Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #360: American Originals, Faust

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Monday’s ad is for one of Anheuser-Busch’s series of beers they marketed under the name “American Originals,” beginning in the fall of 1995. This one was Faust, a “Devilish All-Malt Lager.” Here’s what a press release said about it at the time:

Faust was first brewed in 1885 by Adolphus Busch for his good friend Tony Faust to serve at Faust’s renowned St. Louis Oyster House and Restaurant. The brand was initially sold only in Faust’s restaurant, but it became so popular that it was made available on a much wider basis in subsequent years.

“Faust is an all-malt lager that is brewed using only the richest two-row, dry-roasted barley and a blend of distinctive imported Bohemian and Washington State hops,” said Dan Kahn, the Anheuser-Busch brewmaster responsible for American Originals’ development.

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Boycott Under Way On Beer Stocked By Alabama A-B Distributors

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Free the Hops, the organization in Alabama that successfully won the fight over hard opposition to allow beer over 6% abv in the state, is calling for a boycott of both Anheuser-Busch products along with those beers distributed by A-B Houses in Alabama. The boycott is a result of A-B distributor lobbyists “blocking the Legislature’s passing [of] the Brewery Modernization Act,” which Free the Hops helped pass “in the Alabama Senate earlier this month.” The Birmingham News has a full account of the story in an article entitled Free the Hops calls for boycott of beers stocked by Anheuser-Busch distributors in Alabama. Free the Hops also has a boycott statement on their website along with a list of the distributors involved. Essentially the law would simply allow brewpubs to no longer be subject to antiquated laws, such as having to be located in “a historic building” or be located in “a county that had a brewery prior to 1918.” Ridiculous stuff. It would be hard to argue that the law as it stands makes any sense or is a fair under any definition. But apparently the A-B beer distributors in Alabama see it as competition that cannot be allowed, despite the fact that in most of the other 49 states, brewpubs and beer distributors happily co-exist with one another.

I was originally in favor of the boycott, as it seems like there isn’t much choice insofar as what the Bud houses are doing. But as several people have pointed out, it will also harm a great number of craft brewery’s business in the state as well. Free the Hops obviously recognizes that fact and their concern is buying craft beer from one of the A-B distributors is still “channeling profits to wholesalers.” So in a way, it’s a bit like chemotherapy. Honestly, I’m conflicted. As Lew Bryson said in an exchange we had on Facebook. “This is odd territory for most beer drinkers: asking them to boycott a DISTRIBUTOR rather than a brand is confusing enough, but asking them to boycott craft beers to help craft beer…? Not going to work. If I were in Alabama, I would directly encourage people not to support a boycott of any craft brands for this reason. This is not the way to do it.” So I think we all agree that boycotting the ABI products is the way to go, but as for the craft brands … that seems like a much trickier, thornier issue. I can see both sides of the argument, and am left unsatisfied by either one. In the end, I think it’s going to be up to everyone’s individual conscience on what to boycott.

The Clydesdales in California

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The iconic Budweiser Clydesdales debuted on April 7, 1933 and have a big promotional part of Anheuser-Busch ever since. Most come from Grant’s Farm in St. Louis. Today there are six teams of Clydesdales. One is headquartered in St. Louis and the other five travel the country. On Saturday, one team — or “hitch” — visited the A-B brewery in Fairfield, which is the smallest of the twelve ABI breweries in the U.S.

Believe it or not, I’d never been to the Fairfield brewery (I have visited at least three others, however). But my six-year old daughter’s love of horses made this weekend the perfect time to finally correct that oversight. So I responded to the press release I got, and arranged to come a little early so I could still make the Brewing Network’s Winter Brews Festival in Berkeley the same day.

But back to the horses. Clydesdales are Scottish in origin. They’re large draft horses, often six-feet high (18 hands) at the shoulder, weighing as much as 2,000 or more pounds, and are thought to be at least 300 years old. After a quick tour of the facilities, Alice and I arrived in the parking lot just in time to watch the horses being taken off their tractor trailers and hitched up to the wagon.

Two at a time they are off-loaded

Each hitch consists of ten Clydesdales that travel in three tractor trailers, along with the ceremonial beer wagon. Horse-drawn wagons were quite common for beer deliveries before the invention of the automobile, and continue to be used for ceremonial purposes throughout the world. The Radeberger brewery near Dresden, Germany still makes local beer deliveries on a horse-drawn wagon. It was a cool sight when I visited the brewery several years ago.

My daughter Alice in front of the wagon
My daughter Alice, with her stuffed Clydesdale, in front of the Budweiser beer wagon.

The first two hitched to the wagon
The first two hitched to the wagon.

Eventually, eight Budweiser Clydesdales were hitched to the wagon. Then, for about an hour, they paraded around the parking lot to the delight of a few hundred people, who showed up even in the drizzling rain. And especially my daughter, who was thrilled to see the horses up close. You can see a short video of the parade’s start below.

Below is a slideshow of the Clydesdales’ visit. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

WSJ Reviews “Dethroning The King”

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I got a review copy of the new book, Dethroning the King, which is all about the hostile takeover of Anheuser-Busch by InBev, a few weeks ago but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. It looks fascinating and I’m looking forward to devouring it as soon as I can. For now, I’ll have to make do with the Wall Street Journal review of the book, which only makes me want to read it more. Anybody else read it yet? Thoughts?

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Beer In Ads #259: Holidays Were Made For Michelob

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Tuesday’s holiday ad is for Michelob, from 1977, where “Holidays were made for Michelob.” Check out the disco outfits the party-goers are wearing and at least they show several Michelob logo glassware in the foreground. And notice the people are actually using glasses to drink their beer. That’s a rarity in older ads. Must be a holiday thing.

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Beer In Ads #151: Budweiser, What An Acorn Needs Is Management

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Thursday’s ad continues Bud week and is from 1937 and uses an odd bit of logic, equating an oak tree’s management of its seeds — or acorns — with the growing barley for making beer. I’m all for the idea that quality ingredients are necessary to brew a quality beer, but the analogy seems stretched a bit. There’s also an impassioned thank you from Adolphus Busch III for supporting American barley farmers and hop growers through buying Budweiser, the nation having just come out of the Great Depression. Finally, I love the reference to Shakespeare in the tagline at the bottom; “As You Like It .. In Bottles … In Cans.”

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Beer In Ads #148: Budweiser, There’s Absolutely Nothing Like It …

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Monday’s ad is for Budweiser from most likely the 1950s, or possibly post-war forties. Fishing is the theme and the tagline is “There’s nothing like it … absolutely nothing.” She looks like she’s ready for fishing, even with the bamboo rod. The dude, on the other hand, looks like he’s dressed for a nightclub, or bowling maybe.

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