Our 69th Guinness ad is a fairly simple one, showing a half-empty pint of Guinness and the slogan “Life Is Brighter After Guinness” in large letters followed by the more familiar “Guinness is Good For You” in smaller print below that.
Beer In Ads #374: Brasserie De Sochaux
Friday’s ad is for a French brewery, Brasserie De Sochaux, which closed in 1979. It looks late 19th century, but who knows. I’m not seeing the old gray-haired dude in the military (or bellhop?) uniform as making me want to drink their beer. Plus, it just seems too busy.
Deborah Carey: Champion Of Change
Congratulations to New Glarus Brewing co-founder Deb Carey, who was selected as a Champion of Change by President Barack Obama and the White House. It’s great to see someone from craft brewing honored.
Here’s the write-up for Carey on the White House website:
Deborah Carey’s decision to start New Glarus Brewing Company was rooted in doing what was best for her family rather than becoming the local woman who broke down barriers to start a brewery. As she worked on a business plan, her husband Dan, a master brewer, gathered the materials, grains and equipment needed for start-up. In 1993 they negotiated to rent a warehouse in New Glarus, exchanging the lease for stock in the New Glarus Brewing Company.
They sold their home and raised $40,000 in seed money, yet still needed more cash to fund the startup. Deborah pitched her story to local newspapers, and the media attention brought $200,000 from investors. In the early days, the couple worked hard to establish the brewery’s reputation for consistent quality beers. Deborah’s marketing plan was to develop a very loyal customer base. She set up beer tasting classes along with offering brewery tours. Beer distributors started noticing the little brewery that was developing a strong consumer following.
New Glarus Brewing Company has grown to 50 full-time employees, has registered growth in profits of 123 percent from 2007 to 2009, and is Wisconsin’s number one micro-brewery relative to sales volume.
Session #51.5: The Great Online Beer & Cheese-Off, Part 2
I’ll be very much surprised if there’s a great turnout for Session #51.5. It is after all, asking a lot — and for a second time in two weeks — gather together a selection of beers and cheese. For this extra Session, the instructions were in the round-up for Session #51. The idea was to use the list of beers chosen by everybody for each of the three cheeses that were listed in the round-up to try a few more beers with the same cheese. Simply pick up some of the other beers that were suggested, and try them with the same three cheeses and do a follow up blog post on or around Friday, May 20 to explore more fully pairing cheese and beer.
You can write about how your choices compared, or what you learned from the other suggestions, or which out of all the ones you tried worked best. What recommended pairing most surprised you? Which didn’t seem to work at all, for you? It’s my way of taking the Session concept and making it more interactive and collaborative, essentially an “online cheese-off.” First, we made our best recommendations for pairing a beer with these three cheeses, and now we have an opportunity to try as many of the suggestions as we can, and discover which worked best. I’ll then do a second round-up and report the findings of the group as a whole to the beers and the three cheeses together. If you’ve already done Part One, don’t stop now, keep going. Read what your fellow bloggers liked, and pick a few to try yourself. To participate, just post a comment here or at the round-up with a link to your blog post for Session #51.5.
A final note. Since it’s not really an “official” Session, don’t worry too much about sticking to today’s date. Have another cheese tasting whenever you like, whenever it’s convenient or you feel like it. To be honest, after being in South America for the last eleven days, I’m too tired to do it today myself, and will most likely do it next week. Feel free to do likewise. I’ll keep adding posts as they come in. Also, don’t forget about Session #52, coming up Friday, June 3.
Beer In Ads #373: The Prince of Pilsen
Thursday’s ad may in fact not actually be an ad. It could just as easily be sheet music or the Playbill from a show. But the “Prince of Pilsen” sounds like a great title for a musical. I wonder why the woman on the left is dressed like the United States?
Beer In Ads #372: Nova Schin Sao Paulo Fashion
Wednesday’s ad is another recent one for the Brazilian beer, Nova Schin, and it’s a very odd one. It’s apparently for Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, but to me it just comes off as a little creepy. Of course, I have no sense of fashion, so it’s probably me.
There’s at least two more ads in the Fashion Week series, but they don’t help make it any less odd of an ad campaign.
Beer In Ads #371: Jesus For Brahma
Talk about mixed mythologies, Tuesday’s ad is another recent one for the Brazilian beer, Brahma. Showing Rio de Janeiro’s “Christ the Redeemer” statue in another frenetic, colorful ad for Brahma, who before it was beer, was the Hindu god of creation, I found a little odd. Perhaps that’s just me.
