Pabst Blue Ribbon is well known amongst American Beer fans as a low cost and relatively low flavor beer option. Popular on college campuses and in country music songs for decades the original PBR is an American Style Lager. Brewed in Wisconsin the beer has ranked as one of the top 30 most popular in the United States.
So what did PBR come out with next? A hard coffee malted beverage combining caffeine, coffee and alcohol. Could there be a more perfect combination?
While pairing coffee and beer is nothing new, as Founders Brewing in Michigan had done with their coffee stout for well over 10 years, the hard coffee version is somewhat new territory for beer companies.
Didn’t The FDA Ban Caffeine Added To Alcoholic Drinks?
While it is true the FDA cracked down on alcoholic beverages containing added caffeine after Four Loco products sent many college students to the hospital, this really only applies to those who add synthetic caffeine to their brews.
PBR does not add the caffeine as it is naturally occurring in the arabica and robusta beans used in the coffee added to the malt.
How do Beer and Malted Beverages Differ?
Beer is made from malted cereal grain, flavored with hops, and brewed by slow fermentation of either top or bottom fermenting yeast.
According to Craft Beer and Brewing, “Flavored Malt Beverage (FMB), an alcoholic beverage made from original base containing malt, but then stripped of malt character and then flavored. FMB production starts out much like a beer and then goes through treatment (carbon filtration, reverse osmosis, etc) to remove as much beer and malt flavor and color as possible. The clear, colorless treated malt base is then sweetened, usually with high-fructose corn syrup, and then flavored.”
Our Review of PBR’s Hard Coffee Flavor
This one actually wasn’t as expected. When cracking open the first can we expected an over sweetened milky beverage with a hint of bad coffee. To our surprise, this actually was not the profile at all.
While this does have the consistency of an iced latte or Yoo-Hoo Chocolate milk the flavor has a little more coffee and less sweet milk. If pouring into a glass it will have a stout like milkiness to it.
If you’ve ever tried one of those Starbucks canned Frappuccino’s this has roughly the same mouthfeel but with much less of a milk base flavoring.
The initial flavor profile is a vanilla latter but we did find a strange metallic aftertaste which was a little odd and maybe just from the can but it was just strong enough to notice. The vanilla flavoring is only slightly sweet and not over powering. You really can not taste any alcohol as the coffee and vanilla flavoring take the lead.
If you are looking for a night time drink with a little pick me up, and put me down, this could be an option for you. With just 30 mg of caffeine per can the hard coffee is about a third as caffeinated as a regular cup of coffee and way below high caffeine brands like Black Insomnia’s Strongest Coffee In The World.
We would suggest limiting yourself to just one can as the heaviness and slight sweetness may not sit well with some sensitive stomachs.
How Much Alcohol Does PBR’s Hard Coffee Have?
A single can of PBR’s Hard Coffee clocks in at 5% ABV which puts it right on par with most standard American Lagers just like the original Pabst Blue Ribbon Lager you’ve comes ot know and likely not love all that much (expect for the low price).
Which 5% ABV may not seem like a lot at first glance, the addition of caffeine can have some negative effects if you plan on drinking multiple cans.
Final Thoughts
Overall this is one of the better hard coffee’s and actually has a coffee flavor profile to it. It is made with milk and may not sit well with anyone who is sensitive to dairy products. You will also need to keep this refrigerated at all times due to it’s dairy base.
Finding the optimal time of day to enjoy this will be up to you. If you crave a hard beverage with breakfast, this malt beverage can do the trick. For those who are not the wake and rally type, and end of the night post dinner dessert style consumption might just be your cup of coffee, or beer coffee.
Just remember that although Pabst Blue Ribbon put coffee in their beverage, this is not a drink designed to help you “sober up” or wake up and will not negate the effects of any alcohol consumed throughout the day.
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