OK, maybe they’re holding onto past glory… maybe the beer’s namesake (Blue Ribbon) is in fact based off of an award they won, um, 112 years ago… but the beer is a staple of moderately priced* and refreshing** American lager, it helped a lot of us get through college, and, sadly, from the 18th Amendment on for some fifty years, it was the only kinda beer a lot of Uh’mericans knew. So let’s give it a look.

For years we had Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Pabst, which was the country’s biggest brewery at the end of the nineteenth century. Then Coors joined the ranks. Then along came all the heroic, lusty young micro and craft breweries that have made America a wonderful place to love beer. But for years, you wanted a beer? It tasted a lot like this. Light lager. It’s body is a pale yellow; the head dissipates quickly if you pour it slowly, and it hangs out, thick and frothy (likely in your red plastic cup) for a long time if you pour with zeal. Which I bet you have, standing before the pong table, that deadly-serious look that makes you impossible-to-take-seriously in your eye…

This is unarguably a refreshing beer. The malt taste is very light; pale barley lends it a bit of malt/bread flavor, and light hops lead you into the short finish. There is not a lot of flavor, m’kay? But here’s the thing: compare it to a refreshing German pilsner (which indeed was what founder Joseph Best*** was angling for) like, say, Paulaner’s Pils, and you will find a lot of similarities and very little flavor discrepancy. The Paulaner will be a bit more complex, sure, and maybe a bit more pronounced in the hops, but put either on of ‘em in a nice glass and man, if it’s a hot day you’ll be all set.

And hell, there must be something good goin’ on with this brau… just check out the tale of a guy who LOVES the Pabst…

CAPTAIN OUT!

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*OK… cheapass

**um… lightly flavored…

***the brewery’s name was changed to Pabst after it was taken over by the colorful Frederick Pabst in 1899