Pabst is offering a reward after tens of thousands of cans of its Blue Ribbon beer were stolen from the company’s southern California warehouse two weeks ago – if it is all safely returned.
In Instagram posts , Pabst put the weight of the stolen cargo at 40,000lb (18,000kg) and started a countdown seeking its return.
“To the thief: we don’t fault you for wanting to brag to your friends how much PBR you have, we just wish you obtained it the honorable way,” the company wrote. “Pabst is officially starting the clock now - you have exactly 18 days and 44 minutes to return our truckload of beer, no questions asked. Leading up to that time, we will be offering a reward to anyone who can help us solve this mystery.”
It added: “P.s. this is real and we are deadly serious.”
In the comments, KitKat US chimed in: “I know a thing or two about these kinds of things.” In March, a truck carrying about 12 tons of KitKat’s new Formula 1 range chocolate bars was pilfered from a truck in Italy.
Paul Myers, the senior director of integrated marketing operations for Pabst, told CBS News the police had discovered that “it was just a bad actor essentially who came in and pretended to be the person who was supposed to pick up the beer. It wasn’t the person who was supposed to pick up the beer, and then they drove off with it.”
He said the company was offering a cash reward equal to half the value of the product stolen. Ultimately, Pabst really want their truck back, he added.
As the Los Angeles Times noted , Montclair police did not issue a statement about the heist for over a week after it happened. According to police, there were two separate heists from the warehouse on the same day.
Related: Thousands of cans of Pabst beer stolen in two separate heists in California
Pabst Blue Ribbon has turned the thefts – valued by police at $70,000 – into a lighthearted social media promotion. The company initially took a humorous approach to finding the missing beer on social media, posting that the “beer is getting warmer, trail is getting colder,” before subsequently taking a more serious tone , asking for help locating the truck.
Both thefts occurred on 17 August at an Anheuser-Busch distribution center in Montclair, about 37 miles (59.5km) east of Los Angeles , police said, adding on Friday that investigators were trying to determine whether they were part of a single fraudulent cargo-theft operation.
In the first heist, about $45,000 worth of beer headed to Tucson, Arizona, was picked up but never delivered, according to police. An hour later, a “purported subcontracting company” submitted fake documents to pick up another $25,000 worth of beer, Montclair police said in a news release.
Roughly 34,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and non-alcoholic Old Milwaukee beer – more than 1,500 cases – were stolen, according to a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times .
In Instagram posts , Pabst put the weight of the stolen cargo at 40,000lb (18,000kg) and started a countdown seeking its return.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Lucy Campbell. Published 31 Aug 2026, 10:26 pm.
