PABST BLUE RIBBON BEER
New York & The $3 PBR
"IT STILL EXISTS" !!!! 2022
2025 update $4 for a PBR at 7B BAR
Still a Great Deal
NEW YORK & The $3 PBR
I wrote this article in 2008, in protest of the ever increasing prices of New York City Cocktails. They were going up. A little too high for my taste, $16, or more. At that price (2008) that meant that if you had 3 cocktails which would be $48, that would be quite a lot. But that wasn't the end of it. You've got to pay sales tax of 8.25%, and then there's a tip for the bartender or server. We're taxing $4 tax, and $10 tip, bringing the Grand Total of your 3 precious cocktails up to $62 Fucking Dollars for 3 measly drinks. That was 2008. Fast forward to 2026 and $16 isn't the price of a high-priced cocktail, but the freaking average. SO you know what that means don't you? That means that it will cost you on average with tax and tip and the price of the cocktails, about $60 or more for 3 cocktails.
Now how about the high-priced ones? I was at the Lobby Bar at the Chelsea Hotel last month, with a good friend. We wanted to have drinks. Guess how much a damn cocktail cost over there? No, not $22! Nor $24. But $29 Fucking Dollars for a G DAMN Cocktail. "What The Fuck" I say. Yes $29 US Freaking Dollars. But that's not the end of it, as you should well know by now. No it's not $87 Fucking Dollars for those damn precious drinks. No, we still have to pay tax and tip. How much is that you want to know. Well, the tax for the Governor comes to $7.20, bring its up to, let us round it out to $94. OK. Now you've got to leave at least 20% gratuity which the bartender (or server) expects, that's $20 right there, bringing your total for 3 cocktails at the Chelsea Hotel to a Whopping fucking $117 "Fucking Dollars" !!! What? Yes just about 120 Fucking precious US dollars for three measly fucking drinks. Haven't we suffered enough? They don't make Good Music anymore! "What The FUCK" ? What the Hell Happened to Music? Now? It all Fucking SUCKS !!! I don't get it? Why don they make good music any more? What's this World Coming to? WTF ??? And Sandwiches? Sandwiches cost $20 and up these days! Yes, "What the Fuck" ??? Again. Everything is out of Whack. Groceries too. Fucking $1,99 a pound for "FUCKING POTATOES" ? WTF?
Well, let me tell you something. I wrote about $3 PBRs and what a Blessing they were in New York City. And the bars that served them. Well thankfully, we do have something to be grateful for when it comes to going out for some drinks (beers) in 2026. In comparison to everything else, the insane prices of cocktails, and a glass of wine at restaurants and bars in New York, there are still a few places left where you can get a "Cheap Beer iN Manhattan." I freaking Miracle if there ever was one! They're not $3 PBRs or Rolling Rocks, but $4 instead, which is pretty damn good, and in comparison to 2008 and today, a $4 beer in 2026, is a much better deal than a $3 PBR in 2008. You can get a $4 Rolling Rock beer at Mialno's NYC most famous Dive Bar) on East Houston Street, or a $4 PBR at the World Famous 7B Horseshoe Bar on Avenue "A" at East 7th Street in New York's East Village. You can also get a $4 beer around the block at "Sophie's" or at the Blue & Gold Bar on East 7th Street, west of 1st Avenue, also in the East Village of New York City.
So there you go Ladies & Gentleman. That's the state of drinking Manhattan in 2026. You can either go to The Chelsea Hotel and get 3 drinks for $120 all in with tax & tip ($40 for 1 drink). Or you can go to Blue & Gold, Milano's, or 7B Bar, and get 3 $4 Beers, and end up just spending $16 all in for 3 Beers, including tax & tip. Which will you choose. I love Dive Bars. It's really all about be with friends, having a good time, and not getting "Ripped-Off" !!!!
Daniel Bellino Zwicke
June 7, 2026 - New York City
READ The ARTICLE BELOW from 2008
NEW YORK & The $3 PBR
Many people are out of work, and many who are working, are taking home Half-as-Much Money or more of what they used to make. People have had to buckle down and give up or curb many things they enjoyed previous to the current state of our economy, which is in almost a Depression Era State.
