Thursday’s ad is for Rheingold beer, from 1954, featuring Miss Rheingold for that year, Adrienne Garrett. In the ad, she’s hold an odd, very large bouquet of flowers with, inexplicably, a mule by her side.
Beer In Ads #678: Freshness…That’s Hamm’s!
Wednesday’s ad is for Hamm’s, from 1964, showing a giant hand scooping up a glass of beer from the “Land of Sky Blue Waters.” Simple, but effective. I’m thirsty.
Beer In Ads #677: Frank Jones Brewery & Malt Houses
Tuesday’s ad is for an old New Hampshire brewer, Frank Jones, and this is one of those popular illustrations that so many breweries created before, and around, the turn of the last century. This one shows “a beer train led by the 4-4-0 ‘Gov. Weston’ stops at the Frank Jones Brewery — which was founded in 1859 by Frank Jones, who became president of the Boston & Maine in 1889 — in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.”
The Mysteries Of Steam Beer
Nobody’s absolutely certain how Steam Beer was made back in the day, before Prohibition, or why it was called steam beer. Many theories abound, and in this fun, new video from Anchor Brewing, they explore some of the mythology and history surrounding Steam Beer.
Beer In Ads #675: Thanks Almost A Million, New York!
Friday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1946, featuring the newest Miss Rheingold, Pat Daigle. Only the sixth Miss Rheingold, Ms. Daigle, received nearly a million votes as one of six finalists.
Beer In Ads #674: Every Sip Tells You What Words Can’t
Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1945, and features as a backdrop an illustration of the grand canyon. With the main headline, “Every sip tells you what words can’t,” the idea is that the view is so incredibly indescribable, just like the Budweiser. The side tagline is “Remember the Sunsets … you Could Never Describe?” Same deal with the beer, I guess.
Beer In Ads #673: Preferred … For Mellow Moments
Wednesday’s ad is for Hamm’s, the Smooth and Mellow Beer,” also from 1947. It’s a fun post-war ad showing two couples having a backyard barbecue, with odd-looking wooden-keg mugs on (at the bottom at least) a brick-covered tray. One curious question. There are four people show in the back yard. There are four bottles of Hamm’s on the tray, along with an equal number of mugs. BUt unless one of them is Mr. Fantastic (from the Fantastic Four) then there’s a fifth person in the house not pouring themselves a beer. I want to know his or her story. Who is the unseen fifth wheel?
Beer In Ads #672: Watch Out, You’ll Drop The Schlitz
Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1947. It’s from the series of mishaps where people are more concerned that nothing happens to the beer than whatever else is going wrong. In this one, it’s a windy day and a man carrying not one, but two, six-packs of Schlitz has just lost his hat. He could reach for it … or he could save the Schlitz from falling. The three by-standers all seem to be reaching to save the beer. It must have ben weird to live in a time when you expected to wear a hat at all times outdoors.
Beer In Ads #671: It’s An Old American Custom
Monday’s ad is also for Ballantine Ale, this one from 1948. There’s a nice illustration of a bottle of Ballantine Ale and two beer glasses in the foreground. The background shows a well-dressed couple out to dinner, with the waiter presenting a bottle of beer like wine, which is both weird and awesome at the same time. It may be “an Old American Custom,” but somehow I don’t see them looking for the Borromean rings on that white tablecloth.
Beer In Ads #670: Step Back A Hundred Years And More
Friday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale, from 1947. It’s from their late-40s diorama series, this one showing the most likely apocryphal origin of the Ballantine logo, told in a poem:
Step back a hundred years and more,
And take your place inside yon door.That’s Peter Ballantine at the table,
A brewer from Scotland, skilled and able.He’s testing his ale — and now you’ll see
How the 3-ring trade mark came to be.One healthy drink, “Aye lads,” says he,
“This ale o’ mine ha ‘PUR-R-RITY!”A second drink of his fine old brew,
“Ah,” he declares, “It ha’ BODY, too!”A third drink now, see him slowly savor,
“An’ sur-r-rely,” he says,
“It ha’ FLAVOR-R-R!”The spying 3 rings on the table dark,
“Lads,” cries Peter,
“I ha’ my mar-r-rk.”
That would have been 1840. Ah, to be a fly on the wall.
