Godzilla just invaded your six-pack. To celebrate the King of Monsters’ 70th birthday, Pabst Blue Ribbon joined forces with Toho International to unleash a limited-edition run of more than 60 million Godzilla-branded cans and boxes this fall.

PBR has long used its art can program to push packaging into collectible territory, but this collab feels like a kaiju-sized flex. The brand tapped Attack Peter, a Cuban American artist revered in kaiju circles for his bold linoleum block prints, to create four original designs. Each one brings Godzilla’s destructive energy to life, joined by fellow legends Mothra, Mechagodzilla, and my personal favorite, King Ghidorah.

The standard 12 and 16-ounce cans feature Godzilla’s snarl in stark black and white. The 25-ounce tallboys go even bigger, rotating through the other three kaiju. A limited number of cans will even pack a party trick: a cold-activated “atomic breath” effect that glows blue when the beer hits frosty perfection.

“Bringing the legendary Godzilla character into PBR’s world is massive on its own, but teaming up with Attack Peter on the designs completely leveled this partnership up,” says Rachel Keeton, Senior Brand Director at PBR. “His style and process of hand-carving these illustrations continues to push the boundaries of what the PBR art series is all about.”

For Toho, owners of the beloved Godzilla license, the mashup ensures his cultural reign continues unabated—like a friendly stroll through downtown Tokyo. “Partnering with Pabst Blue Ribbon, a historic brand with a rich legacy and passionate following fit for the King of Monsters, allows us to engage fans in a fresh and dynamic way,” says Kristin Parcell, GM of Toho International.

The cans land in October, timed perfectly for Halloween parties, dive bar nights, and tailgates—possibly to pair with Pabst Light, which PBR just launched earlier this year. Beyond their utility, they double as instant collectibles, a marriage of cult beer and cult monster that actually makes sense. Seventy years after first leveling Japan, Godzilla still looms large. Now, thanks to PBR, you can crack him open cold and carry him into the night.

Follow Deputy Editor Nicolas Stecher on Instagram at @nickstecher and @boozeoftheday.

The brewmasters at Pabst Labs see the future and it’s in THC, aka tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component in cannabis (the chemical that gets you high). They were already ahead of the corporate curve with the 2020 release of Pabst Blue Ribbon High Seltzer, which contained 5mg of marijuana’s most beloved active ingredient. 

With this new release, they’re literally doubling down — the new line of PB High Seltzers has 10mg of THC and comes in three new flavors: Strawberry Kiwi, Raspberry, and Mango.

The original infused seltzer Pabst dropped last year came in just one flavor, lemon. With this expansion into new flavors and boosted THC, it’s clear Pabst knew they were onto something. 

In a statement, Pabst Labs Brand Manager Mark Faicol said PBR’s brand was “welcomed into the cannabis space as a beverage that can be enjoyed by both new and experienced users.” 

Consumers quickly had some feedback for Pabst, Faicol said, and were “outspoken about their desire for a higher THC dose offering.”

Faicol continued, “We’ve been listening and are proud to offer an elevated experience through our new 10mg THC PBR High Seltzer, and are ecstatic to offer it to them at the same price point alongside the original 5mg Lemon High Seltzer.”

One thing that’s clear is Pabst is determined to diversify its offerings in general, alcoholic, cannabis-infused, you name it. Since 2018 the company has delved into hard teas, whiskey, even craft beer.

It’s a robust recovery for a brand name that almost went defunct three years ago.

California cannabis dispensary customers can grab the 10mg and 5mg versions of the lemon-flavored High Seltzer now or order it online — in California — through Pabstlabs.com. The new flavors will be available in the summer of 2021.

Pabst Blue Ribbon is following its foray into the hard seltzer game with another fizzy canned drink that’s spiked not with alcohol, but THC–the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Cannabis Infused Seltzer is technically a product of Pabst Labs, a Los Angeles-based cannabis company founded by former PBR employees and weed-infused beverage experts. Each 12-ounce can contains a light 5mg dose of THC, 4 grams of sugar, 25 calories. Lemon is the initial launch flavor, but other varieties are reportedly in development. 

