So myself, doucemcgregor, and Evan went to Joe Jost's last night for some beers, grub, and to shoot some pool.
Anyways, Joe Jost's was the first bar to open its doors in Long Beach, CA in 1924. Anyways, I don't want to digress too far into the history of the place. If you want to know, check out their website,
Joe Jost's.
Recently, due to the rising prices of the ingredients needed to brew beer, many breweries have raised their prices, most notably Pabst Blue Ribbon, to many college aged guys. Refusing to raise the price of a beer that Joe Jost's helped make famous in the area, PBR is no longer served. I have been told that Joe Jost's was one of the largest consumers of Pabst Blue Ribbon on the West Coast.
This is what went down. Article from
Long Beach Press Telegram, written by
Tim GrobatyJOE JOST'S SWITCHES BRANDS: When you see the iconic schooner of beer that adorns the back of the ubiquitous (in these parts anyway) Joe Jost's T-shirts, white suds cascading over the top of the amber beer, frosty even in its silk-screened form, you have to imagine that it's Pabst. PBR, as it's called by the later-comers who are in too headlong of a rush through life's evenings to spare the time it takes to utter the long form: Pabst Blue Ribbon.
"What'll ya have? Pabst Blue Ribbon, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer" was how the old jingle went. But there's a different answer now to "what'll ya have?" at Joe Jost's, the local home of PBR since 1976, because Joe Jost's has given the low-priced brewski the heave-ho after a dispute over pricing discrepancies, according to the bar's owner Ken Buck.
Last week, Buck's crew poured the last Pabst in the tavern at 2803 E. Anaheim St., where the brand has enjoyed a huge success over the decades. Even before Pabst became the house's entry-level-priced beer, Jost's served Eastside, which was made by Pabst.
It can be argued fairly persuasively that Joe Jost's even made Pabst the locally popular brand that it has become.
"I always try to get the best buy that I can for my customers," Buck told us. "I wasn't getting that from the distributor, and I can't in good conscience continue to sell it anymore."
Customers have been upset - several called us or e-mailed us to report the what they see as the tragic demise of Pabst at one of Long Beach's most popular watering holes. The beer is practically synonymous with the bar, just as important to the Joe Jost's experience, it would seem, as the tavern's pickled eggs and special sausage sandwiches.
Stepping in, now, to replace it as the low-priced ($3.45) schooner at Joe Jost's, is Busch Beer, which, if we can recall that far back, was the first beer we liked, probably because it was so light.
"I like it; it's a clean-tasting beer," said Buck. "I wouldn't sell it if it wasn't good. And it's important that I can get it and sell it at a lower price and I can maintain a low-cost beer.
"Joe Jost's has always been a workingman's bar and I don't want that to change," he said.
We can live with the new beer, but we have some free advice for Ken Buck: Don't mess with the pickled eggs. Ok. Now that you have read up on the history and the current changes. Lets get to the good stuff.
Basically, I had 3 Schooners of Busch, a special (hotdog, swiss, mustard on rye), a handful of pretzels, and 5 pickled eggs. Bear in mind that everything but the beer was covered in horseraddish mustard and chased with a few yellow peppers.
Needless to say I am hurtin' today. Not from the beers, but those eggs are killer. I think I have my sodium and cholesterol taken care of for the rest of the year.
But, it was damn worth it because I bought a sweet ass camoflauge Joe Jost's shirt.
This is what people have to say about Joe Jost's @
Yelp.
These are the pickled eggs.
Note:I didn't take either of these two photos. I found them on the interweb. Crucify me.
