Tuesday’s ad is from 1944 and is for Schlitz. Showing a man wooing a woman by romantically rowing her in a canoe, presumably by moonlight, however there’s no beer in the scene. Wouldn’t he have better luck giving her some Schlitz? Now that’s a social lubricant.
Monday’s ad is from 1964 and is for a Guinness product, their Harp Lager. It uses a curious slogan, “If it’s just something cold and wet you want, drink water.” Since I can’t help but think of Harp as not much more flavorful than water, it doesn’t exactly make me want to rush out and buy some of their beer. But I do love the photograph of the beer beautifully posed on rolling sands.
As today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, I thought I’d share this version of the Pirate Alphabet, which seems to be more about beer than piracy.
THE PIRATE ALPHABET
A — The favorite word of Canadian pirates, ey?
B — B stands for Beer!
C — Da ting we sails da boat on
D — Das beer! German pirates
E — ‘e needs a beer
F — ‘f only I had a beer
G — Gee, I wish I had a beer
H — H’aightch and everone one of us should have a beer
I — I wish I had a beer
J — The guy who sells us beer
K — Jay’s wife, she’s a looker!
L — Da place where bad pirates goes when dey dies!
M — ’em folks needs beers
N — ‘nother beer
O — Oh I wish I had a beer
P — (*long pause*) Self-explanatree!
Q — A French word meaning ‘line for beer’
R — A pirate’s favorite word, Arrrh!
S — What you fall on when you drink too much beer
T — Why we beat the British
U — You should have a beer
V — Vikings! Swedish pirates
W — You and you should have a beer
X — Jay’s former wife, she no longer sells us beer
Y — Why not have a beer
Z — Ze beer! French pirates
This week’s work of art is by a Scottish artist, George Harvey, who painted Hop-Picking around 1839. The setting of the painting is believed to be in the Kentish area of England.
You can read a short biography of Harvey at Wikipedia and find links to more of his work at ArtCyclopedia. You can also see a few more of Harvey’s works at the Web Gallery.
Our 85th Guinness is yet another simple one, though it looks slightly more modern. With a pint of Guinness next to four oysters, the tagline reads “Guinness Brings the Oysters out of their Shell,” followed by the more common “Guinness id good for you.”
The September 2011 standings have been released for Wikio’s Beer Blogs. I got an e-mail about them while I was on my way to Chile, and responded, but never heard back. The person who compiled the rankings, Florian, apparently had his contract coming up for renewal and wasn’t sure if he’d be back or not.
Jeff, from Beervana, overtaking The New School who had reached thetop spot for the first time last month. Here’s what happened to the Top 20 over last month:
| 1 | Beervana (+2) |
| 2 | The New School (-1) |
| 3 | Drink With The Wench (+3) |
| 4 | The Stone Blog (+7) |
| 5 | Brookston Beer Bulletin (-1) |
| 6 | Brewpublic (-4) |
| 7 | A Good Beer Blog (=) |
| 8 | Washington Beer Blog (+1) |
| 9 | Appellation Beer: Beer From a Good Home (-4) |
| 10 | Hoosier Beer Geek (+7) |
| 11 | The Brew Site (+5) |
| 12 | KC Beer Blog (+2) |
| 13 | It’s Pub Night (+8) |
| 14 | The Daily Pull (-6) |
| 15 | Seen Through a Glass (+7) |
| 16 | The Session Beer Project™ (+4) |
| 17 | BetterBeerBlog (-5) |
| 18 | Oakshire Brewing (=) |
| 19 | The Not So Professional Beer Blog (-9) |
| 20 | Brewer’s Log (Blog) (-7) |
Ranking made by Wikio
As usual, I included the relative movements of each blog from last month. Movement seems to have started to accelerate somewhat, there’s a lot more blogs changing places up and down the list. As always, I continue to stress that this is just a bit of fun and that we shouldn’t take it too seriously. Until next month ….
This week’s work of art is by English artist Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (sometimes incorrectly called William Clarkson Stanfield), and it depicts a real event that took place on May 22, 1832. I think the title says it all, which is The Burning of the Anchor Brewery. It was painted in 1832 and in 2009 it was purchased by the City of London for their Guildhall Art Gallery.
When the painting was first shown at the London Galley, a local community website had the following story posted:
The Burning of the Anchor Brewery was painted by Clarkson Stanfield and was purchased last year by the City of London Corporation.
The fire took place on 22 May 1832 when, it is believed, a lamp held by one of the employees of the brewery ignited. As the buildings were made of wood and contained very combustible material such as malt and hops, the fire spread quickly. A number of fire engines were brought in but the firemen and the brewery employees were unable stop the fire burning for many hours.
