Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) - Pabst Brewing Company

mcb1987

Georgia

2.58/5  rDev -14%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

Great for the price..That's about it..

Smell: Very little smell of anything particular

Mouthfeel - pretty non existent body, carbonated a bit on the higher side.

For one of the cheapers beers to buy, its not bad, and does its job.

Serving type: can

Serving type: can

06-16-2013 23:13:24 | More by mcb1987

ValpoExpo

Ohio

1.91/5  rDev -36.3%
look: 1.75 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 1.75 | overall: 1.75

Whenever I go to a concert, this is the beer I drink. I'm always excited to give PBR one more chance as my favorite cheap beer, but it never impresses me. PBR is an extremely heavy beer and would not even consider it a session beer. I'd still rather drink Coors or RR for hours on end.

Serving type: can

06-13-2013 21:14:44 | More by ValpoExpo

Shaurya

Florida

2.59/5  rDev -13.7%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2 | taste: 3 | feel: 1.75 | overall: 2.5

Pretty good for the price.. Not much else to write home about..

Doesn't really have a distinct smell or anything.. but tastes malty.. hints of corn.

Mouthfeel - pretty non existent body, carbonated a bit on the higher side.

Much better than its similarly priced peers, like Bud, Coors, Natural etc.

Serving type: can

06-12-2013 21:14:10 | More by Shaurya

KYGunner

Kentucky

2.74/5  rDev -8.7%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2.75

Perhaps the most pathetic, i.e. wimpy, beer I have ever witnessed. The color was golden fair enough, but the head was thin soapy and died quickly. Despite the bubbles that lined the glass, the beer gave a very stale, boring appearance.

The scent was relatively weak with some adjunct like qualities. Corny and metallic it was not particularly pleasant.

The taste was corny adjunct as well but it lost the metallic tone. It appeared to be well carbonated and gave an easy crisp feel. I had PBR in a can months ago and found it much better than this. I may try it again and reassess.

Serving type: bottle

06-09-2013 01:01:37 | More by KYGunner

tigg924

Massachusetts

3.5/5  rDev +16.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Appearance: 1/2 inch head, gold in color, clear, moderate carbonation

Smell: grass, straw, and adjuncts

Taste: corn, straw, and adjuncts

Mouthfeel: moderate carbonation, light bodied, nice mix of sweet and bitter

Overall: Above average clean American adjunct lager..Probably better than Coors and Miller, but I still prefer Schaeffer or Bud in this style. A nice end of the night beer.

Serving type: on-tap

06-06-2013 14:39:41 | More by tigg924

ckollias

Maryland

3/5  rDev 0%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

A: Pours a clear golden hue with a thin white head.

S: Mostly grain, some malt, and a trace of hops.

T: Typical watered down grain beer with a little more flavor than your average American lager.

M: Medium carbonation and medium body.

O: Classic American watered down lager just heads above the rest.

Serving type: can

06-03-2013 14:42:35 | More by ckollias

mooseo

Pennsylvania

2.9/5  rDev -3.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3

12oz can into a perfect pint glass.

A - Clear straw gold with a large fluffy, but short lived, white head. Lots of streaming bubbles.

S - Sweet malts, corn, slight grassy hops. Not offensive, but very subtle/neutral.

T - Bready malt, light toasted grain, corn syrup, and a hint of grassy hops. Overall rather sweet, but there is a faint hop bitterness that kicks in towards the finish.

M - Relatively smooth, very light body (but not as watery as other adjunct lagers). High carbonation, crisp and refreshing.

O - This a decent 'bargain' lager that tends to beat out the other mainstream competitors. It's light on flavor with a thin body, but it's a great cheap year-round session beer to pick up when spending is tight.

Serving type: can

06-03-2013 02:40:52 | More by mooseo

Beric

Michigan

3.25/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5

Serving: Can, from the can (is there any other way to drink PBR?)
Served: 17 June 2013

Appearance: I had this one from the can, so I guess I'll just comment on the can. When you open this beer up, you see some nice fog and some bubbly head foam up before quickly dying down. The look of the can is fantastic- nice vintage marketing look.

Smell: Smells just like 'beer', but has some sweet notes to it (probably from the corn syrup that they use to make it).

Taste: The taste is better than the macros, but certainly nothing too notable. It's decent, and that's really that. It's too sweet for my tastes, but I imagine after drinking about three of these that the taste starts to get really good.

Mouthfeel: The feel of this beer is great- exactly what I would expect from an AAL. Light on the tongue and spritzy from the carbonation, this beer is certainly an easy drink, and wonderful on hot, muggy summer days.

