Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #1983: We Won!

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Monday’s ad is entitled We Won!, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Haddon Sundblom. It’s #114 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. This is another duplicate, and it was used the previous year as #100 with a different title, After the Game, everything else is exactly the same. The only difference is, this time we know they won. As I wrote about it the last time, the kids are back from the football game, and Mom has the salad and jello mold ready for them. Thankfully, someone also set out beer, which is the only thing on the table they really want.

114. We Won! by Haddon Sundblom, 1955

Beer In Ads #1982: Working On The Community Drive

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Sunday’s ad is entitled Working on the Community Drive, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #113 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group of well-dressed men and women are in someone’s large, nicely appointed home, apparently Working on the Community Drive. There are envelopes, an address book, a list, index cards and someone using a pen. It looks old school and very low-tech, but then again in 1955 a computer like the IBM 702 (which was first built that year) took up a very large room and had to be leased from Big Blue, so it may have been out of the reach of the neighborhood community drive. Maybe that’s why they’re serving beer.

113. Working on the Community Drive by Douglass Crockwell, 1955

Beer In Ads #1981: Between Innings

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Saturday’s ad is entitled Between Innings, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Pruett Carter. It’s #112 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a well-dressed couple — I know I like to put on a suit and tie when I watch baseball on television — takes time out in between innings to pour themselves some more beer. I hope they do that between every inning.

112. Between Innings by Pruett Carter, 1955

Beer In Ads #1980: Supper On The Sand

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Friday’s ad is entitled Supper on the Sand, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #111 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group is cooking hot dogs on the beach — a weenie roast — along with a cooler full of beer cans. One man has just shown up with a ukelele, so you know shit’s about to get real.

111. Supper on the Sand by Douglass Crockwell, 1955

Beer In Ads #1979: Friends From Across The Lake

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Thursday’s ad is entitled Friends From Across the Lake, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Haddon Sundblom. It’s #110 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group of people are in the back of their lakeside cabin at night — but the women still in cocktail dresses — spinning vinyl, listening to music on their portable record player. One of the is waving to a woman down at the dock, apparently Friends From Across the Lake.”

110. Friends From Across the Lake by Haddon Sundblom, 1955

Ballantine’s Literary Ads: Ernest Hemingway

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Between 1951 and 1953, P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company, or simply Ballentine Beer, created a series of ads with at least thirteen different writers. They asked each one “How would you put a glass of Ballantine Ale into words?” Each author wrote a page that included reference to their beer, and in most cases not subtly. One of them was Ernest Hemingway, who wrote several memorable novels, such as the The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.

Today is the birthday of Ernest Hemingway (July 17, 1899–July 2, 1961). He “was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additional works, including three novels, four short story collections, and three non-fiction works, were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.” His Ballantine ad ran in 1952.

Hemingway NYT Ballantines

His piece for Ballantine was done in the form of a letter on fishing, written from Cuba:

Bob Benchley first introduced me to Ballantine Ale. It has been a good companion ever since.

You have to work hard to deserve to drink it. But I would rather have a bottle of Ballantine Ale than any other drink after fighting a really big fish.

We keep it iced in the bait box with chunks of ice packed around it. And you ought to taste it on a hot day when you have worked a big marlin fast because there were sharks after him.

You are tired all the way through. The fish is landed untouched by sharks and you have a bottle of Ballantine cold in your hand and drink it cool, light, and full-bodied, so it tastes good long after you have swallowed it. That’s the test of an ale with me: whether it tastes as good afterwards as when it’s going down. Ballantine does.

ballantine-1952-Hemingway-text

Beer In Ads #1978: Friends Over On The Fourth

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Wednesday’s ad is entitled Friends Over on the Fourth, and the illustration was done in 1955 by John Gannam. It’s #109 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group sits in a back yard on the 4th of July watching the fireworks. And, of course, beer was being served, even during the fireworks themselves.

109. Friends Over on the Fourth by John Gannam, 1955

Beer In Ads #1977: Showing Off The New Power Mower

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Tuesday’s ad is entitled Showing Off the New Power Mower, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Fred Siebel. It’s #108 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, suburban manly men stand in the yard, oohing and awing over a new power mower, that to 2016 eyes looks positively old-fashioned. Despite two out of three of them doing actual yard work, they all have beers in their hands, and one of the woman back at the house looks to be delivering a tray of more beer, which certainly seems like a good idea if he’s going to mow the lawn.

108. Showing Off the New Power Mower by Fred Siebel, 1955

Beer In Ads #1976: Love At First Sight

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Monday’s ad is entitled Love at First Sight, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Haddon Sundblom. It’s #107 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, someone brought a basket full of puppies to a backyard party. I suspect the owner is now plying them with beer in the hopes that the guests will drink enough that they’ll take one of the puppies home with them.

107. Love at First Sight by Haddon Sundblom, 1955

Beer In Ads #1975: Showing Off The New Kitchen

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Sunday’s ad is entitled Showing Off the New Kitchen, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #106 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, they almost look like they could be twin sisters. A woman is showing off her new kitchen to another woman, while their husbands ignore the kitchen, beers in hand, and look as if they’re talking about anything else. It’s weird to see the center island made of brick.

106. Showing Off the New Kitchen by Douglass Crockwell, 1955