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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #7: National Premium & Turkey

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ad-billboard
Today’s ad is more modern, because it’s Thanksgiving Day and I wanted to use one that was done for the holiday. This juicy turkey ad was for National Premium Beer, subtitled a “Pale Dry Beer,” and brewed by National Brewing of Baltimore, Maryland from 1936-1995. While accounts of the brewery’s origin vary from around 1850, 1855 or 1872 (and under several different names), after Prohibition ended, it returned as National Brewing with its most famous beer being National Bohemian, or “Natty Boh,” which today is owned by Pabst and brewed by Miller. This ad is for their premium beer, and is from the 1950s. Hoppy Thanksgiving.

national-turkey

Iron City Auctioning Off Brewery Equipment

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Originally, Iron City Brewing (f.k.a. Pittsburgh Brewing) claimed they were only closing the canning line, but it appears the whole kit and kaboodle is leaving Pittsburgh for the greener pastures of Latrobe. That’s another big loss of a historic brewery, one that’s been around since 1861. The Pittsburgh City Paper has a long, interesting article on what’s going on, entitled Bitter Beer: The Loss of Iron City Has Left A Bad Aftertaste. Needless to say, it doesn’t look good.

Beer In Ads #6: Biere d’Alsace

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The artist for today’s ad was born in the Alsace, in 1873, in what is today part of France. But two years before he was born, it belonged to the German Empire, who had annexed it after the Franco-Prussian War that began in 1870. Why is that relevant? Because Jean-Jacques Waltz, better known as “Hansi,” grew up hating the Germans and early in his career drew editorial cartoons poking fun at them. This won him few friends in Germany and in fact he even spent time in jail, “imprisoned several times by German authorities for making fun of the German military and professors.” In addition to putting down his captors, he wrote and drew scenes extolling Alsace’s virtues. One of his most famous works was a history of Alsace for kids by “Uncle Hansi,” L’Historie d’Alssace. The ad today features a girl in the traditional costume of the Alsace, and in fact it shows up in a number of Hansi’s works. I’m not sure if the illustration is advertising for a specific brewery of just beer from the Alsace generally. There is a brewery in Luttenbach (near the border between France in Germany in the Alsace) today known as Les Caves de la Brasserie. The date in the star, 1648, seems to suggest an older brewery, one that perhaps is no longer with us.

Hansi's Biere d'Alsace

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 New Breweries

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top-10
I recently came upon another interesting group of Top 10 lists by Newsweek about the first decade of the 21st century. It’s called The Decade in Rewind 20/10 and one part of their look back at the aughts includes a new Top 10 list every day. The list that caught my eye was an interesting one, Unknown in ’99, Indispensable Now which picked 10 things that we can’t do without in 2009 but didn’t exist ten years ago. Some things take years to catch on, but these caught on like wildfire. I use over half of them all the time, and couldn’t imagine life without them. Here’s that list:

  1. Wikipedia
  2. YouTube
  3. iTunes
  4. Digital Video Recorder (DVR)
  5. Gardasil
  6. Chipotle
  7. TMZ
  8. Red Bull
  9. Free Credit Reports
  10. Online Airline Check-In

So it got me thinking about the breweries that have been around for less than ten years. With Sierra Nevada coming up on their 30th anniversary, a growing number of successful breweries are older than a decade, in some cases two decades. But many new breweries have seen a phenomenal amount of success in a relatively short time. Undoubtedly, the market has changed considerably from where it was pre-millennium and that probably accounts for more favorable conditions for new craft brewers. But alone that’s not enough to account for it all. Some of these new breweries just stepped up and kicked butt. So for my 20th Top 10 list, here are my choices for the ten most important and influential breweries that began within the last ten years. These are the young Turks, the mavericks and the rookies. Some are here because they make great beer while others have made their mark through their influence. I should stress I don’t think I have a complete list of every brewery that’s opened since 1999. Also, I didn’t include new locations opened by an older, existing brewery, or ones that moved. And I certainly haven’t been to all of them at any rate. So undoubtedly I’m going to miss some worthy places, but I can only pick ten. Let me know who you’d put on the list. Here’s List #20:

