Pabst Blue Ribbon Launches 8-Percent ABV ‘Stronger’ Seltzer

With spiked seltzers dominating sales reports and headlines this summer, it was only a matter of time before Pabst Blue Ribbon entered the fold.

Better-known to most drinkers as PBR, the brand is today launching a lime-flavored, boozy seltzer in select U.S. markets, including Arizona, California, Montana, and Texas, Thrillist reports.

The release comes just weeks after PBR debuted its hard coffee, and less than six months since it announced plans to introduce a 40-percent ABV whiskey. Other recent PBR releases have included Pabst Blue Ribbon Non-Alc, a non-alcoholic version of its classic recipe, and PBR Easy, a lower-cal, lower-ABV version of the original brew.

Clocking in at 228 calories and 8-percent ABV, PBR’s Stronger Seltzer bucks the low-calorie, low-ABV hard seltzer trend, and is even stronger than Natural Light’s 6-percent ABV Seltzer, also announced today.

As one VinePair member today commented in a company Slack channel: “August 12, 2019 — the day the hard seltzer bubble peaked.”