Pabst Brewing Co, the maker of the low-cost Pabst Blue Ribbon beer brand, has been acquired by investor C. Dean Metropoulos for an undisclosed price. Metropoulos acquired the company from the charitable organization that owned it.

Pabst Blue Ribbon is manufactured under contract by MillerCoors, and the company said that “The executives at Miller have been extraordinarily helpful”. Pabst also noted that media figures of the deal being worth $250m were incorrect.

The Blue Ribbon has become popular in recent years, partly due to its price – it sells for $3 a can, while other beers cost as much as $6 a pint. Sales of the brand jumped up 33% to $172.7m for the year ending 18 April 2010, according to data from market research firm SymphonyIRI Group.

Pabst was bought from the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation, which had been running it since 1994. The charity had then been told by the IRS that it could not own a for-profit business and was given a deadline of 2010 for selling it.

The beers in Pabst's portfolio include: Schaefer, Carling's Black Label, Blatz, Colt 45 Malt Liquor, Schmidt, Special Export, Schlitz, Lone Star, Jacob Best, Ballantine, Falstaff, Rainier, Ice Man Malt Liquor, Silver Thunder Malt Liquor and Stroh's Beer.

NamNews - Monday 28th June 2010

 

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