Sunday’s ad is for Busch Bavarian Beer, from 1965. The ad says you get everything in your beer — imported hops, slow-cold aging (whatever that is) and natural carbonation — everything, that is, except an egg. Which is weird, because who thought you should get an egg in your beer?
Saturday’s ad is for Lemp’s Falstaff Bottled Beer, from 1915. Even for 1915, this seems like an odd ad. Their goal seems to be telling people they’re an old brand by reminding them that the brewery was founded that it would cost you three goat skins to have a marriage ceremony performed in the Iowa territories. I wonder if that really worked?
Friday’s ad is for a soft drink called Sober-Up, from 1945. While not a beer, the idea that they’d call it “Sober-Up” is too funny, and given my week at CBC in Portland coming to an end, appropriate. Apparently, “It’s A Lifesaver,” and it’s also “Fit For A King.” But the best is the other slogan on the bottle, which is something that seems almost too cheesy to be real. “It’s the Best … Beat’s the Rest.” The ad was done by Hungarian artist Julius Erbit, who also did a well-known pin-up ad for Senate Beer & Ale in 1942.
Thursday’s ad is another one for Pabst, from 1897. The Invalid in the title refers to those not drinking Pabst, with its “tonic” qualities where “it lifts, strengthens, builds, is vivifying, life-giving, gives vim and bounce — it braces.”
Wednesday’s ad is for Pabst, from 1951. Apparently playing bridge with another couple used to be huge, but it didn’t reach my generation. My parents occasionally had people over to play Pinochle, but never bridge as far as I know. So I don’t even know if that’s a good hand.
Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1904. The ad is all text, apart from a small logo in the corner. It’s just a notice that drinking beer will keep you healthy, expressed in the headline as “Beer Keeps One Well.” But wait, there’s more. “It is a noticeable fact that those who brew beer, and who drink what they want of it, are usually healthy men.” But I love tis statement. “The malt and the hops are nerve foods.” Nerve foods?
Monday’s ad is for Kent Ale, from 1935. It was made by the G. Krueger Brewing Co., who was the first to debut beer in cans earlier in the same year. Tis was the third of their beers they put in a can, after the first test in their Virginia market was so successful. What’s really interesting is the described the beer as an “India Pale Type Stock Ale,” which apparently has “tangy, English-tavern flavor.” I would have liked to have tasted that one.
Sunday’s ad is by the United Brewers Industrial Foundation, from 1941. This was early in the industry’s ads promoting beer, and would have been after the start of World War 2, but before Pearl Harbor and America’s entrance into the war. I imagine it would have been a time of uncertainty and anxiety, so it’s interesting that they picked up on that, and suggested something we all now, that when you’re feeling stressed, a beer can help you relax, slow down and feel a little better. So while it would never occurred to me to say so, there really is peace in beer. How cool is that?
Saturday’s ad is for Dow Old Stock Ale, from 1937. Dow Breweries was from Quebec, Canada, but after an incident in 1965, the brewery was acquired by Carling O’Keefe, who shut down the brand in March of 1966. In the ad, a couple is playing cards (Bridge?) at a card table as one of the men is pouring beer for everyone at the table. Seems like a nice way to spend an evening pre-World War 2.
Friday’s ad is for Alpen Brau Bottled Beer, brewed by the Independent Breweries Co. of St. Louis, from 1916. A simple, but cool illustration.
