Nostalgic for Cheap Beer

Pabst Blue Ribbon, the first canned beer sold in the U.S., is still the only canned beer available in many San Diego bars. As the cheap hipster beer of choice, Pabst is sold at the Casbah. At a recent New Pornographers show at the Belly Up, a patron enjoyed a PBR tallboy.

Jesse Egan, the manager of Winston's in Ocean Beach, says the bar has sold Pabst in a can for about four years. Winston's charges two dollars per can, the average price for Pabst in San Diego bars. Around the corner from Winston's, Newport Farms Market sells a refrigerated 12-pack of Pabst for $6.99.

Egan (who points out a Winston's T-shirt design based on the Pabst logo) says the beer sells best "on the nights of punk rock shows and OB-oke [karaoke night].... On a punk-rock night, we might go through four or five cases.... The professional drinkers order a shot and a PBR on karaoke night.... I don't think the [low] price is that big of a factor. The nostalgia is what really sells it."