Is Pabst and Hamm's the same beer?

Pabst has a distinct flavor, even though almost all macros blend together, love it or hate it, pbr is unique. Hamms is good for when you want an ice cold beer and not have to think too much about it.

 

No, they are not the same.

Drink them both and you shall see.

Enjoy

 

Well, it does seem there are lawyers out there that will sue the big brewers over some relatively petty things. Yeah, Beck's and Kirin sold in the US were both no longer brewed in the their country of origin but the labels of both listed the US brewing sites. Should brewers employ deceptive labeling and advertising? No, but not sure a class action suit with refunds is really the solution but I guess it hits the brewer in the pocketbook just as a fine would and some of the money winds up in consumers' wallets (not always the actual consumers of the brands).

I don't know is "I bought Pabst Blue Ribbon for a dollar more a 30 pack and it turns out to be same beer as Hamm's." a valid reason to sue?

Still, breweries marketing the same beer under two or more labels has been pretty common in the industry for decades, although few openly advertise the fact or openly admit it.

Back in post #18, I quoted a former Miller Ft. Worth tech about some of the Pabst's brands brewed there. In the late '80s, Coors sold the same beer under both the "Coors Original Draft" and "Coors Banquet Beer" branding in some of the same markets.

In the well-known Bloor v Falstaff lawsuit ("Bloor" was the trustee for the former P. Ballantine & Sons stockholders and the suit was over royalty payments, not beer recipes) it was admitted that:

Back when Huber's Augsburger took off, they bottled the same beer in returnables bottles for the local WI trade and a cheaper price, and even advertised it as such (albeit in small "classified" ads).

"Hans" would have been understood by locals to be Huber brewmaster Hans Kestler who, IIRC (@steveh ?) did well-received radio ads for brewery.

Beyond those few examples of reliably-sourced stories, it was usually assumed that the brewers of the 1960 - 1990s known for marketing multiple brands (Heileman*, Pittsburgh, Eastern, Falstaff, etc) packaged the same recipe under numerous brand names. With high gravity brewing and the use of post-fermentation hop extract, it becomes easy to tweak the same basic recipe to make "different" beers.

* An interesting example of the opposite situation. When Heileman in 1990s combined their two "Schmidt" branded beers (Jacob Schmidt of St. Paul and Christian Schmidt's of Phila) into one, they used the same labeling but kept different recipes for the mid-west and northeastern markets. A great illustration of the fact that packaging often cost the macro brewer more than ingredients.

 

I still say that a simple side by side at room temperature ought to be enough to settle this. The PBR sold here that is coming from MillerCoors' Albany Georgia plant is distinctly different from the Budweiser and MGD sold here. If Hamm's is the same beer, the same estery/fruity aroma (which reminds me of Carlsberg's beers) ought to be impossible to miss, PBR not a neutral smelling (or tasting) beer.

 

In blind tastings I've conducted PBR is noticeably more flavorful than Hamms. Not better, just different. That is for beers distributed in my area, can't speak for those distributed elsewhere.

 

Not that marketing people get to learn anything about the actual brewing of the beer they are selling beyond the superficial, but I still thought that the quotes below from the MillerCoors blog were humorous in light of this thread:

 

Of course, "happened naturally" is sort of deceptive* - but it is from a marketing guy. Could it have happened if MC's didn't increase the distribution of Hamm's to include PA according to MillerCoors blog in Jan. '18?

And from an earlier entry on MillerCoors blog, dated June 2017:

(* But, then the brewing industry in general always has had trouble with defining "natural" anyway ).

 

They don't taste the same to me. I have done side by side blind tastings of PBR & Hamm's and I know which is which each time.

I don't claim any tasting expertise, I just enjoy beer, even the cheap lager variety.

 

I'm confused. I thought OP settled the question before he asked it?