Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #1452: That Woman Is Real Competition

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Saturday’s ad is yet another one for Budweiser, from 1956. “That Woman Is Real Competition.” DOn’t worry, she’s not being catty, the woman whispering in the ear of her friends qualifies her statement. “As a hostess, I mean.” Not only does she have “more original ideas for table setting than you can shake a stick at,” but she also serves Budweiser, only Budweiser. I’m curious, how many “original” ideas can there possibly be? But only one beer? C’mon lady, change it up a little on the beer, why don’t you?

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Patent No. 4071160A: Insulated Beer Keg Container

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Today in 1978, US Patent 4071160 A was issued, an invention of Carl J. Vick, assigned to Keg-Tainer, Inc., for his “Insulated Beer Keg Container.” Here’s the Abstract:

A container adapted to receive a beer keg includes a cup-like top section fitting telescopically into the upper portion of a cup-like bottom section having a ring-like rim rolled at opposite points to provide handles. The rim has pairs of slots therethrough for binding straps and also has holes for binding ropes. Each section has an outer skin of a tough plastic with inner and outer walls with the spaces between the walls filled with a plastic foam. The sections are adapted to nest in each other for shipping and handling, and the bottom section has lugs designed to engage the rim of the top section. The top section has an elliptical bung hole to provide access to bungs of different makes of kegs, and a tubular stack may be fitted therein to retain ice for cooling and sealing. The bottom section has a bung access hole in its side which can be sealed by a truncated hollow ball having an opening to receive a tap connected to a lower bung of a keg.

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Beer In Ads #1451: It’s The Little Things That Make Life Friendly

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Friday’s ad is another one for Budweiser, from 1941. So if you thought Budweiser advertising with a puppy was a recent phenomenon, your were wrong, as demonstrated by this World War 2-era ad. And not just one, but five adorable puppies. The ads end with this gem. “And there’s always Budweiser — the Friendly Host to a of friends.”

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Beer In Ads #1450: The Chief Of All

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Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1910. This is an old ad, when clearly sensitivities were different. But check out the questionable ad copy, which few probably even thought twice about over 100 years ago. “Just as the American Indian chose his chieftain for deeds of valor in war, and wisdom in times of peace,
So has Budweiser, because of its Quality and Purity, been chosen by the American of today the Chief of all bottled beers.” It’s also interesting that a selling point was that was bottled only in St. Louis.

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Beer In Ads #1449: The Full-Taste Beer

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Wednesday’s ad is for Schmidt’s, from 1963. “Time for Fun … Time for Schmidt’s The Full-Taste Beer.” It certainly does look like they’re having a lot of fun, fishing aboard the “Life of Riley” charter boat. But what exactly is “full-taste beer?” As opposed to what? Half-taste beer?

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Patent No. 135245A: Improvement In Brewing Beer And Ale

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Today in 1873, US Patent 135245 A was issued, an invention of Louis Pasteur, for his “Improvement in Brewing Beer and Ale.” There’s no Abstract, but Pasteur explains in the description that this is a “process of brewing without the presence in the wort of atmosphericair, my invention has for its object to produce a better quality and greater quantity of beer from the same quantity and quality of wort, and to afford a beer which shall also embody the quality of greater degree of unalterableness during time and changes of climate, &c., in transportation and use; and to these ends my invention consists in expelling the air from the boiled wort while confined in a closed vessel or closed vessels, and then cooling it by the application of sprays of water to the exterior of such vessel or vessels, as will be hereinafter more fully explained.”

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Beer In Ads #1447: Great Ballplayers Drink Lite

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Monday’s ad is Miller Lite, from 1982. Today is also the birthday of Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker, who arguably was at least partially responsible for the success of lower-calorie diet beers with his wildly successful ads for the beer in the 1980s. It was a marvel of modern advertising and I’m still amazed to this day that it worked in convincing people to drink an even more watered-down version of the macro lagers of the day. But Uecker was certainly great in the ads, and I loved him in the “Major League” movies, too.

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Beer In Ads #1446: Decoupage Bud Girl

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Sunday’s ad is yet another one for Budweiser, this time from the 1970s. While the ad, or sign, is from the Seventies, I suspect that the image is most likely much older, possibly from the late 19th century. But the decoupage sign? That’s pure 1970s. Even my mom got caught up in the craft craze, decoupaging all manner of do-dads when I was a kid. So this would have seemed right at home in that decade.

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Beer In Ads #1445: Why America Prefers Budweiser

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Saturday’s ad is another one for Budweiser, this time from 1936. While the ad is shortly after the end of prohibition, and I can only imagine beer lovers were pretty excited to once more be able to legally buy beer, I’m still not convinced Bud’s success had anything to with “age-old taste.” Also, as the ad suggests, when did Anheuser-Busch employ monks?

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