#Breweriana

[jackpinebarrens]

[monkeyssalad-blog]

1967 Cadillac Ambulance & Grain Belt Beer Sign by Vinnie DeVille Via Flickr: Vintage image of a 1967 Cadillac Ambulance from the Fargo (North Dakota) and Moorhead (Minnesota) State line. For vintage product placement we have a billboard for Grain Belt Beer - the Friendly Beer- overhead. Nice dual automobilia and breweriana imagery. This found photograph comes from the private collection of an unknown and/or unknowing art collector. It’s always a thrill when it’s from Vinnie DeVille!

[joehaupt]

Vintage Budweiser Beer Can Radio With Box, Model 7-2792 (P4792), AM Band, Made In Hong Kong By General Electric, Circa 1960s by Joe Haupt

[clark-sons]

[onlineantiques]

Large Vintage Fullers Chiswick Double Side Pub Sign ‘Honey Dew Beer’ Honey Bee eBay item number 234659599642 #signs #fullers #fullersbitter #mancave #bees #mancavedecor #breweriana #breweries #largesigns #props #photoshootideas https://www.instagram.com/p/CmKWBG7IZe6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[gaytobymeres]

one day i will make a list called 'trees that look like wizards'

[oldstuffonly]

Shop Vintage Breweriana Collectibles for Sale

Old Stuff Only is a haven for vintage breweriana enthusiasts. Discover unique, historically rich breweriana items that tell fascinating tales of the past. Perfect for collectors and aficionados alike, our collection adds a touch of nostalgia to any space.

[mortmere]

Ray Kowalski's pub decor! Ray has these two bar towels on his kitchen/bar counter, and I was lucky to identify them both as items made by Pub World, a company that specialized in this kind of "breweriana". The light colored one says "Dirty Dick's", and the red one says "The Happy Drinker" (I only figured that one out after checking if it could be another Pub World bar towel - bingo!).

But oh, the lost opportunities here! As I was searching for red bar towels, one that kept coming up said "Stella Artois" (a Belgian beer brand), another "Relax with an Otter" (this one was newer as it had an url for the brewery). But even with Pub World's English themes, I wish they'd used the ones with Sherlock Holmes or Jack the Ripper, or the golf themed one that says "The 19th Hole" (CKR is an avid golfer). Or, lol, why not the one that's all about "Big Ben"...

[nickgerlich]

Lite Brigade

My heart skipped a beat yesterday when I received a notification of the latest marketing effort from Miller Brewing Company. If there is any industry I know a little bit about—OK, a lot—it is beer. It all started 50 years ago when I was a high school freshman, and a cousin introduced me to what was then all the rage: collecting beer cans.

That eventually grew into all manner of breweriana, a hobby I still participate in today. It’s a lot of fun, and I fancy myself a beer traveler in pursuit of the brewer’s art wherever I may be. Heck, I’m going to Clovis NM tonight and nearby Portales tomorrow to do just that.

And Miller’s new campaign harkens back to my wonder years in the 70s, when they purchased the Lite Beer brand and other assets from the bankrupt Meister Brau Brewing Company in Chicago. That was 1972; three years later, Miller took the Lite brand and launched it nationwide with one of the most memorable campaigns ever: Tastes Great, Less Filling.

Now I must make mention that Miller is guilty of not exactly telling the whole truth. It’s not that they are lying, because they really did catapult the brand to national prominence. It’s just that they did not invent Lite beer, neither the brand nor the category. The latter honor goes to the Rheingold Brewing Company in New York, who had created Gablinger’s Diet Beer, which flopped. Duh. You don’t drink beer to go on a diet.

Rheingold then gladly passed along the recipe to Meister Brau, who got rid of any reference to dieting. They bragged about Meister Brau Lite having “one-third less [sic] calories,” and that it was non-filling. It was a “full strength premium beer,” lest any he-man think he was drinking sissy stuff.

All Miller had to do was focus on the obvious. Had Meister Brau possessed a little marketing savvy, they could have catapulted to national fame with their brew, but, alas, they did not.

To Miller’s great credit—and this is indeed the true part—they used their acquisition to build what was a new category. Their flagship beer, Miller High Life, was once “the champagne of bottled beer,” but that had gone flat. Lite Beer by Miller was no side show. They used burly athletes to make the point, that Lite Beer allowed folks to keep drinking beer without that belly-bloat feeling after you’ve had one too many.

Lite eventually lost some of its luster after Bud Light was introduced, not to mention all the other me-too products from every brewer ever. But now with Bud Light in the dog house following last April’s incident, this is a great time for Miller to try to regain some ground. Modelo may have been the initial beneficiary of light beer-drinking fans’ money, but it has no history in the US. Miller Lite does, though, and especially among the very demographic that was repulsed by the thought of a transgender woman drinking the same beer as them.

Yeah. Now you get it. This is marketing gold, as gold as the color of the beer itself.

Better yet, Miller is leveraging a little nostalgia, which as we have noted before, can be intoxicating in its own right. The current promotion includes VHS tapes, as well as a tie-in to the last Blockbuster store, which is located in Oregon. OK, I get the connection from the tapes to Blockbuster, but while VHS tapes were starting to come out in 1977, the first Blockbuster did not open until 1985.

That’s alright, though, because those are just details, and Miller had used the Tastes Great campaign through the last quarter of the 20th century. Normal old people like me can’t be bothered with dates like that, much less remember them.

This is genius, even if I am not a fan of the brand. I’m just a fan of the old Lite beer cans from the 60s and 70s, when I was starting my collection. We long-time collectors still laugh about how Miller brags as if they invented the brand. We know better.

But the beer drinkers know a good tag line when they see one, and I’m betting this one is going to resonate just as well today as it did 49 years ago. Ready. Set. Drink it up.

Dr “Next Round Is On Me” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[monkeyssalad-blog]

1970s Jamaica Queens New York City Circus Bar by Vinnie DeVille Via Flickr: Vintage image of the Circus Bar located in the Woodhaven Section of Jamaica Queens in New York City. This bar was located at 88-19 Jamaica Avenue. Extra vintage product breweriana placement points for the Budweiser and Coors Beer signs in the bar window. This found photograph is from the private collection of an unknown and/or unknowing art collector. It’s always a thrill when it’s from Vinnie DeVille!

[joehaupt]

Vintage Budweiser Beer Can Radio, Model 7-2792 (P4792), AM Band, Made In Hong Kong By General Electric, Circa 1960s by Joe Haupt

[wildbeautifuldamned]

Vintage French Advertising Tile LE CITRON Kitchenalia Breweriana Food & Drinks ebay old_folios

[regginator-blog]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Vintage 1987 Spuds MacKenzie Bud Light Beer Party Animal 7” Tall Glass Pilsner.

[calidebs]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: 1983 Budweiser 50th Anniversary Collector Clydesdales Beer Stein Mug Breweriana.