Back in 2014, Texas-based Austin Beerworks released a first in the craft beer industry – the 99 pack. That’s 99 cans, for $99 dollars. For the non-math majors out there, that’s a $1 a can. Damn good deal.
This week, Pabst Blue Ribbon “unofficially” boasted their own 99-pack of Blue Ribbon. (They’ve actually done this before for Christmas, ironically in Canada.) Pictures of the 99-pack surfaced on social media this week. Twitter users were quick to point out to Pabst that Austin Beerworks had done this before.
Matt Bruhn, GM of Pabst replying to a tweet to Chris Furnari of Brewbound on Twitter that “Good ideas should be shared – enjoy responsibly.”
Good ideas should be shared – enjoy responsibly
— matt bruhn (@thebruhn) May 7, 2019
Incoming shade. Austin Beerworks took exception to the thought of sharing their originial idea.
Oh, wow. We thought you were just a run-of-the-mill Twitter dummy, but we see you’re the GM of Pabst (which doesn’t necessarily disqualify you from the former).
Is “Good ideas should be shared” the official company stance?
PS – sharing is consensual.
— Austin Beerworks (@AustinBeerworks) May 8, 2019
You can literallly hear the Twitter torches being lit when a craft brewery speaks out against a larger one. However, this story takes a more postive turn. Austin Beerworks and Bruhn didn’t hash this out on social media, they did something almost unheard of these days. They picked up the phone.
Pitchforks down, everyone. Just had a really nice conversation with @thebruhn (it’s impossible to be mad at anyone with an Australian accent) and they’re working to making things right. Cheers!
— Austin Beerworks (@AustinBeerworks) May 8, 2019
Instead of sending a fleet of expensive attorneys down to Texas to crush Austin Beerworks (let’s call that the Anheuser maneuver), Pabst admitted they stepped in it.
.@AustinBeerworks had an epic idea and put it into the world. Thanks for doing that. Ideas are hard and they don’t all stick. We haven’t officially announced the 99-pack, so here we are. We want to pay homage to the people who made this idea stick. Takes grit.
— Pabst Blue Ribbon (@PabstBlueRibbon) May 8, 2019
We don’t know what Austin Beerworks means by Pabst making it right, but it might entail collaboration. Or… the 198 pack???
In the spirit of innovation, we ask what packaging you want to see? Maybe we’ll even work with @austinbeerworks and really find a way to make it stick. Let us know. Reply to this tweet!
— Pabst Blue Ribbon (@PabstBlueRibbon) May 8, 2019
Ed note: Still verifying the source of the 99-pack image. If this is yours, contact us.
