• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Pabst Blue Ribbon-swilling hipsters to blame for cheap beer price hikes in NYC.

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

Ripclawe

Banned
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...eer-price-hikes-researchers-article-1.1346440

A cheap glass of beer is fast becoming an endangered species in New York City - and you can blame Pabst Blue Ribbon-swilling hipsters for that.

They are the reason why "sub-premium" beer prices in the city have climbed 9.4% in the last seven months, say Restaurant Sciences, which tracks food and beverage sales nationwide.

"I believe the single biggest driver in sub-premium beer price increases is indeed specifically PBR," said Chuck Ellis, who heads the research company. "It has become quite fashionable."

Ellis reached that conclusion after his researchers tracked beer prices at 500 bars and restaurants across the city.

They found that while the prices of expensive premium beers that the snobs favor also jumped, they did so at half the rate of beers like PBR.

"Traditionally lower-priced beers such as Pabst Blue Ribbon have seen sizeable double-digit price increases in both restaurants and bars & nightclubs," researchers reported.

Pabst, which had its heyday back in the 60s when it was marketed as "The Premium Beer at Popular Price," is "still an outstanding value for beer drinkers," Ellis said.

Translation: it's cheap.

Sam Rio, bartender at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg, said that's the only reason to drink PBR.

"Personally, I think it tastes like s---," said Rio, who sells it for $3 a can. "It's been that price for as long as I've been here, which is about seven years."

PBR sells for $2 a can at the popular Welcome to the Johnson's bar on the Lower East Side.

"I like it because it's not for rich people," said one worker who then slammed down the phone.

That, in essence, may be the appeal of a beer that was once dismissed as low-rent when Americans began shelling out more dough for exotic foreign brews and craft beers.

It's also no accident that PBR is hip.

Before the recession began and the economy tanked, Pabst launched a word-of-mouth campaign that made the declining brand an "ironic" choice for younger drinkers, Crain's Chicago Business reported way back in 2009.

PBR was suddenly cool again - and sales were hot.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...s-researchers-article-1.1346440#ixzz2Tg2zSHGj
Click to expand...
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
uGwiUCF.gif
 
C

Chichikov

Member
Prices in NYC in general are getting out of hand (and drinking in particular) I don't think you can pin it on hipsters or PBR (though I wouldn't mind trying to do that).

xxracerxx said:
uGwiUCF.gif
Click to expand...
I saw that movie (and loved the shit out of it) about 15 years before I ever seen a PBR can.
I distinctly remember my disappointment when I first tasted it.
 
E

Ether_Snake

安安安安安安安安安安安安安安安
Let me guess: expensive beers got more expensive, so people buy cheaper beers, which raised the prices of said cheaper beers due to higher demand.

/writes article about hipsters
 
S

SteveWinwood

Member
There was a super artsy theater in my college town a few years ago right when this hipster/pbr thing was starting to heat up. I'd go there sometimes and drink a bit here and there with some of my roommates and he used to always get a pitcher of pbr because it was dirt cheap.

That week we noticed the strange trend of this pbr thing and that weekend when we went to the ragtag (the theater) had a pitcher of pbr almost twice as expensive as a pitcher of blue moon. My roommate was so sad.

TL;DR I saw this happen years ago. Why did it take so long for NYC to catch up?
 
G

GatorBait

Member
I remember when I was in college, PBR was seen as a cheap redneck beer. The type of beer that you'd find for $1/beer at certain bars (that is, if the bar even carried cans of it). Fast-forward to around my senior year and local bars were having $5 PBR nights. I was still fairly insulated from hipster culture at that point, so I couldn't understand the logic why anyone would pay that much for a beer that was stereotyped (rightly?) as shit just years prior, and that cost more than better beers on tap.
 
