Wednesday’s ad is from 1951, and this one is for San Francisco’s Acme Gold Label Beer. The Gold Label Beer is described on the billboard as being “the new lighter, drier beer.”
Beer In Ads #381: Hamm’s Pouring Billboard
Tuesday’s ad is a 1951 billboard for Hamm’s, “From the land of sky blue waters.” A giant beer bottle pouring into a giant pilsner glass must have been quite a sight from the side of the road.
Guinness Ad #70: Sheep Pyramid
Our 70th Guinness ad is from the “Guinness For Strength” stable, the strength in this one is the ability to carry sixteen sheep on your back after downing a pint of Guinness.
Schlitz Brewery, Circa 1900
Another gem I found in the digital archives of the Library of Congress is this series of photos and illustrations used in a pamphlet made around 1900 by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. The title of the pamphlet was “Schlitz, the beer that made Milwaukee famous.” Each of the photos in the Library of Congress were made from the original negatives and the photos depict the brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Today, Pabst owns the Schlitz brands and re-introduced it in bottles in 2008.
The Brewhouse. Original caption: “View in brewery of Schlitz Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”
The Wash House. Original caption: “Men washing kegs in brewery of Schlitz Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and insert of exterior of the building.”
The Bottling Department. Original caption: “Two views of men and women working in bottling department of brewery of Schlitz, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”
The Shipping Yard. Original caption: “Kegs of beer being transported on horse-drawn wagons at brewery of Schlitz Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”
Beer In Ads #379: Ballantine, Panning For Gold
Friday’s ad is our last Ballantine for the week. This one is from 1947 and shows the California gold rush. But when the gold shows up in the prospector’s pan, it’s the Ballantine three rings symbol.
Beer In Ads #378: Ballantine Goes Camping
Thursday’s ad is another Ballantine Ale ad, probably from the late 1940s or 50s. Featuring a pair of dudes on a fishing and/or camping trip holding up their glasses of Ballantine Ale. The tagline is a great one, too. “Ballantine Ale begin where other brews leave off … in flavor … in satisfaction!”
Reading The Beer Meter
I was watching a documentary today about the Library of Congress and they talked about how the library is digitizing their collection, so I took a look at the website and discovered this little gem from 1937. Post-prohibition, apparently our government experimented with different methods for ensuring that breweries paid the correct amount of taxes. The “beer meter” was one such device they came up with, shown below.
The caption below is cut off in the original in the library’s collection, which is why it ends mid-sentence.
And now a beer meter. Washington, D.C., May 1. To aid Uncle Same in collecting the tax on the millions of barrels of beer brewed in this country every year, the National Bureau of Standards has designed a master beer meter for use of the alcohol unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, U.S. Treasury. Government inspectors employ this master meter in checking the accuracy of the brewery beer meter to determine the volume of beer brewed. In the photograph the large tank receives the liquid [after passing] thru the meter where it is weighed to get [the] true volume. Carl F. Stoneburner is reading ….
Beer In Ads #377: Ballantine, Some Words Fool You
Wednesday’s ad is a Ballantine Ale ad from 1947. The ad is a fun little lesson on language, how the word “muff” can have different meanings. It ends on a nice twist, how the word “Ballantine Ale always means: ‘The Perfect Glass!'”
Beer In Ads #376: Trading Beads For Ballantine
Tuesday’s ad is also Ballantine Ale, I think it’s going to be a Ballantine week. Today is also the anniversary of Peter Minuit buying the island of Manhattan in 1626 for the equivalent of around $24 (or more like $72 in today’s money) worth of “cloth, beads, hatchets, and other odds and ends.” At the time, the good were worth around 60 Dutch guilders, or about 1-1/2 lbs. of silver. Check out the Straight Dope for the … well, the straight dope. The ad depicts the scene with the humorous tagline “Early American Bargain.”
Beer In Ads #375: Ballantine Soup
Monday’s ad is a 1957 ad for Ballantine Ale. I love the colorful late fifties dinner party, with lots of Ballantine Ale, but just soup for the guests to eat.
