Are we in the Twilight Zone?
I have recently visited several fine watering holes in Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale and was surprised to find Pabst Blue Ribbon beer featured on tap.
Yes, the same cheap beer that was so un-cool to drink when you were in high school-the same beer that you passed up so your older brother could buy you Natural Ice instead.
Well, there seems to be a ghetto renaissance because Pabst is officially trendy beer.
Why the sudden trend? Senior brand manager of Pabst Brewing Company, Neal Stewart, credits the time-honored tradition of their brewery and its commitment to quality beer.
Stewart, who was surprised to hear that a market is growing in the Valley, says the company has done nothing to market the beer differently, but that it has found a niche with trendsetters.
"It started about three years ago in Seattle and Portland's artist communities," Stewart says. "It became the 'in' beer and then started to catch on in other major cities."
Since the Seattle days, Pabst has made it to Chicago and the East Coast, as well as several pockets of the Midwest and West Coast. This is the same beverage that's at the end of the cheap beer aisle, where it had lived in relative obscurity since 1844. But the resurgence may be more than just a trendy fad; it tastes good too.
Unlike Bud or Miller, there is a distinct richness to Pabst. For a light colored, smooth and crisp beer, it's surprisingly full of flavor and most definitely a better decision than the other domestics on tap.
It's becoming so hard to talk about a trend lately, without making an obligatory reference to trucker hats. In Pabst's case, the two go together like trailer parks and tornados.
Pabst hasn't changed. It's still the same beer that was once only acceptable to truckers and red necks. But as their wardrobes have become increasingly acceptable by the mainstream, so has their beer. What's best is most places carry it on tap and sell it for only $2 per pint.
For best results, order one pint in a chilled glass, scarf down a basket of shelled peanuts, then repeat steps one and two until you reach your desired level of trailer "trashed."
Reach the reporter saman.mehrazar@asu.edu.
