Friday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1951. The ad is part of Blatz’s “I lived in Milwaukee, I ought to know” series from the Fifties that featured prominent celebrities, sports figures and famous folks from Milwaukee claiming to know “Blatz is Milwaukee’s Finest Beer” because they lived there, or near there, at some point in their lives. This one features Uta Hagen, an actress born in Germany but raised in nearby Madison, Wisconsin.
I came across this interesting patent design for a beer tumbler this morning for Budweiser that was patented on June 10, 1879 by C. Conrad. Liquor importer Carl Conrad is one of the more forgotten names from the history of Anheuser-Busch. He was at least partially responsible, along with his longtime friend Adolphus Busch, for the original recipe of Budweiser and in fact early bottles of Bud, prior to the 1920s were sold under the company name “C. Conrad and Co.” before A-B got the rights from Conrad. He apparently also designed this glass for the beer in 1879. I”m not sure if they were ever made, but they certainly look somewhat familiar. Anybody know?
I got a press release yesterday from a Julian Healey about a project he’s just launched. His new website from Australia is The Hoplist, and includes information on at least 268 varieties of hops, which they claim is the “biggest list of hops … ever.” And that seems right, most of the hop guides are put out by the hop growers and sellers, and focus on just the varieties that they carry, whereas the Hoplist is at least attempting to be complete. For each hop, there’s a description of the hop and nearly two-dozen bits of information about it. I’ll be in Melbourne in just over a week, so perhaps I can share a beer with Julian. I think I’ll suggest something hoppy.
Thursday’s ad may not be a real ad, I’m not entirely sure. It’s for a Brasserie Belden, which I can’t find any information about at all. And the nature of the ad, more like a political attack ad, makes it seem more like a spoof than a real ad that someone might have actually ran. It has the look of an older ad, with the paper staining, at least after World War II, although it’s easy enough to fake that using PhotoShop. I don’t recall where I found this one and the fact that I can’t find any additional information about it on the interwebs further leads me to suspect its veracity, although it’s too funny not to share all the same. “Be a man. Drink Belden.”
The Atlantic magazine had a good round-up of the State of American Beer, based on a report from the trade publication Beverage Industry. Beverage Industry’s March issue had a series of articles on different segments, including Craft brewers’ sales growth continues, Domestic beer case sales decline, Mexican beers dominate imported beer growth and Hard cider draws in consumers from outside the beer category. In addition, at the same time they released a separate report, the 2014 U.S. Beer Category Report.
You could spend the time to read through all of them (and I’d encourage you to do so) but to get an overview of the reports, The Atlantic’s coverage provides the highlights (and even does a better job with the charts). For example, here’s the top craft brands from 2013.
And here’s case sales by brand in a piechart.
And this last one, the percentage change in case sales, is amazing because is shows just how fast Lagunitas is growing, though Stone’s doing pretty well on the growth front, too.
Wednesday’s ad is for Biere Paillette, from Brasserie Paillette in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, France. This one shows a seagull swooping in for a sip of beer floating on the sea. Beautiful.
Today is the birthday of the late Alan Eames, one of the first Americans who wrote extensively about beer, especially in a serious way, mining history and culture for his topics. I never met Alan, though I talked to him on the phone a few times. When he passed away a few years ago, my friend Pete Slosberg bought his library, and donated much of it to the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, for their library. When Pete and his wife moved to San Francisco, he gave me several boxes from the library, mostly old newsletters, press releases and other miscellaneous stuff, including the poem below.
By coincidence, today is also the day when many people celebrate the Greek philosopher Aristotle’s birthday around 384 B.C.E. Nobody’s sure of the exact date that Aristotle was born, and I’m not even sure why today is used by so many sources, but it’s as good a day as any, I suppose. Anyway, I was browsing through boxes of Alan’s papers and found a Xeroxed copy of a 17th century poem from one of Eames’ books, “A Beer Drinker’s Companion,” from 1986, which also mentions Aristotle. The author is unknown, but it seemed appropriate because of the connection between Alan Eames and Aristotle and their mutual birthday today. Enjoy.
Beer and Women
While I’m at the tavern quaffing,
Well disposed for t’other quart,
Come’s my wife to spoil my laughing,
Telling me ’tis time to part:
Words I knew, were unavailing,
Yet I sternly answered, No!
‘Till from motives more prevailing,
Sitting down she treads my toe:
Such kind tokens to my thinking,
Most emphatically prove
That the joys that flow from drinking,
Are averse to those of love.
Farewell friends and t’other bottle,
Since I can no longer stay,
Love more learn’d than Aristotle,
Has, to move me, found the way.
Tuesday’s ad is by the beer industry, from the later 1950s when things were friendlier. This pro-beer industry ad is from after the “Beer Belongs” series ended its run in 1956. Showing a group of campers by the side of a lake, I love the tagline (it’s such a creature of its time). “Beer has its own friendly way of saying … Come and get it.” Also, note the inset box explaining how to clean beer glassware. Everything old is new again.
Monday’s ad is for Acme Beer, from maybe the 1940s or 50s. I assume the model is a famous actress, but I confess I don’t recognize her. The somewhat wieldy bit of the ad copy is that “I.Q.” stands for “It Quenches.” How exactly does a beer have a “high it quenches?”
Today’s beer film is the third of a three-part series on Malting Barley at home by a YouTube creator who goes by Woodland Gardener, from Ontario, Canada.