Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Beer In Ads #682: He Made The Frontier A Good Place To Eat

By


Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1948, another in their “Great Contributions to Good Taste” series. The image of this as I have is fairly small so it’s hard to make out the story. It appears to have something to do with a man named Fred Harvey and how he made food on the train a better experience for people. I’m not sure what the frontier has to do with that, because it seems to me if the train went there it was no longer the frontier exactly. My understanding of “frontier” is that it’s meant to describe the edge or just beyond a settled area. Once there was a train station and regular rail service that seems to me that it would now be a settled area.

Bud-1948-santafe

Beer In Ads #681: It Seems There Was This Cow …

By


Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1951, showing a simple cartoon of the cow who apparently started the Chicago Fire in 1871. Today we know that’s probably not what happened, but the story of the ad is that with water in short supply after the fire, Schlitz sent a shipload of beer from Milwaukee. This was supposedly the first time their beer was sold outside their local market. Is it true? Who knows, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Schlitz-1964-cow

Beer In Ads #677: Frank Jones Brewery & Malt Houses

By


Tuesday’s ad is for an old New Hampshire brewer, Frank Jones, and this is one of those popular illustrations that so many breweries created before, and around, the turn of the last century. This one shows “a beer train led by the 4-4-0 ‘Gov. Weston’ stops at the Frank Jones Brewery — which was founded in 1859 by Frank Jones, who became president of the Boston & Maine in 1889 — in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.”

frank-jones-lg

Beer In Ads #676: Oysters and Lobsters

By


Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1948, featuring the Wells Fargo express and the curious notion that they became successful by delivering oysters and lobsters far inland. That apparently showed people that there was a need for express delivery service. A-B in turn, consider that a “Great Contribution to Good Taste,” and compared that to what they were doing delivering beer in refrigerated cars in 1948.

Bud-1948-wells-fargo

Beer In Ads #674: Every Sip Tells You What Words Can’t

By


Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1945, and features as a backdrop an illustration of the grand canyon. With the main headline, “Every sip tells you what words can’t,” the idea is that the view is so incredibly indescribable, just like the Budweiser. The side tagline is “Remember the Sunsets … you Could Never Describe?” Same deal with the beer, I guess.

Bud-1945-grand-canyon

Beer In Ads #673: Preferred … For Mellow Moments

By


Wednesday’s ad is for Hamm’s, the Smooth and Mellow Beer,” also from 1947. It’s a fun post-war ad showing two couples having a backyard barbecue, with odd-looking wooden-keg mugs on (at the bottom at least) a brick-covered tray. One curious question. There are four people show in the back yard. There are four bottles of Hamm’s on the tray, along with an equal number of mugs. BUt unless one of them is Mr. Fantastic (from the Fantastic Four) then there’s a fifth person in the house not pouring themselves a beer. I want to know his or her story. Who is the unseen fifth wheel?

Hamms-1947