Tuesday’s ad is for Carling Black Label from 1972 featuring a curio box of Carling beer and related paraphenalia. The slogan is “Brighten Your Holidays With Full Flavor,” though it doesn’t look particularly festive to me. I do love the expression on the blonde’s face in the portrait in the upper right box.
In exactly one month, SF Beer Week will start up again. For ten days beginning on February 11, beer in the Bay Area will be front and center. Last year we had over 225 diverse events and this year promises to have even more beer-centric events throughout the Bay Area. In a couple of hours — at 4:00 p.m. — this year’s website will go live with the first batch of events added to the schedule. Start filling up your dance card now, to make sure you have a seat at as many of the great events as you and your liver can manage.
Monday’s ad from the 1950s for Schlitz. It’s a bowling ad with a pun. “Set Up the Fun with Light Refreshment.” It cracks me up that he can’t put down the bowling ball long enough to drink his own beer, he needs help.
I noticed today that the Wikio Top Blogs for Beer badge on the Bulletin still listed me as the #1 beer blog, so out of pure vanity I checked it out to see if the new Beer Blog standings for January 2011 were out. Apparently, I’m still clinging to the top spot. Here’s what happened to the Top 20 over last month:
| 1 | Brookston Beer Bulletin (+/-0) |
| 2 | Beervana (+/-0) |
| 3 | The New School (+2) |
| 4 | Brewpublic (-1) |
| 5 | Appellation Beer: Beer From a Good Home (+1) |
| 6 | A Good Beer Blog (+1) |
| 7 | The Stone Blog (+5) |
| 8 | Drink With The Wench (-4) |
| 9 | BetterBeerBlog (+7) |
| 10 | Burgers & Brews (Not in Top 20 for Dec.) |
| 11 | Washington Beer Blog (-1) |
| 12 | Beer in Baltimore (-4) |
| 13 | Seen Through a Glass (-4) |
| 14 | Beeronomics (-1) |
| 15 | Brewed For Thought (Not in Top 20 for Dec.) |
| 16 | The Brew Site (Not in Top 20 for Dec.) |
| 17 | Brouwer’s Cafe (+3) |
| 18 | Seattle Beer News (-7) |
| 19 | KC Beer Blog (-3) |
| 20 | It’s Pub Night (+3) |
Ranking made by Wikio
I again added the relative movements of each blog from last month. Like last month, three blogs dropped off the Top 20, and three new ones appeared.
Again, it’s all a bit of fun so long as we don’t take it too seriously. Hoppy 2011.
This week’s work of art is another one not strictly beer-oriented, again focusing on our fives senses, and in particular smell and taste, to create and enjoy the flavor of beer. The painter is Simon De Vos, who born in Belgium in 1603. The painting is known as The Allegory of the Five Senses and is an oil painting on copper. It was completed in 1640. The Baroque artwork is also subtitled “A Merry Company in an Interior.”
Here’s a description of the painting from TerminARTors.
In this allegory the five senses are represented as a merry company. Hearing is embodied by the playing musicians, Taste by the flagons of wine, Sight by the lovers gazing into each other’s eyes, Smell by the dog or pipe smoke, and Touch by both the central girl’s contact with the musical instrument and the contact between the lovers to her left. The pyramidal, Mannerist composition, the rich colours and elegant twisting figures are all motifs typical of De Vos’ work. The influence of Johann Liss, whom the artist probably met first in either Venice or Rome in the 1620s, is apparent.
You can see more of Simon de Vos’ paintings at the WikiGallery and also the TerminARTors. There are also additional links at the ArtCyclopedia.
Today in 1788, Connecticut became the 5th state.
Connecticut
Connecticut Breweries
Connecticut Brewery Guides
Guild: None known
State Agency: Connecticut Liquor Division
Package Mix:
Beer Taxes:
Economic Impact (2010):
Legal Restrictions:
Beer can be purchased at grocery/convenience stores. Spirits and wine can only be purchased at liquor stores.
Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.
For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.
Our 50th Guinness poster by John Gilroy was most likely from World War 2, and shows a Spitfire airplane “eying” and speeding toward a bottle of Guinness as a mechanic on the ground races to grab his beer first. It’s slogan is the familiar “My Goodness, My Guinness.”
I think this is merely a graphic design product and not a commercial product that you can buy. I came across it by accident at Street Anatomy, a blog featuring anything to do with skeletons. A quick search reveals it’s mentioned exclusively on graphic design-oriented blogs and websites, so it was most likely not done for a client. It was created by designer Dustin Joyce, who works for a Minneapolis, Minnesota ad agency.
I must confess, as others pointed out, that while it’s very well executed, the results are not all that appetizing. The bones appear to be almost floating in the beer, which I don’t think is the imagery you want. It doesn’t make people want to actually drink a beer that’s had bones floating in it, or at least plants the idea of that occurring. But it is an impressive design.
From Darya Pino, founder of Summer Tomato, comes this funny, but ultimately useful chart on How to Find Real Food at the Supermarket. Enjoy.
Friday’s ad is a 1969 Budweiser ad showing a can of their beer in between a hero sandwich, with the slogan “The Great American Hero for the Great American Hero.” I’m not sure I’d want to bite into that sandwich, I’d be afraid I’d lose a tooth. Or it might taste metallic.
