If you were ever broke in your 20s, you’re intimately familiar with Pabst Blue Ribbon. It was a step up from Natural Light (which is what you drank when you were broke in your teens), and it always seemed cool, in part because it’s what everyone drank at punk shows and one of its biggest fans was a gas-huffing psychopath in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. All of that’s to say, I think many of us have a soft spot for PBR for one reason or another—and now another of those reasons can be that the brand teamed up with Campbell’s on a pair of Chunky Soups. We tried them to find out whether they’re soup season staples or beer-infused bummers.
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Campbell’s Chunky x Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer Cheese with Potatoes & Chorizo Soup
Pros: This soup doesn’t taste great (more on that in a second) and it’s pretty loose for a creamy soup, but the potato hunks are filling and it still seems like a decadent lunch if you’ve spent the morning shoveling the driveway of your charming Milwaukee bungalow.
Cons: Because my life is a gauntlet of gastrointestinal trials and tribulations, I recently tried a new beer cheese and sausage soup from Progresso. It was middling (and pleasing in a way that made me experience shame), but I’m sorry to say that it was better than this new Campbell’s soup. In this version, you can taste beer, but it doesn’t contribute flavor as much as it contributes a vague tinny bitterness. Mostly, I wish this was thicker and cheesier and that the sausage made more of an impression.
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
Rating:
4.5/10
Sporks
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Campbell’s Chunky x Pabst Blue Ribbon Beef, Bacon & Beer Chili with Beans
Pros: This canned chili promises beef, bacon, beans, and the flavor of PBR. I didn’t detect any bacon, but it certainly has plenty of beef and beans. And, for better or worse, you can taste some beer-like bitterness on the finish.
Cons: It’s a fun novelty, but I don’t think the beer contributes all that much to the flavor. There’s no reason to seek this out over other canned chilis. My biggest criticism is really a matter of personal preference: Please, for the love of god, put some tomatoes in your chili! They really brighten up the flavor and break up the monotony of beef and beans.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
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Gwynedd Stuart
Tyler Bowers
Alex Yakimova
