Tuesday’s ad is for the Budweiser flat-top can from 1964. They’re going for that manly fisherman demographic. I found it interesting given yesterday’s post, Evolution of a Beer Label, just how much importance A-B was placing on its label in 1964. Notice what the ad copy reads. “The story is on every Budweiser label.” But I think the previous question asked by the ad, “[i]s there any real difference in the way beers are brewed,” will have the average beer geek laughing out loud.
Below is, as far as I know, the most recent label for Budweiser, updated in 2000. We all know that labels change over time, sometimes dramatically, but usually more subtly with just small tweaks from time to time. But even small changes over a long period of time become dramatic in the long view. So this is a fascinating peak into those changes.
Etiquette Systems, a label manufacturer, has an online gallery showing what they call the Evolution of America’s Most Famous Beer Label. It shows a dozen different versions of the Budweiser label, from the first 1876 version up to the 2000 latest one, with all of the changes in between.
Monday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale from 1947. It features a woman in a white dress with white roses in her hair. Is that really who drank ale in the late 1940s? Ah, well. If I’d just come back from the war, I suppose I’d have a beer with her, too.
Today’s works of art is another modern one, painted in a style that’s known as Photorealism or, more likely, Hyperrealism (the two are similar), although the artist doesn’t characterize his work in that way. The artist is Steven R. Kozar and his painting is titled Wisconsin Craft Brews, featuring bottles of beer from three Wisconsin breweries, Capital Brewery, New Glarus and Sprecher.
The painting is 18 x 24 in. and is a watercolor. The original has been sold, but prints are available for $25 at his online store. Most of the works in his gallery are landscapes, and they’re spectacular.
Kozar’s a Wisconsin native, living in McFarland. Here’s a short biography from his blog:
Born 1964 in Lake Zurich, IL. Studied at ISU from 1983 to 1984, and at The American Academy of Art in Chicago from 1985 to 1986. At age 23 moved to rural Wisconsin and began full-time painting. Kozar’s paintings have been exhibited along side most of the artists he admired as an art student, including Midwestern artists Harold Gregor, James Winn, and James Butler. He has also exhibited with many of today’s contemporary masters, such as Andrew Wyeth, Gary Ernest Smith, Ralph Goings. John Stuart Ingle, Burt Silverman, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Peter Sculthorpe and Nelson Shanks.
You can see more of Kozar’s work at his website and his blog also has a few videos during the painting of this work, which are interesting to watch.
The second Guinness poster on our John Gilroy odyssey is also one of my favorites. The tagline is “There’s Nothing Like A Guinness” and features the personified pint of Guinness opening its mouth for the last drop from the bottle.
And here’s another version, a square one, of the same basic artwork.
Friday’s ad is for Brauerei Münchner Kindl, a German brewer. As far as I can tell, Vivator was a brand of beer sold by the brewery. There’s a small signature block in the lower right corner that appears to be where the artist’s signature would be, but I can’t find a large enough version of the ad to read it. I love how exuberant the man is, stein in hand, singing in what looks like it could be snow, with the Munich skyline behind him.
Thursday’s ad is for a Swiss brewer, Braustube Hurlimann in Zurich. It was created by Hugo Laubi, a Swiss illustrator who lived from 1888-1959.
Wednesday’s ad is for the Scottish beer, McEwan’s, which until recently was owned by Scottish & Newcastle, but in 2007 it was split up and bought by both Heineken USA and Carlsberg, who each picked over its bones and took bits of it for themselves. Heineken got the McEwan’s brand.Who knows what its ultimate fate will be, though Heineken’s track record isn’t exactly geared toward preservation.
I don’t know when this ad was produced, but given the burning cigarette dangling above the McEwan’s man — taken from the Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals — in the ashtray. it certainly must be when smoking still didn’t carry the stigma is does nowadays. I love the tartan background and just the simplicity of the drawing.
Tuesday’s ad is by an artist named G. Foure, and that’s about as much as I know about him. The poster, Biere Titan, is for Grandes Brasserie Jarney and Uckange, a French brewery that was created in 1926 when
Brasseries de Pagny sur Moselle merged with Brasseries de Jarny. That means this ad was done some time after 1926. The Biere Titan certainly has a jolly amber giant look to him. I also love the feathery wisps of cloud-like head. Who’s thirsty now?
Monday’s ad is somewhat unusual in that it’s for a non-alcoholic beer. This one’s called Malti and is from Italy. I’m not quite sure why they chose a flute player for the logo, but as stained glass I think it’s pretty cool looking. I’m guessing it’s from the sixties or possibly early seventies. Anybody know anything different? The tagline translates to essentially “good beer without alcohol.”
