Our 24th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features a slow turtle with the unusual slogan “Have a Guinness When You’re Tired.” Though I suppose the idea is that a Guinness will make a turtle faster.
They’ve also used the same image with the more common “Lovely day for a Guinness.”
Most people have probably heard of origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. But the Japanese propensity of coming up with unusual hobbies knows no boundaries. One of the tamer examples is the related art of making 3D paper models. Using vector software like Pepakura, 3D models are created in 2D and then sheets are created to cut out and build the paper models. I stumbled on one of these while searching for another image. It’s of a waitress serving beer to a bar patron. The title of it is Bunny Beer Maiden because the waitress is dressed in a bunny costume, a popular Japanese fetish theme. Instructions and more photos are also at Papercraft and also at Paperworks’ And Wind Until, which has even more views of the component parts of the paper models.
First a vector drawing is created on a computer, and then individual pieces like a dress pattern are created that must be carefully cut out for assembly.
After being put together, the server in bunny costume looks like this. See many other angles here.
Here’s a close-up of the glasses of beer.
And the customer with his beer. See many other angles here.
And here’s the entire scene with the server, the customer and tables and chairs, all of which are made out of paper.
Friday’s ad is the oldest piece of American breweriana known to exist. It was a poster created by Anheuser-Busch, who commissioned the original painting, Custer’s Last Fight, which was painted by Cassilly Adams in 1884. A lithograph was then prepared by F. Otto Becker in 1889. It was distributed as an advertising poster by Anheuser-Busch. It has since become one of the “most famous views of of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, referred by Indians as the Battle of Greasy Grass.”
Today is the anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Little Bighorn, which has become famous as Custer’s Last Stand. It began on June 25, 1876 and ended the following day.
According to one history website, Indian Wars — Wyoming Tales and Trails, “it is, however, best charitably described as fanciful. The Indians’ attire is in error; Custer’s hair is in error, he had it closely shorn before leaving Ft. Abraham Lincoln; he is wearing a red scarf; and, perhaps most importantly, the battle is being fought on the wrong side of the river.”
As possibly the very first piece of breweriana, an original will set you back a pretty penny, at least from $1,699 to $2,250. One of the eBay sellers includes the following information about the lithograph:
Measures approx. 32 ” X 42″across Great colored lithograph depicting the grisly battle between General Custer’s troops and Indian warriors at Little Big Horn. Custer is featured at center waving a saber and dressed in fringed buckskin. The remaining cavalry officers (except for his brother Tom) are dressed in military uniform. Indians are armed with scalping knives, tomahawks, clubs, spears and rifles. Dead of both parties appear in foreground, with several being identified in the bottom margin as Courier from Sitting Bull, Squaw Killing wounded, Rain In the face and the Sioux Warrior who killed Custer. Custer’s medals and banners are in lower left margin. Mounted Indian poses beside a monument in lower right margin. In the small margin directly under the picture it is marked Entered According To Act Of Congress By Adolphus Busch march 30th 1896 In The office of The Librarian Of Congress At Washington, D.C. In the lower center portion it is marked The Original Painting has been Presented to the Seventh Regiment U.S. Cavalry By Anheuser Busch Brewing Association, St. Louis, Mo. U.S.A.
Warning: This post is primarily about arcane legal distinctions and standards that will (or should) be applied to what’s going on in San Francisco. If that’s not your pint of plain, you may want to ignore this post. Yesterday I dipped my toe in the mash tun that is the city of San Francisco’s proposed “Alcohol Mitigation Fee Ordinance” (AMFO). The reason they’re characterizing it as a “fee” instead of a “tax” has to do with politics. A fee doesn’t require a two-thirds vote like a tax, just a simple majority.
Another odd detail that’s missing is a requirement for this type of fee is that a Nexus Study be done, and the proposed ordinance does indeed make reference to it on Page 3, where they claim it’s on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors but leave a blank space for the file number. The reason it’s left blank is because there is no completed Nexus Study, as required. The proponents of the ordinance claim it will be completed in a week, but then why didn’t they wait until it was done before introducing the fee ordinance? If that’s a requirement, it seems they’ve jumped the gun, and this will give opponents less time to review the Nexus Study, which doesn’t seem at all fair.
There’s also no mention in the language exactly how they will collect from companies who do business in San Francisco but have no offices in the city, and thus are outside the city’s jurisdiction?
The earlier draft version of the AMFO included the language “ethanol ounce.” While nobody was sure how that was being designed, it’s now moot because the final document changed the language at the 11h hour to “ounce of alcohol” which is still rather vague and subject to a variety of interpretations as to how it will be applied. If I had to guess, I’d say that it’s possible that the strong spirits lobby got that change made since it would impact them the most by reducing their proportional taxes while beer would get hit the hardest. Curiously, all of the news reports I’ve seen, such as the one from KTVU Channel 2, a typical example, continues to use the phrase “ounce of ethanol” suggesting the mainstream media is working off of earlier versions or not looking at the source document at all. In either event, it’s not exactly stellar reporting and gives the public who reads that the wrong impression of what the AMFO will actually be doing.
