Thursday’s ad is from Japan, and is for Sapporo beer. The ad is from 1934 and pictures a woman sitting and enjoying a beer, presumably at a dance watching the other couples cut a rug. One oddity; is it just me or does that glass in her hand look pretty small? Or is she perhaps a giant? Either way, it seems a little out of proportion. It’s also interesting that apart from the kanji writing and the woman’s obvious ethnicity, it could be any western ad for beer.
By now, even the casual Bulletin reader has likely noticed that I’ve been following Pete Brown’s brilliant refutation of his national health service’s attack on alcohol, beginning with, Stuff & Nonsense: The UK Health Select Committee Report On Alcohol. The first four parts of Pete’s rebuke have been published over the past few days, and now part five is up.
Today’s rebuke concerns hospital admissions and the burden on the health care system, a facetious claim made on both sides of the pond. Over here, for example, an accident where one of the passengers had been drinking is often classified as an alcohol-related accident. In the UK:
In terms of official figures, what they don’t tell you is that when they are compiled, there’s a sharp difference between hospital admission and deaths that are considered wholly attributable to alcohol, and those where alcohol is a secondary or partial factor. And guess what? Only 25% of total ‘alcohol related’ hospital admissions are judged to be entirely due to alcohol.
At best, that simply misleads the statistics, making them sound more alarming than they really are. But it gets even worse, and in some ways goes beyond what American Neo-Prohibitionsts have been willing to say, at least so far.
The Report [implies] that if you drink, you are more likely to be a rapist, a child abuser, a wifebeater, a suicide, and that the fact that you drink makes you so. As Phil [Mellows] pointed out when he addressed the rape issue, this is not only inaccurate, it is astonishingly offensive to drinkers.
We’ve had groups here use images of a syringe filled with beer, equating beer with heroin, but so far as I know, they haven’t called those of us who drink rapists … yet. But they do seem to believe that virtually every societal ill can be pinned on alcohol.
But when someone does something appalling and then says, “The drink made me do it,” they are denying personal responsibility for their actions and we tend to dismiss this as a lame excuse. The Report seems to buy it 100%.
I could go on and on, but it’s best if I just suggest at this point that you go over and read part 5, Alcohol related hospital admissions — and the cost of alcohol to the NHS — are soaring. It’s the longest so far, but definitely worth your time.
If this is new to you, start with Pete Brown’s Health Select Committee Report on Alcohol. Part One (of 10) was published Sunday, Alcohol consumption in the UK is increasing. On Monday, parts two, 25% of the UK population is drinking at hazardous or harmful levels, and three, Binge drinking is increasing, were published. Tuesday saw part four: Alcohol is becoming cheaper/more affordable, and today part five, Alcohol related hospital admissions — and the cost of alcohol to the NHS — are soaring, was published online. Once again, stay tuned.
Wednesday’s ad is from Canada, and was published in 1955. After opening their Toronto brewery the same year, Molson debuted their first lager beer, Crown and Anchor. This ad, featuring dancing sailors, was one of the first ads for the new beer. I wonder what “sparkling light” is?
If you can’t read the text, either click on the ad for a larger view or read the transcription below.
If you want a gay and cheery
brew that looks brighter, tastes
lighter … and leaves a fresh
clean taste upon the tongue …
try Crown & Anchor Lager Beer.
Chances are you’ll agree,
“This light beer is the right beer for me.”
Last week, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who many believed might make a run for governor of Colorado, announced he would not run, instead endorsing Denver mayor John Hickenlooper. For several years, Hickenlooper has been urged to seek the governor’s office, but has said he didn’t want to be governor. Today, the Denver Post announced that former owner and Wynkoop Brewpub founder John Hickenlooper has changed his mind, and will run for Colorado governor.
Current Colorado governor, Democrat Bill Ritter, had earlier decided not to seek reelection, which sparked a flurry of possible democrats for the office. Ritter was on hand for Hickenlooper’s announcement, suggesting he may have the governor’s support as well. The Post also reported that “President Barack Obama called Hickenlooper last Friday to encourage him to run.”
If you’ve been following along from my posts the last couple of days, beginning with, Stuff & Nonsense: The UK Health Select Committee Report On Alcohol, and more specifically Pete Brown’s wonderfully telling and insightful rebuke of it all — and you should be — then I’m pleased to report that part four is now available.
Today’s rebuke is one I’d long wondered about, and it’s an argument often trotted out on our shores whenever the hue and cry goes up for more taxes on alcohol, as it inevitably and incessantly does. For me, perhaps the most annoying aspect to the neo-prohibitionist attacks is the never-ending nature of them. They’re like the psycho killer in every modern horror movie. There’s seemingly no way to make them stop. There’s no reasoning with them. They’re not susceptible to logic. California’s own version of a neo-prohibitionist Jason, state representative Jim Beall, said last year after his bill to raise beer taxes 560% was defeated. “They’ve given me a bloody nose. But I’m going to wipe it off and come back in a few weeks with something different.”
In today’s counter to the UK report’s assertion that Alcohol is becoming cheaper/more affordable, Pete leads with the following:
Well, alcohol is becoming more affordable because average household income is increasing. Alcohol is becoming more affordable because everything is becoming more affordable.