Top 10 New Breweries

   Ninkasi Brewing (OR; 2006)
   The Bruery (CA; 2008)
   Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project (MA; 2008)
   21st Amendment Brewery (CA; 2000)
   Surly Brewing (MN; 2006)
   Southern Tier (NY; 2003)
   Captain Lawrence (NY; 2006)
   Tie: Laurelwood Public House & Brewery (OR; 2001) /    Hopworks Urban Brewery (OR; 2008)
   Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales (MI; 2004)
   The Lost Abbey (CA; 2006)

It was, as always, really difficult to keep the list to ten, and a great many terrific and deserving breweries were left on the cutting room floor. Here’s a few more that almost made the list:

Alpine Beer Co. (CA; 2006); Bard’s Tale (NY; 2004); City Brewing (WI; 1999); Fifty Fifty Brewing (CA; 2007); Five Seasons Brewing (GA; 2000); Heavyweight Brewing (NJ; 1999); Moon River (GA; 1999); Natty Greene’s (NC; 2004); Nebraska Brewing (NE; 2007); Piece Brewing (IL; 2001); Pisgah Brewing (NC; 2005); Roots Organic Brewery (OR; 2005); Short’s Brewing (MI; 2004); Trumer Brauerei (CA; 2003)

Let me know your favorites, and if there are any that you think should have made the list, please post a comment.

NOTE: It’s a little sad that I have to mention this, but while I encourage a lively debate, that doesn’t mean I enjoy being insulted or attacked. This is meant to be fun and encourage discussion — notice the “Just For Fun” tag? Please stop reminding me it’s “just” opinion. Of course it is. Are you under the impression that I think this list is somehow definitive? Just to clear it up, it’s not. I know it. If you’d read the introduction, which apparently many people did not, you’d know it too. It’s the very definition of subjectivity. But please try to remember, as you type those angry words, that even though you can’t see me, I am a real human being. Honest, I exist. Before you hit send, ask yourself if you’d say the things you’re writing to a person who was standing right in front of you, having a conversation. If not, please take a breath, calm down, and try again. I’ve deleted the worst offenders because, oddly enough, I don’t enjoy being on the receiving end of vituperation any more than you probably do. Let’s try to keep it civil, people. Okay?

Also, if you have any ideas for future Top 10 lists you’d like to see, drop me a line.

Beer In Art #52: Ernst Henseler’s Beer Evening

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art-beer
Today’s work of art is straight out of Germany’s history pages, and in fact I found it at the German History in Documents and Images website. It was by a relatively obscure German artist named Ernst Henseler. About all I could find out about him is that he was born in 1852 and died in 1940. Though I called it “Beer Evening” above, today’s painting is really titled Bismarck in Conversation with Reichstag Deputies at a Parliamentary Soirée and is believed to have been painted in 1894.

Ernest Hensler: Beer Evening
The painting is an illustration for the section of the GHDI entitled “Forging an Empire: Bismarckian Germany (1866-1890)” and under the sub-heading “Parties and Political Mobilization.” This also included the following description of the events in the painting:

This painting by Ernst Henseler (b. 1852) shows a parliamentary “beer evening” in the Imperial chancellery. These soirées provided Bismarck with an opportunity to convince parliamentary friends and foes alike that his policies deserved support. Sometimes consensus-building flowed in the opposite direction. Note that beer was more plentiful than food on such occasions, perhaps to the disappointment of one of Bismarck’s dogs, who was also on the invitation list.

Hindenburg Beer Auctioned For £10,000

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zeppelin
The bottle of Lowenbrau beer that survived the crash of the Hindenburg, that I wrote about on Tuesday, was auctioned earlier today, fetching the sum of £9,400, but “with buyer’s premium, the bottle will cost the purchaser £10,810,” or around $18.034. This Is Wiltshire, like most accounts, is claiming “[t]he world record price for a bottle of beer was smashed in Devizes today when a bottle of Lowebrau lager sold for over £10,000. The previous highest price for a single bottle of beer is thought to be around £2,500 and auctioneer Alan Aldridge started bidding at £3,000.” But I continue to be perplexed by the August 2007 sale of a bottle Allsopp’s Arctic Ale that sold on eBay for $503,300. No one has mentioned it at all, though it was widely reported at the time.

hindenburg-beer
The Lowenbrau bottle that sold today for £10,810.