Overall: This beer is a classic, but probably because of its enviable price point. I paid about 36 cents a can in a 30-pack, and there's really no beating that. For that sort of price, the beer tastes as good as one can expect. I would certainly buy this over BMC stuff in terms of actual flavor, since, though minimal, the flavor profile in this beer is notably more developed than something like Busch Light or Natty (as far as cheap beers go).

Serving type: can

06-01-2013 11:40:05 | More by Beric

biscuitsandbeer312

Illinois

3.8/5  rDev +26.7%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pabst Blue Ribbon is the beer for every season!! Pabst Blue Ribbon, keeps them pretty girls teasin..

Its just the all American classic, go to beer!! Anyone who hates is just trying to deny they like 30 rack beer.

PBR=All American Beer.

Not the beer you sip on and savor, but the beer you enjoy thoroughly doing just about everything!!

PBR!!

Serving type: can

05-31-2013 08:46:24 | More by biscuitsandbeer312

dazdave

Ohio

3.03/5  rDev +1%
look: 3 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.75

Had this beer as part of a special glass deal. I think maybe i'm spending a dollar for the whole package. Honestly, i'm not terribly familiar with pbr except that it is the preferred bev of hipsters in my area. I've had it maybe 2-3x in my life and i don't recall getting headaches from it, so that's a plus..
Again a nice glass special is on at this bar. It's decent looking glass. $4 for a pitcher i think i saw too. Seems like prices from eons ago.
The bartender filled my glass with a solid amount of beer in a glass that resembles a can of pbr. Cute. I couldn't smell a whole lot since its a pale lager. The first taste was very nutty. Kind of a roasted malt flavor since the beer is so thin. Not much more to the beer than that. Any interesting flavors seem to wash right away. I feel the tail end of the beer is where one is left with the remnants of an adjunct beer. This makes one want to immediately take another sip to get that lovely nutty flavor back to kill the corniness. I can see why people like this beer the same way people like to have spas with cold water blasted at them followed by hot water. It seems its the battle between the the nutty and the icky that the people love.
For me, if the finish was better it would be an absolutely lovely beer. Its very thin and just not something i want to regularly seek out. I won't avoid it unless i end up with a headache tonight of course. We'll see.

Serving type: on-tap

05-31-2013 04:18:42 | More by dazdave

SpencerT

Ohio

3.89/5  rDev +29.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This beer fits the style it was intended for. It is an easy drinking American Macro Lager beer. If I'm drinking this style this is one of the few I drink. Just because it's not $10 a 6er doesn't mean it's bad beer. I'm with the Bros on this one... Good Beer, not spectacular but I keep a 30 pack around.

Serving type: on-tap

05-24-2013 15:59:03 | More by SpencerT

Goat2Hunter

Georgia

3.83/5  rDev +27.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 4

I had this in both a bottle and a can, and I must say, I was very impressed, its appearance is very fine looking, like you would expect a beer to be, smells like beer, good amount of hops present, taste is very good, especially for the price you would imagine this to taste like water, but it really doesn't, Pabst uses alot of hops, and very exotic ones at that, not like its an exotic beer, its taste like beer, but it is rather quirky tasting, damn good though. and mouthfeel is nicely carbonated, overall I think this is a good beer, and a beer's beer at that, they use alot of good ingredients in making it and I think it runs circles around its more expensive rivals like Budweiser, or Corona. I also believe if you dont like this you probably dont like beer, Everyone needs to try this beer, at least once in there life's

Serving type: can

04-25-2013 13:32:08 | More by Goat2Hunter

drmystery

North Carolina

3.38/5  rDev +12.7%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

all rating s are based on the style, in this case american adjunct lager, keep that in mind.

after needing a break from paying $8 per six pack of local craft beer (foothills hoppyum ipa..mmm) i went to the bmc section of the beer aisle and saw the typical bud, bud light, michelob ultra (which is hardly beer), natty, etc. then i saw pabst blue ribbon in a 6 pack-all the bmc's were in multipacks-for 5 dollars, thats ~84 cents a bottle and i thought thats a good deal for an adjunct lager thats not bmc.

i spent my 5 bucks and had me some pbr.

the appearance is typical of an adjunct lager-straw pissy yellow with snow white head, about average for this style of beer.

the smell is pretty average, malts and beer. zero hops.

