Wednesday’s ad is another one for Sakura beer, this one from between 1928-32. This fetching flag-bearer is thrusting a glass of beer to the heavens from her perch above the Earth. I’m not sure why — It may be her confidence and assertive stare — but I want the beer she’s offering.
Tuesday’s ad is for the Sakura beer, from 1924. An elephant is rearing back on his hind legs, holding the world’s biggest beer in his trunk. Below him, hundreds (or more?) cheer.
Monday’s ad is for the Nippon Brewery, from 1912. Showing a couple of Geishas on a train, with a vendor at the station offering them beer from a full basket. Through the window on the other side of the train is a large factory, which is presumably the brewery.
Today’s beer film is really just a slideshow to music, but it’s such a great collection of photographs that it’s worthwhile anyway. The book, MICROBREWERS: 1981-1996: A Photo History, features a wealth of historic photographs of many of the pioneers of the craft beer industry taken by David Bjorkman, who co-founded New Brewer magazine in 1983 with Victoria Thomas and Charlie Papazian, and documented the nascent beer industry from 1981 to 1996 before moving to Mexico. The handmade book includes “over 300 photos of the first microbrewers in the United States” and can be purchased from Blurb. I bought it when it first came out in 2009, and despite its high price tag, it’s an awesome collection of photos. The song, by the way, is the traditional Irish song “Beer, Beer, Beer” performed by The Clancy Brothers.
Sunday’s ad is for Tokio Beer, from 1906. I know some manga today looks like this, but it’s a pretty unattractive ad. The man with the Snidely Whiplash moustache doesn’t look very trustworthy and the fat cherub riding the red cock holding a large bottle of beer … well, what more can you say?
Saturday’s ad is for Eckert & Winter’s Bock, from 1877.The brewery only lasted for twelve years, from 1868 to 1880. Afterwards, it became the George Winter Brewery/Brewing Co. The poster was created by a B. Flemm out of Baltimore. It shows a crowned figure (King Gambrinus?) astride five goats, holding up a mug of Bock beer. He’s riding out from two very large brewery buildings in the background. WHat an awesome sight!
Friday’s ad is for Pabst, from 1896. I don’t know if it was intended as an advertisement or something else, but it’s a beautiful piece of art. The only name attached to the image is “rose window,” which is what it resembles, of course, a popular stained glass design.
Thursday’s ad is for O’Keefe’s, from 1948. Part of Carling O’Keefe’s “Moulders of ‘Canada Unlimited'” series, whatever that means, the ad features a painting by Rex Woods showing the stereotypical “industrial worker” taking the bus to work. According to the ad, they’re the men “moulding a new era for Canada.”
Wednesday’s ad is for The Kamm & Schellinger Brewing Co., from Mishawaka, Indiana. It’s from the 1880s, and seems like a very confident ad, what with having a roaring lion straddling the entire Earth and the slogan “Challenge the World.” Since chances are you’ve never heard of them, I think they may not have won that challenge. World 1, Kamm & Schellinger 0.
Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1942. Schlitz used that bear in a number of their ads from around that time period. This one is apparently a graduate (of what I don’t know) and possibly majored in geography, as he’s using a pointer to show us the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a globe. After all, Schlitz was “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous.”
