It's funny how whatever the cheap/hipster beer is varies by region. PBR is always there in some capacity though. Where I'm at, we are all about Genesee and it's variants when it comes to cheapo hipster beer. When I was partying with the other college people in Boston? Mostly Narrangansett, which I had never even heard of before living out there.
Gansett is an old beer company, and since its most recent incarnation in 2005, it's been pitching itself directly to the hipster crowd by pumping out vintage iconography- just a cursory look at the website will turn up a dozen examples. It's also a very sugary brew, which makes it an easy first beer for college kids experimenting with alcohol for the first time. (Last Sunday, I went for a drink with my sister and she dropped a shot of Amaretto into a glass of Gansett: Instant Dr. Pepper.) Gansetts has also done an amazing job of marketing itself as the face of the Ocean State. Ad a born and bred Rhode Islander, I remember thinking in 2005 when the "Hi, Neighbor" signs went up, "Wait, what is this and since when has it been a part of my identity?"; now when I leave the state I make sure to bring a few Gansetts with me to remind me of home. And anyone who has lived in Rhode Island, even for a little while, can recognize how powerful a combination that Del's and Gansett shandy is. The first month it hit shelves, it was sold out at every liquor store near me within a day or two of being stocked. It tastes okay, but the sense of cultural identity, that you're enjoying something that is so intrinsically tied to being a Rhode Islander, is what really sells it. e: Its also worth pointing out that Gansett's brewing is done by Genesee.
The big thing about Gansett was that when you're partying to bands playing in basements, you want something that is easy to drink. And boy was that an easy to drink bear. That's some great branding and marketing on their end. Everyone thought I was crazy when I said I'd never seen it in WNY before. Genesee does a few different beers. Kind of like how FX Matt in Upstate NY brews a lot of Brooklyn products.