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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #1732: Ik Drink Bier

November 7, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Saturday’s ad is for Grolsch, from 1951. Ik Drink Bier, or “I Drink Beer,” is a pretty simple slogan, but apparently if you drink eleven glasses of beer you can lift a pink elephant by its trunk, which is pretty impressive, and a rather bold claim. The ad was done by famous illustrator Ib Antoni, a Danish artist. It’s actually based on a previous poster he’d done where the kid only had three mugs of beer with the letter “M” on them, so it appears he adapted it for Grolsch. Across the bottom was also an addition for the ad: “Bier moet. Bier doet je goed.” Which Google translate tells me is “Beer should. Beer is good for you,” but I feel like “should” is probably not right and there’s some idiomatic use I’m missing.

grolsch

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Grolsch, History, The Netherlands

Beer In Ads #1731: Pint Glass Eyes

November 6, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is for Heineken, from 1951. I’ve always found this ad super creepy, but maybe it was effective, who knows. It certainly gives beer goggles a new angle, pint goggles, though I do like that the eye itself has become a drop of beer inside the glass looking out. And of course he’s wearing a bow tie.

HC-313Remix

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

Beer In Ads #1730: Zynda’s Bock

November 5, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Thursday’s ad is for Zynda’s Bock, from who knows when. John Zynda operated a brewery in Detroit, Michigan, at least until he closed in 1947. Before prohibition, his brewery was known as the White Eagle Brewery, but during prohibition he went underground, literally, and kept brewing beer under the name, John Zynda & Sons Brewery. Here’s a story about they kept making bee through prohibition, from Found Michigan:

Trouble was brewing for Michigan beer companies—big and small—in the spring of 1917, when Michigan jump-started the Prohibition era with its own statewide ban on alcohol nearly three years before the 18th Amendment made drinking a national taboo. Just a handful of Michigan brewers would survive through to the end of Prohibition in 1933, and those that did had to get creative. Several of the bigger companies began making and promoting the still-legal canned hopped malt syrup (the key ingredient needed for homebrewing); Stroh’s turned to making ice cream; and Detroit beer tycoon John Zynda even took his operation underground—literally. In order to avoid the cops, he dug a tunnel from his bottling shop to a garage across the street, rolling the beer to safety a half barrel at a time. When a shipment was ready, he’d then send an empty delivery van away as a decoy, while the real thing made its way off to customers in a car waiting the next block over. Detroit brewers like Zynda, however, had an even harder time making a go of it as of 1927. That year, Canada ended its partial Prohibition, and many Detroit beer makers found it hard to compete once a legal draft at a Windsor saloon was just a boat ride away.

After prohibition ended, and they were legal once again, their name changed to the Zynda Brewing Co. When they brewed Zynda’s Bock, is something I wasn’t able to answer, and although it looks like it’s from the late 1800s, I can’t say for sure.

Zyndas

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

Beer In Ads #1729: The Falstaff Serenade

November 4, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Wednesday’s ad is for Falstaff, from 1910. It’s a beautiful ad, showing a woman serenading the Falstaff star on a — is that a mandolin? — while sitting on a crescent moon. It was done by Valentine Sandberg, who was born in Sweden, but came to the U.S. as an infant and worked doing covers for a variety of popular magazine covers out of New York.

Falstaff-1920s-serenade

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

Beer In Ads #1728: Z.H.B. Lager Beers

November 3, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Tuesday’s ad is for Z.H.B. Lager Beers, from the South Holland Brewery (a.k.a. Zuid Hollandse Bierbrouwerijen) in The Hague Center. The ad is from between 1925 and 1950, a wide range to be sure, but that’s according to the Memory of the Netherlands website, who also credits the ad to Jacob Jansma. It’s a pretty great illustration of a woman holding up a glass of beer, and looking slyly to the side, possibly right at you and me.

zhb (1)

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

Beer In Ads #1727: Heineken’s Beer Bathing Beauties

November 2, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Monday’s ad is for Heineken, from who knows when. I can’t quite make out if these are actual vintage ads or modern ones made to look retro. Both feature the tagline “Heineken’s Beer,” while the first features a woman in a skimpy purple swimsuit.

HC-147Remix

Whereas in the second ad it’s a white one-piece suit. The woman almost appears the same in both, although in the first she has red hair, but in the second it appears more brown.

heinekens-beer-white

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

Beer In Ads #1726: Grantland Rice For Rheingold

November 1, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Sunday’s ad is for Rheingold beer, from 1940. Grantland Rice was a famous sportwriter, apparently known for his “elegant prose.” It’s also his birthday today. He wrote the sentiment that it’s not whether you won or lost, “But how you played the Game,” in a poem entitled “Alumnus Football.” He also did this ad for the “quicker quencher,” an odd nickname if ever there was one.

Untitled

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

Beer In Ads #1725: A Bear, A Beer, A Halloween Party

October 31, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Saturday’s Halloween ad is for Schlitz, from 1949. Part of Schlitz’s “I Was Curious” series, each employing a three-panel structure, this one takes place at a Halloween party. A man dressed as a bear spots a table full or Schlitz beer and was apparently thirsty enough to get a beer, forcing him to reveal himself by removing his bear helmet/mask to drink the beer, at which point, the bunny behind the table removes her rabbit head to reveal a fetching blonde, and the two appear to make googly eyes at one another. Which should mean the ad will have a happy ending. But in the first panel, the bunny was holding on onto a tray while a pirate poured beers into glasses, and then briskly goes off to deliver the beers to other guests at the party. That might suggest that he’s one of the hosts of the party, and possibly the bunny’s husband or boyfriend. So maybe this ad is racier than you might think at first glance. Perhaps we’re seeing the start of an affair?

Schlitz-1949-halloween-party

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Halloween, History, Holidays, Schlitz

Beer In Ads #1724: If Michelob Were A Ghost …

October 30, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is for Michelob, from 1970. A surprisingly fun ad, draping the Michelob bottle with a sheet as a ghost for Halloween. “Surprise People” indeed. Happy Devil’s Night.

Michelob-1970-halloween

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Anheuser-Busch, Halloween, History, Michelob

Beer In Ads #1723: Heineken’s Bier Ook

October 29, 2015 By Jay Brooks


Thursday’s ad is for Heineken, from, I believe, the 1950s. I’m not really sure when the ad is from, but given the woman serving the man so subserviently, I’d have to say 1950s or very early 1960s. The tagline, “ook biy U thuis,” is essentially “also at home” or “also in your home” (thanks Martijn for the better translation).

HC-144Remix

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

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