Thursday’s ad is for a Swiss brewer, Braustube Hurlimann in Zurich. It was created by Hugo Laubi, a Swiss illustrator who lived from 1888-1959.
Stone To Release Collaboration Video
Stone Brewing, at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time, will be releasing their latest video project, Stone Skips Across the Pond, a record of their collaborations with two breweries. [NOTE: the video, once released at 1:00 p.m. PST, will be available at Stone’s Blog.] If you just can’t wait to see some of it, check out the trailer.
The first collaboration is with Nøgne Ø, the Norwegian craft brewery. After brewing there, the Stone team heads to Scotland to brew yet another collaboration with BrewDog.
I had an opportunity to screen the video last night, and it’s a fun short film at just under 30 minutes. It was filmed again by Redtail Media, the same team that created I Am A Craftbrewer. The production values are amazing. The film stars not just Greg Koch, but also his business partner Steve Wagner and head brewer Mitch Steele, some amazing landscapes, terrific looking food, some beer you’ll be jealous you didn’t have along with the brew crews at both Nøgne Ø and BrewDog. Looks like it was a fun time. It’s a great window into the camaraderie among brewers, regardless of national boundaries, in the craft beer world
Next Thursday, Part 2 will be released, followed by parts three and four on each subsequent Thursday. For now, enjoy part one.
Beer In Ads #25: Foure’s Biere Titan
Tuesday’s ad is by an artist named G. Foure, and that’s about as much as I know about him. The poster, Biere Titan, is for Grandes Brasserie Jarney and Uckange, a French brewery that was created in 1926 when
Brasseries de Pagny sur Moselle merged with Brasseries de Jarny. That means this ad was done some time after 1926. The Biere Titan certainly has a jolly amber giant look to him. I also love the feathery wisps of cloud-like head. Who’s thirsty now?
Beer In Ads #24: Malti
Monday’s ad is somewhat unusual in that it’s for a non-alcoholic beer. This one’s called Malti and is from Italy. I’m not quite sure why they chose a flute player for the logo, but as stained glass I think it’s pretty cool looking. I’m guessing it’s from the sixties or possibly early seventies. Anybody know anything different? The tagline translates to essentially “good beer without alcohol.”
Beer In Ads Special Edition: John Gilroy
You probably know John Gilroy’s advertising artwork, even if the name is not familiar. John Gilroy is responsible for the iconic Guinness ads that ran from 1927 through the 1960s. Featuring toucans, kangaroos, bears, ostriches and other animals along with the occasional steel-carrying strongman, lumberjack and zookeeper, the roughly fifty posters Gilroy produced are some of the most famous beer ads ever done. So many of his posters are famous that it seems a shame not to highlight them separately from the other ads I’ve been featuring during the week. So each Saturday I’ll post a new Guinness poster or ad. Gilroy is believed to have done nearly 50 of the posters and another 100 print ads for Guinness over a 35-year period working on the Guinness account, first with a firm, and later as a freelancer.
Below is a sample of what you’ll see over the coming year or two, every Saturday.
For more about John Gilroy, see Wikipedia (and their page on Guinness advertising), Celtic Shamrock, Newcastle University (where Gilroy was an alum), Journal Live and especially at the Guinness Collector’s Club, which has a great biography page.
Beer In Ads #23: Le Bon Bock
Friday’s ad is another old art poster from France. I don’t know the artist, the brewery or even the year is was created, though it was most likely in the first few decades of the last century. “Le Bon Bock” I presume is “the good beer” and Atlantique may be the brewery, or it may simply refer to beer along the Atlantic coast of France.
Beer In Ads #20: Biere Chatelaine
Tuesday’s ad is from France, most likely in the first few decades of the 20th century. Despite the fact that you can see there’s a signature on the poster, no source I can find identifies who the artist is. Similarly, I don’t know what brewery the poster is advertising for. The poster reminds me a bit of the old Coppertone ad where the dog is trying to pull off the little girl’s bathing suit. But in this case the damn dog is pulling on the waitress’ dress and spilling the beer! Bad dog!
Beer In Art #60: Stained Glass Bier
Today’s works of art is a stained glass sign from the late 19th century. It’s online because a professional photographer, Lar Matre, owns the sign and photographed it. It’s difficult to photograph stained glass, at least in my experience, and it is a great photo, but for my purposes I’m more impressed by the artistry of the signmaker. And I love stained glass, always have. But I imagine seeing the original of this, especially in the context of being at a German bar, would be stunning.
According to Matre, on his website, his “great grandfather bought it in the late 1800s in Germany, or so [he’s been] told.” The photograph itself can be purchased online at Fine Art America.
You can see much more of Matre photos at his website and his Flickr page. As for more stained glass, start with Wikipedia. But there’s also the Corning Museum of Glass, Vidimus and the Stained Glass Museum.
Beer In Ads #18: Leonetto Cappiello’s Bieres de La Fauvette
Friday’s ad is French, and most likely was created at the beginning 20th century. It was painted by Leonetto Cappiello, an Italian illustrator considered to be the father of modern advertising.
From one biography:
Cappiello was self-taught, began as a caricaturist and escalated to the early 20th century’s most acclaimed European artist. Cleverly linking products with vivid, memorable images, he produced 1,000 imaginative posters for beverages, ballet, literature, plays, travel and music halls in four decades. Leading the Art Deco movement, Cappiello’s techniques are still vital to modern advertising.
I don’t know what brewery this was done for, but essentially it translates as “Beer of the Warbler.”
A Blue Christmas Beer
I’d heard of this Christmas beer, but I don’t think I realized the packaging was in blue, but then I don’t live in Denmark. Tuborg Brewery, owned by the Carlsberg Group, releases their holiday beer, known as Tuborg Julebryg, on J-Day, the first Friday in November (though this year it was the last Friday in October).
I read somewhere that red glass is actually the best color for keeping out UV light, but that it was too expensive to be done commercially on a large scale. I have seen at least one red beer bottle (it’s in my ‘frig, a souvenir I picked up in Salzburg, Austria) but the only blue I can recall was the Apollo beer line from the 1990s.
The idea for it being blue came from a successful ad campaign. From the Carlsbeg Group’s website:
Most Danes know the blue and white advertisement for Tuborg Julebryg (Tuborg Christmas Brew). But probably not many know that the famous animated commercial, which features Santa Claus in blue clothing, is actually older than the beer itself. The commercial was originally launched in 1980 as a special holiday commercial for ordinary Tuborg pilsner, but it became so popular that for Christmas 1981 we created the special Tuborg Julebryg.
Although Tuborg Julebryg is a seasonal beer and is only on the market for six weeks every year, it is still Denmark’s fourth best selling beer. It’s only beaten by Green Tuborg, Carlsberg Pilsner and Tuborg Classic, which are available all year round. Its launch, known as “J-day”, always takes place on the first Friday of every November and is an annual day of celebration across Denmark. Carlsberg employees drive around the bars and cafes, handing out free beer to really get the festive season started.
Tuborg Julebryg is a bottom-fermented, wiener beer brewed on lager, münchener and caramel malt with English liquorice. The beer is dark-golden with a fresh aroma of caramel, grain, liquorice and blackcurrant. It’s excellent with traditional Christmas recipes, smoked fish, grilled/fried herring, smoked ham with curly kale, roast pork and duck.
Apparently they change the design from year to year, as here’s last year’s bottle.