popular beers (according to some recent studies, PBR is ranked #5 in Portland)? Why so many people enjoy the cool, crisp American lager may never be fully answerable, but the history of the company has had a long and interesting history since its inception.

Jacob Best began the original company in 1844 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin calling it The Empire Brewery. He ran the company with his sons Phillip, Charles, Jacob, Jr. and Lorenz until Phillip took control of the company in 1860. Phillip Best's son in law, a ship captain named Frederick Pabst bought a share in the Phillip Best Brewing Company. By 1875 the company had begun bottling their signature lager which they called Best Select. At that point Phillip Best Brewing Company was the largest Brewery in the nation.

Jacob Best, Sr. 

In 1985, then finally named Pabst Brewing Company, was purchased in a hostile takeover for $63 million. On May 26, 2010 current owner C. Dean Metropoulos purchased the company for nearly $250 million.
Pabst Brewing company also made a number of moves all across the country. Starting in Milwaukee, eventually moving to San Antonio, TX, then to Woodridge, IL, and finally to Los Angeles, CA where its headquarters now resides. The Company started with a paltry 18 barrels a year and at its peak hit almost 16 million barrels per year.

Pabst Brewing Company won "Large Brewing Company of the Year" at the Great American Beer Festival in 2011 and 2012.

PBR now has a licensing agreement and joint venture in China, which recently released a new beer called Pabst Blue Ribbon 1844 for consumption in the domestic market; it sells for $44 U.S. dollars a bottle.