# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/41 "2009-08-28T22:59:50Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Are they drinking it ironically? Hipsters enjoy everything ironically, right? > [@spoke-](#): > > 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. In what sense is beer ironic? Unless it is [Iron City beer](http://www.ironcitybrewingcompany.com/IronCity/tabid/63/Default.aspx), of course. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/42 "2009-08-28T23:51:53Z")
Hipsters are so . . . . . . . . yesterday. Remember, those oh, so cool “hipsters” got some of you dolts to wear truckers hats. Jokes on you. Now go choke down your PBR. ---
**Author:** ![glilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/43 "2009-08-29T01:12:23Z")
I’m surprised how long this has lasted. My first sightings of hipsters with PBR was in **1996** (maybe 97) in Lawrence, Kansas. Specifically at the Replay Lounge, if you care. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/44 "2009-08-29T01:25:39Z")
[Hipsters in Space!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_7eEY_9bg8) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/45 "2009-08-29T01:31:10Z")
2005 called, it wants its rant back 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/46 "2009-08-29T01:32:01Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > PBR is good for what it is–a cheap American lager. Michael Jackson, the dean of American beer snobs, had good things to say about it. It’s usually what I buy when I want something cheap and _ **unpretentious** _, especially when it’s too hot for anything fancy. (Emphasis mine) You surely know that no beer is more obnoxiously pretentious than PBR. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/47 "2009-08-29T01:37:58Z")
> [@glilly](#): > > I’m surprised how long this has lasted. My first sightings of hipsters with PBR was in **1996** (maybe 97) in Lawrence, Kansas. Specifically at the Replay Lounge, if you care. Yeah, it’s been around a while. I first saw it among the rockabilly crowd in Atlanta. I believe that would also have been late 90s. Even before that, back into the 80s, Atlanta hipster dive bar _Moes and Joes_ was lavishly decorated with anachronistic PBR paraphernalia. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/48 "2009-08-29T01:39:07Z")
> [@hellpaso](#): > > I thought you were referring to Professional Bull Riders:o Me too. This suggests that we should get way into Professional Bull Riding, and then decry all the hipsters who ironically follow us. Unfortunately, I am already doing this with Competitive Eating\*, so I may not have time. You start. \*Go Takeru Kobayashi ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/49 "2009-08-29T02:20:04Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Genny is popular among the hipster crowd in Buffalo, believe it or not. Genny is something of a local beer there, but it has a reputation as an “old man beer”, embraced by a blue-collar crowd but that’s about it. My grandpa had a case of Genny in the fridge for as long as I can remember until he died at the ripe old age of like 85. I don’t think anyone in the western New York region will ever be able to drink Genny “ironically” without realizing their dads and grandfathers drink the same stuff. But even as a kid, the few sips I would get of that stuff was vile and I’ve never touched it since I could drink on my own. Maybe it’s not as bad as I remember. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/50 "2009-08-29T02:52:06Z")
Well, it’s got two things going for it. One, it’s cheap, at least around here. In a lot of bars you can still get it for a dollar a can. Two, it’s not Bud. That doesn’t mean it’s not swill. It just means it’s not actively marketing to the same douchebag demographic that Bud does. And as several posters pointed out, it’s a relatively inoffensive, easily quaffable beer. My beer of choice is Saranac, but when I’m short a couple of bucks, I have no problem settling for PBR. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/51 "2009-08-29T03:43:20Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Two, it’s not Bud. That doesn’t mean it’s not swill. It just means it’s not actively marketing to the same douchebag demographic that Bud does. So if I get this right, you’re drinking PBR as an expression of your elitism? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/52 "2009-08-29T05:44:52Z")
Basically, the owner of a dive bar/punk rock club on the west coast (pacific nw?) started stocking mostly just PBR because it was cheap, and his patrons would drink any beer that didn’t cost much. I used to know the specifics, but I can’t search the beeradvocate threads further back than 180 days. It’s a cheap yet inoffensive fizzy yellow lager, and the brand’s lack of advertising presence may have helped build the trend - as these were people who never saw themselves reflected in beer ads. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/53 "2009-08-29T06:11:00Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Basically, the owner of a dive bar/punk rock club on the west coast (pacific nw?) started stocking mostly just PBR because it was cheap, and his patrons would drink any beer that didn’t cost much. I used to know the specifics, but I can’t search the beeradvocate threads further back than 180 days. :dubious: And how long ago did this allegedly take place? Unless it was well over a decade ago, I serious doubt this is true. Like I said, I predicted Pabst Blue Ribbon would be drunk by my generation back in the '90s. It makes sense without some contrived story about a hip dive on the west coast. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/54 "2009-08-29T07:54:11Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > :dubious: And how long ago did this allegedly take place? Unless it was well over a decade ago, I serious doubt this is true. Like I said, I predicted Pabst Blue Ribbon would be drunk by my generation back in the '90s. It makes sense without some contrived story about a hip dive on the west coast. Yeah, this was back in the early nineties when mainstream kids were supposed to listen to grunge and the words emo music and hipster weren’t in the vocab of 99% of people. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/55 "2009-08-29T07:59:26Z")
There was a really cool PBR swag piece from I don’t know when at my favorite 20th Century Bowling Alley and I wish I had it. It was a large Chalk Board with a 1800’s /1900’s stereotypical bartender graphic charachter, he had a handlebar mustache and stood in white apron and bowtie, serving a PBR on a tray. If I recall correctly, he was serving the beer in a goblet type, heavy glass, beer mug. The PBR Font and logo hasn’t changed. It was probably from the fifties regarding its graphic style, if I were to try to place it. The swag and style of advertisement might have actually been targeted at people who had been drinking draught Pabst in the 10-20’s and were in their 40’s in the 50’s. I have also actually Drunk draught PBR from a 70’s smiley face beer goblet in the 70’s I have fond memories of going there on my Dad’s league nights. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/56 "2009-08-29T08:15:53Z")
Part of the appeal of PBR might be the fact that the can hasn’t changed. Hipsters tend to like things that have the look of being vintage, and the PBR can certainly looks vintage compared to the cans of other beers. (Budweiser cans also look pretty much unchanged.) ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/57 "2009-08-29T09:02:53Z")
It’s very cheap and hipsters tend to be poor, or be nostalgic for the days when they were in school and poor and had to drink PBR. A similar thing happened with Rolling Rock, although they also had the mysterious label thing going for them. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/58 "2009-08-29T11:34:34Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > If I recall correctly, he was serving the beer in a goblet type, heavy glass, beer mug. AKA a [beer schooner](http://www.fantasyglassworks.com/beermugs/schooner.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/59 "2009-08-29T15:18:59Z")
I hear a lot about this Pabst Blue Ribbon but I’ve never seen it for sale here in Australia, which surprises me because there is a Hipster sub-culture here. Although personally, I find it more fun to be a trailblazer. Rock up at parties with obscure Foreign beers no-one has ever heard of (Tsingtao is a good one- it’s extremely drinkable but it sounds exotic, because it’s from China) and suddenly _you_ look like the erudite man (or woman) of the world and everyone else there looks… pedestrian, for want of a better term. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036/60 "2009-08-29T16:16:01Z")
Tsingtao? _Obscure_? It’s Chinese Budweiser, and I see it at every Asian restaraunt that serves beer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-is-it-about-hipsters-and-pbr/508036.md?page=4)