Thursday’s ad is for Senate Beer and Ale, a brand made by the Olde Heurich Brewery of Washington, D.C. back in the day. Back in the day, in this case, means 1942. It’s curious that there’s no beer at all depicted in the ad, just the lovely woman staring at us.
Today’s infographic shows Annual Beer Consumption Per State Per Capita, based on data from 2009. It was created to answer the question of whether or not there “is there a link between climate and beer consumption?” If you’ll pardon the pun, the results seem allover the map, so I’d have to conclude that the answer is “no.”
Okay, be warned, this isn’t for the easily offended and it’s somewhat juvenile and more than a little lascivious. But it’s also funny. You also do have to stick with it all the way to the end. And remember, I did warn you.
Wednesday’s ad is for my hometown beer, Reading Premium, which closed in 1976. This ad shows a cowboy who looks to be ready for a High Noon sort of dual, but instead of reaching for his gun, he’s reaching for a beer. Good choice.
Today’s infographic is a map of every U.S. county, showing post-prohibition, which ones are wet (blue), which ones are dry (red) and which are mixed (yellow). Apparently gray is for ones where they didn’t have good information. Wikipedia has a list of dry counties by state, with a list of each state.
Tuesday’s ad is a celebrity ad, one from the 1980s. It features one of my most enduring star crushes, Phoebe Cates, who celebrates her 50th birthday today. She’s probably most famous for Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins. Like many actors in the 80s who turned down doing ads in the U.S., she found the lucrative Japanese market too hard to resist. Cates also did ads for other beer companies, such as Asahi, which I featured a few years ago in 2010’s Beer in Ads #152. This one is for “Live Beer,” or at least that’s what is written on the glass of beer she’s holding. There’s something written just below that, but I can’t quite make out what, so I’m not entirely sure what she’s advertising. I suppose it doesn’t really matter. If Phoebe’s suggesting Live Beer, I’m drinking Live Beer. Join me in drinking a toast to Phoebe Cates’ birthday. Maybe with some live beer.
Boston attorney Shannon Sadowski, founder of New Leaf Legal, wrote an engaging piece for the Boston Globe on trademark concerns that craft breweries will be facing as more and more brands emerge in the growing market. These disputes aren’t going to go away, and I’m always amazed by all of the naked ignorance of IP law on display anytime one these disputes rears its ugly head. Before the 24-hour news cycles and the internet, these controversies existed largely in back rooms out of the public eye, where — I believe — they belong. But until I finish building the time machine, “progress” marches on and these disputes are now part of the public brewing world landscape. Any-ha-who, her article, Trouble brewing: fierce competition for beer industry trademarks, is a good overview of the challenges breweries are facing, and even includes a link to Scott Metzger of Freetail Brewing’s wonderful response letter to a trademark dispute. Read it, and be prepared for the next trademark dispute, coming any day now to a brewery near you.
Today’s infographic is another map of the U.S. showing the State Beer Excise Tax Rates for each of the fifty states. Using data from 2011, it was created by the Tax Foundation.
Click here to see the map full size.
I stumbled on this motion graphics video yesterday on the History of Beer, created by two Portugese graphic designers, Juliano Silva and Valter Simão. It’s a fun little video, just two minutes long. Enjoy.
Monday’s ad is a German one, from 1880, though I don’t know for what brewery it’s advertising. Heute in German means “today” so it’s telling customer, presumably, that bock is available right now. Though honestly, it would appear the man in the ad has had quite enough already.
