Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #2238: There Is All The Good Of Beer, And None Of The Harm

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Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1908. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the largest breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, Schlitz details just how good their beer is for you, and why. “Malted barley is a digested food. Hops are a tonic — also an aid to sleep.” All of it leads to their inescapable conclusion. “There is all the good of beer, and none of the harm, in Schlitz.”

schlitz-1908-malted-barley

Beer In Ads #2237: The Home Beer

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Wednesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1907. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the largest breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, Schlitz is trying to persuade people to stock their beer at home. Why? Because of it’s “purity.” And how about this reason: “Get the good without the harm.”

schlitz-1907-home-beer

Beer In Ads #2236: The Sturdiest Peoples Of The Earth Drink Beer

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Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1908. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the largest breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, which begins with this boast — “The Sturdiest peoples of the earth drink beer” — and then explains how beer drinkers are less nervous then other people, and less likely to have dyspepsia, too. Of course, while dyspepsia sounds bad, it’s just a fancy word for indigestion. The ad goes on to detail the many other ways in which drinking beer (though not drinking too much) is good for you. These are my favorite sentences. “The barley is food; the hops are a tonic. The trifle of alcohol is an aid to digestion.”

schlitz-1908-studiest

Beer In Ads #2235: The All Important

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Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1907. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the larger breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, with the title “The All Important,” you might understandably wonder what is the all important? It’s purity, of course, which is “absolute cleanliness” and “freedom from germs.” And that is more or less what it means. Google’s definition is “freedom from adulteration or contamination.” I certainly wouldn’t “knowingly drink beer that was not.”

schlitz-1907-all-important

Beer In Ads #2234: The Doctor Says “Drink Beer”

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Sunday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1908. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the larger breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, a doctor apparently prescribes beer for “the weal and convalescent,” so if it’s good enough for “those who need strength” then it should be pretty good for you, too.

schlitz-1908-doctor-2

Beer In Ads #2233: Schlitz, For Fifty Years

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Saturday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1909. In the first decade of the 20th century, Schlitz Brewing, then one of the larger breweries in the U.S. after the industry had shrunk from over 4,000 to around 1,500 in just 25 or so years, did a series of primarily text ads, with various themes. In this ad, celebrating their 50th anniversary, having been founded in 1849, they’re talking about their purity, and “common beer, usually, costs you just as much as Schlitz,” so the inference is that you might as while buy the Schlitz.

Schlitz-1906-for-50

Beer In Ads #2232: What Is Beer?

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Friday’s ad is our last trade ad for March, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from the early 1940s. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, entitled simply “What is Beer?,” it depicts eleven different people involved in the creation, selling and consumption of beer. Some you’ll expect, like the brewer, of course, along with the farmer and the tax collector. But I wasn’t expecting the poet. But I guess it makes sense. As they suggest. “It is the beverage of friendship, good company and good inspiration.”

what-is-beer

Beer In Ads #2231: What Hops Do For Beer And Ale

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Thursday’s ad is a trade ad, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1940. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, it’s another one labelled as part of a series entitled “THE RECORD … Facts That Concern You.” As I mentioned yesterday, I’m unsure just how many were actually created and published but this one provides a clue. In the upper right-hand corner it says that this ad is “No 21 of a series,” so that suggests there were at least that many ads of this type. The ad describes hops by stating “Hops are for flavor. They give to good beer and ale their lively, appetizing flavor, their pleasant, aromatic tang.” Hard to argue with that.

UBIF-1940-hops-21is

Beer In Ads #2230: The Story Of Relief From Relief

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Wednesday’s ad is a trade ad, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1938. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, one of the earliest by the UBIF, and labelled as part of a series entitled “THE RECORD … Facts That Concern You.” I’ve only found a few from the series, so I’m unsure just how many were actually created and published. The ad itself is titled “The Story of Relief From Relief” is a catchall of themes they’d later explore in more depth, about creating jobs, paying taxes, helping farmers and trying to make bars safer and lawful places.

UBIF-1938-relief

Beer In Ads #2229: The Entire Cost Of The C.C.C.

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Tuesday’s ad is a trade ad, by the United States Brewing Industry Foundation, from 1940. After prohibition ended, the industry started doing PSA-type ads in an attempt to create goodwill for beer and brewers. They would later go on to do a fairly sophisticated series of ads between 1946 and 1956, known unofficially as Beer Belongs. Officially, they were “The Home Life in America” series, consisting of 120 ads, with a new ad running in major periodicals each month. Last year, for my Beer in Ads series, I featured every one of them. But in the years before that, the U.S. Brewing Industry Foundation (a precursor to the original Brewer’s Association) dabbled with a variety of similar ads promoting the industry as a whole. These were especially popular during World War 2, and in fact they even won an award from the government for some of these ads. Most of the ads were black and white, although a few were in color, though usually in a minimal way, with a few colors accented rather than being in full color.

In this ad, which appears to be about the C.C.C., which I confess I didn’t know what that meant. Apparently C.C.C. stands for Civilian Conservation Corps, and here’s a description from Wikipedia:

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was eventually expanded to young men ages 17–28. Robert Fechner was the head of the agency. It was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal that provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. At the same time, it implemented a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Over the course of its nine years in operation, 3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a small wage of $30 (about $547 in 2015) a month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families).

So the beer industry was suggesting in this ad that this popular program cost many times less than all of the taxes paid on beer, and therefore the industry was helping out with the good work of the corps. In fact, only four days of beer taxes were needed to fund it for an entire year. Not bad. Drink up, you’re helping conserve our natural resources.

USBF-1939-ccc