Sunday’s ad is for is by Ballantine Ale, from 1958. In the 1950s, Ballantine advertised the hop variety “Brewer’s Gold” as “a rare strain of choice hops” and even registered it as a trade-mark, although Brewers Gold is widely available today. In this ad, a bartender is showing off a ginormous glass of Ballantine Ale to a mountain man of some kind.
Saturday’s ad is for is by Ballantine Ale, from 1958. In the 1950s, Ballantine advertised the hop variety “Brewer’s Gold” as “a rare strain of choice hops” and even registered it as a trade-mark, although Brewers Gold is widely available today. In this ad, a pirate appears to have found some liquid gold in the form of a ginormous glass of Ballantine Ale.
Friday’s ad is for is by Ballantine Ale, from 1958. In the 1950s, Ballantine advertised the hop variety “Brewer’s Gold” as “a rare strain of choice hops” and even registered it as a trade-mark, although Brewers Gold is widely available today. In this ad, a conquistador appears to have found El Dorado, the fabled city of gold, and among the gold was te liquid kind, specificially a ginormous glass of Ballantine Ale.
For our 135th Session, our host will be Alistair Reece, who writes Fuggled. For his topic, he’s taking a look back in Sepia Tones, by which he challenges us to “indulge in a little beer nostalgia, a bit of personal beer history you might say.”
Until this morning, we were without a host, so a big thanks to Alistair for stepping up last minute and hosting. (That also means right now you should think about hosting June or beyond!) So understandably his topic is lean, although not so mean. Here are his instructions on participating:
What kind of things would be suitable topics for today? Well, here’s some suggestions:
- Discontinued beers that you miss.
- Breweries you once loved that are no longer around.
- Beers that are simply not what they once were.
- Your early steps in the world of beer drinking, whether craft or just in general.
There you have it, get melancholy, drag up memories of good times gone by, and join us in this month’s Session.
So no time to waste, it’s already the first Friday of May, so time to start waxing nostalgic and write your session post today. Then post a link to your session post at the original announcement or I imagine you could tag him on Twitter, too. Either way, don’t delay. Time’s a wasting.
Thursday’s ad is for is by Ballantine Ale, from 1958. In the 1950s, Ballantine advertised the hop variety “Brewer’s Gold” as “a rare strain of choice hops” and even registered it as a trade-mark, although Brewers Gold is widely available today. In this ad, a Prospector is in a cave, panning for gold (which is odd, because usually you pan in a river or stream, but he must have said the magic words, “It’s the Genuine,” and a glass of liquid gold appeared to him. Or maybe he’s starting to hallucinate, which would at least explain why he’s panning for gold without a water around.
Wednesday’s ad is for is by Ballantine Ale, from 1957. In the 1950s, Ballantine advertised the hop variety “Brewer’s Gold” as “a rare straion of choice hops” and even registered it as a trade-mark, although Brewers Gold is widely available today. In this ad, a Cowboy is out in the desert, sitting on a chest of gold, but seems most happy about that ginormous glass of beer that’s appeared before him like an oasis, as he recites the magic words, “It’s the Genuine.”
Tuesday’s ad is for is by Ballantine Ale, from 1957. In the 1950s, Ballantine advertised the hop variety “Brewer’s Gold” as “a rare straion of choice hops” and even registered it as a trade-mark, although Brewers Gold is widely available today. In this ad, the genie Aladdin has granted a wish and a Ballantine Ale appears on a magic flying carpet. though instead of “abracadabra,” the magic words are “It’s the Genuine.”
Monday’s ad is for is by the United Brewers Industrial Foundation, from 1938. Beginning during World War II, the USBIF began a series of positive ads under the name “Morale is a Lot of Little Things” followed by an unnumbered series of illustrated ads that were a precursor to the numbered “Home Life in America,” the crown jewel of ads which ran from 1945 to 1956, also known as the Beer Belongs series. But they didn’t end there, and for a short time afterward, beginning in 1956, several more similar ads were created but without the numbering or the “Home Life in America” association. But even before those efforts, the UBIF put their toe in the trade advertising pond with ads under the title “The Record … Facts That Concern You” and always ending with the tagline “Beer … a beverage of moderation,” and the continued on with some similar-themed ads after that.
In this ad, with the headline “Yes… the brewers do mean business,” the ad is all about “Beer Statesmanship” and ensuring all of the bars and retailers selling beer post-prohibition do so in a positive manner with no illegal activities or unscrupulous practices taking place in them. This was their attempt to clean up their image and, in effect, undo the damage of the smear campaign and propaganda that the prohibitionists employed to get prohibition passed in the first place, and which they returned to immediately after its repeal.
Sunday’s ad is for is by the United Brewers Industrial Foundation, from 1940. Beginning during World War II, the USBIF began a series of positive ads under the name “Morale is a Lot of Little Things” followed by an unnumbered series of illustrated ads that were a precursor to the numbered “Home Life in America,” the crown jewel of ads which ran from 1945 to 1956, also known as the Beer Belongs series. But they didn’t end there, and for a short time afterward, beginning in 1956, several more similar ads were created but without the numbering or the “Home Life in America” association. But even before those efforts, the UBIF put their toe in the trade advertising pond with ads under the title “The Record … Facts That Concern You” and always ending with the tagline “Beer … a beverage of moderation,” and the continued on with some similar-themed ads after that.
In this ad, with the headline “The Moderation Hour,” the scene is two men in what I think is supposed to be a booth at a bar having a beer together. But the cuckoo clock on the wall behind them doesn’t have any chains or weights to make it work, or the pendulum for that matter. But the tagline below the table is what the ad is trying to promote. “Good Beer and Ale in wholesome, modern taverns, offer Americans pleasant, inexpensive relaxation!” And they point out that all that relaxing led to the industry paying $411,596,780 in state and federal taxes.
Saturday’s ad is for is by the United Brewers Industrial Foundation, from 1944. Beginning during World War II, the USBIF began a series of positive ads under the name “Morale is a Lot of Little Things” followed by an unnumbered series of illustrated ads that were a precursor to the numbered “Home Life in America,” the crown jewel of ads which ran from 1945 to 1956, also known as the Beer Belongs series. But they didn’t end there, and for a short time afterward, beginning in 1956, several more similar ads were created but without the numbering or the “Home Life in America” association. But even before those efforts, the UBIF put their toe in the trade advertising pond with ads under the title “The Record … Facts That Concern You” and always ending with the tagline “Beer … a beverage of moderation,” and the continued on with some similar-themed ads after that.
In this ad, with the headline “Within The Family’s Inner Circle … Beer Is Welcome, Too!,” the scene is a 50th-anniversary party, but the ad talks about how welcome beer is, and ought to be, welcome at so many family gatherings as “a beverage of moderation.”