The Anchor Brewery was established in 1616 by James Monger the Elder and was then bought by Josiah Child who supplied beer to the Navy and named it the Anchor brewery. On the death of Henry Thrale, the owner in 1781, the brewery was sold to David Barclay, of Barclay’s Bank fame. Henry Thrale and his wife Hester were great friends of Dr Samuel Johnson, compiler of the first comprehensive English Dictionary and he was an executor of Henry’s will.
Henry’s brewery manager John Perkins was taken on by Barclays and the business was renamed Barclay, Perkins & Company Ltd. By 1815 it was the leading brewery in London producing 330,000 barrels a year and accommodating 200 dray-horses. Barclay Perkins were the owners of the brewery at the time of the fire.
The brewery was rebuilt and extended after the fire and it was said to be one of the sights of London. Charles Dickens featured the brewery and its beer in his novels and in The Old Curiosity Shop Dick Swiveller describes the porter as having ‘a spell in its every drop ‘gainst the ills of mortality’.
In 1955 Barclays merged with its rival Southwark brewery Courage at Shad Thames. In 1962 the site became a bottling factory and in 1970 the company was renamed Courage Ltd.
The Anchor Brewery site finally closed in 1981 and the buildings were demolished. The old brewery tap pub – The Anchor Bankside – is still open today and a plaque in Park Street commemorates the site of the brewery.
You can read more about Stanfield at his Wikipedia page and there are links to his works at ArtCyclopedia. You can also see more of his artwork at the Tate, Fine Art China, and WikiMedia Commons.
Our 84th Guinness is yet another simple one, from 1936, showing a smiling a pint of Guinness and the tagline “Keep Smiling,” along with the usual slogan “Guinness is good for you.”
Today in 1850, California became the 31st state.
California
California Breweries
California Brewery Guides
Guild: California Craft Brewers Association
Regional Guilds:
State Agency: California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
Package Mix:
Beer Taxes:
Economic Impact (2010):
Legal Restrictions:
You may serve alcohol if you are at least 18 years of age.
City and County governments can set different sale hours.
Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.
For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.
There’s only four days left before the new NFL season of football begins on Thursday night. And as we’ve done for the past few years, there are two simple games for Bulletin readers to play, and plenty of room to fit as many as want to play (or at least the first 50 people anyway). Below is all the details on how to sign up. Don’t be shy, sign up today!
This is the fifth year for the Brookston Fantasy Football Games. We’ve had a lot of fun over the last three, so if you love football and beer, consider joining us again this year. The NFL season begins on Thursday September 8, so you’ve got about a four days to sign up.
I’ve again set up two free Yahoo fantasy football games, one a simple pick ’em game and the other a survival pool. Up to 50 people can play each game (that’s Yahoo’s limit, not mine), so if you’re a regular Bulletin reader feel free to sign up for one or even both. It’s free to play, all you need is a Yahoo ID, which is also free. Below is a description of each game and the details on how to join each league and play.
Standings for both leagues will be listed at the bottom of the Bulletin’s right column.
In this Pick’em game, just pick the winner for every game each week, with no spread, and let’s see who gets the most correct throughout the season. I’ve added a new wrinkle this year. Since we’re all very busy, and you (or I) might screw up at least one week, you can now throw out your lowest week. All that’s at stake is bragging rights, but it’s still great fun.
Also, a new feature Yahoo added is the ability to keep picking all through the playoffs, so the game will continue through to the Super Bowl, which is pretty cool.
In order to join the group, just go to Pro Football Pick’em, click the “Sign Up” button (or “Create or Join Group” if you are a returning user). From there, follow the path to join an existing private group and when prompted, enter the following information…
Group ID#: 21527 (Brookston NFL Pick To Win)
Password: brookston
If picking all sixteen football game every week seems like too much, then Survival Football is for you. In Survival Football, you only have to pick one game each week. The only catch is you can’t pick the same team to win more than once all season. And you better be sure about each game you pick because if you’re wrong, you’re out for the season. Actually this year they added a new feature and I changed the game so to be kicked out you have to be wrong twice. In that way more people stand a better chance of lasting longer into the season. So get one wrong, and you’re still okay, get a second wrong, now you’re gone for the season. Last man standing wins.
Yahoo also added the new feature to this game, too, where we can keep picking all through the playoffs, assuming our luck holds. So the game could even continue through to the Super Bowl.
In order to join the group, just go to Survival Football, click the “Sign Up” button and choose to “Join an Existing Group”, then “Join a Private Group”. Then, when prompted, enter the following information…
Group ID#: 8850 (Brookston Survival League)
Password: brookston
With 50 players allowed in each game, there’s plenty of room, so don’t be shy. There’s room for 19 more players in the Pick ‘Em game and 26 in the Survival game. So sign up for one or both games. Beginning after the first weekend of the regular season I’ll post the standings on the home page (at the bottom of the right-hand column) and then each Monday after that through the season. Why night join us?