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.
Mitch with Stone co-founder Steve Wagner at the Craft Brewers Conference in 2007.
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 Hensley, Judy Ashworth, Mitch, Brendan Moylan & Bruce Paton at the Celebrator’s 22nd Anniversary Party in February of this year.
Mitch and 21st Amendment brewer Shaun O’Sullivan practicing their pointing during a collaboration brew in 2008 in San Francisco.
Outside the Bistro IPA Festival in 2007 with Publican Judy Ashworth, Former San Andreas Brewing owner Bill Millar, Mitch and Bistro owner Vic Krajl.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