taste is just malts and sweet corn syrup (pbrs adjunct), which is kind of good...i get that sweetness and kind of tang of corn syrup on the back of my throat which invites me to have more. however the lack of hops is to be expected, but its disappointing, this beer actually tastes good for an adjunct lager, and i was half hoping for some hops. i guess im just naiive.

mouthfeel-fizzy water, nothing too impressive, except for the goopy corns syrup on the back of the back of the throat, which i liked.

overall, this adjunct american lager is not bad. it has an interesting corn syrupy characteristic which i personally find enjoyable. obviously this beer isnt a craft beer and its not going to be loaded with hops-its a flavorful and enjoyable macro adjunct lager that i will drink again when the IPAs and pale ales get old. PBR is a refreshing and cheap way to enjoy a macro beer that has a little bit more going than the bmc's when you need a break from kickass craft beers. above average ratings in nearly all categories for this style of beer.

Serving type: bottle

04-17-2013 18:50:04 | More by drmystery

lancecenter

Texas

3/5  rDev 0%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Poured from a 24 oz can in to a Sam Adams pint glass.

A - pale yellow with about two fingers of head that dissipates pretty quick. Decent amount of lacing.

S - Not much going on here. A little bit of grass like most adjuncts.

T - Grassiness with a little bit of citrus.

M - Crisp, light mouthfeel.

O - Eh, I not bad for an adjunct.

Serving type: can

04-14-2013 05:41:54 | More by lancecenter

sajaffe1

Alabama

3.24/5  rDev +8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.25

Poured from the 12oz can into a pint glass

A- Brassy color, clear, bubbly with a good but short-lived head

S- Grains, namely corn and some barley, touch of grassy hops

T- A bit bland yet refreshing. Hints of hops and corn

M- Thin, but well carbonated

O- It is a decent budget beer and beats out many of the other major adjunct lagers.

Serving type: can

04-11-2013 19:12:13 | More by sajaffe1

fx20736

New York

3.71/5  rDev +23.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

bought a single 24 oz can from Wegmans Calkins Rd on 4/9/13 for $ 1.29.

Poured into a mug, served at fridge temp.

appearance: pale brass with a 2 finger white head. Some lacing.

aroma: hops and some baker's yeast?

mouthfeel: a little thin but not flat, decent carbonation.

taste: pale malt with a touch of hops.

notes: for an adjunct lager this is pretty good beer. Hell, it's just good beer. No wonder hipsters like it.

Serving type: can

04-09-2013 23:49:35 | More by fx20736

JuicesFlowing

Kansas

2.69/5  rDev -10.3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.75

Poured into a shaker pint glass.

Look: Clear light golden straw color. A white head recedes to a film. Minimal lacing.

Aroma: Metallic, yeasty, bready.

Taste: Slightly sweet, metallic, faint malted barley, yeast.

Mouthfeel: Light and carbonated.

Overall: Hipsters like it, but to me it's not any better than any other adjunct lager. I guess I'm not cool enough :(

Serving type: can

04-06-2013 22:12:52 | More by JuicesFlowing

MichaelNickerson

Michigan

2.93/5  rDev -2.3%
look: 1.75 | smell: 2.25 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3

Appearance: Extremely light yellow with small head.

Smell: Bread malt aromas with light hops and light yeast.

Taste: Light, thin body with a bitter ending.

Mouthfeel: Short retention that allows for a rather quick second drink.

Overall: Although it's a below average beer, it's the best "cheap" beers out there. Definitely better than bud light, natty light, keystone, and other comparable beers. Easy to drink for volume purposes, but other than that, useless.

Serving type: can

04-01-2013 23:12:14 | More by MichaelNickerson

bbluemzbeer

California

4.48/5  rDev +49.3%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.75

I certainly think this is better than Bud, Miller and Coors.

Apperance: yellow. It looks like beer

Smell : smell like grain, like beer should smell like.

Taste: I was surprised how good this beer tasted. It tasted like malt and corn and some mild at the end

Mouthfeel: Strongly carbonated with a thin body. It just like ameircan lager beer

This beer was real nasty as kid but it taste pretty good now. Maybe I drank it warm or they changed the formula. I would drank some more in the future. Good beer!

Serving type: can

03-31-2013 18:42:35 | More by bbluemzbeer

daddydawg80

Georgia

3.09/5  rDev +3%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

OK, everyone has had this so no need to state the obvious. This beer is what it is and has survived for over 150 years, so it is no fad.

I call this my lawnmower beer, which means it's my go to beer after yard work when I'm thirsty.

I love it for what it is and keep a few in the fridge surrounded by a variety of craft brews. This is an American classic, god bless America.

