Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1916. There’s some great copy on this ad, beginning with “Every Glass a Handful of Health.” According to the ad, “Each drop of Budweiser is alive and sparkling with the vital energy of Northern Barley and the tonic vigor of Saazer Hops.” Apparently it’s also the “unchallenged sovereign of bottled beers,” which must have been a precursor to A-B declaring themselves the king of beers.
I’m especially intrigued by the very last line, “Budweiser means moderation.” By 1916 the brewers were starting the realize that the Prohibitionists were after them, every bit as much if not more so than the winemakers and distillers. They tried to offer their product as a drink of moderation, but failed. By this time almost half the states had embraced some form of Prohibition.