It’s my sense that’s what’s going on in the U.S., too. The “taxes haven’t been keeping pace with inflation” argument is likewise untrue for the UK.
[A]ffordability and price are being treated as the same thing — they’re not. By deliberately confusing ‘affordability’ (which is a function of rising disposable income) and price (which is a function of — well, price, but controlled chiefly by duty), you allow newspapers like the Telegraph to interpret these findings in the following syntax-strangled bullet point:
- “69 – percentage alcohol is cheaper by than it was in 1980.”
This is a lie. Alcohol is NOT cheaper. It is already increasing by more than inflation, and in recent decades, it always has.
I’m going to have to see if that holds true here, too, though I suspect it does.
If this is new to you, start with Pete Brown’s Health Select Committee Report on Alcohol. Part One (of 10) was published yesterday, Alcohol consumption in the UK is increasing. Yesterdday, parts two, 25% of the UK population is drinking at hazardous or harmful levels, and three, Binge drinking is increasing, were published. Today, here’s part four: Alcohol is becoming cheaper/more affordable. Again, stay tuned.
Here is quiz number four. This one is without images, because there were problems last time (see below). For this quiz, there is a beer slogan that is or was used for a particular beer or brewery. See how many you can get right. Good luck. Let me know how you did.
If you missed any previous quizzes, they can all be found on the beer quiz page.
NOTE: A number of people in the last quiz told me they couldn’t see the images. If you were one of those people, please send me the name of the browser you were using so I can try to see what’s going wrong. I tested it using Firefox and Safari and it worked fine. Perhaps it’s Microsoft Explorer or other browsers that is the problem?
Tuesday’s ad is from France, most likely in the first few decades of the 20th century. Despite the fact that you can see there’s a signature on the poster, no source I can find identifies who the artist is. Similarly, I don’t know what brewery the poster is advertising for. The poster reminds me a bit of the old Coppertone ad where the dog is trying to pull off the little girl’s bathing suit. But in this case the damn dog is pulling on the waitress’ dress and spilling the beer! Bad dog!
If you’ve been following along from my post yesterday, Stuff & Nonsense: The UK Health Select Committee Report On Alcohol, and more specifically Pete Brown’s wonderfully telling and insightful rebuke of it all — and you should be — then I’m happy to report that parts two and three are now available.
If this is new to you, start with Pete Brown’s Health Select Committee Report on Alcohol. Part One (of 10) was published yesterday, Alcohol consumption in the UK is increasing. Today, parts two, 25% of the UK population is drinking at hazardous or harmful levels, and three, Binge drinking is increasing, were published. Again, stay tuned.
Monday’s ad is from 1937 and is again for Budweiser. The gypsy fortune teller must have seemed very exotic in the late 1930s. But I love the assertion that by buying Budweiser you’re complimenting “your own excellent taste.” And you, and three generations before you, have done so not because you liked the taste, not because you were thirsty, not even because you enjoyed beer, but for a more grand reason. You bought Bud “in the interest of good fellowship, contentment and good living.”
The inset box is signed by Adolphus Busch III, who’d taken over A-B from August A. Busch Sr. just a few years before, in 1934. It also contains some interesting statements. Obviously, the nation was still smarting from the effects of the Great Depression. Busch is insuring customers that buying Budweiser is helping American business; railroads, retailers and even farmers. He concludes with “whenever you drink Budweiser you are helping someone.” I imagine that’s true, but it’s still a bit odd that his focus is on that help going to someone other than A-B itself. I guess he didn’t want to come off like he was being self-serving.
The other thing I’m curious about is he mentions that A-B has “bought millions of dollars worth of barley and hops from American farmers.” Hops, I understand, to a point, at least. Today A-B owns hop farms in Idaho, but also in the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany. Obviously, the ad doesn’t claim they buy ALL their hops and barley from U.S. farmers, and they don’t even mention where the rice comes from. But did A-B buy more hops domestically in the past? Also, it’s my understanding that the vast majority of barley used by American breweries comes from Canada, though there is a small percentage grown in the U.S. for brewing. Has that shifted in the last 70+ years since this ad ran? Did brewers used to get more of their grain here in the States? Anybody know? You rarely see local grain touted as a point of pride in advertising, the only recent exception I can think of being Sierra Nevada’s Estate Brewers Harvest Ale. But with all the recent attention paid to buying locally and locavores, that has to be one of beer’s dirty little secrets: that most brewing grains come from outside the U.S., much less from local farmers.
Today’s works of art is a stained glass sign from the late 19th century. It’s online because a professional photographer, Lar Matre, owns the sign and photographed it. It’s difficult to photograph stained glass, at least in my experience, and it is a great photo, but for my purposes I’m more impressed by the artistry of the signmaker. And I love stained glass, always have. But I imagine seeing the original of this, especially in the context of being at a German bar, would be stunning.
According to Matre, on his website, his “great grandfather bought it in the late 1800s in Germany, or so [he’s been] told.” The photograph itself can be purchased online at Fine Art America.
You can see much more of Matre photos at his website and his Flickr page. As for more stained glass, start with Wikipedia. But there’s also the Corning Museum of Glass, Vidimus and the Stained Glass Museum.