Friday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1947. In the background the three Ballantine rings are being used to play horseshoes, while in the foreground a man who’s a dead ringer for Will Rogers in a bow tie is reaching out for a beer. The tagline, “I’ll take Ballantine Ale,” neatly works as both slogan and as a description of what’s going on in the ad.
Today’s infographic is yet another beer spectrum poster, this one from Great Brewers. This one is done in a wheel format.
Click here to see the poster full size.
Thursday’s ad is also for Budweiser, from 1956. Anheuser-Busch did a few of these ads, with a scene shown through a glass of beer. This one appears to be a musical rehearsal or party where the attendees are singing a lot. It uses the “Where there’s Life … there’s Budweiser” slogan that was popular in the Fifties, but I love the tagline at the bottom best of all. “Treat Yourself A Little Better….”
Today’s infographic is another beer spectrum poster, this one from the Blue Sky Brewery in Cairns, Australia, showing their beers along with some other popular beers along the spectrum.
Click here to see the poster full size.
Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1951. With the tagline “Something more than Beer” followed by “… a mark of good taste,” a couple is apparently unwrapping wedding gifts. The expression on the woman’s face is priceless as she looks over a statue she’s just opened, while her new hubby arrives to rescue her with a tray of beers and snacks.
The publishers of a new online magazine, Modern Farmer, let me know about an interesting article in their latest issue, Meet The Micro-Malts, about the trend of locally grown barley and wheat for brewing. I’ve been hearing more and more from brewers looking for ways to get their ingredients closer to home, and this is certainly one of the first steps in making that more of a reality. We also need more small, regional malting houses, too. I wonder if anybody’s addressing that need?
I know it’s late notice but Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef, is doing a beer dinner tomorrow night, Thursday April 11, in conjunction with the Sonoma Film Festival. The dinner is sponsored by New Belgium Brewing but also features beer from several breweries. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at Ramekins Culinary School & Inn located at 450 West Spain Street in Sonoma. Tickets for the four-course dinner are $75 and can be purchased at Eventbrite. Sean’s dinners tend to be amazing, and I’m confident this one will be no different. And because it’s a school night, it’s a modest dinner by his standards, a good one to start with if you haven’t been to one his extravaganzas before.
Here’s the menu:
Popcorn
Duck fat fried heirloom popcorn, dusted in fennel pollen, grains of paradise and truffle salt
cedar smoked bacon fat popped popcorn with tomato powder, thyme salt and porcini mushroom dust
Flatbread
“The Bejkr” dough baked in the wood oven with Russian River Consecration barrel staves, shaved fennel, Sonoma Dry Jack, local olive oil, sea salt and chili
Paired with Hoppy Bock and Fat Tire
Unicorn Sashimi
Carpaccio of beets, carrots, radishes, fennel fond, arugula, shaved Cypress Grove Midnight Moon, hazelnut sesame sunflower seed butter, tarragon, sunflower sprouts, Ranger IPA foam
Paired with Rampant Imperial IPA
The Man Who Lived on His Bike
Sea scallops poached in Sunshine Wheat and bergamot peel, sautéed lacinato kale with sage, green beans, and Tripel coriander sabayon
Paired with Brewery Vivant Biere De Garde
Bird and Business
Sonoma County chicken and duck, mixed with Lips of Faith Cascara Quad soaked dates, caramelized shallots, black garlic sausage on a breaded Paul’s Produce rutabaga film reel, escarole & green garlic topped with a abbey coffee mustard sauce
Cheesy Movies
Pt. Reyes Bay Blue, Laura Chenel Cheese, Delice de la Vallee with Abbey Ale orange peel honey, La Folie beer jelly, clove smoked cashews, hop salt, local breads and crackers
Paired with Lost Abbey Bretta Beer and Prickly Passion Saison
Movie Treats
1554 beer brittle topped with dark chocolate, toasted pistachio and smoked salt with Heavenly Feijoa beer marshmallow dipped in white chocolate with rose dust
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream
Peach Porch Lounger ice cream with Tripel caramel ripple with Biere de Mars goat milk sherbet
Paired with Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout and Transatlantique Kriek
Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef
Today’s infographic is a homebrewing chart showing the balance value of different types of beer based on their bitterness units and their gravity units. It was created by a homebrewer and posted on his own personal homebrewing website.
Click here to see the chart full size.
Tuesday’s ad is for Blatz, from 1953. Apparently Milwaukee in olden days had Sousaphone players wearing Lederhosen serenading restaurant diners but nowadays, thanks to Blatz, it’s a violinist. I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I actually love a good oompah band. I also have to wonder. How did they fill two pilsner glasses with only one bottle of beer?
Today’s infographic is the second of three similar charts that Pete Slosberg created for Pete’s Wicked Ales. It also shows popular beer styles (remember this was the late 80s) and where they fell on an x/y axis spectrum, and also includes color along one additional axis. It was one of the first great educational tools for explaining the variation in different beers, something that most people didn’t know anything about back then.
Click here to see the chart full size.