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Our 55th Guinness poster by John Gilroy shows a crab grabbing in a pint of Guinness in his pincers, pulling in his “Catch of the Day.”

By Jay Brooks
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Our 55th Guinness poster by John Gilroy shows a crab grabbing in a pint of Guinness in his pincers, pulling in his “Catch of the Day.”

By Jay Brooks

Friday’s ad is another Schlitz ad, from 1959. From the last years when square was still cool, sort of, before the sixties changed all that. The happy couple is up in the mountains, overlooking a lake. The head-banded woman leans against a tree, holding a sandwich, while her beau pours a can of Schlitz into a pilsner glass.

By Jay Brooks

Thursday’s ad is for Schlitz, one of their “I was curious” series from the 1950s. This was features some dandy cowboys that look like they could have been the inspiration for Brokeback Mountain.

By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is for Hamm’s, showing two bottles with one of them having the label peel off to reveal a pristine stream. The tagline is “Hamm’s inside story: The better the water … the better the beer.”

By Jay Brooks

Tuesday’s ad is for Tuborg, which used to have a much larger market share. It’s sold in over 30 countries, but according to their website not in the U.S. any longer. It’s an old brand, but has been owned by Carlsberg since 1970. I’m not sure when the ad is from, but 70s feels right. I actually have one of the ceramic horn cups, given to me by a old friend and co-worker from a previous job. Now I know where he got it.

By Jay Brooks

The story of Anchor Brewery begins shortly after gold was discovered in nearby Sutter’s Mill. That’s when German brewer “Gottlieb Brekle arrived in San Francisco with his wife Marie and infant son Frederick.” In 1854, Brekle applied for U.S. citizenship and 1871 bought an old beer-and-billiards saloon near Russian Hill. That location became “a little San Francisco brewery on Pacific, between Larkin and Hyde,” and 25-years later was known as Anchor Brewery.

On February 16, Anchor will unveil it’s newest beer, an all-malt, single hop brown ale named for the original Anchor brewer, Gottlieb Brekle, who was brewmaster from 1871 to 1888. Brekle’s Brown will then be available on draft only at select locations throughout the Bay Area for the remainder of SF Beer Week from February 17-20. Look for it at better beer bars everywhere.
By Jay Brooks

Monday’s ad is a clever one for Schaefer showing a bottle of Schaefer beer and a beer glass at right angles, with the instructions “For real enjoyment … turn this ad slowly to the right.” Which, if real, would pour the beer into the glass. It’s also interesting that Schaefer is positioning themselves by saying “it’s real beer.” The ad isn’t dated, so I don’t know when it was from or who they would have been subtly targeting as being not real beer with that statement.

By Jay Brooks
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Our 54th Guinness poster by John Gilroy shows a kangaroo whose joey has been replaced by a pint of Guinness. Though surprisingly she looks quite pleased about the switcheroo.

By Jay Brooks

Friday’s ads feature two for Pabst Blue Ribbon from 1956. Both are spot color ads depicting a blindfolded man tasting Pabst and declaring “This one has the touch,” whatever that means.

Below each photo it also reads. “Unmistakable! The taste with the Pabst Blue Ribbon touch.”

By Jay Brooks

Thursday’s ad features Miss Rheingold for 1948, Pat Quinlan, on a sailboat. Man, can she wear a smile. I’m no fashionista, but doesn’t that hip skirt look more 1960s than 1948?

