Friday’s ad is for Bass Ale, from 1905. Bass Ale was one of the beers that helped push me away from the regional lagers I grew up drinking in Eastern Pennsylvania, and toward more flavorful beers. Jazz clubs in New York City in the late 1970s frequently carried Bass, and I really liked how different it tasted, compared to what I was used to. In this ad, an old trade postcard, the fill headline reds. “I know plenty fellows who’d go to bed every night at ten if they could have dreams like this!” And I much as I enjoy dreaming about beer, I’m not sure it quite compares to actually drinking beer while awake. Also, is he sleeping in a suit? Or is he just wearing it in the dream? Still, it’s a pretty nice-looking dream. Who wouldn’t want a bottle of beer that large? Is that a double Nebuchadnezzar?
