A substantial beer heist in Montclair, a city about 35 miles east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County, largely flew under the radar for more than a week, thanks in part to an understated police response and a playful approach from the affected brand.
Thieves made off with over 40,000 pounds of beer, primarily Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR), from an Anheuser-Busch distribution center. The stolen inventory included 860 cases of 15-packs of 25-ounce PBR cans, 546 cases of 30-packs of 12-ounce PBR, and an additional 196 cases of 24-packs of 12-ounce non-alcoholic Old Milwaukee cans. In total, 33,984 cans of beer and non-alcoholic product, initially valued by Montclair Police Lt. Rick Dominguez at $45,000, disappeared.
The scale of the theft, equal to 145 barrels or nearly 4,500 gallons, might suggest a more urgent public appeal. However, the Montclair Police Department didn't issue a statement until over a week after the incident. Meanwhile, Pabst's social media posts about the missing truckload of beer were so tongue-in-cheek that many readers questioned whether the story was legitimate or just a marketing stunt.
Pabst’s first Instagram message on August 22 offered the thieves "18 days and 44 minutes to return our truckload of beer, no questions asked," and concluded with a clarification: "p.s. this is real and we are deadly serious." Paul Meyers, senior director of Integration Marketing at Pabst, acknowledged their approach, stating, "Our tone on social media is fun, and it’s what our customers expect."
Montclair Police now believe the theft was not a single event but two separate incidents on August 17. The first, occurring at 10 a.m., involved $45,000 worth of product picked up but never delivered to its intended destination in Tucson, Arizona. An hour later, a second theft took place, with $25,000 worth of beer retrieved by a "purported subcontracting company" using false paperwork. Investigators have since upped the estimated value of the stolen product to $70,000 and are exploring connections between the incidents, suspecting a fraudulent cargo-theft operation.
As of now, the trail has gone cold. The whereabouts of the beer and the culprits remain unknown, leaving Southern Californians to wonder who, exactly, has the best stocked, if ill-gotten, fridge in the Inland Empire.