Serving type: can

03-31-2013 16:03:52 | More by daddydawg80

atigerlife

Hawaii

2.98/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 3 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3.5

Was out for chicken wings with the family and decided to have a couple PBR's. Been a while...

Pours pale golden with a small white head that dissipates rather quickly. Pretty much what you would expect from this style.

Aroma is grainy, slightly sweet. Not a lot going on here.

Taste is of grain, light hops, light malts. Rather crisp. Again, pretty much how I remember and what I was expecting.

Mouthfeel is light bodied and cleansing.

Overall, definitely sessionable. Decent for what it is. Worked well enough with the chicken wings.

Serving type: on-tap

03-31-2013 03:29:20 | More by atigerlife

AniGamor

Texas

3.54/5  rDev +18%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

I don't really post on Beer Advocate. I generally use it to look up what style a beer is when it's not obvious before I buy it. That said, I regard the ratings as an indicator of how strongly flavored (for better or worse) a beer is. I would say that generally on a BA review, the higher the rating, the more I'm not going to like a beer unless I've already prepped myself with some previous drinking.

Don't get me wrong, I'm generally not some macrobrew swelling bro, who marches into a bar and immediately orders a bud light. I generally stroll into my local brew garden, and look at what's new and ask the opinion of the bartender on stuff I haven't tried. I try all kinds of things and it really just depends on the mood I'm in.

I would like to think that a lot of people had evolved from similar experiences with beer early on like I did. The first time you may have tried beer, was from your dad's can, and it was vile. I believe my first beer sip might have been Coors. You also might have gotten the feelings that beer was a low class drink that drunks partook of. During your High School or even early drinking age years, you may have come to the conclusion that "you hate beer".

Eventually, you might have discovered a wine cooler, or a lambic, or cider. Flavored beers or fermented beer-like beverages from colorful bottles or pulls that tasted good and were beer related. You may have discovered Guinness, a beer that initially may feel you with thoughts of manliness or the Irish hills. A stout that moved you to better Oatmeal based concoctions and other opaque, dark brews. You may have thought that "maybe I only hate piss colored beers".

At some point you run into IPAs and other Ales in general. You look at their color with disgust, and reluctantly try one, and you hate it. However, overtime you keep trying them and you might evolve to appreciate the hoppy flavor, and you discover some fruitiness, that reminds you of those lambics, but less extreme.

I think at this point you've learned that it was the Pissy American Macrobrewed rubbish all along. Though, secretly you might realize that you're being a snob now.

I think this is how the hatred of beers like PBR comes about. Pabst Blue Ribbon, in my opinion, is the epitome of beer. Strong words, but listen. It's not that it's 'good' but it is the essence of the thing of which it is.

PBR is an American Lager. It's Grain, Hops, Yeast, and Water. It's simple, yellow, and drinkable. It has successfully accomplished all that it has set out to do. It's about 60 cents for a 12 ounce can (in a 30 pack). I've bought it for $4 a growler before. It's more expensive than Malt Liquor, which I have found for 50 cents for a 40 ounce bottle. Still, Budweiser drinkers and the like will look down upon PBR for being cheap.

It's not such a bad thing! PBR's biggest strength I feel is it's smell. It reminds me of a passable Champagne with maybe some extra flower scents. It smells good and smell is probably the most important part of consuming something.

Taste, it tastes like a decent beer flavored carbonated water. It's a bit like Perrier, but cheaper and less citrus to it. The beer component is malty, it is my opinion that any hops are converted directly to scent upon opening or pouring though, because that it really the only place I detect them.

Pour? It's a yellow beer, mediocre head, unimpressive. It's not a 6 dollar pull of nitrogenated stout. There's no showmanship. It's plain yellow beer. It looks fine in a can in a paper bag, or in a giant mug, or poured out of a growler into a glass.

Suggestions:

Keep it cold. These Adjuct Lagers don't like heat. PBR is less bad than other when warm, but it's unpleasant.

Drink it as a session beer. I find that it's low alcohol content and high drinkability make it excellent for drinking over a long period of time. If there is something on TV that requires a beer, this is a good beer. If you're hanging out at a family event, this is a good beer. If you need a cold adult beverage on a hot summer's day? It's fine!

Buy in bulk. This beer is cheap, but it's still actually a beer. You're not going to find it for 80 ounces for a dollar like King Cobra. You will, however, find it on sale in 30-packs. I think that if you have thirsty friends, it's excellent to offer them one of these instead of Coke now and then. Coke is still cheaper in bulk, ~9$ for a 36-pack around here, but you have to add rum to it if you want an adult beverage, and that adds up.

