$45,000 worth of Pabst beer intended for Tucson was stolen from a California warehouse

Thieves made off with tens of thousands of cans of Pabst beer in two separate heists from a Southern California warehouse on the same day, police said.

Pabst Blue Ribbon has turned the thefts — valued by police at $70,000 — into a light-hearted social media promotion. But police in Montclair said Friday that investigators are trying to determine whether they were part of a single operation.

In the first heist, about $45,000 worth of beer headed to Tucson, Arizona, was picked up but never delivered, according to police. An hour later, a “purported subcontracting company” submitted fake documents to pick up another $25,000 worth of beer, Montclair police said in a news release. Both thefts occurred on Aug. 17 at an Anheuser-Busch distribution center about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Los Angeles.

Roughly 34,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and non-alcoholic Old Milwaukee beer — more than 1,500 cases — were stolen, according to a police report obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

In Instagram posts, Pabst put the weight of the stolen cargo at 40,000 pounds (18,145 kilograms) and started a countdown seeking its return.

“To the thief: we don’t fault you for wanting to brag to your friends how much PBR you have, we just wish you obtained it the honorable way,” the company wrote. It added, “P.s. this is real and we are deadly serious.”