Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Monday’s first ad is for Gambrinus Bock Beer, which was published on March 23, 1951. This one was for the August Wagner Breweries, Inc., of Columbus and Chillicothe, Ohio and was founded in 1906 as the Gambrinus Brewing & Bottling Co. This ad ran in The Springfield News-Sun, of Springfield, Ohio.

Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Sunday’s first ad is for Gold Bond Double Bock Beer, which was published on March 22, 1950. This one was for Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Co., of Cleveland, Ohio, and was founded in 1852 by C. W. Schmidt and Robert Hoffmann. This ad ran in the Cleveland Press, of Cleveland, Ohio.

Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.

Friday’s first ad is for Royal Canadian Bock Beer, which was published on March 20, 1937. This ad was for a bar called Stone’s Grill (on 61 S. 6th St.), presumably of Zanesville, Ohio, since that’s where the newspaper was published. I couldn’t find a brewery listed on the ad and nothing specific turned up in searching for the Royal Canadian Bock name, and in fact the only mention of the beer I could find was a few more ads for Stone’s Grill, although there was another Stone’s Gill listed in Portsmouth, Ohio, and I’ve found numerous other locations throughout Ohio. But the beer doesn’t show up anywhere else. This ad ran in the Zanesville Signal, of Zanesville, Ohio.