But the biggest hurdle is one that’s been in place since 1997, when the California Supreme Court decided the case of Sinclair Paint Co. v. State Board of Equalization, et al. In that seminal case, the state tried to impose a fee on paint companies for potential harm caused by lead paint. Here’s a summary, from the Pillsbury Tax Page: “The Supreme Court held that case law clearly indicates that the police power is broad enough to include mandatory remedial measures to mitigate the past, present, or future adverse impact of the fee payer’s operations, at least where, as here, the measure requires a causal connection or nexus between the product and its adverse effects.” [my emphasis.] What that means is that a “fee” of this type in order to be constitutional and not need a two-thirds majority like any other tax (in other words to keep its “fee status”) it must be proven to have a direct link to the harm being caused by the product being taxed … uh, excuse me, having a fee imposed on it.
In their conclusion, Pillsbury characterizes these fees as camouflaged taxes.
The potential impact of Sinclair is tremendous since it is completely dependent upon the Legislature’s propensity to camouflage taxes as fees. Virtually every industry can be found to place some type of burden on society and now the Court has only limited the Legislature’s ability to impose fees on those industries within the bounds of its inventiveness. It is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile Sinclair with the state of the law existing prior thereto.
And for the past thirteen years that’s been the standard and remains the controlling case. That means that the AMFO has to “prove” a direct link from the alcohol and the harm they claim is placing such an onerous burden on city resources. In the first two pages of the AMFO, they cite several studies they believe show such a link. But they’re wrong. For every study cited, I could produce ten that says the opposite, including studies that show that the moderate consumption of alcohol makes a person healthier than abstaining. To me, that suggests that trying to keep people from drinking is reckless endangerment or at least is putting the health of every adult who drinks moderately and responsibly at risk. And some of the studies mentioned aren’t even cited, meaning there’s no way to even confirm they say what the AMFO says they do. To say that their “proof” is shoddy is an understatement.
But, as usual, that doesn’t stop Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director of Marin Institute, from trotting out his favorite bullshit line, modified for the specific occasion. “It’s time for Big Alcohol, including wholesalers, to pay its fair share. A local alcohol charge for harm fee is long overdue.” I’m so tired of having to address this each and every time they give voice to this lie. As I’ve said many, many times, no other product save tobacco pays more taxes than alcohol already. To say that there’s some “fair” amount that alcohol companies should be paying is utter nonsense. There’s no amount high enough that would actually satisfy the Marin Institute, all they want to do in reality is put all alcohol companies out of business, the economy and a majority of people’s wishes be damned.
Thursday’s ad is another old one that shows off the brewery with industrial glee. It’s for a British beer, Phipps’ from Northampton. They’re actually still in business under the name Phipps’ NBC (or Northampton Brewing Co.), having been revived in 2004. There’s a nice detailed history online, too. But it’s a beautiful poster, with both the brewery in the center and the surrounding scrolling, especially the hop vines. It’s like a rectangular coat of arms.
Wednesday’s ad is from 1935 and is for Rheinlander Beer from the Century Brewing Association of Seattle, Washington. 1935 was the last year under that name, the following year they changed it to Seattle Brewing & Malting Co. and later it was even Rheinlander Brewing off and on after 1965. I love the paean to industrial wonders and the giant bottle towering over the brewery. Just two years after Prohibition ended and the trucks are still streaming out of the brewery making deliveries. Life was good.
My friend Luke Nicholas, the founder and brewer for New Zealand’s Epic Beer, was in town on Monday for a couple of days, before flying to Delaware to do a collaboration brew with Sam Calagione at Dogfish Head. I met up with him at 21st Amendment for a quick drink and to try two of his new beers.
The first, a stout, was also a collaboration between the Thornbridge Brewery in the UK. Rich and chocolately, it was a very nice stout. The second, Oaked Aged Armageddon IPA, is Luke’s regular IPA, but aged on lightly toasted oak. It uses all American hops: Cascade, Centennial, Columbus and Simcoe. At 66 IBUs it’s a big, hoppy, floral IPA. But for New Zealand — whose mainstream lagers are even lighter than our mainstream lagers — it’s so huge it’s … well, epic. But the toasted oak adds a nice dimension that’s subtle but a welcome addition.
Luke and Zambo.
Also, new head 21A head brewer Zambo was just tapping their most recent creation, a Belgian-style IPA, similar to the Belgian Pale Ale they did last year, but hoppier, of course.
Me and Luke outside 21A.
Tuesday’s ad is for Brasserie Nouvelle de Lutece in Paris, France, most likely from the 1950s or early 60s. According to Articles of Incorporation for AB InBev France, it may be at least partially owned by ABI, though I’ve seen references to the brewery possibly no longer being operated, too. Still, I love seeing such innocent ways of advertising beer, with cartoons and young women that would all but be forbidden in today’s America. She almost reminds me of a Little Red Riding Hood character, only her basket of goodies includes beer.
Monday’s ad is for an unknown beer, created by Paul Gusset in 1956. Since today is the summer solstice, the poster reminded me of summer itself. Happy summer.
Today’s work of art was painted as a mural at the Portsmouth Brewery in New Hampshire by local artist Gordon Carlisle. He painted The Jimmy La Panza Lounge in 2005 and it’s enamel on canvas.
The mural hangs above the stairs leading down to, yup you guessed it, The Jimmy La Panza Lounge, which is in the basement of the brewpub.
To learn more about Gordon Carlisle, there’s a biography on his website, where you can also see more of his artwork.