Gay Guy,
Trying to get the weekend started here. How about a toast? Shall we raise a glass poured from a $44 bottle of PBR?
Yes, you read that correctly. Pabst has gone upscale, in China anyway. Their special bottling is called Blue Ribbon 1844. The bottle looks nice, but it's still beer... made by Pabst. Here's the story from the New Yorker.
Stateside, PBR is enjoyed exclusively by the budget-conscious and those who support the brand as an ironic alternative to mass marketed brews (interesting read about protest brands here). Despite the name, virtually no one claims that it's actually the best there is.
So, the Chinese unload tainted toys and defective cribs on the US market and this is how we get them back? Not a bad plan.
The classiest Chinese gentlemen drink this wearing a $2,500 Docker's suit.
--Straight Guy
7 comments:
Blatz was always my cheap beer of choice - $2 a 12 pack in the 80s I think, but I can't remember much. I'm not a fan of blueberry beer and orange beer and artisanal pomegranate ale, but I can't bring myself to drink PBR again. There is, thankfully, a fairly wide, budget and palate-friendly middle of the road for good beer.
Beer?! In that bottle? That's the part I just can't seem to wrap my mind around...
I'm not a beer fan - but I'd try that if it came in that sexy sleek bottle! Is it that the Chinese are craving some Western culture that they are willing to pay premium prices for the West's shoddy goods?
You know something like this wouldn't fly in Europe, but I'll bet Schlitz could find a purdy bottle and slap a $50 label on it and make a killing at the high end bars in Thailand.
The article nailed it on the head as far as the hipsters being drawn to the non major brands of note. PBR & Lonestar were (and still are) commonly served in the dives I frequented in college. Makes me feel douchey just thinking about how "rebellious" we thought (but never admitted) we were by not succumbing to the Bud/Coors/Miller temptation.
But I think you can find beer snob of all kinds really. Make a statement by drinking only German, Tappist, English or Microbrews.
So, is your $2500 Docker's Suit as posh as it sounds?
SIU: Your Blatz was my Milwaukee's Best (sometimes Piels). Good times.
Oddy: Sure. Make sure your smell the cap and swirl it around to make sure it's a good vintage.
SteveA: Culture is about all we CAN export these days.
Dorn: I'm not a beer snob. Though I can get indignant about ballpark beer prices. "$8.00?!? For this?!?!"
Our debt load with China just keeps growing and growing.
Okay, I'm all for a nice Corona with some key lime wedged in the bottle...but, seriously??
I guess someone felt the need to "class up" those beer-drinkin' patrons....
Post a Comment