Yes, everybody says that we are not in a Depression, we're in a recession. Those are the Rich and Well-Off, The 1%-ers talking. To many, the state of our Union and their feelings are of Depression.
So, because of the Terrible State of our Economy you have given up eating out 3 times a week, you buy less clothes, spend less on Entertainment and any number of things. You haven't had a vacation in the past two years, maybe more. You've given up a lot. We all have.
Now when it comes to socializing, going out for a few Beers or Cocktails with some friends, you've had to cut back on that too. But hey, you gotta draw a line somewhere, and everyone is entitled to a few drinks to unwind every now and then, and to be with friends. Yes times are bad, people are hurting, you need your friends more than ever. And having a few Beers or Drinks is one of the most common adult ways to do so. It's natural and part of everyday life. You should be able to have two or three drinks or beers and not have to spend a small fortune doing so. You should be able to have 2 beers for about $10 including tip, and about $16 for tow drinks including tip. That's reasonable. That's what most people pay around America, and even less. But we don't live in America, we live in the greatest City in The World, New York, and Cocktails and Beers here can be oh-so-dear. "Expensive!" Expensive as Hell, "Ridiculously Expensive." It's absurd and outrageous, with many places thinking it's normal and OK to charge $16.00 or more for a measly little Cocktail made by a friggin so-called "Mixologist." Ha!
It's not OK, what's a person to do? So yes, we live in New York, and having a couple cocktails here can be a costly undertaking.. What is a Poor Working Guy or Working Girl to do??? Well Boys and Girls, let's Thank God for that great thing of wonder and the Bars and establishments who so graciously and kindly serve it, The $3.00 PBR, That's right, a $3.oo Beer in The Land of The Over-Priced $16.00 Cocktail, Manhattan, New York, NY..... It's quite Sad, Greedy too, not to mention "Ridiculous Ludicrous and Insane."
Yes, Thank God and let's thank the Kind-Hearted proprietors who serve $3.00 PBR'S or any Beer for just $3 or $4 in a New York Bar. You are doing your fellow man a public service and we thank you for that. Whoever you are, you are to be commended, and Shame-On-You, all those places that serve $14 PLUS Cocktails. "RIP-OFF" !!! Wish the masses would Boycott these places and patronize places like Blue & Gold Bar, 7B, and anyplace who has a heart. Bars that serve 3 and 4 Dollar Beers.
I just have to say, it's great to go to a place like Blue and Gold Bar on East 7th Street and know that you can have 3 or 4 Beers for just $12 to $16, accounting for a Buck a Pop for the Barkeep. Now that's pretty good. I have had the best times hanging at Blue & Gold with some friends. You sit at the Bar or get into a nice comfy booth, drink your Beers ($3 PBR'S), relax, listen to the Music, Chit Chat, and just enjoy, and it's not going to cost you The Shirt Off Your Back.
Yes, you can have 4 Beers, tip included for the price of 1 Rip-Off Drink at one of those Rip-Off Joints. And if you are Dumb enough to have four drinks in one of those places, guess what it's going to cost you? About $75 my friend.
Well, do the Math, and if you can afford $75 for only 4 drinks, God Bless You. And if you can't, you've got an alternative. Right, your local $3.00 PBR Joint. They're a God-Send.
Daniel Bellino Zwicke
Copyright 2008 Daniel Bellino Zwicke
PLACES To GET A $3.00 PBR in NEW YORK
BLUE & GOLD BAR in the East Village, on East 7th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. Blue & Gold has long been a favorite of mine ever since I lived in the East Village from 1982 to 1994. It's just a cool ol normal old style bar with a pool table, standard 50's 60's Bar Decor, and Best-of-All $3.oo PBR'S and $6.00 Cocktails. I love it.
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7B "HORSESHO BAR"
7B a.k.a. The Horseshoe Bar, also in the East Village, a bastion of cheap and fare prices in Manhattan and Land of The $3.00 PBR and other $3 and $4 Beers. 7B is located on the corner of Avenue B at 7th Street ..
