Thursday’s ad is from Pabst, from 1906. Many brewers made other related products besides beer, notably malt extract, to be used primarily in cooking as an ingredient in breads and desserts and even as a tonic. According to Briess, which still offers it today. “What is Malt Extract? Malt can be further processed to produce liquid or dried sweeteners called Malt Extracts.” They were essentially “the original starch- or grain-based sweetener.” Many brewers survived prohibition making malt extract, both for legal uses and for homebrewing, but Pabst was making and advertising decades before. In this ad, if you’re tired, fatigued or just over-nervous, Pabst Malt Extract cures all that and can give you “perfect health,” just like the “Pabst Extract Girl” shown in the ad, who’s using her vitality to write letters, lots and lots of letters.
Legend has it that the Pasbst extract said to mail away for a recipe book. A few weeks later a book arrived on cooking and baking with malt. A few weeks later, in a plain no return address envelope, they sent instructions on how NOT to make beer. “Whatever you do don’t boil in water with hops…” Detailing step by step exactly what you should not do!