# What the fuck is it about hipsters and PBR? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036 "2009-08-28T15:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/21 "2009-08-28T17:34:30Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I think it’s fairly simple. PBR is (was) cheap. College kids drink PBR because they are broke. “Hipsters” were originally just college kids. So now new Hipsters drink PBR because that’s what they heard hipsters drink whether or not they can afford much better. > > Of course, this is basically a stereotype. I have plenty of friends who would be considered to be hipsters who spend most of their time finding the best micro-brews and foreign beers. They wouldn’t be caught dead drink PBR or any national brand. I was gonna say - at least 50% of the hipsters I know are beer snobs to the max. They express their countercultureness by disdaining such plebeian beverages as PBR. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/22 "2009-08-28T17:38:38Z")
Is Rainier available anywhere outside of the NW? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/23 "2009-08-28T17:39:21Z")
My dad drank it when I was quite young and we lived in a trailer park. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/24 "2009-08-28T17:41:49Z")
I’ve been accused of hipsterdom by some, and won’t turn down PBR. Beer’s just an alochol delivery mechanism to me, and it’s cheapish and inoffensive, so I’ll drink it if it’s offered or available. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/25 "2009-08-28T17:49:50Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Heineken? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon! 😃 I seriously wonder if this isn’t actually a big part of what made it popular with hipsters. (For those who don’t know, it’s a line from _Blue Velvet_.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/26 "2009-08-28T18:07:47Z")
Schlitz reformulated their beer, so it might actually be pretty good now. I haven’t been able to find it in California yet. PBR is still crap American lager, but with a cachet, like Coors used to have back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/27 "2009-08-28T18:45:05Z")
It brings to my mind that old country song “Rednecks, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer.” Do the hipsters embrace that as an anthem, or have they not heard of it? Could you clear them from the bar by getting it on the jukebox? Or do they blast it all night? ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/28 "2009-08-28T19:22:08Z")
PBR’s nice and generic, and I think that’s why it’s liked. It’s not overmarketed and doesn’t claim to be anything but “beer.” It’s probably my third favorite cheap domestic, after Old Style and Mickey’s. PBR’s good for cooking with, too. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/29 "2009-08-28T19:23:50Z")
Are they drinking it ironically? Hipsters enjoy everything ironically, right? Or is drinking good booze not cool anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/30 "2009-08-28T20:44:53Z")
I honestly read this as hipsters and peanut butter and jelly. Which they probably also do. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/31 "2009-08-28T20:56:12Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Are they drinking it ironically? Hipsters enjoy everything ironically, right? Or is drinking good booze not cool anymore? Yeah, that’s how it started. Back when hipsters started wearing work shirts and affecting blue collar looks, PBR was the ironic beer of choice. Before that, it was big with the rockabilly crowd (again because of it’s blue collar associations). Now the blue collar look is a bit passe, but the blue collar beer remains the hipster choice. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/32 "2009-08-28T21:03:12Z")
Pabst Blue Ribbon? Your hipsters are out of touch. Living just a couple miles from Williamsburg, hipster capital of the East Coast, I can tell you that PBR is, like, \*so \*passé. What’s cool now is looking down on the poseurs drinking PBR; if money’s an issue, just drink Bud Light. It’s more honest. [Cute article](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/opinion/08iht-edbrooks.1.15114116.html) from David Brooks: > [@David Brooks](#): > > Second, in order to cement your status in the cultural elite, you want to be already sick of everything no one else has even heard of. > > When you first come across some obscure cultural artifact - an unknown indie band, organic skate sneakers or wireless headphones from Finland - you will want to erupt with ecstatic enthusiasm. This will highlight the importance of your cultural discovery, the fineness of your discerning taste, and your early adopter insiderness for having found it before anyone else. > > Then, a few weeks later, after the object is slightly better known, you will dismiss all the hype with a gesture of putrid disgust. This will demonstrate your lofty superiority to the sluggish masses. It will show how far ahead of the crowd you are and how distantly you have already ventured into the future. > > If you can do this, becoming not only an early adopter, but an early discarder, you will realize greater status rewards than you ever imagined. Remember, cultural epochs come and go, but one-upsmanship is forever. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/33 "2009-08-28T21:19:54Z")
> [@David Brooks](#): > > Remember, cultural epochs come and go, but one-upsmanship is forever. This is something I hate about Brooks. He can go along being perfectly reasonable then, outta [del]left[/del] right field, he comes up with zingers like, “Palin is a good choice,” or, “one-upsmanship is forever.” One-upsmanship only lasts until someone one-ups you, and there’s always a kid who comes to town, calling you out with a Zambian banana beer or Aleut throat singers and thinks he can one-up you, and eventually one will. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/34 "2009-08-28T21:25:18Z")
I think he means the \*value \*of one-upsmanship, or one-upsmanship as a concept, though I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/35 "2009-08-28T21:52:15Z")
How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Dude, you don’t KNOW? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/36 "2009-08-28T21:56:07Z")
> [@tds1273](#): > > Is Rainier available anywhere outside of the NW? Yeah, a couple of years ago, at least, the ironic low end beer for hipsters in the PNW was Rainier ‘green death’. Has the PNW gone to PBR, too? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/37 "2009-08-28T22:06:44Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > Yeah, a couple of years ago, at least, the ironic low end beer for hipsters in the PNW was Rainier ‘green death’. Has the PNW gone to PBR, too? I could never stomach the Rainier Ale (green death) but I think that the original Rainier (in the 16 oz. returnable bottle) tastes light years better than Bud, Coors or Miller, and (though its no longer sold in Utah) was always around half the price of the major brands… Pabst, Rainier, Olde Style, Strohs----all very drinkable (if unremarkable) American lagers, that are perfect for warm summer evenings spent outside, in the company of good friends. (hipster or not) ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/38 "2009-08-28T22:20:21Z")
Speaking of PBR, urban legend has it that, while come states (like MN) allow only 3.2 beer to be sold in grocery stores, Pabst refuses to brew a 3.2 version and instead elects to pay a yearly fine for mislabeling their regular stuff. Any truth to that? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/39 "2009-08-28T22:21:16Z")
It’s probably “cool” because it was _the_ ultra-cheap beer on the shelves when we were kids that NOBODY drank. I remember looking at it everytime we walked down that aisle in the grocery store and I think it was the exact same case throughout my whole childhood. We even joked about it in school sometimes, accusing other people’s dad’s of drinking “Pabst” (we didn’t call it “PBR”.) When I was in my late teens (late '90s) it occurred to me that my generation would surely start drinking it “ironically” soon. Sure enough around 2000 a really “cool” kid who moved away after high school (he was a few years older than me) came back to town and stayed over at my house one night, and he brought a case of PBR. I thought it was really cool, and choked it down, but I had one of the worst hangovers of my life the next day after only 5 or 6 of them. I haven’t touched it since and probably won’t. The only appeal was how absurdly cheap it was and that’s gone. I will say that if it’s still really popular to hipsters, they’re pretty far behind the times, because it’s been passe to me for 9 years 🆒:p. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/40 "2009-08-28T22:35:49Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Speaking of PBR, urban legend has it that, while come states (like MN) allow only 3.2 beer to be sold in grocery stores, Pabst refuses to brew a 3.2 version and instead elects to pay a yearly fine for mislabeling their regular stuff. > > Any truth to that? It is sold here in Utah, (in gas stations, grocery stores, etc) and if it was indeed stronger than 3.2, there is no way the wise and decent people at the UDABC would permit its sale to the degenerates who indulge in the sheer wanton depravity that beer drinking represents… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036.md?page=3)