Tuesday’s ad is for Blatz beer, from 1944. Trying to stay classy, the show their rather plain-looking beer bottle on a silver tray with a bouquet of flowers behind it. I”m not sure it works. According to the ad copy, Blatz is “Never sharp … never bitter … always mellow.”
Monday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from either the late 1950s or early sixties. It’s during the phase when all of Miller’s ads showed this Spartan, minimalist decor, like sets built by kids using Dad’s barn. Despite the weird looking South Pacific artwork, apparently it actually came from Carlebach Gallery in New York. But my favorite part of the ad is their characterization of California. “In colorful California … a land noted for its charm and gracious hospitality….” This is also one of the few ads I can remember seeing a half empty beer bottle; almost always it’s either full or empty.
Friday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1947. In the background the three Ballantine rings are being used to play horseshoes, while in the foreground a man who’s a dead ringer for Will Rogers in a bow tie is reaching out for a beer. The tagline, “I’ll take Ballantine Ale,” neatly works as both slogan and as a description of what’s going on in the ad.
Thursday’s ad is also for Budweiser, from 1956. Anheuser-Busch did a few of these ads, with a scene shown through a glass of beer. This one appears to be a musical rehearsal or party where the attendees are singing a lot. It uses the “Where there’s Life … there’s Budweiser” slogan that was popular in the Fifties, but I love the tagline at the bottom best of all. “Treat Yourself A Little Better….”
The BBC’s News Magazine has an interesting article, US Craft Beer: How It Inspired British Brewers, that gives an overview of the rise of craft beer in America. Despite moving New Albion Brewing from Sonoma to San Francisco, the article does get most of the history reasonably right. And it’s also nice seeing my friend Melissa Cole quoted.
But the article doesn’t really deliver on the title, which I don’t mean as a criticism per se. It’s just that it’s more about craft beer becoming “fashionable,” trendy even in Great Britain than about British brewers being inspired by our beer. Certainly some are, and by everything I’ve seen and heard, it’s happening more and more, but I’ve also talked to British brewers who are convinced that UK consumers don’t want our hoppy or extreme beers. Yet when I was at GBBF a few years ago, the American brewers section was crowded all day long for the entirety of the festival. And when I accompanied Matt Brynildson to Marston’s in Burton-on-Trent to brew a collaboration beer for the J.D. Wetherspoon chain, the brewer — a terrifically nice person — refused to put in as many hops as Brynildson’s recipe called for, and he ended up having to adjust it. Even so, it proved to be one of the most popular beers at J.D. Wetherspoon’s festival that year. So I think that British beer drinkers are more interested in American-style beers than their brewers tend to believe is the case. At least that’s my anecdotal take, anyway.
Matt Brynildson and Melissa Cole at a J.D. Wetherspoon pub in London.
Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1951. With the tagline “Something more than Beer” followed by “… a mark of good taste,” a couple is apparently unwrapping wedding gifts. The expression on the woman’s face is priceless as she looks over a statue she’s just opened, while her new hubby arrives to rescue her with a tray of beers and snacks.
Tuesday’s ad is for Blatz, from 1953. Apparently Milwaukee in olden days had Sousaphone players wearing Lederhosen serenading restaurant diners but nowadays, thanks to Blatz, it’s a violinist. I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I actually love a good oompah band. I also have to wonder. How did they fill two pilsner glasses with only one bottle of beer?
Monday’s ad is for the Barley and Malt Institute, from 1959. It appears that the now-defunct trade group for barley growers ran these ads for just a couple of years and that was it. Perhaps they decided they weren’t worth it or they didn’t get anything out of them, but they certainly were some great ads, at least in my humble opinion.
Mental Floss had an interesting story about how Pabst Brewing Co. got the blue ribbon that graces every bottle and can of their beer. In How Did Pabst Blue Ribbon Win its Blue Ribbon? author Matt Soniak details the events at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago that led to Pabst claiming total victory and justifying that blue ribbon in the years that followed.
Friday’s ad is also for Schlitz, this one from 1943. Using the return of the Swallows — the birds — to introduce the idea of “happy swallows,” the swallowing of their beer … with “no bitterness.”
