Wired Mesh

PBR

Pabst Blue Ribbon has been my favorite cheap beer since I've been of drinking age (and perhaps even before that...). It's always been the Chattacynics' thing to drink, at least whenever cans go for a dollar. Now the New York Times Magazine has a four-page spread on the nationwide upswing in PBR sales -- a trend that has occured without any marketing from Miller, which owns the brand. Apparently PBR is now the hip thing to drink in cities ranging from Portland to Chicago. Much ink is spilled on analyzing the beer's appeal (is it the authenticity? the grassroots appeal to preestablished communities?), but the most convincing answer comes from some guy in a Portland bar. ''But basically,'' he said, ''we're going to drink whatever beer costs a dollar.''

Amen.