Anheuser-Busch

Beer Birthday: Mitch Steele

by Jay Brooks on December 31, 2011 · 6 comments

in Birthdays

stone
Today is the 49th birthday of Mitch Steele, production manager/head brewer at Stone Brewing. Mitch started out at the tiny San Andreas Brewery in Hollister, California but spent a number of years at one of the much larger Budweiser breweries when he brewed for Anheuser-Busch, before finding a home at Stone. He’s obviously a terrific brewer but is also a great person and close friend, too. A big advocate for craft beer and always willing to help out a fellow brewer or homebrewer. Join me in wishing Mitch a very happy birthday.

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Mitch with Stone co-founder Steve Wagner at the Craft Brewers Conference in 2007.

Mitch Steele, from Stone Brewing, took 3rd for Levitation Ale
Mitch picking up his 3rd Place award on the floor of GABF 2009 for Stone’s Levitation Ale on cask at a special judging at the Great British Beer Festival in 2009 (and which I had the pleasure to judge).

Betsy, Judy Ashworth, Mitch Steele, Brendan Moylan & Bruce Paton
Betsy Hensley, Judy Ashworth, Mitch, Brendan Moylan & Bruce Paton at the Celebrator’s 22nd Anniversary Party in February of this year.

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Mitch and 21st Amendment brewer Shaun O’Sullivan practicing their pointing during a collaboration brew in 2008 in San Francisco.

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Outside the Bistro IPA Festival in 2007 with Publican Judy Ashworth, Former San Andreas Brewing owner Bill Millar, Mitch and Bistro owner Vic Krajl.

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And no birthday post is complete without a blast from the past. Here’s Mitch’s high school photo from Northgate High School Class of 1980 in Walnut Creek, CA (photo purloined from Facebook). Love the tux.

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Beer In Ads #494: This Year Buy Him A Beer

by Jay Brooks on December 8, 2011 · 1 comment

in Art & Beer,Beers


Thursday’s ad is holiday ad for Michelob, from 1963. Their suggestion, “This year buy him a beer” seems like a good one, though in truth Michelob probably wouldn’t be the one I”d want, but maybe that’s just me. I love how they spin it in the ad copy. They refer to giving Michelob as an “unhackneyed” gift, “whether beer lover or bottle fancier.”

michelob-xmas-12-06-1963

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Wednesday’s ad is a pre-war 1937 ad for Budweiser. A stylized pin-up fortune teller is peering into her crystal ball containing a crystal beer. Seeing the Budweiser, she declares “I see you have excellent taste.” See, I knew those fortune tellers were fakes.

bud-life-09-27-1937

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Friday’s ad brings Budweiser ad week to a close. This ad is from 1952, when A-B celebrated their 100th anniversary since the company that would become Anheuser-Busch first opened their doors in 1852. I can’t say the woman looks particularly happy on her wedding day, though perhaps it’s because the grooms looks a little too much like Snidely Whiplash with that cheesy mustache and the top hat.

Bud-1952-wed

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Thursday’s ad is yet another Budweiser ad, this one from 1949. It, too, shows a party, though this one looks like it’s a “Gone With the Wind” costume party. Or did people really throw parties that looks like this in post-war America? “My, my. It’s so hot. But at least it’s not sticky. I just hare it when it’s sticky.” Now give me a beer.

Bud-1949-hospitality

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Wednesday’s ad is still another Budweiser ad, this one from 1956. Like yesterdays, it shows a woman’s domestic struggles at pleasing her man, this time in putting on the best dinner party. One woman in a cocktail dress is whispering to another, who’s combing her hair, about another woman who’s skills as a hostess make her “real competition.” In part, that’s because she insists on always serving Budweiser. But you knew that had to be the reason, right? I can’t imagine why feminist groups often accuse alcohol ads of portraying woman in a less-than-flattering light.

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Beer In Ads #437: She Married Two Men

August 30, 2011

Tuesday’s ad is another Budweiser ad. I’m not sure of the date, but based on the car I’d say Fifties. After getting married, the coy-looking bride found “She Married Two Men” Then the ad copy goes on to say that “all women do.” That’s apparently because there’s an inner and outer men. “And think of [...]

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Beer In Ads #436: The Minuteman Is Still The Man Of The Hour

August 29, 2011

Monday’s ad is a Budweiser ad from 1944, during World War 2. The slogan being “The Minuteman is Still the Man of the Hour, the ad is comparing the colonial minutemen to the soldiers then fighting the war. The ad is surprisingly low key, and is very little about selling, with the only sales pitch [...]

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Beer In Ads #362: American Originals, Muenchener

May 4, 2011

Wednesday’s ad is for the third, and last, one of Anheuser-Busch’s series of beers they marketed under the name “American Originals,” beginning in the fall of 1995. This one was Muenchener, a “Munich Style Amber.” Here’s what a press release said about it at the time: Muenchener was first brewed in 1893 — and called [...]

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Beer In Ads #361: American Originals, Black & Tan

May 3, 2011

Tuesday’s ad is for another one of Anheuser-Busch’s series of beers they marketed under the name “American Originals,” beginning in the fall of 1995. This one was Black & Tan, a “Porter.” Here’s what a press release said about it at the time: Adolphus Busch’s Black and Tan was first brewed in 1899 as an [...]

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Beer In Ads #360: American Originals, Faust

May 2, 2011

Monday’s ad is for one of Anheuser-Busch’s series of beers they marketed under the name “American Originals,” beginning in the fall of 1995. This one was Faust, a “Devilish All-Malt Lager.” Here’s what a press release said about it at the time: Faust was first brewed in 1885 by Adolphus Busch for his good friend [...]

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Boycott Under Way On Beer Stocked By Alabama A-B Distributors

April 25, 2011

Free the Hops, the organization in Alabama that successfully won the fight over hard opposition to allow beer over 6% abv in the state, is calling for a boycott of both Anheuser-Busch products along with those beers distributed by A-B Houses in Alabama. The boycott is a result of A-B distributor lobbyists “blocking the Legislature’s [...]

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The Clydesdales in California

January 30, 2011

The iconic Budweiser Clydesdales debuted on April 7, 1933 and have a big promotional part of Anheuser-Busch ever since. Most come from Grant’s Farm in St. Louis. Today there are six teams of Clydesdales. One is headquartered in St. Louis and the other five travel the country. On Saturday, one team — or “hitch” — [...]

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WSJ Reviews “Dethroning The King”

December 9, 2010

I got a review copy of the new book, Dethroning the King, which is all about the hostile takeover of Anheuser-Busch by InBev, a few weeks ago but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. It looks fascinating and I’m looking forward to devouring it as soon as I can. For now, I’ll have [...]

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Beer In Ads #259: Holidays Were Made For Michelob

December 7, 2010

Tuesday’s holiday ad is for Michelob, from 1977, where “Holidays were made for Michelob.” Check out the disco outfits the party-goers are wearing and at least they show several Michelob logo glassware in the foreground. And notice the people are actually using glasses to drink their beer. That’s a rarity in older ads. Must be [...]

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Open Up With The 1973 Budweiser Malt Liquor Express

September 26, 2010

Check out this unintentionally hilarious video made for the Anheuser-Busch sales force and distributors in 1973, created to showcase how they were going to “open up” the market for malt liquor with Budweiser Malt Liquor.

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