A

Affeinvasion

Member
PBR just feels so right to drink as I sit on my porch playing accordion while wearing short shorts and a fedora. That little bit of foam that I can lick off of my moustache (that's the British spelling) makes the premium price worth it.
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
PBR tallboys are around $2 ($3 with tip) here still and that is a fine deal, even better when you can find $1 pints.
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
There's a bar in SF that sells a talboy and a shot for like 3.50.
 
D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
If I'm gonna drink cheap beer it may as well be PBR instead of shit like bud light or coors. But really I try not to fuck around with anything around 4% and go fit 6+, which around here means it has to be bought from a state liquor store :/
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
My fridge right now:

LP1dEVs.jpg


There is something just right when you can drink a PBR in the garage and work on your truck or bike.

Plus it is $12 for 24 cans...that is just saving me money right there.
 
S

SteveWinwood

Member
Thaedolus said:
If I'm gonna drink cheap beer it may as well be PBR instead of shit like bud light or coors. But really I try not to fuck around with anything around 4% and go fit 6+, which around here means it has to be bought from a state liquor store :/
Click to expand...

Coors light is ten times the beer any pbr could ever hope to be.
 
K

Kaladin

Member
If you drink PBR that makes you a hipster now? Low class is in I guess.

I guess I would drink Guinness in NYC. <3 Guinness but it's usually too expensive so I drink PBR when I'm broke.
 
G

Gannd

Banned
xxracerxx said:
My fridge right now:

LP1dEVs.jpg


There is something just right when you can drink a PBR in the garage and work on your truck or bike.

Plus it is $12 for 24 cans...that is just saving me money right there.
Click to expand...


PBR is shit. Even in Milwaukee, it's shit. Real people drink the Beast when they want cheap beer, hipster.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
SteveWinwood said:
There was a super artsy theater in my college town a few years ago right when this hipster/pbr thing was starting to heat up. I'd go there sometimes and drink a bit here and there with some of my roommates and he used to always get a pitcher of pbr because it was dirt cheap.

That week we noticed the strange trend of this pbr thing and that weekend when we went to the ragtag (the theater) had a pitcher of pbr almost twice as expensive as a pitcher of blue moon. My roommate was so sad.

TL;DR I saw this happen years ago. Why did it take so long for NYC to catch up?
Click to expand...

PBR has been a "hipster" (whatever) thing in NYC for a decade. I don't know why prices have evidently jumped 10% this year (I haven't noticed it) but PBR went from a buck-fifty to $3ish at least five years ago.
 
V

vas_a_morir

Banned
Pabst ain't bad. We used to get it for free when we played at Hipster clubs.

I now wouldn't waste the Calories on that stuff. If I'm going to drink beers, it's gotta be good.
 
V

vatstep

This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
PBR is fucking disgusting. It was all my friends would drink for years.
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
GatorBait said:
I remember when I was in college, PBR was seen as a cheap redneck beer. The type of beer that you'd find for $1/beer at certain bars (that is, if the bar even carried cans of it). Fast-forward to around my senior year and local bars were having $5 PBR nights. I was still fairly insulated from hipster culture at that point, so I couldn't understand the logic why anyone would pay that much for a beer that was stereotyped (rightly?) as shit just years prior, and that cost more than better beers on tap.
Click to expand...


I don't think you understand what a $5 pbr night is.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

  • Locked
UWE BOLL RETURNS in "Bauhaus", a restaurant that he's opening in Vancouver. GAF Meet?
6
1K
Komo replied
  • Locked
NYC Gaf: MTA thinking of hiking fare prices next year ($2.75 base/$125 monthly)
44
3K
DedValve replied
  • Locked
Pabst Blue Ribbon Is Classy and Expensive in China
2 3
117
6K
JohnDoe8865 replied
  • Locked
Texan enraged by Taco Bell burrito price hike gets in shootout with police
2 3 4
196
12K
XiaNaphryz replied
  • Locked
WSJ: Made Better in Japan
2 3
117
13K
GhaleonQ replied
Top Bottom