Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #2120: Blue Ribbon North American Game Birds

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Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from the 1980s. In this ad, a poster by Pabst, entitled “Blue Ribbon North American Game Birds,” it shows illustrations of nine popular game birds. Presumably it was intended to hang in bars frequented by hunters, or perhaps people who love birds. Speaking of which, there are far fewer beer ads using birds that I thought there would be, so this will be the last one for now (not including the many John Gilroy Guinness ads featuring toucans). I must be in the minority, because I love birds.

Pabst-1980s-na-game-birds

Here’s a second view of the poster, though for the life of me I don’t understand why they displayed it on a Coors tablecloth.

Pabst-1980s-game-birds

Anchor Christmas Ale 2000

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xmas-christmas-ale
It’s day twenty-six of my seasonal sprint to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

2000 was the twenty-sixth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and from 1987 through the present day, each year Anchor’s Our Special Ale has included spices, a different combination of them every time. Generally the base beer has been a spiced brown ale, although it has been varied from time to time, as well. This twenty-sixth label was a “California Nutmeg,” or “Torreya californica.”

Anchor-Xmas-2000

Beer In Ads #2119: The ‘A’ And Eagle Has Learned To Fly

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Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1943. In this ad, featuring the Bald Eagle soaring with U.S. war planes in a nakedly patriotic ad (it was mid-WW2 after all), you’ll be surprised to learn what the ad is actually about. Despite the all-American imagery, the ad is about refrigeration, and gliders, and how A-B converted their refrigeration division to make gliders for the military to help the war effort. And if you look at the bottom, A-B was doing a lot for the war effort, and wasn’t shy about letting people now, probably still smarting from the prohibition years and trying to get back in their customers’ and especially the teetotalers good graces.

Bud-1943-eagle

Anchor Christmas Ale 1999

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xmas-christmas-ale
It’s day twenty-five of my seasonal scamper to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1999 was the twenty-fifth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked another year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This twenty-fifth label was a “Desert Ironwood,” or “Olneya tesota.”

Anchor-Xmas-1999

Anchor Christmas Ale 1998

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xmas-christmas-ale
It’s day twenty-four, a full case, of my flurry of a flight to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1998 was the twenty-fourth year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked another year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This twenty-fourth label was a “California Juniper,” or “Juniperus californica.”

Anchor-Xmas-1998

Beer In Ads #2117: Nature Unspoiled

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Tuesday’s ad is for Carling Breweries, from 1945. In this ad, featuring five birds, the “Spring Heralds,” the birds whose very presence means the end of winter. At least this ad talks about protecting nature and doesn’t try to make some weak analogy between their beer and the birds. Them and their “cheerful and lusty songs.”

Carling-1950-birds

Anchor Christmas Ale 1997

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xmas-christmas-ale
It’s day twenty-three of my seasonal sprint to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1997 was the twenty-third year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked another year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This twenty-third label was a “Scots Pine” or “Pinus sylvestris.”

Anchor-Xmas-1997

Anchor Christmas Ale 1996

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xmas-christmas-ale
It’s day twenty-two of my mad dash to Christmas featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

1996 was the twenty-second year that Anchor made their Christmas Ale, and this year marked the tenth year that Anchor’s Our Special Ale included spices. Like the previous nine year’s, a spiced brown ale was created for the year’s Christmas Ale. This twenty-second label was a “White Oak” or “Quercus alba.”

Anchor-Xmas-1996