A shipment of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer weighing approximately 40,000 pounds went missing from the company's distribution centre in Montclair town of California in the US, according to an internal inventory report and social media posts by the brand.
The cargo, comprising 1,406 cases of PBR cans and 196 cases of Old Milwaukee non-alcoholic beer, had been due for delivery in San Diego before it disappeared.
An internal timeline of events shows the pickup was scheduled for the evening of August 16, with the load collected that night per company records and the bill of lading.
The carrier confirmed pickup the next morning and indicated delivery was on track for a 10:30 a.m. appointment on August 17, but no delivery was made.
Over the following two days, the logistics team repeatedly sought updated arrival times from the carrier, which at one point withdrew its detention request, claiming the truck had arrived late to collect the load.
It was only on August 18 that a manager was told the load had been reported stolen by "a bad actor operating on a compromised" contact number, with the original carrier unresponsive. A police report was subsequently filed with the Montclair Police Department.
Paul Myers, senior director of integrated marketing operations for Pabst, said the theft was carried out by someone impersonating the driver scheduled to collect the beer. "It wasn't the person who was supposed to pick up the beer, and then they drove off with it," he said.
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Pabst addressed the theft in a series of Instagram posts, writing: "STOLEN — 40,000lbs of beer," alongside an image of a truck stamped "stolen" and the caption, "Help us find our missing truck full of beers!"
The company struck a light-hearted tone with the culprit, "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." It set a deadline, adding: "You have exactly 18 days and 44 minutes to return our truckload of beer, no questions asked... P.s. this is real and we are deadly serious."
The company later said it would pay half the beer's value in cash if the shipment were safely returned, without disclosing the exact reward.
Investigators have linked the case to a separate theft an hour later involving roughly $25,000 worth of Anheuser-Busch and Pabst products, taking combined losses to around $70,000.
No suspects have been identified yet.
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