Pabst Brewing Company Returns to Milwaukee

Iconic Pabst Brewing Co. will stay true to its roots but also jump on the craft beer trend with new small-batch brews.

July 17, 2015

MCLEAN, Va. – A homecoming 152 years in the making, Pabst Brewing Company is returning to Milwaukee, reports USA Today.

In the summer 2016, Pabst Brewing Co. will open its doors to a new brewery, located on the site of its former facility, as well as tours of the complex, a restaurant and a tasting room.

The original Pabst Milwaukee brewery opened in 1884. It was sold to California-based S&P Co. in 1985, which bought other declining breweries that made brands such as Lone Star, Rainier and Olympia, according to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel. S&P closed the Milwaukee brewery in 1996, and Pabst moved its headquarters to San Antonio and later contracted with Miller Brewing Co. and other firms to brew its brands, including Pabst Blue Ribbon. Pabst brands are still brewed in part at MillerCoors LLC's Milwaukee brewery. Pabst Brewing was sold in November 2014 to Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings LLC, a partnership between beer entrepreneur Eugene Kashper and TSG Consumer Partners LLC.

According to Kashper, Pabst will stay true to its roots but also produce small-batch craft beers based on Pabst's archived recipes. The brewery will also make pre-Prohibition brands such as Old Tankard Ale, Kloster Beer, Bock and Andeker.

“Upon acquiring the company in November, I felt our biggest focus should be innovation and bringing back some of these historical styles to be brewed,” Kashper, Pabst president and CEO, told the news source, adding, “The Pabst family left such a rich legacy here in Milwaukee that we just want to follow in those footsteps and be a part of this community.”

For the past decade Pabst Blue Ribbon has enjoyed a sales revival thanks to its adoption by younger drinkers, who affectionately abbreviate the brew as “PBR.” Pabst Brewing sold 5.3 million barrels of beer in 2014, a 2.7% decline from 2013, according to industry publication Beer Marketer's Insights, and the company's sales account for 2.5% of the U.S. beer market.

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