Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Powered by Genesis

You are here: Home / Art & Beer / Beer In Ads #670: Step Back A Hundred Years And More

Beer In Ads #670: Step Back A Hundred Years And More

August 10, 2012 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale, from 1947. It’s from their late-40s diorama series, this one showing the most likely apocryphal origin of the Ballantine logo, told in a poem:

Step back a hundred years and more,
     And take your place inside yon door.

That’s Peter Ballantine at the table,
     A brewer from Scotland, skilled and able.

He’s testing his ale — and now you’ll see
     How the 3-ring trade mark came to be.

One healthy drink, “Aye lads,” says he,
     “This ale o’ mine ha ‘PUR-R-RITY!”

A second drink of his fine old brew,
     “Ah,” he declares, “It ha’ BODY, too!”

A third drink now, see him slowly savor,
     “An’ sur-r-rely,” he says,
               “It ha’ FLAVOR-R-R!”

The spying 3 rings on the table dark,
     “Lads,” cries Peter,
               “I ha’ my mar-r-rk.”

That would have been 1840. Ah, to be a fly on the wall.

Ballantine-1947-peter

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Ballantine, History



Comments

  1. beerman49 says

    August 13, 2012 at 12:28 am

    “Legend” or real – very cool for its time frame

Find Something

Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

Recent Comments

  • Bob Paolino on Beer Birthday: Grant Johnston
  • Gambrinus on Historic Beer Birthday: A.J. Houghton
  • Ernie Dewing on Historic Beer Birthday: Charles William Bergner 
  • Steve 'Pudgy' De Rose on Historic Beer Birthday: Jacob Schmidt
  • Jay Brooks on Beer Birthday: Bill Owens

Recent Posts

  • Historic Beer Birthday: Conrad Pfeiffer March 7, 2026
  • Beer In Ads #5148: Ach Himmel Mr. Goat March 6, 2026
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Conrad Windisch March 6, 2026
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Samuel Wainwright March 6, 2026
  • Beer In Ads #5147: Frankenmuth Is Michigan’s Largest Selling Bock March 6, 2026

BBB Archives

Feedback

Head Quarter
This site is hosted and maintained by H25Q.dev. Any questions or comments for the webmaster can be directed here.
Go to mobile version