Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Art #61: Alex Arshansky’s Cheers

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Today’s works of art is quite modern, painted in a style that’s been described as “biomorphic cubism with a touch of surrealism.” The title of the acrylic painting is Cheers, and it was completed last year, in 2009.

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The artist, Alex Arshansky, moved with his family from Moscow, Russia to Tucson, Arizona when he was 18. From his Fine Art America biography:

Alexander was born in Moscow and has moved to Arizona (USA) at the age of 18. As the East met West, his work has evolved and become more expressive, depicting symbolic, ambiguous forms and subjects. The critics and art lovers define Alexander’s style as Biomorphic Cubism with elements of surrealism. Great attention is paid to numbers, letters, signs and symbols. Alexander’s works feature vivid, saturated colors – they produce a visual impact even without understanding the content of the painting. Some of his art pieces present a challenging interpretation of religious events and common dogmas to the point of insult.

You can see more of Arshansky’s work at his own website and also at Fine Art America.

Guinness Ad #1: The Balancing Seal

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The first poster John Gilroy did for Guinness is believed to be of a seal balancing a pint of beer. Gilroy apparently got the idea while visiting the circus. The UK Independent related the story last year, when Guinness was celebrating their 250th anniversary, and simultaneously their 80th anniversary of advertising.

The artist was reputedly visiting the circus one day when he was impressed by the sight of a sea lion balancing a ball on his nose. Gilroy, deploying the strange thought processes of great advertising creatives down the decades, conjured the image of a sea lion balancing a bottle of the black stuff and made it the subject of an iconic Guinness poster ad. From there followed a menagerie: an ostrich, a tortoise and then the famous toucan, the best-known Guinness animal.

That would have been in 1930, the year after Guinness began advertising. Gilroy continued to work on this Guinness campaign for the next 35 years.

Guinness Seal

Beer In Ads Special Edition: John Gilroy

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You probably know John Gilroy’s advertising artwork, even if the name is not familiar. John Gilroy is responsible for the iconic Guinness ads that ran from 1927 through the 1960s. Featuring toucans, kangaroos, bears, ostriches and other animals along with the occasional steel-carrying strongman, lumberjack and zookeeper, the roughly fifty posters Gilroy produced are some of the most famous beer ads ever done. So many of his posters are famous that it seems a shame not to highlight them separately from the other ads I’ve been featuring during the week. So each Saturday I’ll post a new Guinness poster or ad. Gilroy is believed to have done nearly 50 of the posters and another 100 print ads for Guinness over a 35-year period working on the Guinness account, first with a firm, and later as a freelancer.

Below is a sample of what you’ll see over the coming year or two, every Saturday.

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For more about John Gilroy, see Wikipedia (and their page on Guinness advertising), Celtic Shamrock, Newcastle University (where Gilroy was an alum), Journal Live and especially at the Guinness Collector’s Club, which has a great biography page.

Beer In Ads #23: Le Bon Bock

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Friday’s ad is another old art poster from France. I don’t know the artist, the brewery or even the year is was created, though it was most likely in the first few decades of the last century. “Le Bon Bock” I presume is “the good beer” and Atlantique may be the brewery, or it may simply refer to beer along the Atlantic coast of France.

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Beer In Ads #22: Sapporo’s At The Dance

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Thursday’s ad is from Japan, and is for Sapporo beer. The ad is from 1934 and pictures a woman sitting and enjoying a beer, presumably at a dance watching the other couples cut a rug. One oddity; is it just me or does that glass in her hand look pretty small? Or is she perhaps a giant? Either way, it seems a little out of proportion. It’s also interesting that apart from the kanji writing and the woman’s obvious ethnicity, it could be any western ad for beer.

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Beer In Ads #21: Molson’s Crown & Anchor

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Wednesday’s ad is from Canada, and was published in 1955. After opening their Toronto brewery the same year, Molson debuted their first lager beer, Crown and Anchor. This ad, featuring dancing sailors, was one of the first ads for the new beer. I wonder what “sparkling light” is?

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If you can’t read the text, either click on the ad for a larger view or read the transcription below.

