Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Hoppy Christmas

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christmas-beer
From my IP address to yours. Have a very Malty Christmas and a Hoppy Holiday. Peace On Earth, Good Beer to Men (and Women).

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“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

             — Calvin Coolidge

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‘Twas Christmas broach’d the mightiest ale; ’twas Christmas told the merriest tale; a Christmas gambol oft could cheer the poor man’s heart through half the year.

             — Sir Walter Scott

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The original image, which I doctored, was the cover of a 1950 issue of Guinness Time, “a quarterly publication by the Guinness company [that] was distributed to all Guinness staff.” I found it at Bygone Bodiam, a very cool website covering old time Bodiam, a hop growing area in England. There are also a number of great nostalgic photographs of the local hops industry back in the day.

Beer In Ads #2714: What’ll You Have With Christmas Balls

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Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1954. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written on three Christmas balls hanging on a tree behind a table. On the table is a tasty-looking ham along with the usual silver tray with two bottles of Pabst and mugs on it.

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Beer In Ads #2713: What’ll You Have Singing Carols

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Thursday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1951. Starting in the early 1950s, Pabst started a new ad campaign with the tagline “What’ll You Have” which lasted for a few years. They were colorful ads, and often had the tagline spelled out in creative ways. In this ad, “What’ll You Have” is written on cards being held by caroling dolls which are part of a Christmas display. Behind them is a silver artificial Xmas tree, which is similar to the one my Aunt Helen always used to put up only because she thought it was expected of her (she was the most unsentimental person I ever knew). There’s also a tray ringed with snacks and two bottles and pilsner glasses of beer.

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Beer In Ads #2501: Goodbye Santa

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Monday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1959. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, which is the cover of the “Guinness Harp” from the issue for Christmas 1959. “The Guinness Harp” was the “Journal of the Home of Guinness, St. James’s Gate, Dublin.” On the cover, Santa is leaving the brewery will a full sack and four bottles tucked into his pockets. No idea what’s in the sack, but it would be interesting to find out.

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Beer In Ads #2500: Christmas Is Coming

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Sunday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1934. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, with the tagline “Christmas Is Coming … Guinness For Strength” shows Santa carrying a large tree as if weighs nothing after having had a bottle of Guinness. Merry Christmas.

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Beer In Ads #2499: If Seven Men Give Seven Wives A Christmas Guinness

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Saturday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1960. While the best known Guinness ads were undoubtedly the ones created by John Gilroy, Guinness had other creative ads throughout the same period and afterward, too, which are often overlooked. This ad, one of many that used Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and is a parody of the poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” which was originally in Through the Looking-Glass. In this parody, the Guinness-themed poem begins “If seven men give seven wives,” and is about seven Santas giving Guinness as Christmas presents to their wives, and having one themselves, too. It’s actually the cover of the December 1960 issue of “Guinness Time,” the employee magazine for Guinness.

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Beer In Ads #2291: Three Rings, Another Christmas Wreath

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Monday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1949. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, another man at Christmastime hangs a wreath on his door, but it doesn’t seem like it’s quite right. So he adds a second one, but he’s still dissatisfied. But the third wreath, forming the Ballantine logo, is, again, just right.

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Beer In Ads #2290: Three Rings, Christmas Wreaths

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Sunday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1939. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, a man at Christmastime hangs a wreath on his door, but it doesn’t seem like it’s quite right. So he adds a second one, but he’s still dissatisfied. But the third wreath, forming the Ballantine logo, is just right.

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Beer In Ads #2279: Three Rings, Winter Sled

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Wednesday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1948. In this ad, part of a series progressing from one, to two, to three rings, this one shows a sled pulled through the snow by a white horse. It’s obviously Christmastime and the couple appears to be delivering Ballantine, but it seems to be that each house they visit adds one more smoke ring from their chimney so that by the third home it’s the Ballantine logo in fireplace smoke rings.

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Anchor Christmas Ale 2016

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It’s day forty-two, and the last one, of my Christmas canter to today featuring all 42 labels from Anchor’s Christmas Ale — a.k.a. Our Special Ale — all different beers (well, mostly different) and all different labels, each one designed by local artist Jim Stitt, up to and including this year’s label.

2016 was the forty-second year that Anchor has made their Christmas Ale, and from 1987 through the present day, each year Anchor’s Our Special Ale has included spices, a different combination of them every time. Generally the base beer has been a spiced brown ale, although it has been varied from time to time, as well. This forty-second label is a “1,000 Mile Tree,” or “Pinus Solitarius.” This is what I was drinking yesterday, and also what I’ll be drinking today, as well. I’d like especially thank Anchor Brewery historian Dave Burkhart for his kind assistance in this project and for answering my questions about the progression of the beer. Have a Malty Christmas and a Hoppy New Beer.

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