Sunday’s ad is for Falstaff, and it’s a simple ad, from I know not when. It says only “It’s your birthday!” and shows a bottle of Falstaff being poured into a mug. It looks 1940ish or 50ish, but that’s just a guess. But since it’s my birthday, it felt like the right ad for today.
Friday’s ad is for Blatz Pilsener Beer, probably from the 1940s. I’m guessing that because in the bottom righthand corner of the ad, it says “Brewing Better Beer for the 97th Year.” And depending on what year they’re using for when Blatz started — it could be 1850 or 1851 or even 1846 — that would put it at 1943, 1947 or 1948. I’m not entirely sure why there’s a bucket of bottles and a spilling bucket of blackberries, except that’s probably the freshness angle, for hat great tagline: “At the Peak of Flavor.” It must be working, because I’m certainly thirty just looking at the ad. Although there’s a part of me that will certainly be disappointed when the beer does not have a hint of blackberries in the flavor when I taste it.
Thursday’s ad is French, another Bieres de La Meuse poster, promoting beers from the Meuse region of northern France. Mucha did a more famous one, but I like this one, too. Very elegant presentation.
Wednesday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1957. Showing a dinner party, or really a soup party, paired with buckets of Ballantine Ale. In a rarity for beer advertising, they’re touting the hops used to brew the beer, a British hop known as “Brewer’s Gold.” According to HopUnion’s hop varieties booklet, Brewer’s Gold was developed in Great Britain as primarily a bittering hop by a Professor Salmon in 1934. Ballantine refers to it as a “rare, choice hop.” And hop about this great tagline at the end? “Enjoy the genuine — it’s the trend, friend!”
Tuesday’s ad is another one for Schlitz, from 1956. Showing another backyard barbecue, or “cookout,” it’s another group of well-dressed hipsters, enjoying some brewskis with grilled meat. The barbecue man is even wearing a chef’s hat and white apron. And according to the ad, Schlitz is not only the “World’s Largest-Selling Beer” but is also as “refreshing as all outdoors!”
Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1954. Showing a backyard barbecue, or what was then called a “cookout,” the man working the grill is holding up his glass of beer while still sing his spatula on the burgers. I mentioned this in an earlier bbq ad, but again look at how dressed up they are for a cookout, the women in dresses and the men in what today we’d call business casual, though the guy in the pink shirt is sporting a tie. There’s lots of little details, like the odd facial expressions on the salt and pepper shakers next to the Schlitz sign in the lower left. The main man, the grillmaster, has shown up in a number of modern mash-ups, but this is the original ad he was taken from.
Friday’s ad is still another one for Schlitz, this one also from 1949. It, too, is part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features a group of people on a fishing trip, with all of the men in flannel and two in hats — one a cap but the other is a fedora?!? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone wearing a fedora camping before. There are five beer bottles on the tray, but only four people. Who’s that fifth bottle for?
Thursday’s ad is yet another one for Schlitz, this one from 1949. It, too, is part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features two couples around a swimming pool. Despite the fact that at least one of them has been in the pool, all of their hair remains perfect. And I always thought that one of the advantages of cans was so that you wouldn’t accidentally break them in a place where people might be barefoot, like a swimming pool. But there folks got the cans, but are pouring them into what looks like glass, though perhaps they’re plastic glassware.
Wednesday’s ad is another one for Schlitz, also from 1950. It, too, is part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features a backyard picnic where horseshoes are being played. I love how in the 1950s people dressed up for a picnic. The fellow in the yellow shirt even has matching socks.
Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1950. It’s part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features a scrapbook that, despite the fact that it would appear to be from a picturesque location, shows the person on vacation and his beer, but not the vistas they would have been looking at. Good thing whoever he was travelling with captured the moment he first saw Schlitz, and then the moment he first tasted it. Funny, that’s what my vacation shots look like, too.
