For the past week, I have been tagged on Facebook over and over again in one particular photo: Pabst is selling 99-packs of PBR for the holidays in 15 different states. Unfortunately, Tennessee is not one of those states. (Arkansas is, though, and I’m trying to find out if they are sold in the West Memphis/Marion area).
Just for fun, I thought I’d compute the Value Drinking Index of one those 99 packs. The Value Drinking Index is something I invented about 5-6 years ago as a regular at the Flying Saucer. The formula is
(number of ounces) * (percent alcohol by volume) / (price in dollars)
As a general rule of thumb:
- A VDI greater than 15 indicates a good value in a craft beer or import
- A VDI greater than 20 indicates a good value in a domestic beer
- A VDI greater than 25 indicates a good value if the beer is a PBR
Now, those 99 packs are not all original Pabst Blue Ribbon (5.0% ABV). Only 33 of them are. Also in the pack are 33 PBR Easys (4.2%) and 33 PBR Extras (6.5%). Average those ABVs out and you get 5.23333333%.
I’ve been told the packs sell for $59.99. So that would give us the following formula for their Value Drinking Index, assuming the regular 12 ounce cans rather than tallboys:
12 ounces * 99 cans * 5.2333333 percent ABV / 59.99
That works out to a whopping 104! That’s such a high Value Drinking Index that you could even put the 33 PBR Easys out in the alley as a Christmas gift to Downtown’s street people, and only drink the originals and the Extras.
104 is not the highest Value Drinking Index I’ve ever seen, though. If you have a Bardog Tavern wooden nickel, you can purchase a pint of PBR for only 5 cents. So the VDI would be
16 ounces * 5 percent ABV / .05 = 1600
You know, Bardog and the Aldo family of restaurants are proof that different people can have different interpretations of you. For example:
- To Panda @ Slider Inn I am Paulie Poo
- To Bloom @ Bardog I am P-Funk
Who’s right? They both are.
Amanda “Panda” is in town all this week, visiting from Colorado. Originally the plan was for her to split her time between Downtown Slider Inn and Bardog, but Slider Inn has proved such a huge success that she said she’ll be needed there all week.
… But don’t go up there today to visit her. Slider Inn will be closed for the day as they take a little time to relax and tweak the systems they have in place. The original Slider Inn in Midtown will be open, as will all of Aldo’s other restaurants. The new Slider Inn will be back open tomorrow with regular hours.
Yesterday on Facebook I learned of a new bar, to open in early 2020, called Board to Beers which will be Memphis’ first board game bar. They will have a library with 400 board games you can play, as well as a regular schedule of events. I am not sure what part of town this bar will be in. Pop-up board game nights have done well in Memphis the past several years, so it’s not surprising to see someone take the concept to a new level.
The Daily Memphian reports there is concern that the $1 billion in construction in the Pinch District to the west of St. Jude will fail to preserve historic buildings. The Pinch nearly lost its status as a historic neighborhood earlier this decade, most of the original buildings long gone.
Father Auggie made the news! Congratulations to St. Peter Catholic Church on 180 years. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them earlier this year to develop literature listing resources for those in need.
The Cousins Maine Lobster food truck will be at Cordelia’s Market tonight 5 to 8.
That’s the news for now. I’m off to work, then the birthday celebration will begin. Back tomorrow or Wednesday with more news.