Why do I love the old Pabst Blue Ribbon beer so much? The answer may surprise you.

Last weekend I made a trip to North Carolina to visit a friend for his birthday weekend. Despite the weekend being my friend's birthday weekend, he gifted me† a 12 pack of PBR cans for our weekend together. I realized something a little comical at that point.

Everyone who knows me knows I love PBR.

The story of my love affair with the red, white, and blue cans (or extra fancy bottles), goes back to my earlier life of being ridiculously bad at managing my own expenses.

Since the time we originally started living together, the PYT and I have often kept some beer in-stock for an occasional weekend let-loose session or an impromtu get-together at our dwelling. However, we started our post-college years indulging in ridiculously expensive beers, often costing more than $2 per 12 ounces (at the grocery store).

Later, upon reviewing the spending and investing in my life, I realized a tremendous fact. If I could switch to a cheaper beer, then I could save money without drinking less or really suffering at all. 

Enter the red, white, and blue seductress:

PBR does taste good in its own right. Being from the midwest, where the beer was originally brewed, many people I know describe it as their cheap beer of choice. My PYT informed me recently she learned during a tour of the Pabst mansion that PBR used to be called Best Select††. As such it makes a natural best placeholder in our fridge for the best drink you can get.

Before making the full conversion to PBR as the default fridge beer, I ran a quick calculation. I realized PBR costs approximately a dollar in the fancy bottles and less than a dollar in cans. The even simpler math is that it saves a dollar per beer. I would average my drinking out to having ~3 beers per week; (usually on the weekend). 

That's over $150 savings each year without sacrifice! 

So, when taking into account the wonderful and delicious taste, the magic effects of fast-acting alcoholic influence, and the savings of PBR - I can't help but enjoy the taste and included feelings of financial elation when having a nice cold PBR.

After keeping up this drinking strategy for several years now, I have also found I generally do not have a taste for more expensive beers as I did in the past. My most common reaction to drinking something fancy is wishing I had a PBR instead. On the rare occasion I really enjoy a special drink more than PBR, I find I better appreciate it as a rare, special treat instead of just the regular drink of the house.

In closing, the lesson here is simple: you can often find replacements for the fancy things in your life that are significantly cheaper or free. Many times these things will require little to no adjustment to enjoy just as much (OR MORE) than the previously used item. Additionally, having a more basic taste palette makes those special treats just a little more special and standout.

If you have solutions for other fancy things that can be replaced with inexpensive or free alternatives, leave those ideas in the comments to help as we save us.

† Thanks Van! You the man!

†† It was called Best Select not because it was deemed to be the best, but rather because it was named after the man who brewed it: Jacob Best.