Russian-based brewer and distributor 聽announced Thursday that it was purchasing the entire portfolio of 聽products. The exact price of the sale was not announced, though that more than聽$700 million in cash was involved.
鈥淧abst Blue Ribbon is the quintessential American brand,鈥 Oasis Beverages’ founder and chairman Eugene Kashper. 鈥淚t represents individualism, egalitarianism, and freedom of expression鈥攁ll the things that make this country great.鈥澛
Pabst Blue Ribbon will retain its Los Angeles headquarters, but other details of the deal were not disclosed, including whether PBR would continue to be produced stateside. Oasis Beverages owns breweries in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine, where it produces a handful of unpronounceable brands.聽
It鈥檚 probably a smart move for Kashper to diversify the Oasis portfolio outside of Russia. In 2010, then-president and current prime minister Dmitry Medvedev and levied new taxes and restrictions on booze. The goal was to halve the country鈥檚 alcohol consumption by 2020鈥攁nd it seems to be working. Between 2010 and 2013, beer sales in Russia dropped 20 percent by volume, prompting brands such as Coors Light and Anheuser-Busch to scale back on or close Russian breweries.
The United States is the world鈥檚 largest beer market (although China is 鈥攕o drink up, patriots), and PBR has become an increasingly important part of that market. While sales of other beer in the 鈥渟ub-premium鈥 category have languished (as people have realized that they were drinking sub-premium beer), PBR鈥檚 has been in the double digits since 2009. It鈥檚 easy to see how the owner of a Russian company (who lives in SoHo, NYC, where he probably sees a lot of PBR being consumed) would be interested in a brand like that.