“Pabst Blue Ribbon has an incredibly loyal and passionate customer base who are open to change and embracing new ideas. We’ve spent a long time creating a quality product for both new and experienced users, and believe the entry of an established brand can help kick-start the cannabis drinks category,” said Mark Faicol, Pabst Labs Brand Manager.

It’s just is the latest experimental release we’ve seen from the low-budget, hipster-approved American brewery, which has recently launched an unaged whiskey, a hard coffee and an alcoholic peach tea.

Pabst Blue Ribbon Cannabis Infused Seltzer is first rolling out at a select group of California dispensaries  and won’t be offered in states where recreational marijuana isn’t legal. 

Customers in the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Humboldt county can also buy it online at shop.PabstLabs.com. They’re currently sold out of a 24 pack priced at $120, but 4-packs are available for $24. 

Spring is coming on like gangbusters, and this is a time when many would normally start thinking about backyard barbecues and maybe even some no-frills Pabst Blue Ribbon beer (PBR). 

Beer is obviously great, but Pabst is bent on further expanding its offerings with an especially summer-friendly drink: Hard Tea Peach. 

PBR’s “Hard Tea Peach” is pretty straightforward, description-wise, with “bold black tea and natural peach flavor blend into a refreshing, satisfying brew.”

Delish notes that reviews of the tea began popping up online in March 2020, and they were fairly positive for the 100 calorie, 4 percent ABV drink. 

Even in a very strange time in history, when coronavirus pandemic measures are dictating much of the world stay indoors, people are still thinking of warmer weather and outdoor gatherings, hoping perhaps that we won’t need to restrict ourselves so much by the time summer has truly arrived.

If that’s the case, PBR’s new hard tea will have some competition—online beverage retailer Drizly has pages of various hard iced teas, including classics like Twisted Tea and lesser-known brands like “Hey Y’all Half & Half.” 

Delish reports that PBR’s Hard Tea Peach isn’t in wide distribution yet. Once summer is truly here, hit up whatever local stores are still open to look for it. Hard tea prices on Drizly range from $15 for some 12-packs up to nearly 60 bucks—expect PBR’s new tea to fall somewhere on the low end. 

Seltzer is a crazy drink because all you have to do is add booze to lightly-flavored, innocuous fizzy water and suddenly you have a killer little summer party beverage. Hard seltzer has been growing steadily in popularity for a while, and now Pabst Blue Ribbon wants in on the game.

Pabst’s new offering is pretty aggressive, too. Called Stronger Seltzer, it sports the expected delicate, fruity flavor palette and a rock-solid 8% ABV (Alcohol By Volume).

So now PBR has released hard coffee, has plans for whiskey, and they’ve also dropped non-alcoholic brew in addition to a low calorie, slightly less alcoholic version of the beer.

The classic beer brand of summer barbecues held everywhere from hipster brownstones to southern trailer parks isn’t the only beermaker to jump on the hard seltzer bandwagon. Natural Light has released its own hard seltzer (6% ABV) as well. 

In their press release, Anheuser-Busch Vice President of Core and Value Brands Ricardo Marques said the Natty Light Seltzer was a response to the fact that the “seltzer category is booming.” 

He said it is “part of a larger shift in consumption across America” that his company believes “has tremendous staying power.”

He’s probably right. We already know seltzer is popular enough to invite some surprisingly creative product ideas. 

Pabst Stronger Seltzer is on store shelves in Arizona, California, Montana, and Texas, and Natural Light is on store shelves nationwide.

Pabst Blue Ribbon has long been beloved by dive bar regulars and well-heeled hipsters alike, and now the classic beer is celebrating its 175th anniversary with several new releases.

PBR, which was first released in 1844, announced two new iterations of Pabst with ABVs at opposite ends of the booze spectrum: a pumped-up PBR Edge with 6.5 percent ABV and the non-alcoholic PBR Non-Alc.

Food & Wine has more details:

The brewery bills Extra as “a light, crisp higher 6.5% ABV alternative to heavy drinking beers” that’s “an upbeat, full bodied, refreshing beer brewed for the big event.” (For the record, classic PBR is 4.6 percent ABV.) 

