Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, another in their long-running “where there’s life … there’s Bud” series. Based on the man with the goofy grin’s fashion sense, I’d say 1950s. I don’t think you have to tell a man in a hammock (I know, my kids gave me one for Father’s Day yesterday) to “RELAX,” but that’s how they phrased their copy. Since Budweiser listed their ingredients on the label, you could be “sure,” sure of what exactly, I can’t really say.
Today in 1953, Egypt declared their Independence and on the same day three years later, in 1956, all foreign troops finally left. Egypt celebrates today as Eid el-Galaa, meaning the “evacuation of foreign troops”
Egypt
Egypt Breweries
Egypt Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guild: None Known
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.05%
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: 2
Prohibition: None
I posted these last year a couple of weeks before Father’s Day, but figured today was a good day to take another look at them. Last year, the good folks at Every Guyed designed eight beer can dads.
Here was the idea:
To celebrate Father’s Day, EveryGuyed and Moxy Creative House have teamed up once again to deliver the second installment of the ‘Cheers!’. This time we had creative director Glenn Michael raise a glass — and his brush — to 8 iconic animated dads, re-envisioning them as beer cans.
When you were a kid, Father’s Day was a pretty boring affair. Now you’re of age, and all of a sudden you have the chance to do something with your dad that he’ll actually enjoy: share a cold one together.
See if you can guess all of the cartoon dads. You can see all eight of them in the slideshow above. The answers can found at the bottom of last year’s post.
Now I want my own dad can. What would yours look like?
Today in 1944, Iceland gained their Independence from Denmark.
Iceland
Iceland Breweries
Iceland Brewery Guides
Other Guides
Guild: None Known
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.05%
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
WHO Alcohol Data:
Patterns of Drinking Score: 3
Prohibition: 1915 to 1922, then partially lifted until 1935 in Iceland (though beer was still prohibited until 1989) / See Wikipedia: Prohibition in Iceland
Here’s a strange development. Remember Anheuser-Busch InBev filed trademark applications for over a dozen telephone area codes a few months ago. Speculation ran high that they were planning on duplicating the success of their recent acquisition, Goose Island Brewing, and their 312 Urban Wheat Ale, named after the local Chicago area code, but nobody could say for sure. This past Monday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted ABI a 6-month extension to submit their mandatory “Statement of Use” forms, meaning we’ll have to wait a bit longer to discover exactly how they’re planning on using those area codes.
Pro Brewer is now reporting — though the original sources are Evan Benn on St. Louis Today and Jenn Litz at Craft Business Daily — that ABI has spent over $12,000 filing similar applications to lock-up over 40 airport codes, including “LAX (Los Angeles), SFO (San Francisco), MIA (Miami), BOS (Boston) and LGA (New York LaGuardia).” Again, no word on what the plan is for them, but it would have to be for a beer name, wouldn’t it? What else could it be? Surely not just making sure no one else uses them? ‘Cause that would be kinda evil. What’s next, famous zip codes? Two-digit state codes? There was a great joke Lily Tomlin used to tell in her stand-up act. “I love it how New York City named their streets after all the famous numbers.”
I’ve never been sure if I love words because I’m a writer, or if I became a writer because of my love for words. Either way, as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by words, their origins, their shades of meaning, the way they roll off the tongue, their rhythm … well, you get the idea. I’m a word freak. So I’m always thrilled when I discover a new one, or at least one new to me.
This one’s a portmanteau, which is essentially a word that “is a combination of two (or more) words or morphemes into one new word.” “Blog” is one you probably use every day. Other examples include “breathalyzer,” “brunch,” “camcorder,” “ginormous,” “motel,” “smog” and “spork.” Some catch on, while others don’t quite make it into everyday usage. There are a lot of portmanteaus in computing and the internet, and Wikipedia has a long list of them.
One of my favorite magazines is Mental Floss, which is a great one for feeding your inner trivia geek. They recently had a blog post entitled 12 Really Forced Portmanteaux That Didn’t Catch On that included some that you can easily see why they didn’t become popular. Words like “locorestive” (Inclined to remain in one place) or “saccharhinoceros” (A lumbering person with an excessively effusive or affectedly sentimental manner) don’t exactly roll off the tongue. Some of the portmanteaus on the list are downright funny.
But here’s the one that caught my eye: alcoholiday, combining alcohol and holiday. It was defined as “leisure time spent drinking” when it first “appeared in a 1913 New York Times story titled ‘New Arrivals in Portmanteau Land.'”
It may not be the most elegant word, but there are certainly holidays that fit that description to a tee. St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo and New Years’ Eve seem obvious alcoholidays. And our Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day and even Halloween could easily be included.
Maybe it’s time to bring back alcoholiday?
Friday’s ad is for “the Pride of Canada,” a claim made by Molson in this ad from the — what do you think? — sixties or seventies? It also includes this classic quote from founder John Molson, from 1786, when he would have been 23 years old. “An honest brew makes its own friends.” I wonder if he ever really said it?
Thursday’s ad is for Falstaff cans, presumably from the sixties since they’re pull-tabs. I assume it was probably a fall ad, playing on football terminology. “First down. Five to go.” But best of all, check out the tagline at the bottom. “Beer after beer, the choicest product of the brewer’s art. Everywhere.” Now that’s pure gold.
Wednesday’s ad is for Miller Lite, from 1982. Given Matt Cain’s amazing perfect game earlier tonight for the Giants, I thought a baseball ad would be appropriate. In this case, it’s “Mr. Baseball” Bob Uecker and his self-deprecating humor. Still, it’s pretty funny. “Great ballplayers drink Lite because it’s less filling. I know. I asked one.”
Tuesday’s ad is for the Canadian beer O’Keefe’s and specifically their Old Vienna. I’m not sure when it’s from, though the 1950s seems a safe bet. The tagline, “reach for an Old Vienna” is being acted out as an unseen hand passes a case of beer over the head of the woman of the house as her husband reaches out to take possession. Her expression is priceless, her lips purse in alarm perhaps worrying that the case will be dropped on her head or ruin the salad she’s holding in her hands. Now that’s “party time … anytime!” Oh, and does that kitchen background look fake? Look closely at the window.
