Today’s infographic was created by Portland Monthly for their Oregon Beer Guide and is entitled Mapping Beervana’s History. Showing the connections between the many Portland breweries and their founders and brewers, it makes clear just how incestuous the beer industry is, not just in Portland, but quite frankly everywhere.
Click here to see the poster full size.
Friday’s ad is for Schlitz, from the 1960s. It’s part of a series of minimalist ads, this one presumably showing the phonetic pronunciation of the word gŭśtō, their adspeak term for describing Schlitz beer, and then asking “What does it mean, anyway?” Good question. Hard to imagine this was a particularly effective ad.
Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, from the 1970s. It’s an environmental ad, and by “Don’t Drop Our Name Here,” they mean not to drop your empty cans on the beach and litter. They even created a new contraction for the ad copy, suggesting where you could put your empties. “The nearest trashcan’ll do.” Conservation of letters, too, I suppose.
Wednesday’s ad is for “A Great Irish Name … Guinness.” I believe the ad is from the mid-1950s and is for Guinness Ale – Beer, a pair of brands they no longer make, though when exactly they discontinued them, I’m not sure. The ad shows the bottle for Guinness Brite Lager Beer full, and the Guinness Brite Ale being poured into a glass, though I don’t recall either of them, so perhaps they were already gone when my drinking days begin in the 1970s.
Tuesday’s ad is for Centlivre’s Nickel Plate Bottled Beer, from Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was one of the brands from the C. L. Centlivre Brewing Co., founded in 1862 as the The French Brewery, and later known as the Old Crown Brewing Corporation.
Monday’s ad is for “The New Big Name In Beer,” whose name you undoubtedly know. No? I guess this ad campaign from the later 1940s for Brewer’s Best Premium Pilsener Beer wasn’t quite as successful as they’d hoped.
Friday’s ad is for Three Horse Ale, from 1884. The beer was produced by the Long Island Brewery, and that’s about all I know about it.
Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1974, when they were still using the globe with the Schlitz buckle on it. Still, I can’t help but wonder what the heck a “Gusto life” might be? But apparently it involves sailboats.
Wednesday’s ad is for Schlitz Malt Liquor, from — guessing by the pull-tab — around the 1960s or early 70s. The bull logo and the skirt design around the bottom look positively Aztec. But the bull in the ad, he just looks mad.
Tuesday’s ad is for Grain Belt, from 1953. According to the ad, Grain Belt is “America’s Party Beer.” But my favorite part of the ad copy is that Grain Belt is also a “friendly” beer, a term common in 1950s advertising. So if you want to have a kick ass party, you’ll need “the friendly Beer with the friendly flavor.”
