Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #218: Why Is This Fabacher Smiling?

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Monday’s ad is for a failed brand from the Jackson Brewery in New Orleans, Louisiana — better known as Jax Brewery. In what I believe began in the late 1960s, Jax launched a brand called Fabacher and had ads with a fake “Andrew Fabacher” who supposedly looked like Andrew Jackson, which is who the brewery had been named for. The brewery was founded in 1890 by Alsatian German immigrant Lawrence Fabacher. It stayed in business during Prohibition by making root beer, other soft drinks and near beer. “By the late 1930s it was sold in all of Louisiana, and parts of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.” In 1964, they renovated the brewery and became the “10th largest single-plant brewery in the country, brewing nearly 450,000 barrels of beer annually, [also] making it the largest independent brewery in the South” at that time. The beer ultimately failed and the brewery closed in the mid-1970s. The brewery location is today a shopping mall.

Jax-falbacher

Guinness Ad #39: Flying In Formation

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guinness-toucan
Our 39th Guinness poster by John Gilroy was undoubtedly done around the time of World War 2. It depicts a group of four Toucans flying in formation at an RAF airfield while a pair of mustachioed officers look on in surprise. They’re probably surprised because each Toucan is balancing two pint of Guinness on each of their beaks. The tagline is “Lovely day for a Guinness.”

guinness-lovely-day-fly

Beer In Ads #217: Schlitz Sends In The Clown

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Friday’s ad is for Schlitz from 1965 and features an ugly clown, although I pretty much hate all clowns so I find them all scary and a not a bit funny. Sad, really. And this one’s no different, with the text “What makes the clown smile? Schlitz. Greatest beer on Earth.” The ad also mentioned an upcoming circus parade later that year in Milwaukee, on July 5.

images65schlitz

Beer In Ads #216: Molson Beach Drawing

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Thursday’s ad is for the Canadian beer Molson and is from 1985. It depicts an idyllic beach scene and features a bottle of Molson beer drawn into the sand between two beach blankets. The woman from the blue towel has walked over to the man on the yellow towel, saying. “Well, now that you’ve drawn my attention ….” At the bottom is the tagline, “Molson Makes It Golden.”

Molson-1985

Beer In Ads #215: Meister Brau Lite

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Wednesday’s ad is for one of the first low-calorie light beers from 1969. Notice the spelling of “Lite” for Meister Brau Lite. That’s significant because Miller bought the brand in part to create Miller Lite, which they later introduced in 1973 I love that Mesiter Brau is trying to link their low-calorie beer to sex from the get go, where refer to it as “Lite … a lusty, full strength premium beer with 1/3 less calories.”

Meister-Brau-Lite-1969

Guinness Ad #38: In The Crocodile’s Mouth

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guinness-toucan
Our 38th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features a pint of Guinness perched inside of a crocodile’s mouth and our intrepid zookeeper reaching in to get it, having obviously done the risk/reward calculation of “My Goodness, My Guinness.” Also, notice the crocodile tear. He must know he’s losing his Guinness.

Guinness-croc

And here’s a slightly different version of the same ad.

guinness-alligator

Beer In Ads #212: Pick A Pack Of Bud Suits

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Friday’s ad is another for Budweiser, from 1972. The tagline is “Pick a Pair of Six-Packs” and the ad features a pair of blonds holding a six-packs above their heads. But it’s their outfits that really make the ad; bell bottoms with Bud labels, bare midriffs and white shirts with another Bud label over each breast pocket. Oh, and a red sash tied around their waist. Behind them is a five-piece band in a male version of the same getup. Classic.

Bud-1972