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A truck packed with 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer vanished in California and police claim the missing haul could be part of a brazen cargo-theft operation that made off with roughly $70,000 in booze in a single morning.
Pabst Blue Ribbon said its truck and beer shipment were stolen, telling the person behind the disappearance that it understood the temptation to brag about having that much PBR, but wished they had gotten it “the honorable way.”
The company put the alleged thief on the clock, offering exactly 18 days and 44 minutes to return the truck with no questions asked.
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Pabst Blue Ribbon shared a social media post asking for help locating its missing beer truck. (@pabstblueribbon via Instagram)
Pabst also said it would offer a reward to anyone who helps crack the case, though it did not say how much it would pay, or why it chose the unusually precise deadline.
The brand later issued a second post to squash doubts that the bizarre disappearance was a marketing stunt.
“To clear up the confusion, this story is real,” Pabst wrote, urging anyone with information that could help solve the case to send a direct message.
As the deadline ticked down, the company warned that the “beer is getting warmer” while the trail gets colder.
It asked anyone who thinks they spotted the truck to snap a photo, tag Pabst or send a direct message with information about its whereabouts.
Montclair police are investigating two cargo thefts reported Aug. 17 at an Anheuser-Busch distribution center that investigators believe could be linked.
In the first incident, a shipment worth about $45,000 and bound for Tucson, Arizona, was picked up for delivery around 10 a.m. local time but never arrived, police said.
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Montclair Police Department headquarters in California, where investigators are handling two cargo-theft reports tied to a missing Pabst Blue Ribbon beer shipment. (Montclair Police Department)
About an hour later, police said a company claiming to be a subcontractor used fraudulent paperwork to arrange the pickup of roughly $25,000 in Anheuser-Busch and Pabst Blue Ribbon products.
Investigators said the trucking-company information, driver and vehicles connected to the pickups contained discrepancies.
The cases may be part of the same fraudulent cargo-theft operation, police said.
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No one has been publicly identified in connection with the case, and police have released few details about how the truck and its beer disappeared or where the load may have gone.
Investigators also have not announced any public leads, leaving open the question of whether the shipment remains intact or has already been broken up and distributed.
Police said the combined value of the missing cargo was about $70,000. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The beer brand’s comments section quickly became a keg-sized comedy club. One commenter cracked that the haul “would’ve only been 20,000lbs if it was Pabst Light,” while another asked whether the reward was all the beer in the truck.
Kit Kat’s verified account joined in, writing, “I know a thing or two about these kinds of things,” seemingly referencing a March 26 incident where a truck carrying 12 tons of limited-edition Formula 1 car-shaped KitKat chocolate bars was stolen in Italy.
Another commenter offered the most likely destination for 40,000 pounds of missing beer — “Somebody’s about to have a huge house party.”
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Anyone with information about the thefts, vehicles, driver, delivery company or missing cargo is asked to contact the Montclair Police Department at 909-621-4771.
Digital reached out to Pabst Blue Ribbon and the Montclair Police Department for comment.
