Wednesday’s winter ad features Miss Rheingold for 1955, Nancy Woodruff, putting the final touch — a top hat — on a snowman holding a bottle and a can Rheingold beer. The slogan, “Now these two twins are dressed alike!,” presumably must refer to a change in their can packaging, which I suspect didn’t mirror the bottle label quite so much before then. But I must confess I think Woodruff has a great smile.
Tuesday’s holiday ad is for Molson from 1985. I chose a Molson ad because today would have been founder John Molson’s 247th birthday. The playful ad shows two horse-drawn sleighs, one of which, driven by a man, is hauling cases of beer and the other, presumably driven by a woman, remarking that “You can land on my roof anytime.”
Monday’s holiday ad is for Budweiser from 1950 and features a Santa-like chef with a bounteous feast of meats and seafood, along with fruits and cheese. The slogan for that ad is “Something more than beer … A tradition in hospitality.” It originally ran in Life magazine’s Christmas issue for 1950.
The Santa-like chef image had been used before, in this 1947 ad about “Help Yourself to Good Taste.”
Our 48th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features Santa Claus decorating the Christmas tree with Guinness bottles, with a little help from all of his zoo animals. Now that’s “Guinness Time” … er Christmas Time.
Saturday’s holiday ad is for Miller High Life from 1949 and features their “Girl in the Moon” wishing everyone “Seasons Greetings.” I normally don’t keep the “Beer in Ads” series running through the weekend, but there’s just too many great Christmas beer ads not to. And mores specifically, “A Holiday toast to you from the National Champion of Quality … Miller High Life.”
And here’s a close-up of the artwork.
Friday’s holiday ad is for Blatz from, I think, sometime in the 1950s. It shows a couple toasting their beer glasses under a sprig of mistletoe. I know what happens if two people meet under the mistletoe, but anybody know what happens when it’s two beers? Hoppy holidays everybody.
Thursday’s holiday ad is also for Schlitz from 1948 and is from their “I Was Curious” ad campaign, where someone who’s never had it before finally “tasted it” and now they “know why Schlitz is … The Beer that made Milwaukee Famous.” The only difference is that this time it was during a Christmas party.
Wednesday’s holiday ad is for Schlitz from 1951 and shows an apartment building with a myriad of different Christmas celebrations, but all of them, of course, involving Schlitz.
Tuesday’s holiday ad is for Carling Black Label from 1955 during their Hey Mabel period of time. The tree is just Mabel hanging “black labels” on it. Now that’s a tree.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I attended the Anchor Christmas Party that’s held each year at the brewery. It’s one of the few events I can drag her out to, and it’s always a good time, seeing lots of local friends in the beer community. They put out an amazing spread and, of course, the beer is exquisite. Not much more to say about it, but I thought I’d share a few photos from the event.
Mrs. Brookston Beer Bulletin and me at the annual Anchor Christmas Party.
Zambo (21st Amendment), Rich Rosen (Pi Bar, Chenery Park), Jen Garris (Pi Bar), Sarah, Lloyd Knight (21A), Dave Suurballe (everywhere), James Renfrew (formerly with Potrero Hill Brewing) and Shaun O’Sullivan (21A).
Shaun O’Sullivan and Sarah.
Shaun O’Sullivan, Dave McLean (Magnolia), James Renfrew, Rich Rosen and Dave Suurballe
Me and Fritz Maytag.