Friday’s ad is another one from the United States Brewers Foundation, from 1951. This a series of ads they did in 1951 using a Q&A format aimed at highlighting different positive aspects of beer and the brewing industry.

Q
What great Americans favored beer as a beverage of moderation?

A
Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Patrick Henry — to name just a few.

This ad details a few of the founding fathers’ relationship with beer, and also mentions Samuel Adams, in addition to the four listed in the headline answer.

Thursday’s ad is another one from the United States Brewers Foundation, from 1951. This a series of ads they did in 1951 using a Q&A format aimed at highlighting different positive aspects of beer and the brewing industry.

Q
How does our educational system benefit from the Brewing Industry?

A
State beer taxes help build schools and provide salaries for teachers.

According to the ad, that’s where a lot of the $193 million in state excise taxes paid by the brewing industry go. And this is addition to the $700 million in federal excise taxes they refer to other ads in this series.

Tuesday’s ad is another one from the United States Brewers Foundation, from 1951. This a series of ads they did in 1951 using a Q&A format aimed at highlighting different positive aspects of beer and the brewing industry.

Q
How much is the Brewing Industry paying into the U.S. Treasury?

A
Nearly $700 million annually — half again as much as the 1950 Federal provision for highways.

This figure is just for federal excise taxes, and they claim that that amount is $200 more than the entire amount spent by the federal government on U.S. highways and also is greater than how much we spent on atomic energy during the first two years we were developing it.

Sunday’s ad is another one from the United States Brewers Foundation, from 1951. This a series of ads they did in 1951 using a Q&A format aimed at highlighting different positive aspects of beer and the brewing industry.

Q
What was the menu of the first Thanksgiving menu?

A
The Pilgrims and their Indian guests had game, seafood, vegetables, and beer.

“According to a written record by an historian of the time” — curiously unnamed — beer was in the table at the first Thanksgiving, in part, because then, as now, “beer was all but the universal beverage.”

Saturday’s ad is another one from the United States Brewers Foundation, from 1951. This a series of ads they did in 1951 using a Q&A format aimed at highlighting different positive aspects of beer and the brewing industry.

Q
What was Thomas Jefferson’s attitude on beer and brewing?

A
He brought brewers to this country because he wanted to beer to become popular here.

Jefferson also built a brewery at Monticello after his retirement from politics. Before that, his wife Martha brewed 15-gallon batches every two weeks on their Virginia estate. But in his seventies, he hired English brewer Joseph Miller and the pair built a dedicated brewing room and beer cellar at Monticello, where he malted his own grain and grew hops. Jefferson bottled most of his beer, and sealed the bottles with corks. I believe he did say the bit about beer becoming common, in 1816. The full quote is “I wish to see this beverage become common instead of the whiskey which kills one-third of our citizens and ruins their families.” But my favorite Jefferson quote is this. “Beer, if drunk in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.”

Friday’s ad is another one from the United States Brewers Foundation, from 1951. This a series of ads they did in 1951 using a Q&A format aimed at highlighting different positive aspects of beer and the brewing industry.

Q
Are most American breweries “large” or “small” businesses?

A
Small, individually — although the Brewing Industry as a whole ranks 13th in America.

Interestingly, the way the defined “small breweries” was not barrels brewed or the amount sold, but by the number of employees. They defined a small brewery as one with less than 500 workers, saying the average was less than 200. Using that metric, 409 of the 440-then active breweries they defined as being small. I wonder how that would work out today? I suspect only 2 of the more than 3,000 breweries open today have anything close to 500 employees.