Friday’s holiday ad for New Year’s Eve is a Miller High Life ad from 1948 features their iconic “Girl in the Moon” sitting on a crescent moon toasting the world with a beer. It seems a fitting way to finish 2010 and welcome the promise of a new year. Hoppy New Year everybody.
Thursday’s holiday ad is something of a mystery. It’s not for a particular brand, at least as far as I can tell. It looks like it’s probably from the 19th century, or possibly the very early part of the twentieth. While not overtly “Christmasy,” is does seem to be about the holiday season, with the green and red colors and the wreath. But that’s all speculation, I’m not even sure exactly what it is, though a postcard or card seems likely. Might the fact that the circle of the wreath is blank suggest it was a sample? Whatever its purpose, it’s a cool piece of breweriana.
The Brickskeller is now re-opened, only a week after it changed hands. The original name was reported to be “Rock Creek,” but according to D.C.’s Young & Hungry blog, that name was already taken and eventually they settled on the “Bier Baron” as the new name. A new canopy sign won’t be up until Friday, followed by more improvements and, presumably, a new website in the coming weeks.
New owner Megan Merrifield expects to “have 500 different beers, and every one of them, without question, will be available.” 350 were bequeathed by Dave and Diane Alexander and the rest will be sourced by Merrifield and her new crew, a few of which are employees who worked for the Brickskeller.
Local TV station, Channel 9 News Now, also has a short video report:
I just woke up to the news that the brewery at the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, better known to the beer world as Brasserie de Rochefort, was damaged last night by a fire that swept through the abbey. Pete Slosberg forwarded me the e-mail he received from Belgian beer writer Christian Deglas, which outlined the damage.
Bad news from the Belgian beer world. Yesterday evening there [was] a great fire in the abbey of Rochefort which [was] a big disaster. The church was saved as [well as] the Bibliothèque and the rooms of the monks, but the brewery and stables are completely destroyed. The fire started in the warm reserve places. All the new material is destroyed. There are no victims or injured persons.
Normally, the production should start again in a few weeks, but I’m afraid that [at the] moment there will be a rupture of the stock.
The BBC also has the story up now, too, and they’re reporting the following:
The Trappist (Cistercian) monks were dining when fire broke out at the abbey at St Remy-Rochefort, famous for its Rochefort beer.
The building was evacuated and it took 70 firefighters to put out the blaze. It seems the blaze began near a generator being used temporarily after problems with the power supply.
Francois Bellot, mayor of Rochefort, said he was confident that it would be possible to resume beer production within a few days.
The BBC Piece, Fire damages Rochefort Trappist beer abbey in Belgium, also has a short video of the fire.
Wednesday’s winter ad features Miss Rheingold for 1955, Nancy Woodruff, putting the final touch — a top hat — on a snowman holding a bottle and a can Rheingold beer. The slogan, “Now these two twins are dressed alike!,” presumably must refer to a change in their can packaging, which I suspect didn’t mirror the bottle label quite so much before then. But I must confess I think Woodruff has a great smile.
Just in time for New Year’s Eve — a.k.a. Amateur Drinking Night — the OLCC has released yet another PSA, this one featuring the message “Binge Drinking Doesn’t Start With A Drink. It Starts With An Excuse.” The video lists four presumably common excuses for drinking too much, though frankly I’ve never heard another living soul say them, not even a variation of them. I’m not saying the excuses aren’t something to avoid — they are — but they don’t seem all that reasonable to me. Perhaps I don’t hang around with enough binge drinkers, despite theoretically being one myself (at least at every five-course or more beer dinner I attend, since the federal definition is absurdly five drinks in a row). As a result, like their other PSAs, it appears well-meaning but unintentionally a little funny. I’m of the opinion that people who want to binge drink don’t need any made-up excuse. They do so for their own reasons, no excuse necessary.
And frankly, this needs to be said. If someone wants to drink a little too much on occasion — such as a holiday celebration — I say they should be able to, provided they don’t drive or otherwise put others at risk. As the saying goes, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Tuesday’s holiday ad is for Molson from 1985. I chose a Molson ad because today would have been founder John Molson’s 247th birthday. The playful ad shows two horse-drawn sleighs, one of which, driven by a man, is hauling cases of beer and the other, presumably driven by a woman, remarking that “You can land on my roof anytime.”
Monday’s holiday ad is for Budweiser from 1950 and features a Santa-like chef with a bounteous feast of meats and seafood, along with fruits and cheese. The slogan for that ad is “Something more than beer … A tradition in hospitality.” It originally ran in Life magazine’s Christmas issue for 1950.
The Santa-like chef image had been used before, in this 1947 ad about “Help Yourself to Good Taste.”
This week’s work of art is an original acrylic painting done in 2009. The painting is 50 cm x 70 cm and can be yours, from Fine Art America, for only $370. Sadly, beyond the Fine Art America page, there’s little information about the artwork or the artist himself.
You can see a few more of Black’s paintings at his Fine Art America profile page.
My friend and colleague, Tom Dalldorf, sent me the link to this cool video by Sapporo beer for the Canadian market. Entitled Legendary Biru, it’s almost Rube Goldberg-esque. The original music is pretty addictive, too, but it’s the inventive way in which they re-imagine the brewing process that I find interesting. You can also see more about it at Sapporo’s Canadian website. I think there may be a contest of some kind, too, but I didn’t look closely at that aspect of it.