MILWAUKEE (AP) — Long before it was known for fine
cheddar cheese or the Green Bay Packers, Wisconsin was famous for beer,
especially the national brands brewed in Milwaukee: Schlitz, Blatz and
Pabst Blue Ribbon.
The brewing tradition started by Milwaukee’s
German immigrants in the 1800s endured for more than a century, until
industry consolidation in the 1980s and ’90s began sending familiar
brands to other companies and cities.
Now a small group of
Milwaukee residents wants to revive part of that proud history by buying
Pabst Brewing Co. from a California executive in hopes of returning the
brand to its birthplace, possibly as a city-owned brewery.
The
effort appears to be a distant long shot, requiring hundreds of millions
of dollars to acquire the 170-year-old beer best known as PBR. But
Milwaukee officials like the idea enough to talk about it, and at least
one industry analyst says the plan is not beyond the realm of
possibility.
"When I think about Pabst being anywhere else but
Milwaukee, it just doesn’t make sense," said Susie Seidelman, an
organizer of the "Bring Pabst Blue Ribbon Home" effort. "Milwaukee made
this beer what it is. … It’s right on the can."
The beer, with
its pale gold color and light, fizzy taste, has become especially
popular over the last decade among urban hipsters, in part because it’s
one of the cheapest on the market.
The company that started in
Milwaukee in 1844 is now headquartered in Los Angeles after being bought
by food industry executive C. Dean Metropoulos in 2010 for a reported
$250 million.
Reports surfaced last month suggesting that Pabst
might be looking for buyers. Organizers of the group want Metropoulos to
give them first rights of sale so they can begin raising money toward
any asking price.
Pabst representatives would not comment on any
potential sale or the efforts to bring the brand back to Milwaukee,
saying only that they "are considering financial alternatives" that will
help Pabst "aggressively pursue its next phase of growth through
strategic acquisitions."
The effort to buy Pabst has a core of
seven people with various business and nonprofit backgrounds. It also
has a Facebook page titled "Milwaukee Should Own Pabst Blue Ribbon" and a
website at bringpbrhome.com, which lets visitors sign a letter to
Metropoulos. The letter acknowledges that the purchase proposal might
seem "crazy" but asks readers to "humor us for just a moment."
"We want to bring PBR home," reads the letter, expected to be sent next week.
In
1996, Pabst headquarters left and beer production ceased at the
company’s main complex in downtown Milwaukee, opening a "gaping hole in
our city’s economy," according to the letter. PBR is now brewed in
another part of town as part of a deal with MillerCoors.
Bringing Pabst back is less about the beer and more about "investing in the city of Milwaukee,"
Seidelman said.
A
letter to the Milwaukee mayor and city council asks them to consider
the purchase of Pabst using a community ownership model similar to that
of the Green Bay Packers, in which the public buys stock that does not
increase in value and pays no dividends. But, Seidelman said, they are
also considering other options, including forming a cooperative.
Another
organizer, Erika Wolf, said the group wants to hold town-hall-style
meetings and online chats about how to buy and run PBR. The first
meeting is scheduled for April 23.
Regardless of the business structure chosen, they want to put the profits back into the city, she said.

The
group’s website was put together by the great-great granddaughter of
brewery founder Frederick Pabst. Bridget Byrnes, a web designer in
Missoula, Mont., volunteered after seeing the Facebook page. The return
of Pabst back would hopefully create jobs and "bring Milwaukee back to
the beer city it was."
The plan is being floated at a time when
some Great Lakes cities are trying to develop a "blue economy" by
attracting industries that rely on water. As growing water scarcity
casts a shadow over the economy in warmer states, many northern
communities want to use their abundant freshwater to attract businesses,
including breweries.
Jeff Fleming, a spokesman for Milwaukee’s
development department, said city officials know little about the effort
so far but look forward to discussing any plan with the organizers.
Paul
Gatza, director of the Colorado-based Brewers Association trade group,
said he’s seen reports the company could go for $700 million to $1
billion. He said Metropoulos’ business is acquisitions, not brewing,
which might explain the interest in selling.
Raising that sort of
money from Milwaukee’s 600,000 residents would be tough, but it might be
more feasible if a private-equity group stepped in, Gatza said.
Beer
is personal to beer drinkers, and Gatza has seen social media backlash
when beer drinkers grow unhappy with other companies’ changes, he said.
"There might be some PR value in selling it to a group of Milwaukee fans," he said.
The
Pabst family sold their controlling interest in the company in 1933,
and the last family member, August Pabst. Jr., retired from the board of
directors in 1983.
One of the city’s tourist attractions is the
Pabst Mansion, a masterpiece of Gilded Age architecture that was once
home to Frederick Pabst. And one of Milwaukee’s main music venues is the
Pabst Theater, which was run for many years by the family.
Jim
Haertel owns Pabst’s old administrative building and bar in the
company’s former brewery complex. He said he would buy into Pabst if
given the opportunity and even scrap his plans to put a bed and
breakfast in the building with beer taps in the rooms.
Renting offices would make less money than a bed and breakfast. But, he said, "it just seems like
the right thing to do."
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