Friday’s ad is for Carling’s Red Cap Ale, from 1950. In this ad, part of a series featuring well-known celebrities of the day and the tagline “I’ve found out,” it features “American film actor” Randolph Scott holding a beer and giving his testimonial about why he loves Red Cap Ale. Is it me, or does that glass in his hand look really tiny, as if it was photoshopped in (or whatever they did before Photoshop)?
Thursday’s ad is for Carling’s Red Cap Ale, from 1950. In this ad, part of a series featuring well-known celebrities of the day and the tagline “I’ve found out,” it features “early 20th-century American sportswriter” Grantland Rice holding a beer and giving his testimonial about why he loves Red Cap Ale.
In some of the ads, the inset box is not blank, but included another person, presumably a regular non-famous person and probably localized for where the ad ran, if not in a national publication.
For our 124th Session, our host will be David Bardallis, who writes All the Brews Fit to Pint, which focuses on Ann Arbor, and Michigan more generally. For his topic, he’s chosen Late, Lamented Loves, and while he confesses that the “late” part of that title is, at least in part, due to accidentally forgetting to post his announcement sooner (though to be fair, I forgot to remind him, which I usually try to do, so it’s not all on him) the result is that we all have one day to come up with a topic for tomorrow’s Session. Think of this month’s Session as a “speed session,” and shoot from the hip. And for his topic, that actually works. So what’s the topic? What’s a beer that’s no longer being brewed that you really miss, and wish was still available? Quick, top of your head? I can think of a few beers no longer around that I’d happily crack open if I could. I bet you can think of some, too, off the top of your head. “So… what are your late, lamented beer loves?” But here’s David’s full description:
Nevertheless, I think the chosen subject, “Late, Lamented Loves,” is still worth talking about. I mean a beer you remember fondly but which is no longer in production.
It needn’t be an objectively “great” beer, though it could be. It could also be a nostalgic or youthful memory. It could be a “go-to” you still reflexively want to reach for. It could be all of these things.
Maybe the brewery and the beer are both long gone. Maybe the brewery is still around but just decided for whatever reason not to continue producing the glorious nectar you still pine for.
Whatever the case, there’s probably at least one beer that’s already leapt to your mind that fits into this description. Maybe even more than one, and, if so, feel free to go there.
To participate in the June Session, on or before Friday, June 2, 2017 — which is tomorrow — write a post as soon as you can and either e-mail your post’s link to annarborbeer@gmail.com or tweet him at @allthebrews. If that’s not quite enough time, don’t worry, if you “need more time than a day, hit [him] up anyway. [he]’ll continuously update in the days and weeks ahead as necessary.” Get cracking.
Wednesday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1949. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, a swordfish is swimming behind a fishing boat, diving in and out of the water, which naturally makes rings in the ocean. First one, then a second, and finally a third, mirroring the Ballantine logo.
Tuesday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1949. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, a fish is blowing air bubbles under water, which naturally look like rings. First one, then a second, and finally a third, resembling the Ballantine logo.
Monday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1949. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, another man at Christmastime hangs a wreath on his door, but it doesn’t seem like it’s quite right. So he adds a second one, but he’s still dissatisfied. But the third wreath, forming the Ballantine logo, is, again, just right.
Sunday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1939. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, a man at Christmastime hangs a wreath on his door, but it doesn’t seem like it’s quite right. So he adds a second one, but he’s still dissatisfied. But the third wreath, forming the Ballantine logo, is just right.
Saturday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1948. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, a black whale is swimming in the ocean spouting from his blowhole, creating rings in the air above him. First one, then another until finally three rings mimic the Ballantine logo.
Friday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1939. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, a talented seal is balancing rings on its nose, first one, then another and finally the three rings of the Ballantine logo. His wings even grew a thumb so he could order a beer “the Handy way.”
Here’s still another new word that should be added to the beer lexicon. Well, it’s not exactly a new word, but has been around 1876, and most likely earlier. It showed up as the word of the day yesterday on my “Forgotten English” page-a-day calendar.
The word is nazz’d and is described as “confused through beer or liquor; slightly drunk. Nazzy, stupified through drink.” It was apparently listed in “C. Clough Robinson’s Dialect of Mid-Yorkshire, 1876.”
Trying to find out more, I found “Nazzle,” defined as “to be in a dreamy, stupid, abstracted state,” also apparently originating in Yorkshire, and listed in “Joseph Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary, 1896-1905.” They certainly sound like related words, though I can’t be absolutely certain.
And I also found this definition:
Nazz’d, or Nazzy, adj. slightly drunk. Stupified. “Gying nazzling alang,” sauntering in a state of abstraction.
That one’s from “A Glossary of Words Used in Swaledale, Yorkshire,” by Captain John Harland, published in 1873.
So my interpretation of the word is that it’s meant to describe a very specific type of intoxication. Maybe buzzed is close to it, although I’ve come to hate that word due to the prohibitionist’s appropriation of it, but an intoxication that’s not complete, falling down, incoherent drunk, but closer to that sweet spot where you’re in a dreamlike state. That’s a good place to be.
