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Boone Saloon Recognized as No. 5 in PBR Sales Worldwide and the Known Universe in 2018

Skip Sinanian pours a PBR draft

By Joe Johnson

Boone Saloon, located in Boone, North Carolina, has officially become the 5th largest seller of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in the known universe.

Skip Sinanian, owner of Boone Saloon, is ecstatic with the results since Boone Saloon has placed on the top PBR seller list several times in the past, “Back in 2012 we broke the top 100 at #85 and at that time we were only selling PBR in the bottle. Then we missed 2013, but 2014 we got #83! Then sometime in 2015, someone was like ‘Hey! This Friday is the International Talk Like A Pirate Day…Are you going to have a special?’” Sinanian replied to this customer affirmatively, stating, “Oh I can do ‘PBArrrgh’ on draft! So we did, and I came in for work the next Saturday. Usually we have 10 recycling bins but we only had about 4. I was like ‘Oh, we must have been really slow…’ but when I came in it was actually like ‘No! We just sold a lot of draft!’”

“So out went Miller High Life and in came PBR,” Said Sinanian, “And then we jumped to #36! And then back down to #73 in 2016 for some reason.” Things changed drastically for Boone Saloon in 2017, however, with the introduction of brand new areas for patrons, “In 2017 we opened up the deck in the Spring and then opened up the Game Changer Arcade downstairs in the fall. Downstairs, our capacity is a lot more. So we jumped back up to #30 and then we were just on a roll,” Said Sinanian, “So we were kind of pressing to get to the top 20. We have 2 drafts of PBR downstairs just to make it easier to pour. We always have specials on Tuesday for PBR draft. Throughout the year, our numbers were looking really good, so we were like ‘Yeah! It looks like we’re going to break the top 20!’ Then we came out with #5 so that was super cool.”

Draft, packaged, and PBR Easy sales are included in these sales figures, says Sinanian, “There is a unit number which is based off of cases. To put it into perspective, in order to get #1 you’d have to sell 10,000 more units per year, which is basically not a question. So if we could just plateau at #5. I’m good man! We’re real good, you know?”

Boone Saloon also offers a wide selection of beers other than PBR, “All sorts of the American yellow macrobrewery beers, as well as beers that are single one-offs,” Said Sinanian, “like we have this event called ‘One Keg Wednesday’ where a brewery will make a single keg that you can only get one of. We pop it on Wednesday and pour it through the week until it stops. We’re also #1 in the state for Dale’s Pale Ale, just to put it out there!”

Regarding the other establishments in the top 5 for PBR sales, Sinanian said, “The #1 account was surprisingly in Colorado, the #2 and #3 were in South Carolina, #4 was in Texas, and #5 was in Boone, North Carolina! Boone Saloon.” Sinanian added, “I’m sure that per-capita we’re #1. We have to be #1. There’s no way.”

When asked to explain the prevalence of customers who enjoy Pabst Blue Ribbon, Sinanian stated, “Basically, it’s just a better beer than most of the macro yellow beers. There’s not much difference between Bud, Bud Light, Coors, and Miller High Life. A PBR has a full body. It’s a full-bodied, inexpensive beer.”

Boone Saloon is celebrating their 15th anniversary on February 25th, 2019.

 

The upstairs bar area at the Boone Saloon
Upstairs area features the bar, dining area and stage for live music performances.

Downstairs at the Boone Saloon is a game area with pinball, electronic games, pool tables and more.

Boone Saloon is located in Downtown Boone on West King Street.
Skip Sinanian raises a toast to Pabst Brewing Company for making them Number 5 in PBR sales in “the known universe.”