Bottom line. At a normal bar journey I'm generally going to order two pints and some food and then leave. This will not be one of those pints. It's great for everything but drinking at a bar or cooking with (unless you're drinking it while cooking).

Serving type: growler

03-29-2013 18:12:51 | More by AniGamor

Brotato

California

2.23/5  rDev -25.7%
look: 2.25 | smell: 2.75 | taste: 2.25 | feel: 1 | overall: 2.25

This is a cheap beer, there's no arguing that, and if someone is limited by their budget for the nectar that we know as beer then Pabst Blue Ribbon is a somewhat legitimate option among other cheap beers. If one could see beyond all the hype about this brew then I'd reckon that they'll come to the same conclusion.

Serving type- Can poured into a tumbler glass

Appearance- Straw yellow with a quickly dissipating head and very little lacing to follow. By no means gross looking as others claim but it is rather plain looking.

Smell- Mildly sweet wheat scent with a very faint citrus note, it really smells better than it tastes in my opinion.

Taste- In all honesty, it tastes like carbonated tap water that serves initially a light corn syrupy sweet taste tailed with a very, very mild wheat flavor along with some faint citrus-like notes in there... I cannot detect any malt or hops. Thankfully it does have alcohol in there.

Mouthfeel- Ever had carbonated water? Imagine that with beer flavoring added...

Overall- Disappointing considering all the hype about this beer. I really can't justify this beer when they're so many better options out there. Yes, a better beer is typically more expensive but infinitely more enjoyable. To be honest though, I have been "corrupted" by the finer brews from the likes of Belgium (Abbey beers rock!) and Europe in general, although there's plenty of garbage brews that come from there too, but if anyone is simply drinking this beer only to be "hip" then the joke is on them because there are beers out there that are so much better.

Serving type: can

03-12-2013 03:52:03 | More by Brotato

TheHammer

Ontario (Canada)

1.85/5  rDev -38.3%
look: 1.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 1.75

Appearance: Sickly yellow , boasting low, thin carbonation that poured with a finger of head that did not lace or retain very well.

Smell: It certainly has an acidic funk to it with an odd hard water smell backing it. Warming didn't really help or hurt it, but I wouldn't say it's appetizing in the least.

Taste: It starts with a sweet, swampy corn taste that builds and builds and ends with a brief earthy hop twang. That's really it, nothing too out of the box on this one.

Mouthfeel: It's got an acidic texture to it that is undesirable but other then that it's alright, the carbonation is ok and doesn't fall flat for a good long while. It does cloy a bit after a while.

Drinkability: That acidic tone really hurts my desire to get this stuff down, and doesn't quite settle right. It's also very uninteresting so it's really not something I want to continue drinking for any purpose other then getting smashed.

Final Thoughts: I finally found out why South Park lampooned this beer, but remain oblivious at how this has suddenly become a "hipster" beer. It's pretty much such a slapped together cheap lager, which I wouldn't really wish upon anyone.

Serving type: can

03-10-2013 08:38:28 | More by TheHammer

orcsinspace

Virginia

3.3/5  rDev +10%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25

In a complicated world where a beer can only be considered "good" if it has chocolate or gingerbread, or some other things that do not belong in my beer, PBR is a breath of fresh air. As far as American Adjuncts go, this is neck in neck with the gold standard, Budweiser (sorry beer snobs), but PBR has a little more flavor.

It smells like beer. Everything you would expect: a little yeasty, a little malty, and not really over the top with hops. It has a balanced smell that does not smell stale like some other adjuncts can, and it is fairly subtle.

The taste is classic, and reminds me of a simpler time when beer was affordable for everyone and was not becoming increasingly gentrified: not too bold, not too watery, but just in the middle. The reason I like adjuncts is because they are very neutral beers on the whole; there is not an over the top taste that can burn one out quick, and there is not a taste that really has to be acquired. PBR nails the archetype of the adjunct, and I have bought 12 of them for less than a tall draft of beer that tastes like burnt coffee at the local craft beer bar down the street.

One thing I have noticed is that the beer market has trends, just like everything else. A lot of the microbrews that were big a decade ago went the way of Zima, and I imagine that the majority of the ones popular at the store now will as well. One thing is certain though: if I want a real tasting beer without gimmicks and pretense, I can always count on PBR.

Serving type: can

03-07-2013 16:37:00 | More by orcsinspace