Thursday’s ad is for Carling Black Label, from 1953. It’s from their “People Like It” series, and features a big hunk of cheese to pair with your beer. Even back then they knew that cheese and beer is a divine pairing, though I have to wonder if that’s the right beer for that cheese. Everything old is new again.
Wednesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1953. The ad features Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Peck, who according to the ad served Pabst “in the Modern Bar of their Santa Monica Home.” Funny you don’t see celebrity ads for beer much these days.
Tuesday’s ad features Budweiser from, probably, the 1950, wich I say for no better reason than the can shown in the ad predates the pull-tab, which debuted in 1962. Oddly enough, everyone on the small sailing ship whose hands can be seen is holding a beer bottle in one hand, meaning they’re all sailing one-handed, which I imagine is no easy task.
Monday’s ad features Miss Rheingold from 1960, showing her skiing, and apparently saluting the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. They look way too happy, almost like they’re screaming. Also, on the left it looks like there’s a blizzard while on the right it’s clear, with the guy in the red jacket doing some odd looking stretching. Maybe that’s normal, I’m no skier. At the bottom of the ad, they mention two recent gold medals that Rheingold apparently won. One is from the Brussels World’s Fair, which I’ve heard of, but the other one was from the International Food & Beverage Exposition in Munich, also in 1958. Anybody know anything about that one?
Sunday’s ad is for Falstaff, and it’s a simple ad, from I know not when. It says only “It’s your birthday!” and shows a bottle of Falstaff being poured into a mug. It looks 1940ish or 50ish, but that’s just a guess. But since it’s my birthday, it felt like the right ad for today.
Friday’s ad is for Blatz Pilsener Beer, probably from the 1940s. I’m guessing that because in the bottom righthand corner of the ad, it says “Brewing Better Beer for the 97th Year.” And depending on what year they’re using for when Blatz started — it could be 1850 or 1851 or even 1846 — that would put it at 1943, 1947 or 1948. I’m not entirely sure why there’s a bucket of bottles and a spilling bucket of blackberries, except that’s probably the freshness angle, for hat great tagline: “At the Peak of Flavor.” It must be working, because I’m certainly thirty just looking at the ad. Although there’s a part of me that will certainly be disappointed when the beer does not have a hint of blackberries in the flavor when I taste it.
Thursday’s ad is French, another Bieres de La Meuse poster, promoting beers from the Meuse region of northern France. Mucha did a more famous one, but I like this one, too. Very elegant presentation.
Wednesday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1957. Showing a dinner party, or really a soup party, paired with buckets of Ballantine Ale. In a rarity for beer advertising, they’re touting the hops used to brew the beer, a British hop known as “Brewer’s Gold.” According to HopUnion’s hop varieties booklet, Brewer’s Gold was developed in Great Britain as primarily a bittering hop by a Professor Salmon in 1934. Ballantine refers to it as a “rare, choice hop.” And hop about this great tagline at the end? “Enjoy the genuine — it’s the trend, friend!”
Tuesday’s ad is another one for Schlitz, from 1956. Showing another backyard barbecue, or “cookout,” it’s another group of well-dressed hipsters, enjoying some brewskis with grilled meat. The barbecue man is even wearing a chef’s hat and white apron. And according to the ad, Schlitz is not only the “World’s Largest-Selling Beer” but is also as “refreshing as all outdoors!”
Today’s infographic is Brew Local — A Philadelphia Infographic, created for Philly Beer Week last year. It was designed by Mark Adams for Maskar Design.
Click here to see the poster full size.