Let’s Have A Beer! Vintage Beer Advertising

I like beer and I have liked beer for a very long time. Maybe it’s being half German that helps but whatever it is, I enjoy the cold drink. My husband does too and we have over the last few years become big fans of the craft beer craze that is happening all over the world. When we travel we enjoy trying the local brews and if possible visiting breweries we have never been too. While in Scotland we went to 2 different breweries-Tennents and Drygate and they were both fantastic!

This coming weekend I’m making my annual pilgrimage to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for German Fest, a full weekend of Liz in a Dirndl, drinking beer. WIN!

Fun Milwaukee Fact! that you may or may not know. Milwaukee has been called the “Beer Capital of the World” with the city being home to some of America’s largest brewers — Pabst, Schlitz, Miller, Blatz (source). So that means….there must be some really good vintage beer advertising out there that I can share with you. And your in luck!

So friends, grab a beer (or drink of choice) and lets see what I kind of fun vintage beer ads I have gathered up.

Vintage Beer Advertising

Up first, the Beer that make Milwaukee famous (well according to the marketing team)-Schlitz (founded in 1858).

I want to be invited to this party as long as I can wear her dress. BUT I might pass on the jello, hot dog, green thing happening at the bottom of the pic though lol. -1950s vintage ad.

This is a beer I have never heard of till now-Ballantine. Ballantine is an American beer that opened around 1850 in New York State.

Fun Fact: Ballantine had a close association with local sports. They sponsored the New York Yankees in the 1940s and 50s. N.Y. Yankee announcer Mel Allen’s called every Yankee home run a “Ballantine Blast” on his radio and later television coverage (source).

Nothing says drinking buddies, like wearing the exact same jacket and bow tie. -1950s vintage ad.

I’m really enjoying this post because I’m learning about so many beers that have been around for hundreds of years. Here is another one..Schaefer Beer. First produced in New York City in 1842.

Dosen’t Carole Landis just look amazing???!! OMG look at her jewelry, her hair, her perfect nails. Love it. I however NEVER look this glamours when drinking beer…ever. -1940s vintage ad.

And the winner for the “what does this advertisement mean?” award goes to this fantastically wonderful Rheingold ad from the 1940s, featuring Miss Rheingold of 1948.

Miss Rheingold Girls 1940–1965: At the center of their media campaign was the “Miss Rheingold” pageant. Beer drinkers voted each year on the young lady who would be featured as Miss Rheingold in advertisements. In the 1940s and 1950s in New York, “the selection of Miss Rheingold was as highly anticipated as the race for the White House.” The first Miss Rheingold was Spanish-born Jinx Falkenburg (source).

-1940s vintage ad.

Blatz Beer– Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1851. While looking for beer ads to share, I discovered a series of ads where it looks like they took various people that were “famous” and created an ad around them drinking the beer and talking about the beer. Here are a couple of samples.

Here is Maggi McNellis who was an American radio and television personality and talk show hostess from the 1940s through the 1960s. -1950s vintage ad.

And from 1949 Hank Marino, one of the world’s top bowling champions of the 1930s, with a career lasted half a century. -1940s vintage ad.

Time for some glamour, courtesy of “Dorothy Dandridge in this 1950s Jax beer advertisement.

Jax Beer: Jacksonville, Florida 1913-1956 and is credited for selling the first 6 pack around 1945 (source).

I guess I cannot have a beer vintage advertising post and not mention Milwaukee’s “Pabst Blue Ribbon“. Established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1844 and is popular with Hipsters everywhere. I hate this beer and don’t understand why people like it, it is just a terrible beer (sorry it is!) BUT they did have wonderful vintage ads, like this one from the 1940s.

And finally I will leave you with another Milwaukee Brewery-Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers since 1903 (their words not mine lol).

BUT I guess if they are advertising themselves as the “Champagne of Beers” then this really really fancy ad from the 1950s makes perfect sense.

And there you have it. Is anyone else as thirsty as me now??

Question time: Do you enjoy beer? Have a favorite? Have a favorite vintage ad?

Further Reading:

• The Vintage Advertising of a Canadian Beer Brand-Labatt’s
• It’s Vintage Oktoberfest Poster Time!
• Vintage Advertising Blog Posts

Liz 🙂