Raise a glass to Pabst Brewing! Although they don’t have a brewery of their own, Pabst is the largest remaining American-owned brewer. Today they contract out their production to other brewers, although they recently announced plans to return to their Milwaukee roots with the construction of a microbrewery there. That’s not the reason I’m here to praise Pabst, though. I’m here to do it because they’re  beating the big, foreign owned “domestic” brewers hands down in the craft beer department.

Case in point: Old Tankard Ale, a classic flavorful ale in the Extra Special Bitter category resurrected by Pabst. While Anheuser Busch and Coors have created brands like Shock Top and Blue Moon to get a foothold in the craft beer market, often with questionable results, Pabst has been hard at work recalling brands from the storied history of American brewing. They’ve done a great job of it, too.

What’s that you say? You didn’t know there was good beer in America before the current craft beer revolution? There was, and Pabst Old Tankard Ale is living proof. Like Pabst’s exceptional Ballantine IPA, the beer is made to an original recipe, this time from the 1930s.

From the Pabst website:

Old Tankard Ale was America’s number two selling American Ale behind another PBC legacy brand, Ballantine, throughout the 1930’s, 40’s & 50’s. Utilizing the original Brewer’s Log recipe from 1937, this historic American Ale will be sure to satisfy today’s Craft centric millennial consumer. Brewed with 2-row, imported Cara-Munich and Cara-Aroma malts with Nugget, Liberty, Willamette and Cascade hops, this classic American Ale exhibits the fruitiness and maltiness of an extra special bitter. As the famous Swashbuckler icon on every package demonstrates, raise your tankard and celebrate the return of a Classic American Ale, Old Tankard Ale.

I had seen a number of pictures of Old Tankard in Honest Craft Beer Reviews on Facebook, but it hadn’t yet arrived in Georgia. Then Pabst announced nationwide distribution, and Total Wine had it available on their website in early May. I stopped by the Alpharetta location only to be told it would arrive the next day. Upon my return, they told me they had a lone case somewhere in the store. After 10 minutes of frantic searching, the case was found atop a very tall rack in the back of the store. Finally, I would try this beer.

Old Tankard Ale has an alcohol content of 5.8% by volume with 35 IBUs. I paid $6.99 for a 4-pack of 16-ounce cans.

Pabst Old Tankard Ale pours to a rich amber color with a thick creamy head formation and a full nose of caramel and toasted malts and earthy hops. The beer is medium in body but appropriate to the style with more of the caramel and gentle toasty malts the nose promised, then earthy, grassy and aromatic herbal and tea-like hops quickly emerging. They permeate the beer, and a more than balancing bitter finish rounds this one out nicely.

Old Tankard Ale is a wonderful, quaffable brew that I have quickly fallen in love with. More than a beer, it’s a glass of history and a window on a time when brewers, albeit far fewer of them, were just emerging from the dark days of prohibition. They brought back with them a taste of a time when flavorful ales and lagers were an integral part of the American landscape-just as they are today.

 And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.

*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.

(B)=Bottled

(D)=Draft



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