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Bergner & Engel Brewing’s Railroad

July 21, 2018 By Jay Brooks

steam-train
The third Saturday in July is “Railroad Day,” which I know not only because I collect holidays, but also because of my son’s obsession with trains. So this is an interesting historical artifact. The Bergner & Engel Brewing Co. of Philadelphia was one of the more prominent breweries in the Philly neighborhood known as Brewerytown, a nine-block area of the city with breweries on virtually every street.

Bergner & Engel was one of the bigger ones in Brewerytown, and in the late 1880s they published a book with chromolithographs of their brewery and their brewing process that are a great timepiece. The 24-page bound publication is really cool. Anyway, because it’s Railroad Day, these two illustrations of the brewery’s boxcar and locomotive are especially awesome.

This is on Page 11, showing B&E’s boxcar:

B&E-Refrigerator-Car

And on Page 12, they show the locomotive, which they claim at the time is “the first and only locomotive owned and operated by any brewing establishment in America:

B&E-Engine-lg

Filed Under: Beers, Breweries, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: History, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, technology

Beer In Ads #2707: What’ll You Have When Grilling

July 20, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1952. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written into the grill where they’re cooking hot dogs and hamburgers. Nest the gill, as you’be no doubt come to expect, is a bucket of PBR bottles and three glasses of beer being poured.

pbr-1952-grill

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2706: What’ll You Have With Hors d’oeuvres

July 19, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Thursday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1952. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written in three-dimensional letters on a small wooden stand above trays of hors d’oeuvres, with a silver tray of Pabst bottles and full pilsner glasses.

pbr-1952-hors-derves

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2705: What’ll You Have In A Stein

July 18, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Wednesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1953. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written on a large stein sitting in what looks like a paneled rec room. On the same table is two glasses and bottles of Pabst. There are also some nice looking pretzels in a basket there, too.

pbr-1953-stein

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2704: What’ll You Have With Ham

July 18, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Tuesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1953. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written on the side of a large ham sitting on a silver tray. There’s also another silver tray with two bottles of Pabst poured into two beer glasses.

pbr-1953-ham

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Food, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2703: What’ll You Have In A Canoe

July 16, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Monday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1953. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written in the side of a green canoe. It looks like they’re grilling fish they just caught with six bottles of Pabst and two filled beer glasses. Also, check out the bottle opener that’s also a hammer.

pbr-1953-canoe

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2702: What’ll You Have In Lace

July 15, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Sunday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1953. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written in lace on the tablecloth. It’s a pretty fancy setting with fine china, a bouquet of roses and shiny candlesticks, along with a bottle and glass of Pabst at each place setting.

pbr-1953-lace

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2701: What’ll You Have Watching Television

July 14, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Saturday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1953. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written on the television screen while the two people watching the TV are pouring themselves a glass of Pabst.

pbr-1953-tv

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2700: What’ll You Have With Hamburgers

July 13, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1953. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written on the inside of the top half of the hamburger buns across a trio of hamburgers ready to be eaten. In the foreground, there are four bottles of Pabst, with one being poured into a glass.

Pabst-1952-hamburgers

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

Beer In Ads #2699: What’ll You Have Fancy Banner

July 12, 2018 By Jay Brooks


Thursday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1954. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written on a banner held up by two porcelain figurines. The whole spread looks to be pretty fancy, with two bottles and glasses of Pabst Blue Ribbon on a silver tray.

pbr-1954-fancy

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Pabst

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