When Pabst Blue Ribbon launched a whiskey, people raised their eyebrows. When it launched a 5% ABV hard coffee, people rolled those eyes. But then word began trickling in from the five states—Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia—in which the PBR hard coffee was sold. People say it’s kinda good?Frenchs Mustard Skittles Continue to Haunt Us Share Subtitles
An avowed fan of coffee, beer, and day drinking, I couldn’t let this new product go unexplored. I hear the critics in the balcony seats: Why do we need hard coffee? Just put booze in your regular coffee! Sure, if I feel like assembling a spiked coffee, no doubt it will be delicious. But what about mornings on the golf course, or on a boat, or tailgating? The convenience of the canned hard coffee can’t be denied. Advertisement
With this open attitude, I brought the PBR hard coffee on a recent camping trip. (I make French-press coffee on camping trips anyway, but it felt like the right context in which to taste test this product.)Advertisement
Verdict: Not the worst! It tastes like very, very sweet Yoo-hoo, not too far off from the prepackaged, flavored Dunkin’ lattes you can buy in convenience stores. There’s no perceptible alcohol, just an aspertame-ish kick at the finish. Allow me to repeat: This coffee is very sweet, like a melted Frappuccino with vanilla-flavored, powdered creamer in it. But it has a pleasant milk chocolate flavor, a thread of roasted coffee, and 30 milligrams of caffeine per can (a cup of Folgers contains about 60-80 milligrams of caffeine). After drinking the 11-ounce can, I didn’t feel especially buzzed—in either sense.
If you’re a person who likes the flavor of melted coffee ice cream and wants a small jolt of caffeine as you commence day-drinking, PBR hard coffee will be up your alley. I personally think it gets cloyingly saccharine by midway through the can, but the convenience factor almost compensates for that. My professional opinion? It serves its purpose.
The company’s new beverage, Hard Coffee, provides both via 30 milligrams of caffeine and an ABV of 5% per 11-ounce can. By comparison, the average cup of joe provides about 95 milligrams of caffeine on average (and no alcohol, unless you’re going the caffé corretto route), while the usual PBR has a 4.74% ABV.
With this open attitude, I brought the PBR hard coffee on a recent camping trip. (I make French-press coffee on camping trips anyway, but it felt like the right context in which to taste test this product.)Advertisement
An avowed fan of coffee, beer, and day drinking, I couldn’t let this new product go unexplored. I hear the critics in the balcony seats: Why do we need hard coffee? Just put booze in your regular coffee! Sure, if I feel like assembling a spiked coffee, no doubt it will be delicious. But what about mornings on the golf course, or on a boat, or tailgating? The convenience of the canned hard coffee can’t be denied. Advertisement
When Pabst Blue Ribbon launched a whiskey, people raised their eyebrows. When it launched a 5% ABV hard coffee, people rolled those eyes. But then word began trickling in from the five states—Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia—in which the PBR hard coffee was sold. People say it’s kinda good?Frenchs Mustard Skittles Continue to Haunt Us Share Subtitles
Verdict: Not the worst! It tastes like very, very sweet Yoo-hoo, not too far off from the prepackaged, flavored Dunkin’ lattes you can buy in convenience stores. There’s no perceptible alcohol, just an aspertame-ish kick at the finish. Allow me to repeat: This coffee is very sweet, like a melted Frappuccino with vanilla-flavored, powdered creamer in it. But it has a pleasant milk chocolate flavor, a thread of roasted coffee, and 30 milligrams of caffeine per can (a cup of Folgers contains about 60-80 milligrams of caffeine). After drinking the 11-ounce can, I didn’t feel especially buzzed—in either sense.
If you’re a person who likes the flavor of melted coffee ice cream and wants a small jolt of caffeine as you commence day-drinking, PBR hard coffee will be up your alley. I personally think it gets cloyingly saccharine by midway through the can, but the convenience factor almost compensates for that. My professional opinion? It serves its purpose.
Finding a good time to drink hard coffee is still up for debate. If you’re a die-hard for breakfast beer, PBR hard coffee might be a great stand-in. But if you’re like me and drinking before 10 a.m. feels exhausting, it’s a great way to, as La Columbe markets its hard coffee, “rally like a grown up.”
And after breaking into a can, I was astounded that the concerned cashier was able to drink six in one sitting. The brew, though it tasted nothing like one, is rich and heavy like a stout. It was similar to a canned Starbucks Frappuccino or a Yoo-hoo “chocolate drink”: sweet with an unexplainable metal aftertaste.
In July, Pabst dropped its newest brew: hard coffee. And while pairing coffee with beer isn’t a new idea (Founders Brewing in Michigan has been making a coffee breakfast stout for over a decade), the hard version is mostly uncharted territory.
In 2010, The Food and Drug Association cracked down on alcoholic energy drinks (known as the “Four Loko Effect”) for safety reasons. Pabst avoids this caffeine controversy by adding it in naturally — by way of coffee — to the drink. One can packs 5 percent ABV and 30 milligrams of caffeine, less than half of the average cup of coffee.
For the first few sips, I couldn’t taste any alcohol. It wasn’t until my head started getting a little foggy that I even remembered I was drinking an alcoholic beverage. But by the time it hit, the can started to taste like the bottom sips of a coffee cup.
PBR Hard Coffee: Ingredients, Safety, Where to Find It
FAQ
Is PBR Hard Coffee caffeinated?
Why did PBR discontinue hard coffee?
How much caffeine is in Pabst iced coffee?
What alcohol is in Pabst Blue Ribbon Hard Coffee?
Does PBR Hard Coffee have alcohol?
The alcohol content is comparable to other flavored malt beverages. Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Henry’s Hard Soda, Truly Sparking, and Smirnoff Ice all have about 4-5% alcohol-by-volume (ABV). The alcohol content of PBR Hard Coffee is also comparable to the original PBR can of beer. Is PBR Hard Coffee safe?
Why is coffee bad for BPH?
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), also known as prostate gland enlargement, is a common condition the mostly occur in older men. It is characterized by an enlarged prostate gland that can result into uncomfortable urinary symptoms, such as blocking the flow of urine out of the bladder. The cause of prostate enlargement is unknown, but it’s believed to be linked to hormonal changes as a man gets older. Research shows that caffeine is a diuretic and can stimulates the bladder. People with BPH already have overactive bladders wherein caffeine can aggravate the condition.
Is PBR Hard Coffee a good brand?
PBR’s Hard Coffee is basking in surprisingly lavish praise on Untappd as well as in write-ups, with reviewers describing it as a sweet “boozy Yoo-hoo.” Meanwhile, Kate Bernot at the Takeout found La Colombe’s Vanilla Hard Cold Brew to be a middle ground between the PBR’s sweetness and the brand’s Black flavor.
Where can I buy PBR coffee?
If you’re interested in trying the hard coffee yourself, right now, it’s only available in “limited test markets”—so far that’s Pennsylvania, Maine, New Jersey, Florida, and Georgia. To see if it’s stocked in a store near you, check out the PBR product finder on the official website .