2025 Update - a PBR is now $4, still a great deal, at one of New York's most historical dive bars.
7B HORESHOE BAR
by the Artist BELLINO
GET a FINE ART PRINT
Frome FINE ART AMERICA
a $4 PBR
At 7B HORSE SHOE BAR
by Bellino
At 7B
Copyright Daniel Bellino Zwicke
SINATRA SAUCE
COOK & EAT LIKE FRANK
His FAVORITE ITALIAN RECIPES
PASTA - MEATBALLS - CHEESE CAKE
And MUCH MORE ....
AMERICA'S FAVORITE FOOD
And SECRET RECIPES
And SECRET RECIPES
BURGERS TACOS BURRITOS
SOUP SNDWICHES BBQ
And MORE ...
LUCY
"LUCY'S BAR"
135 AVENUE A NY NY
Lucy’s Bar is the most aptly named bar in New York. For Lucy—the quiet and small and sweetly proper Polish owner with the well-coifed gray hair and floral blouses—is who you’ll see when you go there, and Lucy is the one who will serve you. If there are other employees, they’ve hidden themselves somewhere in the back.
Though Lucy’s is undeniably a dive (and one of the last in the neighborhood), it feels more like your aunt’s aging rec room, a place where you’d never think of disrespecting the house’s hospitality. It’s also one of the last vestiges of the Polish community that was once made up a significant part of the East Village’s character.
Ludwika “Lucy” Mickevicius moved from Poland to New York in the late 1970s and soon got a job at Blanche’s, a bar on St. Mark’s Place run by another Polish woman. She became such a fixture that people began to think of the bar as Lucy’s, and, when Blanche retired, she sold the place—by then located on Avenue A—to her bartender.
Lucy’s life doesn’t range much further than the twin poles of her joint and Poland, which she visits regularly, shutting up the tavern at a moment’s notice and disappearing for weeks at a time. Most nights, she stations herself at the far end of the bar near the ancient cash register. (It’s cash only here.) One recent evening, the Halloween balloons hadn’t yet been taken down. Then again, assorted Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations were already out. Maybe none of the decorations are ever packed up?
Lucy doesn’t budge much behind the bar, but she keeps herself busy for a woman in her mid-70s. She will draw you a pint or a glass of tequila. And, if she likes you, she might pour you a shot of żubrówka, a Polish bison grass vodka, on the house. When the place gets stuffy, she’ll swing open the door to let some fresh Avenue A air in; just as quickly, she’ll close it if it gets chilly.
The clientele ranges from a less-intense sort of downtown hipster, who exchange a few friendly words with Lucy—who, even all these years later, still speaks in broken, accented English—and then retire to their personal conversations, to old Polish regulars. In fact, on another recent night, a young couple came in to show Lucy their young child. All four spoke entirely in Polish and a delighted Lucy let the little scamp climb atop the pool table. As they left, she handed the kid one of the old Halloween balloons. For those few minutes, Lucy’s was a family bar.
2022 and You Can Still GET a $3 PBR
LYS MYYKTA aka "The SLY FOX
142 2nd Avenue, New York NY - The EAST VILLAGE
LYSMYKTA aka "THE SLY FOX" is a Ukranian Bar in a Ukranian neighborhood in
New York's East Village. There's a Ukranian Restaurant in the back, serving delicious Ukranian Food and very reasonable prices. Yes this is thee main neighborhood of Ukranian peoples in New York City. The restaurants great, and any bar that serves $3 PBR Beer is great in my book too.
If you can go some place for drinks (beers), to hang and chit-chat and have 3 Beers, and not have to spend more than $15, that's a place for me. You shouldn't have to pay $40 plus for just 2 drinks (or $60 for 3). People who don't make quite so much money as Lawyers, Wall Street Guys and whoever, should be able to afford to go for 2 or 3 drinks and not spend an "Arm and a Leg" to do it.
The SLY FOX is a place where you can do that, and thank God we have them, and a few other joints that we can do so.
$4 BEERS at "SOPHIE'S"
East 5th STREET Between AVENUES A & B
The EAST VILLAGE NYC
I've been going to Sophie's, along with Lucy's, Blue & Gold Bar,
the Holiday Lounge and others since first moving to The East Village in 1982.
Prices have gone up in a lot of places, and now in many places - cocktails cost are
in the high teens, Twenty Dollars, and even up to $29 for a cocktail, as I witnessed when
a friend and I went to The Chelsea Hotel a couple weeks ago. Yes, $25 and $29 for a cocktail. Damn?
