Few beer brands are as iconic as PBR. The beer may be missing some hops, but the brand isn’t missing a beat. All of which, makes it a property worth owning.
According to The Wall Street Journal, investor C. Dean Metropoulos, a 64-year-old known for invigorating brands, has reached an agreement to buy Pabst Brewing Co. from the charitable foundation that owns the company for about $250 million. Metropoulos made a fortune building well-known consumer brands including Bumble Bee Tuna and Vlasic Pickles.
Pabst Brewing is the country’s fifth-largest beer supplier, according to industry newsletter Beer Marketers Insights Inc., accounting for 2.7% of industry volume last year. The company also owns such time-worn labels as Schlitz, Old Style, Lone Star and Colt 45.
In 1996, Pabst closed its Milwaukee brewery and moved its corporate headquarters to San Antonio, Texas. The company eventually closed all of its breweries and hired Miller Brewing Co. to produce its beer.
In 1999, Pabst acquired Detroit’s Stroh Brewery Co., including brands like Old Milwaukee, Schlitz and Rainier. The company moved back to the Midwest in 2006, locating in Woodridge, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago.
