Our 30th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features a circus ringmaster showing a seal just how it’s done, balancing a bottle of Guinness on his own bulbous nose. The tagline is “My Goodness, My Guinness.”
Beer In Ads #167: Bieres de Chartres
Friday’s ad is yet another French beer, this one for Bieres de Chartres. While I don’t know very much about it, or who the artist is, it’s from the same period of time — the 1920s — and is cut from the same cloth. It may even be a tad funnier, what with the waiter drinking the beer even as he delivers it.
No More Gluek Beer
Cold Spring Brewing in Minnesota announced yesterday that they will no longer brew the historic Gluek brand. Gluek began brewing in 1857, before Minnesota was even a state.
In 1857 on the bank of the Mississippi River in an area which would someday be known as Minneapolis, German immigrant Gottlieb Gluek started the Mississippi Brewing Company. Soon the name was changed to the Gluek Brewing Company, and by 1964 Gluek became Minneapolis’s oldest continuously-operated business.
In 1858 the company brewed 3,996 barrels of beer, and by 1901 the annual capacity was second only to the two “giants” the Minneapolis Brewing Company (later renamed as the Grain Belt) and the Theo. Hamm Brewery of St. Paul.
But after 1964 it fell on hard times and, like many regional breweries, was bought by G. Heileman. The original brewery was torn down but a new one was later built back in Cold Spring, Minnesota in 1997. A couple of years ago, however, they renamed Gluek Brewing to Cold Spring Brewing as fewer and fewer consumers knew or cared about Gluek’s history in the region.
As an AP story reports:
By September, Gluek will be phased out. But vice president and general manager Doug DeGeest says Cold Spring Brewing is keeping the Gluek trademark, and it’s possible the beer could come back.
DeGeest says it was a business decision to discontinue the Gluek brand. He says the Cold Spring-based company cannot keep up with production and needed to decide which product in its portfolio of beers to discontinue.
When I was the beer buyer at BevMo, we brought in some of the Gluek beer in cans and they also sold us a beer exclusively (for California, at least) which we sold as a private label beer. That was Fat Cat Lager, which was a decent enough all-malt generic lager. I believe Randy Mosher did the label design.
Regardless of Gluek’s ultimate place in American brewing history, it’s always sad to see another old brand consigned to the scrap heap of discontinued brands, but then I’m sentimental that way.
Beer In Ads #166: Marcellin Auzolle’s Supreme Biere Gangloff
Thursday’s ad is another French beer, and like Tuesday’s ad, features an anthropomorphic sun. It was done by French illustrator Marcellin Auzolle and is specifically for Supreme Biere Gangloff. A lot of great artists worked for Gangloff in the 1920s, I hope their beer was as good as their taste in artists. It’s also great to see kids in beer ads, especially given our peculiar paranoia about mixing the two.
Beer In Ads #165: Moretti Birra Friulana
Wednesday’s ad is for one of the most well-known Italian beers, Birra Moretti. It’s the iconic Moretti man used on the beer label since just after World War II, which has a fascinating story in its own right, which is reprinted below from Moretti’s website.
The story behind the label
The quality of Birra Moretti beer is guaranteed by the Man on the Label, the moustached drinker who is the symbol of the Birra Moretti brand. This moustached gentleman has an unusual history… In 1942, Birra Moretti had already been a popular drink all over Friuli for over 80 years. One day, Commander Lao Menazzi Moretti saw a pleasant-looking old man with a moustache sitting at a little table in the Boschetti di Tricesimo inn (Udine).
He was just the kind of character Moretti had been looking for to represent the qualities and character of his beer: wholesome, traditional and authentic. Commander Moretti didn’t let him get away. He went up to him and asked the man if he could photograph him and also asked him what he would like in return. “Cal mi dedi di bevi, mi baste” — answered the man in Friuli dialect, which means “Get me a drink, that’ll do.”
The photographs were taken and were used after the turbulent times caused by the war were over, when they were handed over to Professor Segala, a famous poster artist of the time. Segala, following Commander Moretti’s descriptions of the original colours (the photographs were, of course, in black and white), created an advertising billboard which was used for years, wherever Birra Moretti was sold. This billboard gave rise to the now-famous Birra Moretti label.
Save A Slug, Have A Beer
Add one more reason to drink beer, especially if you’re a nature lover. According to the e-mail I got from Fustigato — I believe from Italy — millions of slugs are killed each year using beer. To save the slugs, they’re suggesting you have a beer, and in fact all the beer in the world. I think the students and alumni of the University of Santa Cruz will get behind this campaign. So remember, you’re not just quenching your thirst when you drink a beer, you’re also saving a slug.
Below is the video.
Beer In Ads #164: Jean D’Ylen’s Biere Gangloff
Tuesday’s ad is for another French beer, Biere Gangloff. It’s also from around the 1920s, and was done by famed illustrator Jean D’Ylen. Another case of a giant mug, in this case two of them.
Beer In Ads #163: Biere de Maxeville
Monday’s ad is for a French beer, Biere de Maxeville. It’s from around the 1920s, the heyday of the poster. The old man is drinking from one seriously big mug and even the sun looks thirsty.
Beer In Art #87: Paul Wehr’s Drewrys Beer
Today’s work of art was originally advertising art, illustration really, but it’s so good it deserves to be considered fine art. Paul Wehr was an artist/illustrator from Indiana who lived from 1914-1973. This piece, for Drewrys Beer of South Bend, Indiana was done in the 1950s. Drewrys was actually a Canadian brand, but for most of its history was brewed in Indiana. That’s why you can see a Canadian Mountie in the logo. I love hyperrealists — artists like Richard Estes and Ralph Goings — and Wehr’s work reminds me of theirs. Though arguably not quite as photo-realistic, it does seem to presage that art movement and the detail is amazing. I’d love to see how the final ad looked, but alas all I could fine was the artwork Wehr did, a beautiful looking picnic laid out with Drewry beer cans in the center.
In the detailed look below, you can even see the salt on the potato chips. Yum, I’m hungry.
You can also read more about Drewry’s cans at Rusty Cans.
Guinness Ad #29: Horsing Around Again
Our 29th Guinness poster by John Gilroy is, I think, also part of the zoo animal series and features a horse drinking the ringmaster’s Guinness with the slogan “My Goodness — My Guinness.” I’m sorry to say this is the largest version of the ad I could find. If anyone has a larger one, please be kind enough to share it with me.
