As my Philadelphia theme comes to an end, as does my time at Philly Beer Week, Friday’s ad is for Gretz Beer, never a big force in Philadelphia market, but by 1957 were still hanging on as the smallest brewery left in Philly. You can read below what they were trying to do with their “small car series” of ads, but the exchange between the two men in the Fiat feels forced. It doesn’t feel like a natural conversation, it screams adspeak.

According to Rusty Cans:

The Gretz car series was issued starting in late 1957 by the Gretz Brewing Company in Philadelphia. The smallest of the last four breweries in Philadelphia, Gretz decided to make its small size a selling point by comparing its beer to a sports car. Small cars were better, they argued, and so was a beer from a small brewery! As part of the promotion Gretz bought 11 of the latest sport cars and painted them yellow and black to match the Gretz label colors, with a Gretz logo on the sides. The cars were introduced at the Army-Navy Game in Philadelphia at the end of November 1957 (Navy won 14-0).

And here’s another:

It’s for their bock using the iconic brewery character from 1951.

I love this image of the Gretz guy, and in fact have a t-shirt of it I got from Yesterbeer. I also say an original tray with the same image behind the bar at the Kite & Key last night.

Continuing my Philadelphia theme for Philly Beer Week, Thursday’s ad is old one, from 1873. The brewery is Bergner & Engel’s, which used to be located on 32nd and Thompson. I just love these old posters showing off the brewery at its best that were common in the latter half of the 19th century.

Here’s a description of the poster from the Library Company of Philadelphia:

Since the erection of the first brewery in Philadelphia circa 1683, beer making has been a near steady Philadelphia industry. Following the introduction of lager beer to the Philadelphia market in the mid-19th century, German-American brewers dominated the field. The firm of Bergner & Engel, formed in 1870 between longtime brewers Gustave Bergner and Charles Engel, symbolized the best of the best of that era’s nearly one hundred, mostly German-American run breweries. Operating from a plant built for Bergner in 1858 at 32nd and Thompson streets, the brewery served as the forerunner in the establishment of the industrial neighborhood known as Brewerytown.

This circa 1875 print, a chromolithograph by German-born lithographer Charles P. Tholey, evokes the vitality of the brewing industry and documents the eye-catching imagery of advertising for the city during the 19th century. The advertisement conveys the expanse of the Bergner & Engel plant that included ice houses, a brew room, fermenting and cooling rooms, store rooms, offices, and dwellings. The numerous factory wagons loaded with kegs of beer to be delivered, the visible construction dates of the ice houses, and the several returned and cleaned barrels demonstrate the success of the company. To catch and keep the viewer’s eye, Tholey also employed subtle details such as the excited dogs, the probable job seeker soliciting a worker on break, and one of the proprietors, Bergner, conversing with an employee in front of his office.

Unlike advertisements of today, the product for sale does not serve as the focus of the print. Rather, the factory comprises the image. Competition for consumers was not based on the quality of the good, but the quality of the establishment in which the product was produced. Regarding the circulation of such prints, rather than posting them publicly in stations, on buildings, or fences, businesses probably enclosed the advertisements with product shipments sent to their distributors throughout the country. Enterprises such as Bergner & Engel anticipated that their retailers would display the prints in the public spaces of their establishments to promote their products to a broader base of consumers.

Continuing my Philadelphia theme for Philly Beer Week, Wednesday’s ad is for Schmidt’s. Again, I’m not sure, but my guess is it’s from sometime in the 1970s. I’m not sure about those lines and arrows at all, or what the slogan “For That Friendlier Feeling” has to do with the man opening the bottle.

Continuing my Philadelphia theme for Philly Beer Week, Tuesday’s ad is for Schmidt’s. I’m not sure, but my guess is it’s from the mid-1960s. I love how the foam is spilling out from everywhere, both mugs and the can, too.

All this week I’ll be featuring ads from Philadelphia breweries since I’ll be there most of the week for Philly Beer Week. Monday’s ad is for Ortlieb. The ad is from 1959 and shows a couple loading beer onto their boat, with this deliciously goofy tagline. “It’s the he-man brew — that the gals love too!” The logo at the bottom also includes this curious slogan, “Ortlieb’s, the wet beer.” Hilarious.