Beer In Ads #370: Drawing On Brahma
Monday’s ad is for the popular Brazilian beer, Brahma, because around Noon today, I touched down in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where I’ll be for the next three days. It’s a newer ad, but I love the frenetic illustration and the bold colors. It also makes me want to drink a Brahma … almost.
South Beer Cup Winners Announced
Regular readers have probably noticed that my usual output has been diminished here of late, that’s because I’ve been in Buenos Aires, Argentina since Monday. I was fortunate enough to be invited to judge at the very first South Beer Cup, South America’s version of the Great American Beer Festival and the Craft Brewers Conference combined. It was put on by the Centro de Cata de Cerveza with support from the very active local homebrew club, Somos Cerveceros.
They had 280 beers from 72 breweries entered in 20 categories from four countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Along with the local judges, made up of brewers and BJCP certified judges, four experienced judges from North America were on hand to help out. In addition to myself, there was Stephen Beaumont, Doug Odell and Pete Slosberg. The four of us also each gave a short talk during the conference portion of the event.
But more about that later, last evening at a gala awards ceremony held at the rooftop of the American Club. It was a great event, and perhaps the best part was seeing the enthusiasm and passion on display as the excited winners went up to accept their awards, all to some very dramatic music. So without further ado, here s the list of the winners for the first South Beer Cup:
- Pilsner
- Bronze: Colorado (Brazil)
- Oktoberfest
- Bronze: Buller (Argentina)
- Pale Ale
- Bronze: Davok (Uruguay)
- Golden/Blonde Ale
- Silver: TIE: Duff (Argentina) / Eisenbahn (Brazil)
- Bronze: Carmela (Argentina)
- India Pale Ale
- Gold: Davok (Uruguay)
- Silver: Fenicia (Argentina)
- Bronze: Backer (Brazil)
- Amber/Red Ale
- Gold: Yeska (Argentina)
- Silver: Antares (Argentina)
- Bronze: El Viejo Hobbit (Argentina)
- Honorable Mention: Piltri (Argentina)
- Wheat Beer
- Silver: Baden Baden (Brazil)
- Bronze: Bier Hoff (Brazil)
- Honorable Mention: Cabezas Bier (Uruguay)
- Dry Stout
- Silver: Bodebrown (Brazil)
- Bronze: TIE: Carmela (Argentina) / Kross (Chile)
- Imperial Stout
- Silver: Montecristo (Argentina)
- Bronze: Antares (Argentina)
- Porter
- Bronze: TIE: Antares (Argentina) / Alumine (Argentina) / La Cruz (Argentina)
- Brown Ale
- Bronze: Fenicia (Argentina)
- Barley Wine
- Bronze: Davok (Uruguay)
- Honorable Mention: TIE: La Cruz (Argentina) / Una Mas (Argentina)
- Smoked Beer
- Gold: Gulmen (Argentina)
- Silver: Bamberg (Brazil)
- Bronze: Berlina (Argentina)
- Specialty Beer
- Gold: Baden Baden (Brazil)
- Additional Honorable Mentions [w/style]: Baden Baden [Golden] (Brazil) / Dowel [Grape] / Silberweizen [Weizen Bock] / Sixtofer [Scarlet] (Argentina) / Szot [Strong Ale] / Von de Brauer [Red Ale] / Jerome [Diablo] (Argentina)
- Honey Beer
- Silver: TIE: Antares (Argentina) / Fenicia (Argentina)
- Kolsch
- Bronze: Antares (Argentina)
- Dunkel
- Silver: TIE: Bamberg (Brazil) / Eisenbahn (Brazil)
- Belgian Dark Ale
- Bronze: Eisenbahn (Brazil)
- Munich
- Silver: Bamberg (Brazil)
- Schwarzbier
- Silver: Bamberg (Brazil)
- Bock
- Bronze: Blest (Brazil)
- Old Ale
- Silver: Bodebrown (Brazil)
Congratulations to all the winners.
And here’s all the participating breweries:
Beer In Art #127: Carlos Morel’s Duel In The Taproom
This week’s work of art is by an artist from Argentina, Carlos Morel. I saw the original in Buenos Aires at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. The painting is known as Payada en Una Pulperia or Duel in the Taproom and was created in 1840.
The duel depicted in the painting is of the musical variety, with two guitar players squaring off against one another to the general merriment of all the people drinking in the taproom.
Morel is considered to be Argentina’s first great painter. He was born in Buenos Airies in 1813 and lived until 1894, painting a great number of watercolors and oil paintings throughout his career. Here’s a translated biography