Blatz Beer Vintage Beer Ads September 30, 2019

Hey Peeps!!!! Happy Monday to you all. In keeping with the vibe of the last couple of posts, today I'm looking at some vintage beer ads from the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company brewers of the Milwaukee based Blatz Beer. 

Now today when you think of Milwaukee beer, you obviously think of Miller. I mean, the National League Milwaukee Brewers play in Miller Park. But that wasn't always the case. As with the cities of New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis, Milwaukee was a beer brewing center up to about the 1960's, The story of Blatz Brewery is told by the article Rediscovering Milwaukee's historic breweries Part I: Milwaukee's downtown breweries by Kevin M Cullen from the Journal of the Brewery History Society: Issue 140:

The origins of the Blatz brewery can be traced to 1846 when Johann Braun opened the City Brewery on Main and Division Streets (N Broadway and E Juneau Avenue). After Braun died his former Bavarian braumeister, Valentin Blatz - who had by then established his own brewery on Market Street in 1850 - married his late boss' widow and merged the two businesses in 1851. In 1875 he contracted to have part of the brewery's output bottled, and soon 2,000 bottles a day were being distributed. In fact, Blatz was the first brewery to establish, own and operate their own bottling department in the city. In 1891, Valentin Blatz sold his interests to a group of London financiers known in brewing circles as ‘the English Syndicate.’Three years later Valentin Blatz died and was buried in one of North America's largest above ground mausoleums in the Forrest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee. The end of the Blatz Brewing legacy came in 1959 when the brewery was bought by the Pabst Brewing Co Today however, the Blatz beer label is still being produced by the Miller Brewing Co in Milwaukee, WI.

I guess most beer roads in Milwaukee lead back to Miller after all. Just like the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company did in the 1940's and 1950's, Blatz would celebrities to advertise their beers. The difference is that Blatz harked back to its Milwaukee and Wisconsin roots by using celebrities that were from the state of Wisconsin. As you can see from the image above, Liberace was from West Allis, Wisconsin and was arguably the most famous Wisconsinites used in the ads. Here are a few other ads from the "Blatz is Milwaukee's Finest Beer" campaign:

You had celebrities such as Liberace, Don Ameche, Fred McMurtry, Alfred Lunt and Groucho Marx. Athletes like Pat Darden, Frank Parker and Dan Marino. Radio personalities such as William Gargan, sculptor Dick Wiken and cartoonist E. Simms Campbell.

For the next post, I'm going back to the Bronx with the second part of the visit to the Gun Hill Brewery. See you soon.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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Schaefer Beer Vintage Celebrity Ads September 29, 2019

Hey peeps, just continuing my stroll down memory lane with another vintage beer ad post. As a kid growing up in the 1970's, I can remember my dad drinking Schaefer Beer. So when I came across a number of celebrity beer ads (including this one with Lucille Ball) for Schaefer from the 1940's and 1950's I couldn't resist doing a quick post.

Schaefer was one of the many New York City beer brands that reached national popularity during the 20th Century. Started in 1842 by German brothers Frederick and Maximilian Karl Emil Schaefer  F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company. The original brewery was located on Park Avenue in New York City and the company would later move its facilities to Brooklyn. Continued throughout the 1970's and 1980's growth led to a brewing plant being built in Pennsylvania. The company would be sold to the  The Stroh Brewery Company in 1981. The brand is now owned by the Pabst Brewing Company. On to the ads.

Schaefer often ranked in the top 10 of beer brands sold in the United States. This is evident by the amount of money that they must have spent in retaining some well known star power for the following ad campaign. From top stars like Lucille Ball, Hedy (not Hedley 😜) Lamarr, Lon Chaney, Al Jolson, Basil Rathbone and Hoagy Charmichael to personalities like Guy Lombardo and singers like Kitty Kallen, the Schaefer " The Finest Beer I Ever Tasted!" was a star studded affair. Here are a couple of the images that I came across.