UPDATE: Whew, finally an answer on the Allsopp eBay sale. It turns out to be a typo, according to New Life Auctions, who looked into the sale. That and a decidedly unfunny joke bid, by a person with “no intention of paying the seller.” And I always thought a winning bid was akin to a “legal contract.” Antique Week has a little more the incident. Thanks to an alert Bulletin reader named Michael for setting the record straight, once and for all.

Hindenbeer To Be Auctioned

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zeppelin
My son Porter, being a somewhat typical 8-year old, loves all things that have to do with destruction. But unlike most kids his age, he has a fascination with historical disasters, especially the Titanic and the Hindenburg. He has at least two dozen books about the Titanic and other sea disasters and three about Zeppelins and the Hindenburg, along with several more general aviation books that include airships. So it was with great joy that I told him today that a bottle of beer that was salvaged from the Hindenburg disaster was going to be auctioned this Saturday.

hindenburg

Apparently, on the morning of May 6, 1937, firefighter Leroy Smith fortuitously came upon six bottles of Lowenbrau beer and a silver-plated pitcher. Thinking quickly, he buried them, returning later to dig up his booty. He gave five of the bottles to colleagues and kept one, along with the pitcher, for himself. Most of the rest have been lost, though one ended up in the Spaten museum in Munich (and I saw that one a few years ago when I visited Spaten). In 1966, Smith’s niece inherited the two Hindenburg souvenirs, and will now be auctioned by Henry Aldridge and Son of London. Coincidentally, they also specialize in items from the Titanic.

According to the BBC, the burnt Lowenbrau bottle is expected to fetch around £5,000 (or $8,337). The auction catalog for the bottle has the following information:

Hindenburg memorabilia: An extremely rare bottle of Lowenbrau Beer recovered from the wreck site of the Z129 Hindenburg, May 6th 1937 when it crashed at Lakehurst Naval Air Station. It was recovered by local Fire Chief Leroy Smith of the Matawan Fire Department New Jersey, along with 5 others which he handed out to each of his colleagues. The whereabouts of all of these bottles with the exception of one is unknown. He presented one to the Lowenbrau brewery in 1977 where it remains to the present day. The example being offered for auction is sealed, with some of its original label and shows evidence of heat damage. This lot is sold with a provenance package which include correspondence from the Lowenbrau brewery regarding the bottle of beer donated to their Museum, press cuttings and signed copy of a letter of provenance and an account of how Fire Chief Smith came to acquire the bottle.

hinden-auction
All of the accounts of this story, such as by the BBC, the New York Post and ABC News each claim this will be the highest price paid for a bottle of beer, but in August of 2007, a bottle Allsopp’s Arctic Ale that sold on eBay for $503,300.

hinden-beer
Here’s a better view of the Lowenbrau bottle.

Beer In Ads #2: The Spanish Senorita

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Today’s beer ad is a beautiful illustration by Achille Mauzan, an Italian artist who created many posters and other illustrations during the Art Deco period from the 1920s-40s and beyond. He was born Luciano Achille Mauzan in the French Riviera but spent most of his life in Italy and Argentina. This ad was created for an unknown Spanish beer, depicting a senorita, “adorned in customary garb, having this brand fixed atop a staff-like scepter.”

Achille Mauzan: The Spanish Senorita

Beer In Art #47: UC Berkeley’s Historical Beer Exhibition

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art-beer
This past Saturday, October 10, the Heart Museum at UC Berkeley held a special beer fair and symposium for their latest exhibit, 99 Bottles of Beer: Global Brewing Traditions 2500 BC – Present.

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I’m fascinated by the history of beer and especially the notion that beer just might possibly be responsible for civilization itself. The Berkeley exhibit was also the subject of one of my recent newspaper columns. I was able to meet with the curator, Ira Jacknis, and preview the collection as he spoke about the exhibition.

