The Chatter

Nostrovia! Russian Brewer Buys Natty Boh

Russian company to purchase Pabst, which bought National Bohemian brand in 1999.

The marketing possibilities are endless. Mr. Boh in a Russian fur hat. Mrs. Boh in a babushka. Mr. Boh playing ice hockey in an old Soviet Red Army “CCCP” jersey…

Not to mention, a whole new cuisine—beef stragonoff and a Boh?—to wash down with Baltimore’s iconic brew.

According to multiple sources, including the International Business Times, a Russian beer and soda corporation, Oasis Beverages, will partner with the private-equity firm TSG, to purchase the Pabst Brewing Company, which bought the National Bohemian brand in 1999.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is valued at somewhere between $700 and $750 million, with Oasis assuming a majority stake.

Since Natty Boh has been brewed for the past dozen-plus years in North Carolina, and Pabst, its owner, was headquartered in Los Angeles, we don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference now that a Russian-American entrepreneur owns our favorite beer. The whole “Bohemian” thing is a throw back to Baltimore’s early Eastern European immigrant culture, anyhow.

As long as it’s cold, that’s the important thing.