$25,000 Worth of Beer Stolen: Pabst Gives Thieves 18 Days to Return Them

Pabst Blue Ribbon has given beer thieves an unusual deadline after a truck loaded with 50,000 cans of its beer went missing in California.

The truck, carrying an estimated 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon, was reportedly stolen from an Anheuser-Busch distribution centre in Montclair, California, on August 17, according to police. The theft was part of 2 cargo incidents reported about an hour apart at the facility. In the second incident, police said a purported subcontracting company used fraudulent documentation to collect around $25,000 worth of Anheuser-Busch and Pabst products.

The combined value of the stolen beer from the two incidents was estimated at about $70,000, with another shipment worth roughly $45,000 also picked up but was never delivered. Police are investigating whether the incidents are connected.

Rather than simply leave the recovery effort to police, Pabst took the unusual step of addressing the alleged thief directly on their socials.

The company gave whoever took the truck 18 days and 44 minutes to return the vehicle and its beer, promising that it would be accepted back with no questions asked. Pabst also offered a reward for information that could help solve the mystery. The strange 18-day-and-44-minute countdown appears to be a reference to 1844, the year Pabst was founded, adding an unusual marketing-style touch to the company’s appeal.

Pabst later updated followers, saying the “beer is getting warmer” while the trail was getting colder, and asked anyone who spotted the truck to provide information.

The Montclair Police Department continues to investigate the thefts, including discrepancies involving the trucking companies, drivers, and vehicles connected to the theft. For now, more than 50,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon remain at the centre of one of the more unusual cargo theft stories to emerge in California, while the company’s countdown for their return continues.