Thieves pull off massive beer can heist in California, brewer gives them 18 days to return it

A massive beer heist in California has brewers turning to social media in an unusual bid to get their cans back.

On August 17, someone with forged paperwork showed up at an Anheuser-Busch distribution center in Montclair, in the southern part of the state, and drove off with tens of thousands of cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Damage: 25,000 dollars. Earlier the same day, a separate shipment of beer worth 45,000 dollars ordered in Tucson, Arizona, never arrived at its destination. Police suspect the same group is behind both thefts.

The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the biggest beer heists in California history" and a "lager-than-life tale," a wink at the word for a type of beer.

Pabst Brewing Company has given the thieves an ultimatum: return the beer within 18 days and 44 minutes, a nod to the year the brewery was founded, and the company will drop any further action. "To the thief: we don't blame you for wanting to brag to your friends about how much of our beer you have, we just hoped you'd have obtained it honorably," the company wrote on social media.

A Pabst spokesperson said the tone is intentionally light to draw extra attention to a theft the company takes "dead seriously." In an age where "everything seems like a marketing stunt," the spokesperson added, the brewery followed up online to clarify: "To avoid confusion, this actually happened." The company wants the beer back "so it can do what it's meant to do, be drunk."