Meanwhile, the N/A version of PBR is described as “an authentic product made with the finest hops and grains offering a great real beer taste, that allows everyone to join the occasion.” Somewhat fitting of their alcohol-levels, PBR N/A comes in a mostly white can while PBR Extra is packaged in “an instantly recognizable black can.”

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“Pabst Blue Ribbon recognizes that today’s drinkers demand great tasting products with flexibility and options for a range of lifestyles,” the brewery’s announcement stated. 

“Synonymous with creatives and doers, Pabst Blue Ribbon is blazing its own path in 2019 and will unveil a series of bold product innovations throughout the year.”

So whether you’re looking to get drunk faster or not get tipsy at all, this new pair of PBRs could be considered a birthday gift to diehard Pabst fans. 

In case you haven’t heard yet: Yes, PBR didn’t just avoid extinction after making a new deal with distributor Miller-Coors—it’s even launching its own whiskey. 

Sit with that a moment and consider that the hard stuff has been having a moment. We wouldn’t say it has replaced craft beer or fine wine obsessions, but whiskey is a thing now. It invites a certain level of hipsterish devotion, and, well, a Pabst Blue Ribbon connection was just inevitable, if you think about it. 

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Vinepair has the details:

Pabst Blue Ribbon Whiskey will be an 80-proof (40 percent ABV) “white whiskey” that is “aged five seconds,” according to a spokesperson and its label, which was approved by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) last week. After rumors circulated about the potential PBR booze debut, Food and Wine confirmed on Tuesday that it is indeed real and set to launch this summer.

PBR whiskey will be sold in 750-milliliter bottles. Its label indicates a mash bill of 52 percent corn, 27 percent malted barley, 17 percent wheat, and 4 percent rye.

The takeaway is PBR is making moonshine, because that’s what white whiskey is—”raw” stuff that hasn’t been barrel-aged. 

Since PBR has had that hipster vibe for a while now, as well-loved by Brooklyn beardos as it once was by cutoff jeans-wearing backyard barbecue dads, news of a branded whiskey definitely received some social media discussion. Reactions were…mixed.

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Okay now, that’s just harsh. 

There will be a market for Pabst Blue Ribbon Whiskey, we’re pretty sure of that. The guy who ran an ultramarathon swilling PBR might consider it a step too far, but who knows how those women into guys who drink the beer might see this development?

Whiskey and beer are natural companions, in the end—see the boilermaker. 

Price and release date aren’t available yet. Rest assured, you’ll probably learn those when friends start making jokes about it on Twitter again. 

Step away from the ledge, hipster nation: Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer isn’t going anywhere. After a court battle with its brewer MillerCoors, all is sunny again in Big Beer Land, as the companies settled their dispute Wednesday, reports NBC.

It’s remarkable the settlement occurred. After Maxim published a post about the suit, a Pabst rep sent us a statement which said in part that “though MillerCoors’ market power is much larger than Pabst’s, we will not allow this industry bully to push us around. We are confident that the court will see MillerCoors’ fabricated ‘capacity’ concerns for what they are: a thinly veiled, bad faith attempt to unlawfully hurt a competitor.” 

So this was obviously pretty damn acrimonious at one point. 

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Girls just wanna have fun 🍻 #PabstBlueRibbon • 📸: @katielevas @ahendoo

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According to NBC’s report, the parties waited till the last minute to finally see eye-to-eye:

The brewing battle was settled as jurors were on their second day of deliberations after hearing the case over the past two weeks in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

“The parties have amicably resolved all outstanding issues in the case,” Pabst said in a statement, noting that it will “continue to offer Pabst Blue Ribbon and the rest of our authentic, great tasting and affordable brews to all Americans for many, many years to come.”

Pabst’s lawsuit asked for $400 million in damages and for MillerCoors to work “in good faith” to help find a solution, even if the company no longer has enough capacity.

To clarify: Pabst doesn’t have its own brewery. MillerCoors handles those duties for PBR and for Old Milwaukee, Lone Star, and Natty Boh. So they’re all sticking around and everyone will be hoppy (get it?) because there are plenty of old school faves in that group.

Pop a cold one tonight in celebration.

