Pabst Blue Ribbon is mostly known as the hipster-friendly budget beer, college party fuel (or, uh, Dennis Hopper fuel). But PBR is branching out, with an unexpected beverage âhard coffee.
The hard coffee, technically a malt-based beverage, is made with coffee brewed from a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans, âAmerican milk,â and vanilla, sporting 5% alcohol by volume and 30 milligrams of caffeine per can. By contrast, a small iced coffee from Dunkinâ contains about six times that amount of caffeine.
Coffee cocktails arenât new, nor are malt-beverages mixed with caffeine. In 2010, Phusion Projects, makers of Four Loko, voluntarily removed caffeine from their beverages, following several deaths attributed to binge drinking of Four Loko and threats of regulations effectively banning caffeinated alcoholic drinks. Each can of the fruity turbocharged drink had nearly 3 ounces of alcohol and 156mg of caffeine.
