Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #1668: Genuine Golden Ale Flavor

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Friday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale, from 1957. Wow, houses in the 1950s were very colorfully decorated. Look at the red flowers on white of the curtains compared to the multi-colored flowers on blue of the couch. The other oddity is who gives a soup party? That’s the only food on the table, not to mention next to the soup those look more like plates than bowls. A soup and beer tasting party? Maybe that was all the rage in 1957? But lastly, what’s with the creepy expression on the man in the tan jacket watching the woman in the blue dress ladle her soup as he pretends to be pouring his beer (but is really just holding the bottle at an angle)?

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Beer In Ads #1667: Why? “Duh”

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Thursday’s ad is another one for Miller Lite, again most likely from 1987 or 88. Also featuring comedian Joe Piscopo, who left Saturday Night Live in 1984, after four seasons. Around 1987 and 1988 he did television and print ads for Miller Lite. In this one, the tagline wonders about “A Word From ‘Python’ Piscopo Ex-Wrestler About Miller Lite.” That word? “Duh.” Another intellectually stimulating ad. It’s interesting that in yesterday’s drag queens ad, compared to today’s wrestlers in this ad that they look almost the same. Very colorful outfits, big hair (except when bald) and just as good looking. ANd it still doesn’t make the beer look any more appealing.

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Beer In Ads #1666: Why? “To Keep The Girlish Figure”

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Wednesday’s ad is for Miller Lite, most likely from 1987 or 88. When comedian Joe Piscopo left Saturday Night Live in 1984, after four seasons, he did a few films — I did like Johnny Dangerously — and around 1987 and 1988 did television and print ads for Miller Lite. In this one, the tagline asks “Why ‘Helga’ Piscopo Ex-east German Swimmer Drinks Miller Lite.” The answer, surprisingly, is not because his taste buds were lost as a side effect to steroid use, but “To Keep His Girlish Figure.” Piscopo, in drag, and three similarly attired friends from a bad version of La Cage aux Folles, are drinking Miller Lite and winkingly making fun of it being diet beer. It certainly doesn’t make drinking the beer look terribly attractive so I’m a little unclear how effective it could have been.

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Beer In Ads #1665: Welcome To The Inns Of Britain

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Tuesday’s ad is from the English brewer’s “Beer is Best” campaign, from 1951. The campaign began in 1933, and ran for 30 years, and this one shows an idyllic country pub — The Axe and Compass — with a conspicuous church spire behind it. It almost appears that they’re trying to either suggest the pub as church or to associate the two as central to British life (both claims I agree with, BTW). But it looks so perfect one assumes it has to be a fictional, stylized version meant to invoke the romance of the country pub.

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But not so fast. The Axe and Compass is an actual country inn located in Hemingford Abbots, 3 miles from St Ives, 6 miles from Huntingdon, and 12 miles from Cambridge. According to their website, the pub dates “back to the 15th century.”

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But perhaps the artist did take a few liberties with perspective. That church spire that looms so large in the ad’s illustration appears much less imposing in the photograph from the pub’s website. And even more revealing, placing the inn at roughly the same angle as the drawing using Google Maps Street View, you can barely make out just the tip of the spire above the edge of the end of the pub’s roof past the back chimney. You have to go down Church Lane to see the church, and it doesn’t look nearly as large as it does in the illustration. Still, it’s an awesome image and I suspect it may have been one in a series, which would be even cooler. I know I want to go there now, and if I’m ever in the area, I’d definitely try to have a pint of Timothy Taylor there.

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Beer In Ads #1664: Daisy, Daisy

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Monday’s ad is another one for Guinness, this time from 1937. This is an odd little ad. A couple — who to my eyes look almost identical except for their clothing — had to stop while bicycling through the countryside. While he tried to fix the bike, she sensibly fixed lunch. Yet he seems chuffed that she’s not eager to share, even calling her lazy. Not a great date.

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Beer In Ads #1662: A Guinness Page For Coronation Year

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Saturday’s ad is yet another one for Guinness, this time from 1953. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned queen in 1952 aftwer her father died, and the coronation was held in June of 1953. That same year, Guinness published this poster of trivia loosely related to the coronation and, of course, to Guinness. You could even send away for a free copy to hand on your wall.

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Beer In Ads #1660: The Young Hostess Made A Lovely Deep Fry

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Wednesday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1956. What a lovely story, 1950s style. “The Young Hostess made a lovely deep fry.” But it doesn’t end there, it just builds. Then “her husband brought home the Guinness.” And how did the story end? “Their guests had a perfect meal. And very nice, too!” I know I’m hungry, especially for those “crisp, crunchy chips!”

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Beer In Ads #1659: Good Evening, Sir!

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Tuesday’s ad is for the English brewer’s “Beer is Best” campaign, from 1949. The campaign began in 1933, and ran for 30 years, and this one included landlord “Fred Green” — whoever that is — who apparently greets every patron with a “good evening” and a “cheerful smile.” I definitely want to go to that pub.

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