The Pabst Brewing Company is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It is currently a holding company which contracts the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and malt liquor: these include its own flagship Pabst Blue Ribbon, as well as brands from now defunct breweries including:
- P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company,
- G. Heileman Brewing Company,
- Lone Star Brewing Company,
- Pearl Brewing Company,
- Piels Bros.,
- Valentin Blatz Brewing Company,
- National Brewing Company,
- Olympia Brewing Company,
- Falstaff Brewing Corporation,
- Primo Brewing & Malting Company,
- Rainier Brewing Company,
- F & M Schaefer Brewing Company,
- Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company,
- Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company, and
- Stroh Brewery Company.
About half of the beer produced under Pabst's ownership is Pabst Blue Ribbon brand, with the other half their other owned brands.
The company is also responsible for the brewing of Ice Man Malt Liquor, St. Ides High Gravity Malt Liquor, and retail versions of beers from McSorley's Old Ale House and Southampton Publick House (of Southampton, New York).
Pabst is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. On November 13, 2014, Pabst announced that it had completed its sale to Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings, LLC. Blue Ribbon is a partnership between Russian-American beer entrepreneur Eugene Kashper and TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco–based private equity firm. Prior reports suggested the price agreed upon was around $700 million.