We spotted a nice looking bottle of Cote du Rhone for $78 a bottle. Not cheap, but in comparison to $29 a cocktail. Four drinks would have costs us $114, so we got the wine for $36 dollars less than 4 drinks, and put that $36 into a tasty Cheeseburger. The Burger came with Fries, and we had them cut it in half. It was Super Tasty. We loved it. Even Better than Burgers at Minetta Tavern. "Seriously" !!!
I've been at Blue & Gold recently, as well as "MILANO'S" - Sophie's, and 7b Bar. All serve $4 beers. Thank God for these places. I've said it before. I can go into Andy one of these places and have a couple Beers and live a respectable $4 tip, and walk out just spending $12. Not bad. Two cocktails plus tax and tip at The Lounge Bar at The Chelsea Hotel would be at least $50 for the two drinks plus $4.50 tax plus at least $10 for tip for a grand total of about $65, as oppose to $12 at any of New York City's awesome Dive Bars.
Don't get me wrong. Yes, we're comparing Apples & Oranges. When I went to The Chelsea Hotel, I knew it wouldn't be cheap, and I was prepared to pay for the privilege (of being there). My friend and I had a great time. We were there for a couple of hours BS-ing about this and that. We killed that bottle of Cote du Rhone and got another glass of wine each ($22 a glass). The check was about $170, not including tip, which was another $50, for a grand total of $220. Not cheap, but we had a "Great Time" and we were happy. You gotta treat yourself sometimes. But most times will be spent at a good dive bar.
"Thank God" for Good Dive Bars"
New York City
LUCKY'S BAR
168 Avenue "A" New York NY , East Village
Get $3 PBRs at LUCKY'S BAR
168 AVENUE "A" NY NY
EAST VILLAGE
JOHNSON'S BAR ... 168 RIVINGTON STREET, LES NEW YOIRK NY
Inside JOHNSON'S BAR
$2 PBRs
PABST BLUE RIBBON BEER
Johnson's Bar
NY NY
MORE PLACES to GET $3 PBRs
CATS SPORTS BAR - 96 GREENWICH STREET at RECTOR NY NY $3 PBRs
WALTER'S BAR - 389 8th Avenue Near 32nd Street and MADISON SQUARE GARDEN .. $3PBR
DOC HOLIDAY'S 141 AVENUE "A" East Village NY NY - $2 PBRs
MILANO'S
MILANO'S
51 EAST HOUSTON STREET
NEW YORK NY
One of the last authentic old-school bars in NYC. How old-school? Milano's opened in 1880, and maintains a no-frills comfortably old-fashioned atmosphere.
The SPRING LOUNGE
aka SHARK BAR
45 SPRING STREET NEW YORK NY
The SHARK BAR
SPRING STREET at MOTT
Back in the day, when it was an ITALIAN NEIGHBORHOOD here.
Where it GOt its NICKNAME "SHARK BAR"
Nobody "In The KNow" calls it Spring Lounge, only Green Newcomers to Downtown New York would ever call it SPRING LOUNGE. For years it was a neighborhood "Shot & Beer" Joint. It became treny about 20 years ago (1999)
Those "In The Know" like me, only ever call it "The Shark Bar" ... It got this name from
the fake SHARK hanging over the bar, and that's that!
You can't get $3 Beers here, but we incuded it anyway. And although it's a Trendy so-called Hipster Bar, those of us Old Timers who still call it The Shark Bar, it still has a special place in our hearts.
Basta !
GOT ANY KAHLUA ?
The BIG LEBOWSKI COOKBOOK
Daniel Zwicke
169 BAR
Lower East Side
If Clockwork’s happy hour special seems too good to be true, you’ve got a little good old fashioned neighborhood competition to thank. Located right around the corner, 169 has been in operation since 1916. And its 11:30am-7:30pm HH is among the best in the city. $3 will get you an “Old Man Can/Bottle” of beer (PBR, Carling Black Label, Schaefer, Genesee Cream, High Life/Miller Lite) and any well shot. Subtly New Orleanian environs (window shutters look like they’re fresh off a Creole cottage; beads are strung here and there; there’s crawfish on the menu) evoke genuine good times.
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