What big plans do the new owners of Pabst Blue Ribbon have?

Pabst Blue Ribbon beer will start popping up in videos on FunnyOrDie.com. Colt 45 will get both flavor and Snoop Dogg infusions. And Red White and Blue could relaunch as a flag-waving, veteran-supporting brew for the nostalgic and patriotic. Those are some of the plans being discussed by Evan and Daren Metropoulos, who, along with their billionaire father C. Dean Metropoulos, now own the stable of heritage all-American beer brands that also include Schlitz, Schaefer, Old Milwaukee and Stroh's. (The elder businessman is a brand-turnaround specialist who intends to hold onto the PBR group for a while, as opposed to flipping it.) The brothers are thinking local and regional for their marketing focus, as well as celebrity tie-ins, sports, music and festivals, they tell Bloomberg Businessweek in a story so readable and detail-rich that it should be a must-read for marketers in any category. While the execs have used their connections to get PBR into hundreds of trendy restaurants and clubs, they're trying to grow the brand without blowing its hipster cachet. A delicate balance, that, but one that may make an incredible case study one day.

What other crap beer can you drink now that PBR is so pricey?

This guy named Kevin Depew has the guts to drink a bunch of cheap swill beer so I don't have to. And for that, I thank him. Depew is from the business blog Minyanville.com, and he's made this witty video about how hipsters made Pabst Blue Ribbon popular again. He then taste-test three similar bottom-of-the-barrel brews that can still be consumed ironically: Natural Light, Schaefer and Olde English 800. His unfiltered opinion includes a thumbs-down on Natty Light and Schaefer. ("That's insulting," he says of the latter after a swig.) But my favorite is his description of Olde English 800. After pointing out that adding that "e" to Old in the name is suspicious, he notes that the brew has more alcohol than the others and comes in a bigger can. "It's like they just resorted to blunt force trauma to get an edge," he says. He decides to stick with PBR, even though it's raised its prices and is no longer the downscale, anti-establishment choice. Cheers, pal.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley