Sunday’s ad is for Oland’s Schooner Beer. The Oland Brewery is from Nova Scotia, Canada, though today it’s owned by Labatt Brewing, and ultimately ABI. They still make this beer today, though it’s now known as Schooner Lager. This ad, I think, looks like it’s from the 1950s.
Saturday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1904. It’s an unthinkable ad in today’s world, where health claims are strictly forbidden in beer advertising, even if they’re true. In a fictional, or hypothetical at best, conversation between a doctor and his patient, the physician unequivocally endorses Schlitz beer because it’s so pure. How does he know? Because he’s seen it being brewed, which of course makes no sense. But my favorite advice the doc gives is about why pure beer is good for you. “The hops form a tonic; the barley a food. The trifle of alcohol os an aid to digestion. And the custom of drinking beer supplies the body with fluid to wash out the waste. People who don’t drink beer seldom drink enough fluid of any kind. A great deal of ill-health is caused by the lack of it.” And no, it doesn’t cause biliousness, which is a “term used in the 18th and 19th centuries pertaining to bad digestion, stomach pains, constipation, and excessive flatulence.” Whew, dodged a bullet there.
Friday’s ad is for the U.S. Brewers Industry Foundation, from the 1940s, sometime during World War II. This is from the brewing industry’s “Morale is a Lot of Little Things,” their award-winning campaign that talks about the little things that help people’s morale during the war. Not surprisingly, beer is usually one of them.
Thursday’s ad is for Anheuser-Busch, from 1945. A World War 2 ad, showing a modern soldier — a Sergeant First Class — in which he compares himself to a suit of armor, most likely while liberating a European castle. The tagline reads “When Knights were Bold .. they were not so Big.” I guess the big strapping enlisted man is taller than the knight would been, based on the armor’s size.
Last week, the judging took place for the 19th annual California State Fair Craft Beer Competition in West Sacramento. This year, there were 859 beers entered in 25 categories of beer plus one for hard cider were entered. I judged two of the four days for this year’s competition, but family obligations kept me from being there for the final two days of judging.
This year’s California State Fair will also include a Brewer’s Festival, which will take place on July 19 from 3-6 PM at the Miller Lite Grandstands at Cal Expo in Sacramento, where you’ll have an opportunity to try many of the winning beers. Tickets are $15 in advance, or $20 the day of the event. Check out the Cal State Expo website for details.
Below are all of the award winners. 1 is a Gold medal, 2 is Silver, 3 is Bronze, and 4 is an Honorable Mention.
Category 1: Light Lager (16 entries)
Category 2: Pilsner (22 entries)
Category 3: European Amber Lager (5 entries)
Category 4: Dark Lager (5 entries)
Category 5: Bock (13 entries)
Category 6: Light Hybrid Beer (69 entries)
Category 7: Amber Hybrid Beer (10 entries)
Category 8: English Pale Ale (19 entries)
Category 9: Scottish/Irish Ale (22 entries)
Category 10: American Ale (101 entries)
Category 11: English Brown Ale (14 entries)
Category 12: Porter (32 entries)
Category 13: Stout (58 entries)
Category 14: India Pale Ale (178 entries)
Category 15: German Wheat/Rye Beer (27 entries)
Category 16: Belgian and French Ale (46 entries)
Category 17: Sour Ale (9 entries)
Category 18: Belgian Strong Ale (30 entries)
Category 19: Strong Ale (30 entries)
Category 20: Fruit Beer (22 entries)
Category 21: Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer (16 entries)
Category 22: Smoke-Flavored/Wood-Aged Beer (30 entries)
Category 23: Specialty Beer (30 entries)
Category 27: Standard Cider and Perry (8 entries)
Category 28: Specialty Cider and Perry (4 entries)
Category 32: Chili Beer (12 entries)
Category 33: Session Beer (31 entries)
A few statistics: Karl Strauss, Ol’ Republic Brewery and Sudwerk Brewing won the most medals, four apiece. Feather Falls Casino Brewing won three, and 21st Amendment, Drake’s Brewery, Dust Bowl Brewing, Firestone Walker Brewing, Hangar 24 Brewing, Loomis Basin Brewing, Lost Coast Brewery, Mraz Brewing, San Pedro Brewing, Schooner’s Grille & Brewery, Telegraph Brewing and Track 7 Brewing all won two medals apiece.
