Tuesday’s ad is a 1920s ad for an Italian beer that’s still in business — Pedavena. Similar to yesterday’s French ad, this one also features a king carrying a beer. Is it Gambrinus? Who knows.
Beer In Ads #531: Biere de Charmes
Monday’s ad is the third ad we’ve featured by famed illustrator Jean D’Ylen. Biere de Charmes was done in 1924 for the French brewery located in the Lorraine that was founded in 1864. The king — Gambrinus perhaps? — sitting atop a pyramid of wooden kegs with two full mugs of beer, one in each hand, seems poised to fall, or at least spill his beer.
Build A Beer-Keg Radio
Here’s a fun one for the DIY crowd, from the June 1938 issue of Popular Science.
The two-page instructions explained to readers how to build their very own Beer-Keg Radio. It was for your, you know, “game room.” Who doesn’t have one of those?
It seems DIY was a lot less spoon-fed with detailed instructions back in the 1930s. There were only vague directions, giving a lot of flexibility to the project. Here’s the parts list you’ll need to build the radio:
And here’s the schematic you’re meant to follow and duplicate:
The introduction is priceless, here’s how they start out:
Curiously, they actually tell readers to get a wine barrel and that they can later turn it into a beer keg. By 1938 were wooden beer barrels already that scarce? I honestly don’t know, obviously, but that seems like strange advice.
Here’s what it would look like, before closing the top of the keg.
After closing, the radio works with two knobs on top.
After it’s done, “‘you’ll get a barrel of fun’ from this novel radio.”
If you want to see the pages full size and build one yourself, here’s Page 1 and Page 2.
Guinness Ad #104: St. James Gate
Our 104th Guinness ad is another group portrait of many of the iconic Guinness animals and their zookeeper. Last week it was at the zoo, this week they’re at St. James Gate, the “Home of Guinness.” Which is ironic, since I was there last night — sort of. More on that later today.
Beer In Ads #530: Christian Staerlin’s Phienix Brewery
Friday’s ad is old one, undoubtedly from the 19th century. It’s for a St. Louis brewery, the oddly named Christian Staerlin’s Phienix Brewery. I love these old industrial illustrated love letters, showing large, gleaming colorful industrial complexes. They seem to have been quite common at one time. I wonder if anyone’s ever done a survey of all of them. Now that would be a cool coffee-table book.
Beer In Ads #529: Go Ahead. Say It. Everybody Else Does.
Thursday’s ad is another one for Schlitz, this one from 1967. Using their iconic slogan “When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer,” it’s presumably meant to be humorous. Showing an interesting contrast, with the patron in a black suit with a red tie while the serve sports a red suit, or at least jacket, with a black tie, they’re both looking longingly at the empy glass and bottle between them. Unfortunately, I don’t feel too badly for them, as I can see several taps in the foreground that undoubtedly have beer that is at least the equal of Schlitz.
And one other interesting tidbit stands out. “The beer takes 1,174 careful brewing steps.” Wow, that’s some very busy brewers. I’d love to see an itemized list of all those steps.
Beer In Ads #528: Mug-Carrying Gusto
Wednesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1966. It’s another of the “real gusto” series, this one showing a server in a white tuxedo carrying five mugs full of beer. Look closely at the foam. Does that look real to you?
Beer In Ads #527: More That Bud … That’s Beer
Tuesday’s ad is another one for Budweiser, also from 1964 and again withe tagline “that Bud… that’s beer!” In this one, a man with a goofy-looking expression is holding a bottle of beer at a party, and appears to be drinking it straight from the bottle.
Beer In Ads #526: That Bud … That’s Beer
Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1964. The ad features a fisherman holding a flat-top can, with his rod over his shoulder and flies stuck into his cap. But it’s really the copy that stands out in this ad, staring with the tagline “that Bud… that’s beer!” But look to the left, here’s a gem. “Is there any real difference in the way beers are brewed? Sure, and one is brewed to be the King of Beers.” Sure? Well, that sure tells us a lot about how Bud was brewed differently from every other similar-tasting American lager in 1964. Nice.
Guinness Ad #103: At The Edinburgh Zoo
Our 103rd Guinness ad is obviously a tie-in Guinness did with the Edinburgh Zoo, which makes sense since so many of the animals featured in their early advertising were zoo animals, and even often included a zookeeper, too. The animals in the first ad look more like they did in the iconic ads.
In the second, a different artist, named Price it appears, took a more cartoony approach, and while they’re the same aniumals, they don’t have the same look to them.
