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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #809: No Harsh Bitterness

February 25, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1954. Showing a backyard barbecue, or what was then called a “cookout,” the man working the grill is holding up his glass of beer while still sing his spatula on the burgers. I mentioned this in an earlier bbq ad, but again look at how dressed up they are for a cookout, the women in dresses and the men in what today we’d call business casual, though the guy in the pink shirt is sporting a tie. There’s lots of little details, like the odd facial expressions on the salt and pepper shakers next to the Schlitz sign in the lower left. The main man, the grillmaster, has shown up in a number of modern mash-ups, but this is the original ad he was taken from.

Schlitz-1954-bbq

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Schlitz

The Good Taste of Beer Comes in a Bottle

February 25, 2013 By Jay Brooks

beer-bottles
Today’s infographic is an oldie but goodie, a poster of beer bottles from 1976. It gives you a good idea of how bad the beer scene was back then. The poster is one of the hidden gems from Jess Kidden‘s breweriana treasure trove.

GoodTasteBeerBottle
Click here to see the poster full size.

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun Tagged With: Bottles, History, Infographics

Beer In Ads #808: Beer On The Fishing Trip

February 22, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is still another one for Schlitz, this one also from 1949. It, too, is part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features a group of people on a fishing trip, with all of the men in flannel and two in hats — one a cap but the other is a fedora?!? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone wearing a fedora camping before. There are five beer bottles on the tray, but only four people. Who’s that fifth bottle for?

Schlitz-1949-fishing

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Schlitz

George Washington’s Small Beer

February 22, 2013 By Jay Brooks

George-Washington-L
Today is the day we celebrate the birthday of George Washington, though he probably celebrated it on the 11th, because that’s what day the calendar read when he was born. That’s because when Washington was born in 1731, the British government still used the Julian calendar, but the British Calendar (New Style) Act of 1750, implemented the Gregorian calendar in 1752, and that’s the calendar system we still use today in the U.S. When it was adjusted, eleven days were added, and George went from having a birthday of February 11, 1731 to February 22, 1732, which is the one we use today.

I did a column several years ago for the San Francisco Chronicle, before I started working for rival Bay Area Newsgroup, about Washington’s love of Porter and his efforts making small beer. Washington’s handwritten recipe has famously survived and can be seen at the New York Public Library. It was in his “Notebook as a Virginia Colonel,” from 1757. And below it what it looks like.

GW-small-beer-recipe

Luckily, his penmanship has been translated:

To make Small Beer

Take a large Sifter full of Bran Hops to your Taste. “” Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gallons into a Cooler, put in 3 Gallons Molasses while the Beer is scalding hot or rather drain the molasses into the Cooler & strain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. Let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm. Then put in a quart of Yeast if the weather is very cold, cover it over with a Blanket & let it work in the Cooler 24 hours. Then put it into the Cask “” leave the Bung[hole] open till it is almost done working “” Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.

Most people agree it probably wasn’t the best tasting beer, and I believe that there were efforts a few years ago to recreate it faithfully, but I don’t recall hearing those experiments turned out. Still, it’s nice to remember that our founding fathers were beer drinkers and, in some cases, brewers, as well.

McKowen-geo-wash-beer
I love this illustration of Washington throwing back a cold one, by Canadian artist Scott McKowen, which he did for a Wired article about Tom Kehoe, at Yards Brewing in Philadelphia, recreating some colonial beer recipes.

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun Tagged With: History, Recipes

Beer In Ads #807: Beer By The Swimming Pool

February 21, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Thursday’s ad is yet another one for Schlitz, this one from 1949. It, too, is part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features two couples around a swimming pool. Despite the fact that at least one of them has been in the pool, all of their hair remains perfect. And I always thought that one of the advantages of cans was so that you wouldn’t accidentally break them in a place where people might be barefoot, like a swimming pool. But there folks got the cans, but are pouring them into what looks like glass, though perhaps they’re plastic glassware.

Schlitz-1949-swimming

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Schlitz

Beer In Ads #806: Horseshoes and Beer

February 20, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Wednesday’s ad is another one for Schlitz, also from 1950. It, too, is part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features a backyard picnic where horseshoes are being played. I love how in the 1950s people dressed up for a picnic. The fellow in the yellow shirt even has matching socks.

Schlitz-1950-picnic

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Schlitz

Beer In Ads #805: Schlitz Snapshots

February 19, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1950. It’s part of their “I was curious” series that always features three panels. This one features a scrapbook that, despite the fact that it would appear to be from a picturesque location, shows the person on vacation and his beer, but not the vistas they would have been looking at. Good thing whoever he was travelling with captured the moment he first saw Schlitz, and then the moment he first tasted it. Funny, that’s what my vacation shots look like, too.

Schlitz-1950-snapshots

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Schlitz

Beer In Ads #804: That Extra Delicacy of Flavor

February 15, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Friday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1952. Showing an illustration of three different scenes, a mountain lake, a picnic and a beach, it features a bottle of Schlitz being poured into a glass. It shows that all too common mistake of showing the glass full, but the bottle still has about its contents. My favorite bit of text is below the picnic: “That extra delicacy of flavor that delights the true beer lover.” You can also see the modesty of the fifties in the way the bikini-clad woman is partially hidden by the glass of beer, but it sets up a cool effect, seeing her through a beer-colored lens.

Schlitz-1952-beach

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Schlitz

Beer In Ads #803: Vigorous Health

February 14, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Thursday’s ad is another one for Rainier Pale Beer, made by the Seattle Brewing & Malting Co. The ad is from 1907, and also features a lovely woman holding up a glass of beer. ALso using the “vigor” theme, there’s another priceless tagline at the end: “Bubbling with life and sparkling with snappy zest.”

Rainier-1907-vigorous-health

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Washington

Beer In Ads #802: There’s New Vigor & Strength In Every Drop

February 13, 2013 By Jay Brooks


Wednesday’s ad is for Rainier Beer, made by the Seattle Brewing & Malting Co. The ad is from around 1900, and features a lovely woman holding up a glass of beer to the sky. I particularly love that tagline at the bottom: “There’s New Vigor and Strength in Every Drop.”

rainier_beer_ad_1900

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, History, Washington

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