BEST OF SHOW
Each brewery chose 6 of their entered beers which they felt were their best. After all judging was completed, the brewery whose six beers scored best was awarded the title “Brewery of the Year.” This year, that honor went to the Antioch brewpub Schooner’s Grille & Brewery, and their brewmaster Craig Cauwels. In addition, a panel of media chose their favorite from among the “best of show” beers to receive the “Best of Show — Media Choice,” which was awarded to Ol’ Republic Brewery’s E.S.B.
Congratulations to all the winners.
Wednesday’s ad is for Anheuser-Busch brand Natural Light, from 1996. The ad depicts a scene from the Battle of the Little Big Horn, more commonly known as “Custer’s Last Stand,” which took place today in 1876. The ad can be found, oddly enough, in the Autry Library in southern California. Anheuser-Busch apparently created a reproduction of an 1892 pamphlet with the lengthy title Authentic history of the Indian campaign which culminated in “Custer’s last battle,” June 25, 1876 : from comments by General Fry, Captain E.S. Godfrey (Seventh Cavalry, U.S.A.), (volume XLIII, the Century monthly magazine, January, 1892), Captain Charles King, Adjutant-General State of Wisconsin, Olin D. Wheeler, of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and others. The “specially numbered reprint” was done exclusively for the 23rd annual conference of the Little Big Horn Associates, July 18-21, 1996, which was held in St. Louis, Missouri, and included the “Natural History Lesson” ad. The original pamphlet was distributed with another painting, Otto Becker’s Custer’s Last Fight in 1896,” which was used to create a poster in 1896 that AB distributed to its customers and bars, making it the first example of brewery advertising. As a result, it has become one of the most highly sought after pieces of breweriana. This newer painting appears less serious in tone, and there’s no additional information I can find about who created the illustration for the Natural Light ad.
Tuesday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale, from 1941. It’s part of a series of ads Ballantine did under the umbrella name “Early American something,” in this one, for example, it’s “Early American Interlude.” I find this one a little creepy. It reminds me more of the cover of a romance novel, with a smiling colonial babe peering in at a shirtless blacksmith.
Monday’s ad is for Pickwick Ale & Stout, from the 1920s. Brewed by Haffenreffer & Co. (a.k.a. the Haffenreffer Brewery) of Boston, Massachusetts, the spot where the brewery used to be in Jamaica Plain is where the Boston Beer Co. today operates a Samuel Adams Brewery. The Lindy in the ad’s headline is a reference to Charles Lindbergh and his famous solo flight to France, which took place in 1927, smack dab in the middle of Prohibition. So I suspect that ad might possibly be a few years older than most sources claim. The beer bottle calls the beer “Pickwick Pale,” but the neck label reads “Extra Pale Pickwick.” Also, it reads Haffenreffer across the middle of label, but just below that is “New England B’w’g Co.” and below that “N.E. Breweries Co. Ltd.” of “London E.C. England.” So that’s a lot of confusion on one beer bottle. I do love the tagline at the bottom, though: “The Tang of Good Old Ale.”
Ah, the numerical beers. First there was Goose Island’s 312. After being acquired by ABI, they proceeded to file trademark applications for many other metropolitan area codes, leaving many to speculate that they’d start doing locally themed area code beers. When the overlooked the San Luis Obispo / Paso Robles area code, Firestone Walker snapped up, almost as a joke, and started producing 805. It may have started out as a humorous idea, but it’s become one of their best-selling beers in their home market. Golden Road, who’s down the road in Los Angeles, named one of their beers 329, not for an area code, but for the average number of days that L.A. gets sunshine each year.
So they threw down about the area code beers in a musical parody entitled (Beers with) Area Codes, a spoof of Ludacris’ Area Codes (feat. Nate Dogg). The video features co-founder Meg Gill, and some of her brewery team, as they call out Matt Brynildson by name, and humorously dis his 805. Golden Road’s brewer Jesse Houck (who used to brew at Drake’s and 21st Amendment) can also seen briefly in a cameo. At the end, they give a shout out to other area codes, which at first sound made up, but they do mention my 707, so maybe not. All in all, a pretty funny music video.
Sunday’s ad is for E. Anheuser Co., from 1879. It’s a beautiful ad, from back when child labor wasn’t an issue. They were probably able to maximize profits by employing kids, who work for milk and cookies. Although a few of them are taking a break at a picnic table and enjoying bottles of E. Anheuser Co.’s St. Louis Lager Beer. Or perhaps they’re Oompa-Loompas? But what a gorgeous lithographic ad.
