The Melt marries modern, ‘old school’The Melt marries modern, ‘old school’

Think young. Think hip. Think Pabst Blue Ribbon beer?

The Melt, a fledgling grilled cheese sandwich and soup chain based in San Francisco, this past spring offered cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $1 each as part of a happy hour promotion from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

With three San Francisco locations, including two in or near the financial district, The Melt showed it was on its game with a late afternoon-early evening promotion at restaurants where, as likely as not, most transactions are completed by 2 p.m. and the doors close by 9 p.m.

But I was curious about why The Melt featured Pabst Blue Ribbon, which even in my youth was being crowded out of the American beer consciousness by other domestic and imported labels. Through some virtual gumshoein...