If you want a gay and cheery
brew that looks brighter, tastes
lighter … and leaves a fresh
clean taste upon the tongue …
try Crown & Anchor Lager Beer.
Chances are you’ll agree,
“This light beer is the right beer for me.”

Beer In Ads #20: Biere Chatelaine

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Tuesday’s ad is from France, most likely in the first few decades of the 20th century. Despite the fact that you can see there’s a signature on the poster, no source I can find identifies who the artist is. Similarly, I don’t know what brewery the poster is advertising for. The poster reminds me a bit of the old Coppertone ad where the dog is trying to pull off the little girl’s bathing suit. But in this case the damn dog is pulling on the waitress’ dress and spilling the beer! Bad dog!

biere-chatelaine

Beer In Ads #19: Budweiser, I See You Have Excellent Taste

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Monday’s ad is from 1937 and is again for Budweiser. The gypsy fortune teller must have seemed very exotic in the late 1930s. But I love the assertion that by buying Budweiser you’re complimenting “your own excellent taste.” And you, and three generations before you, have done so not because you liked the taste, not because you were thirsty, not even because you enjoyed beer, but for a more grand reason. You bought Bud “in the interest of good fellowship, contentment and good living.”

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The inset box is signed by Adolphus Busch III, who’d taken over A-B from August A. Busch Sr. just a few years before, in 1934. It also contains some interesting statements. Obviously, the nation was still smarting from the effects of the Great Depression. Busch is insuring customers that buying Budweiser is helping American business; railroads, retailers and even farmers. He concludes with “whenever you drink Budweiser you are helping someone.” I imagine that’s true, but it’s still a bit odd that his focus is on that help going to someone other than A-B itself. I guess he didn’t want to come off like he was being self-serving.

The other thing I’m curious about is he mentions that A-B has “bought millions of dollars worth of barley and hops from American farmers.” Hops, I understand, to a point, at least. Today A-B owns hop farms in Idaho, but also in the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany. Obviously, the ad doesn’t claim they buy ALL their hops and barley from U.S. farmers, and they don’t even mention where the rice comes from. But did A-B buy more hops domestically in the past? Also, it’s my understanding that the vast majority of barley used by American breweries comes from Canada, though there is a small percentage grown in the U.S. for brewing. Has that shifted in the last 70+ years since this ad ran? Did brewers used to get more of their grain here in the States? Anybody know? You rarely see local grain touted as a point of pride in advertising, the only recent exception I can think of being Sierra Nevada’s Estate Brewers Harvest Ale. But with all the recent attention paid to buying locally and locavores, that has to be one of beer’s dirty little secrets: that most brewing grains come from outside the U.S., much less from local farmers.

Beer In Art #60: Stained Glass Bier

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Today’s works of art is a stained glass sign from the late 19th century. It’s online because a professional photographer, Lar Matre, owns the sign and photographed it. It’s difficult to photograph stained glass, at least in my experience, and it is a great photo, but for my purposes I’m more impressed by the artistry of the signmaker. And I love stained glass, always have. But I imagine seeing the original of this, especially in the context of being at a German bar, would be stunning.

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According to Matre, on his website, his “great grandfather bought it in the late 1800s in Germany, or so [he’s been] told.” The photograph itself can be purchased online at Fine Art America.

You can see much more of Matre photos at his website and his Flickr page. As for more stained glass, start with Wikipedia. But there’s also the Corning Museum of Glass, Vidimus and the Stained Glass Museum.

Beer In Ads #18: Leonetto Cappiello’s Bieres de La Fauvette

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Friday’s ad is French, and most likely was created at the beginning 20th century. It was painted by Leonetto Cappiello, an Italian illustrator considered to be the father of modern advertising.

From one biography:

Cappiello was self-taught, began as a caricaturist and escalated to the early 20th century’s most acclaimed European artist. Cleverly linking products with vivid, memorable images, he produced 1,000 imaginative posters for beverages, ballet, literature, plays, travel and music halls in four decades. Leading the Art Deco movement, Cappiello’s techniques are still vital to modern advertising.

I don’t know what brewery this was done for, but essentially it translates as “Beer of the Warbler.”

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