Thursday’s ad is from 1968, when Karate had worked its way into public consciousness, and shows a black belt karate master posing beside four blocks of wood resting on a pair of cinder blocks, ready to be karate-chopped. The only thing standing in his way is a glass of Ballantine Ale. The tagline is pretty funny. “Stronger, Bolder, really means business!”
Our 53rd Session takes us down a more spiritual path, the road to redemption … sort of. Our host, John Holl, of his eponymous Beer Briefing, has chosen the topic Beer Redemption, for which he offers the following confession:
One thing about drinking a lot of beer is that occasionally you’re going to have a bad one. Perhaps it was infected or spoiled by light. Perhaps the brewer or brewery was new and still working out the kinks on a particular style. Regardless, you couldn’t finish the beer in your glass and moved onto the next one.
John goes on to tell the tale of a beer that, in his youth, he found all but undrinkable and gave short shrift to ever after, only to discover — years later — that it wasn’t so bad after all. He continues.
In that moment I realized the foolishness of youth and how many earlier chances I passed up to properly taste this beer. These days it is not uncommon to find [his beer] of various styles in my refrigerator. I haven’t actually visited the brewery yet, but they are now high on my list.
So, what has been your beer redemption?
So drink three Bloody Marys (made with beer) and two Old Foghorns and seek forgiveness, my sons and daughters, just so long as you blog about it for the next Session on Friday, July 1. Your beer redemption is at hand. To start you down the righteous path, say the Beer Prayer aloud every night before retiring from the evening’s drinking:
“Our lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink,
Thy will be drunk,
(I will be drunk),
At home as I am in the tavern.
Give us this day our foamy head,
And forgive us our spillages,
As we forgive those who spill against us,
and lead us not to incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers,
For thine is the beer,
The bitter and the lager,
Forever and ever,
Barmen.”
Today is also the birthday of Ken Allen, former owner of Anderson Valley Brewing. Ken sold the brewery and retired to Belize, at least during part of the year. Join me in wishing Ken a very happy birthday.
Owner Ken Allen, former AVBC salesman Ed Chainey, me, Ralph Woodall, from HopUnion and Ken’s former wife.
Celebrator publisher Tom Dalldorf (whose birthday is also today) with Ken at the 2006 Boonville Beer Festival.
Ken, with Larry Bell, from Bell’s Brewing, along with Ed and Carol Stoudt, from Stoudt’s Brewing, at the Craft Brewers Conference in Austin, Texas, in 2007.
Ken with new Anderson Valley Brewery owner Trey White at last year’s CBC in Chicago.
Wednesday’s ad is from 1959 and is for Rheingold beer. It features a formal horse riding outing and Miss Rheingold for that year, Robbin Bain, the 19th woman to hold the title. The tagline for the ad is “There’s Fun A-Field With Rheingold!” Personally, I don’t know how much fun you could have in such stiff attire, but I’m not much of a horse person anyway.
Today in 1836, Arkansas became the 25th state.
Arkansas
Arkansas Breweries
Arkansas Brewery Guides
Guild: Arkansas Brewers Association
State Agency: Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division
Package Mix:
Beer Taxes (Under 5%):
Beer Taxes (Over 5%):
Economic Impact (2010):
Legal Restrictions:
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.
Tuesday’s ad is a 1898 ad for a New York brewery, Geo. Ringler & Co. It’s actually a calendar poster, which was common for beer advertising during the time period. But since it’s Flag Day, and she’s wrapped in a flag, it seemed an appropriate one for today.
Monday’s ad is a 1942 ad for Ballantine Ale. It was the first full year that we were involved in World War 2, so it’s decidedly patriotic. The tagline is “How American it is … to want something better!” I like the simplicity of the ad, just a single beer bottle.
This week’s work of art is by a Scottish artist, John Quinton Pringle, who around 1904 painted Study of a Head, which is also known as Man With a Drinking Mug.
Here’s how the National Gallery of Scotland, where the painting is hung, describes Pringle and the work:
Pringle trained as an optician in 1874 and ran his own business as optician and electrician from 1896 to 1923. He used his shop as a studio after hours painting predominantly small canvases, like this painting. From around 1895 he developed an interest in French Impressionism, which influenced this work. This is one of three portraits Pringle made of an elderly man who frequented the Saltmarket area of Glasgow and visited the artist in his shop. The sitter was nicknamed ‘Kruger’ due to his supposed likeness to Paul Kruger, the Boer resistance leader and president of the Transvaal republic in South Africa. The painting is thought to date from 1904 – it is signed and dated but Pringle’s style makes it difficult to read.
You can read Pringle’s biography at Wikipedia and see a few more of his paintings at the WikiGallery and there are links to even more of his paintings at ArtCyclopedia.
Our 72nd Guinness ad is again from the “Guinness For Strength” series, with a fisherman reeling in a whale-sized fish, presumably thanks to the pint of Guinness sitting next to his chair. The fish looks every bit as surprised, even a little scared, as the dog and the fisherman.
And here’s a slightly different variation of the ad.
Friday’s ad is a 1957 ad for Budweiser. It’s yet another in the “Where there’s life … there’s Bud” series. This one shows a striking woman dressed in a white shawl (or at least hood) in bright light being poured a Budweiser. She’s staring longingly into, presumably, the eyes of the pourer.