Popped open a can of good old Pabst Blue Ribbon lately? People get older, tastes change, but PBR is a tried-and-true cheap beer favorite, found at backyard barbecues in the summer, tailgating parties in the fall, and at discerning dive bars year-round, often paired with a shot of bottom-shelf whiskey. In recent years, working-class PBR has sought to rebrand itself as the favorite beer of young hipsters everywhere–just check out their Instagram for evidence of that.

Now, PBR is in danger of going the way of dial phones and dinosaurs, if a court battle between PBR and suds giant MillerCoors, goes the wrong way.

Without brewing partner MillerCoors, there is no PBR. According to an Associated Press report, confidential documents have revealed that MillerCoors might be just fine with that, and that’s part of the reason PBR is suing them and the companies are headed to trial:

Pabst’s attorneys have said in court documents and hearings that MillerCoors LLC is lying about its brewing capacity to break away from Pabst and capture its share of the cheap beer market by disrupting Pabst’s ability to compete.

At a March hearing in which MillerCoors tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, Pabst attorney Adam Paris said “stunning documents” obtained from MillerCoors show that it went as far as hiring a consultant to “figure out ways to get rid of us.” MillerCoors has called that a mischaracterization of the consultant’s work.

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It’s definitely a perilous situation for Pabst. Under an agreement that expires in 2020, the AP reports that “Pabst needs 4 million to 4.5 million barrels brewed annually.” 

The company has no option other than MillerCoors for brewing, and “is seeking more than $400 million in damages and for MillerCoors to be ordered to honor its contract.”

MillerCoors is one of America’s beer giants and as such, it really holds all the cards here. Pabst counsel Adam Paris reportedly said his client faces “an existential issue” because “it has no real alternatives.” 

Paris also contends that MillerCoors has acted in bad faith, citing a 2013 consultant’s report which discussed completely doing away with PBR.

Over email, a Pabst spokesperson gave Maxim the following statement:

Since 1844, Pabst has been offering authentic, great tasting and affordable beers to all Americans. From our flagship brand, Pabst Blue Ribbon, to our local legends, which include Rainier, Lone Star, Old Style, Stag, Stroh, Natty Boh, Olympia, and others – these iconic brands all have rich histories and deep roots in communities across the country. We are deeply disappointed that MillerCoors, the U.S. subsidiary of multinational brewing conglomerate Molson Coors, has willfully breached our 19-year agreement in an effort to stomp out the competition.

Even though MillerCoors’ market power is much larger than Pabst’s, we will not allow this industry bully to push us around. We are confident that the court will see MillerCoors’ fabricated “capacity” concerns for what they are: a thinly veiled, bad faith attempt to unlawfully hurt a competitor.”

Eliminating PBR is unthinkable, really: It’s like doing away with cargo shorts and charcoal grills. 

The case that could decide Pabst’s fate goes to trial Nov. 30. Let’s all pop a cold one and cross our fingers that PBR will never die.

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Want to get your hands on a custom bike no one else has – branded by hipster nation’s beer of choice? Pabst Blue Ribbon, the formerly working class-turned-aggressively trendy lager, collaborated with Brandon Holstein of The Speed Merchant on this big twin bike that’s being sold to benefit Operation Homefront’s Mission2Honor campaign, which offers emergency financial assistance to the families of U.S. military veterans.

Along with the bike, which is valued at $25,000 and will be up for auction for 10 days beginning May 20th at http://www.ebay.com/pbrcustom, comes limited edition PBR x Loser Machine apparel and accessories. PBR will match the sale price of the bike, and all of the proceeds plus the match will be donated.

The bike features an HD 80” Evolution Motor, a custom handmade steel exhaust system with a Burn’s Stainless ultra light race muffler, a Chopper Guys retro style frame, Speed Merchant Speed bars, a ribbed Mustang style gas tank, and a hand tooled leather seat by Azteka Customs. It also comes with a PBR logo on the tank and an “Original 1884” badge referring to the year the iconic beer brand was founded.

Operation Homefront is a national non-profit that supports military families through difficult periods by providing a variety of programs designed to “ensure that short-term needs don’t turn into long-term struggles.” 

It’s a worthy cause for sure, not to mention a great excuse to support our troops by drinking some ice cold PBR.