Sunday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1950s or possibly very early 1960s. There Is Happiness In … features a very odd assortment of musicians either stuck inside Heineken bottles or perhaps just wearing them as costumes. You don’t often see a quartet consisting of trumpet, saxophone, tuba and drums, but maybe there are more of them outside the frame. Not sure about the Heineken part, but they certainly look festive and happy.
Today in 1988, US Patent 4782969 A was issued, an invention of John C. Henning, for his “Twist-Off Bottle Cap.” Here’s the Abstract:
A tamper-proof closure is disclosed for use with a bottle having a neck, a lip with a downwardly and inwardly sloping peripheral wall and a plurality of outwardly extending ribs disposed at the juncture of the sloping wall and outer wall of the neck. The closure includes a top wall, a depending ribbed skirt and a plurality of rectangular tabs extending from the bottom edge of the skirt between each pair of ribs. The tabs are bent inwardly and upwardly and include a serrated edge for engagement with the ribs on the bottle. When the cap is applied, the tabs form compressive members holding the lid in sealed position against the bottle neck. The closure is removed by twisting, which causes the tabs to be shifted outwardly beyond the bottle ribs so that the cap can be lifted from the bottle. The closure cannot be reapplied since, during removal, the tabs have been bent outwardly to a point where they can no longer engage the bottle ribs.
Today is International Tongue Twister Day, a day to celebrate those expressions that tend to tie your tongue in knots. A tongue-twister is defined as “a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken (or sung) word game. Some tongue-twisters produce results which are humorous (or humorously vulgar) when they are mispronounced, while others simply rely on the confusion and mistakes of the speaker for their amusement value.” Here are several I managed to uncover that involve beer. Enjoy.
Brewer Braun brews brown beer (Braubauer Braun braut braunes Bier)
Bold and brave beer brewers always prepare bitter, brown, Bavarian beer (Biedere brave Bierbauerburschen bereiten beständig bitteres braunes bayrisches Bier)
Rory the warrior and Roger the worrier were reared wrongly in a rural brewery.
An old seabear sits on the pier and drinks a pint of beer.
A canner can can anything that he can,
But a canner can’t can a can, can he?
Do drunk ducks and drakes drown?
Betty Botter had some bitter,
“But,” she said, “this bitter’s bitter.
If I brew this bitter better,
It would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better.”
So she bought a bit of butter –
Better than her bitter butter –
And she baked it in her batter;
And the batter was not bitter.
So ’twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better bitter.
The bitters Betty Botter bought could make her batter bitter, so she thought she’d better buy some better bitters!
Note: the blue circle is the pump handle for Ad Hop Tongue Twister, a beer from Ad Hop Brewing in Liverpool, England.
Today in 1955, US Patent D176022 S was issued, an invention of Ronald Victor King, for his “Beer Can.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The ornamental design for a beer can, substantially as shown and described.
Saturday’s ad is for Grolsch, from 1951. Ik Drink Bier, or “I Drink Beer,” is a pretty simple slogan, but apparently if you drink eleven glasses of beer you can lift a pink elephant by its trunk, which is pretty impressive, and a rather bold claim. The ad was done by famous illustrator Ib Antoni, a Danish artist. It’s actually based on a previous poster he’d done where the kid only had three mugs of beer with the letter “M” on them, so it appears he adapted it for Grolsch. Across the bottom was also an addition for the ad: “Bier moet. Bier doet je goed.” Which Google translate tells me is “Beer should. Beer is good for you,” but I feel like “should” is probably not right and there’s some idiomatic use I’m missing.
Today in 1961, US Patent D191695 S was issued, an invention of Harold Austin, for his “Holder for Beer Foam Scrapers or the Like.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The ornamental design for a holder for beer foam scrapers or the like as shown and described.
Today in 2000, US Patent PP11615 P was issued, an invention of Gene Probasco, assigned to John I. Haas, Inc., for his “Hop Plant Named ‘H900325-5.'” Here’s the Abstract:
A new and distinct variety of hop, Humulus lupulus L., characterized by a semi-dwarf stature and named `H900323-5`, has an unusually high percentage of alpha-acids in its resin, early maturity and a resonable projected cone yield on low trellis. The new variety was cultivated as a result of a cross at a greenhouse in Yakima, Wash., United States, and has been asexually reproduced in Yakima, Wash., United States.
Friday’s ad is for Heineken, from 1951. I’ve always found this ad super creepy, but maybe it was effective, who knows. It certainly gives beer goggles a new angle, pint goggles, though I do like that the eye itself has become a drop of beer inside the glass looking out. And of course he’s wearing a bow tie.
Today in 1979, US Patent 4173295 A was issued, an invention of Dieter Steinmann, assigned to the European Design Corporation, for his “Barrel Dispensing Support.” Here’s the Abstract:
A one way beer barrel dispensing support is provided to facilitate dispensing a beverage from the barrel by gravity flow. The support has a circular area on its upper surface for receiving the bottom end of a beverage barrel. A conduit is mounted in said circular area and has an inlet which enters the barrel when the barrel is placed on the support. The end of the conduit remote from the inlet has a valved spigot to control dispensing.
Today in 1990, US Patent D311868 S was issued, an invention of Kenneth J. Armstrong, for his “Beer Keg Cap.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The ornamental design for a beer keg cap as shown and described.
