Historic Beer Ads

Relatable.

Ayinger's evokes-but-is-legally-distinct-from-Oktoberfest festbier (on draft) is one of my all-time favorites

Do you mind if I add these to my collection?

looks fun tho

Cap for what, you ask? Cap for what?!

Cap for typos, duh.

Crown cap against a white background. Top of the cap is gold, with "Warsteiner" in black block-type font. Beneath that is a blue and white checked pattern (following the Bavarian flag), and "Oktoberfest" written in a more modern font.

Better Know a Beer Cap #73: Warsteiner Oktoberfest

So far as I know, none of Munich's big six Oktoberfest brewers use a dedicated cap for (at least in the export market), so here's one that I'm sure *only* uses their Oktoberfest cap in the export market, since they'd probably be sued in Germany.

1934 drawn poster for Löwenbräu's Oktoberfestzelt (beer tent). Shows the tent with a rounded facade, in brown and green, with the image of a matronly woman carrying six foaming beer steins. At the bottom reads "Auf zum Löwenbräu"

O zapft is! Oktoberfest begins today in Munich!

It's okay, I'm not there either.

(Löwenbräu, 1934)

[July 12th, 1980] Budweiser advertisement from Billboard Magazine

1997 official Oktoberfest poster. Shows a king whose head is a mug of beer (the foam filling in for the crown). But it is all very crudely drawn and in bold solid colors, as though created in a rush in MS Paint.

I can see that! If only it had stopped there though...

Here's 1997.

1997 official Oktoberfest poster. Shows a king whose head is a mug of beer (the foam filling in for the crown). But it is all very crudely drawn and in bold solid colors, as though created in a rush in MS Paint.

I can see that! If only it had stopped there though...

Here's 1997.

1995 is cursed.

1995 is cursed.

Here you go!

bsky.app/profile/beer...

Crown cap against a white background. The cap is a bright lime, almost neon green with a striped rim (dark blue outside with thin white and red stripes). In the center is Sam Adams' shield logo design and "Hopscape" written underneath it.

Better Know a Beer Cap #72: Samuel Adams Hopscape, a short-lived hoppy wheat seasonal from circa 2016-2017.

I suspect I was the only person in the country who actually enjoyed this beer. IIRC it flopped spectacularly and I'm not sure it ever seasonaled again.

Outdoors photo of a billboard along a highway, possibly I-90 or I-94, in Gary, Indiana, 1969. The billboard is for Rolling Rock Beer, depicting a snowy mountain stream with the tagline "brewed from mountain spring water." Along the horizon is an array of smokestacks, industrial buildings, and haze to match.

Rolling Rock sign along the highway in Gary, Indiana, 1969. I could have zoomed in, but the background context here really adds something.

Via University of Illinois-Chicago.

Drawn poster ad. White background, showing a male waiter dressed in a tuxedo and white apron, running toward the viewer holding a glass of beer on a platter. He's thrusting the platter/beer into the foreground, making it look very enlarged compared to his body. Beneath him is printed "la biere Phenix"

Biere Phenix forcing that perspective.

Via Musée Européen de la Bière.

1904 postcard showing Hackerbräu's (now part of Hacker Pschorr) Oktoberfest tents/gardens. Shows two small (by modern standards) Festzelts decked in blue and white Bavarian colors, with lots of outdoor seating. One is serving Pilsener, the other Märzen.

1897 Oktoberfest postcard featuring the Dreher brewery from Vienna. Shows a smaller but elegant Festzelt on the Wiesn for their brewery, accompanied by extensive outdoor seating, with a ceremonial horse-drawn beer wagon out front. Shows Dreher's brewery serving both Märzenbier and "Kaiserbock"

1930 poster for Wagnerbräu's Oktoberfestzelt, which depicts the zelt and a horse-drawn beer wagon (with figures dressed as the Munchnerkindl atop the horses) in an almost art-deco style. Advertises both Oktoberfest Märzen and "Auer-Kirta-Bier" (a kind of dark lager).

Seeing lots of posts featuring Munich's big six Oktoberfest biers for this year (which are great!), but just a reminder that there used to be more variety in what was served on the Wiesn, and who served it.

Better Know a Beer Cap #71: Hacker-Pschorr...Oktoberfest edition?

Seeking help on this one! This comes from HP's Oktoberfest brand (or rather, the Märzen-y export version they brew for the U.S. market netherworld).

It's not their usual cap, but is it an explicit Oktoberfest cap???

Which Breweries' Beers Were Served At Oktoberfest in 1843? - Daft Eejit Brewing I took a map of Oktoberfest 1843 to determine which breweries' beers were served at the Oktoberfest that year.

Also this article about an 1843 map with all the stands at Oktoberfest: dafteejit.com/2024/09/whic...

Better Know a Beer Cap #71: Hacker-Pschorr...Oktoberfest edition?

Seeking help on this one! This comes from HP's Oktoberfest brand (or rather, the Märzen-y export version they brew for the U.S. market netherworld).

It's not their usual cap, but is it an explicit Oktoberfest cap???

If you want to read more, @akrennmair.bsky.social wrote a very nice post about past Oktoberfest offerings here:

dafteejit.com/2017/09/more...

1904 postcard showing Hackerbräu's (now part of Hacker Pschorr) Oktoberfest tents/gardens. Shows two small (by modern standards) Festzelts decked in blue and white Bavarian colors, with lots of outdoor seating. One is serving Pilsener, the other Märzen.

1897 Oktoberfest postcard featuring the Dreher brewery from Vienna. Shows a smaller but elegant Festzelt on the Wiesn for their brewery, accompanied by extensive outdoor seating, with a ceremonial horse-drawn beer wagon out front. Shows Dreher's brewery serving both Märzenbier and "Kaiserbock"

1930 poster for Wagnerbräu's Oktoberfestzelt, which depicts the zelt and a horse-drawn beer wagon (with figures dressed as the Munchnerkindl atop the horses) in an almost art-deco style. Advertises both Oktoberfest Märzen and "Auer-Kirta-Bier" (a kind of dark lager).

Seeing lots of posts featuring Munich's big six Oktoberfest biers for this year (which are great!), but just a reminder that there used to be more variety in what was served on the Wiesn, and who served it.

It's September. No one can say it's too early now.

Munich has commissioned one of these posters every year since 1952. I got 'em all.

Give me a year and I'll share the poster.

This touching Budweiser 9/11 tribute only aired once: https://bit.ly/3I80Ny4

Budweiser says that it had to get approval from Congress to film the ad.

#NeverForget #WeRemember911

Crown cap against a white background. Cap is bright orange with a nazy blue outer rim and matching shield emblem in the center. "Samuel Adams" is printed inside the shield, while "Octoberfest" is printed underneath in blocky, uninteresting font.

Better Know a Beer Cap #70: Samuel Adams Octoberfest's most recent (and last?) design.

Part of Sam Adams' late-2010s move toward shield designs on their caps, which I didn't care for.

But it didn't last, Sam Adams has since switched to a universal cap design, which I'll post another time.

Schlitz Malt Liquor ad from 1978.

Three hundred quatloos to the first Star Trek fan to spot the familiar face. #startrek

I just like saying quatloos.