The artistry of many of the pieces is obvious, but instead of choosing just one or two, here is the entire collection and a summary of the Beer Fair and Symposium that kicked off the beer exhibition, which will be on display at the Hearst Museum at UC Berkeley for at least one year. Stop by and see it in person when you have a chance.

Cat. No. 6-19811
The oldest piece in the collection was from the Old Kingdom in Egypt from the 5-6 Dynasty (2465-2150 BCE). It’s the figurine of a servant woman “straining mash for beer” in painted limestone.

Cat. No. 4-5255
A corn beer tumbler in gold from the Ica Valley of Peru. It dates from the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1476). According to the museum, “Incans graduated their drinking vessels, according to material. The lowest-ranked used gourd bowls, the better-off had finer ceramic and wooden cups, while gold and silver cups were reserved for the elite. The cups were often used in pairs, especially the ornate ones of the emperor.”

Cat. No. 16-14917
Another corn beer cup from Peru, this one made of polychromed lacquered wood. It was found in Cuzco and is believed to be from the late 16th-17th century. “Like the ancient Incan cups, these wooden cups were made and used in matched pairs. While the shape was conservative, the decoration was innovative, the figures and flowers showing a Spanish influenced. Apparently, they ceased being made after the 1820s. The beer was sprinkled or poured on the ground as a divine offering.”

Cat. No. 7-6408
An English mug from the early 1800s, probably from the first quarter of the 19th century. It’s made of lead-glazed pearlware and was found in Staffordshire.”

Below is a slideshow of the day’s events, the collection itself (including press shots) and some photos from my preview of the collection. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

Beer In Ads #1: Beer Belongs

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For nearly a year now, every Sunday I’ve been exploring the intersection of the world of art with beer in my Beer In Art series. In searching for more art to showcase, I keep coming upon wondrous examples of advertising illustration. So far, I’ve been reluctant to use them because there’s plenty of fine art involving beer to keep my Sunday’s busy for quite some time. So instead, I figured I’d start featuring advertising art with beer as a separate series. Every Thursday I’ll highlight a beer ad, usually one from the past, that has some impressive artwork associated with it.

To begin, there can be no better choice than the Beer Belongs series that the United States Brewers Foundation (USBF) did from 1945-1956. The bulk of the series, known as the Home Life in America series, ran from 1946-1956 and included 120 numbered ads. In addition, there were several more unnumbered ads that both preceded the Home Life series and were run after its conclusion. They were so popular, even Mad Magazine did a spoof of the ads. You’ve probably seen them at flea markets and antique shows. I have several of them framed in my hallway. About a year ago, I became curious about how many ads were produced and tried to learn about their history. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much out there and after trolling auction sites and the internet for a good six months, off and on, I put together a complete list of all the ads. I collected graphic versions of all the ads with the help of the Beer Institute and got a taste of their origins and history by reading the minutes of meetings by the USBF and looking at old trade publications and books that mention the ad campaign.

That led to an article about this popular ad campaign in this month’s All About Beer magazine (the November 2009 issue, beginning at page 44). Obviously, All About Beer couldn’t run all of the ads, so I’ve put them into a Flickr gallery so you can view all 120 of them, possibly for the very first time anywhere. That’s at the bottom of this post. You can also see the rest of them (the ones that came before and after, along with the spoofs) at my Beer Belongs … Enjoy It! page. There, you can also read some more about the ads and find out a little bit more of their history, though I’d also encourage you to pick up the article in this month’s All About Beer, too, to get the full picture.

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Here are three representative examples from the Home Life in America series:

019. Week End In the Country by Austin Briggs, 1948
#19 in the Home Life in America series. Week End in the Country, by Austin Briggs, 1948.

042. Getting the Boat Ready by Douglass Crockwell, 1950
#42 in the Home Life in America series. Getting the Boat Ready, by Douglass Crockwell, 1950

086. World Series U.S.A. by John Falter, 1953
#86 in the Home Life in America series. World Series U.S.A., by John Falter, 1953.

You can see all 120 of the Home Life in America series in the gallery below. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each ad’s title, artist and the year it ran.