Pabst Blue Ribbon Offers 'No Questions Asked' Return for Stolen Beer

Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) announced this week that it is offering a "no questions asked" return for approximately 40,000 pounds of its beer, which was stolen from an Anheuser-Busch distribution center in Montclair, California, on August 17. The company posted on Instagram, "STOLEN— 40,000lbs of beer," and urged the public to help locate the missing product, setting a deadline of "18 days and 44 minutes" for its return, a timeframe that may allude to the brand's founding year of 1844. PBR also indicated it would provide a reward for information leading to the recovery of the stolen goods. The Montclair Police Department, however, has clarified that while they are actively investigating the incident, no trucks were stolen, only the cargo. The thefts occurred in two separate instances on August 17. The first incident involved a shipment valued at $45,000 that was picked up around 10 a.m. and never reached its intended destination in Tucson, Arizona. Approximately one hour later, a second theft occurred when a company, reportedly using fraudulent documentation and claiming to be a subcontracting firm, arranged for the pickup of roughly $25,000 worth of Anheuser-Busch and Pabst Blue Ribbon products. Pabst Blue Ribbon detailed the stolen inventory as 1,602 cases, containing a total of 33,984 cans of beer. This includes 860 cases of 15-packs of 25-ounce PBR cans and 546 cases of 30-packs of 12-ounce cans. Additionally, 196 cases of nonalcoholic Old Milwaukee beer were part of the stolen shipment. The combined weight of the stolen beer, including pallets and packaging, exceeded 40,000 pounds. Despite PBR's public appeal and offer, California prosecutors are continuing their investigation into the cargo thefts. The company's social media posts led to some public speculation that the incident might be a marketing stunt, prompting the police to issue a statement to differentiate between the theft of goods and the theft of vehicles. This incident, while significant in its scale, is not the largest beer heist on record; in 2010, thieves reportedly broke into a storage facility in Germany and stole a substantial quantity of beer.