 

Thanks for taking the stroll with me down Schaefer beer's memory lane. See you all next time,

Until Then Happy Drinking,

SiscoVanilla

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Soulful Vintage Beer Ads September 28, 2019

I love me some vintage beer ads. So for today's SiscoVanillaBeerChronicles post, here is a collage of four soulful vintage beer ads.

From Top left to bottom left clockwise:

- Schlitz with the Commodores
- Budweiser with Lou Rawls
- Rheingold with Nat King Cole
- Colt 45 with Redd Foxx

As I come across more vintage beer ads, I'll showcase them here and on my SiscoVanilla Instagram.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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Gun Hill Brewing Company Part I September 27, 2019

This past Monday I decided to take a nice dedicated walk while running errands. By the time I reached Pelham Parkway, I was hovering near the three mile mark of my walk. With business being taken care of, I realized that I was in the vicinity of the Gun Hill Brewing Company (3227 Laconia Avenue, Bronx, NY 10469 (718) 881-0010) well, sort of. I was actually two miles away so by the time I reached the brewery, I clocked a little more than five miles on my walk and now I definitely needed a cold beer.

Gun Hill Brewing Company came about through a collaboration of Kieran Farrell and Dave Lopez who met in 2004 while playing semi-pro baseball. Ten years later they decided to join forces and make craft beer, which was a passion for both individuals. Since both were from the Bronx, they decided to start their brewery in the Gun Hill section of the Bronx. Why is the area called Gun Hill?

Gun Hill named as such after a pivotal Revolutionary War battle that took place in the general area where the brewery is located. The battle took place on January 25, 1777 and according to the Van Cortlandt Park webpage of the New York City Parks Department website:

Gun Hill Road, then known as Kingsbridge Road, was an important east-west thoroughfare, which the British and the Americans fought fiercely to control. During the battle, the British were chasing the Patriots east towards the river. While in retreat, a group of soldiers, led by Captain Bryant of the artillery, dragged a cannon atop a nearby hill and fired upon the charging Brits. That strategic position, which then became known as “Gun Hill,” forced the Brits to retreat west to Kingsbridge, allowing the Patriots to escape. 

Originally, a Native American trail ran along the path of Gun Hill Road, which is just south of the meadow. It was known as Kingsbridge Road by early settlers because it led to the King’s Bridge and the Kingsbridge settlement. The route was a vital path for the Patriots because it was one of the only crossings to Manhattan at the time. It became known as Gun Hill Road around 1875 to commemorate Captain Bryant’s exploits. The actual Gun Hill is located in what is now Woodlawn Cemetery.

Brewing in New York City was present as early as the Dutch colonial era of the New Amsterdam colony. By the early 1800's New York City, along with Philadelphia were two of the biggest beer brewing cities on the East Coast. 100 years later, the Volstead Act, formally National Prohibition Act more commonly known as Prohibition put a dent in brewing not only nationally but also locally. Only a handful of New York City's breweries were able to survive through Prohibition. Those that did survive were unable to withstand the rise of the mass market beer companies in the 1950's and 1960's.

It wasn't until the 1980's and 1990's that the craft brewing revolution started where small breweries started making in local markets including Brooklyn with the advent of Brooklyn Lager. The Bronx hadn't had a beer brewer since the 1960's and with the birth of Gun Hill Brewing Company, beer was once again being made in the Bronx. Enough with the history lesson, back to the beer.

The brewery has a number of stills where beer is made on the premises and it smells of beer through and through. There are a number of communal benches in addition to the bar where there are 12 taps of delicious brews.

Beers are also available for purchase to go in the form of cans and I believe they sell growlers.

And speaking of brews, I decided to rest my feet for a bit and had three different beers.I decided to keep it safe and ordered an Amber, a Pilsner and a Bierfest.

For my next post, I'll talk about the three beers that I had at Gun Hill Brewing Company.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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Tiger Asian Lager September 26, 2019

Hey peeps. How's everyone week going so far. This past weekend I was at the Bronx Zoo and was finally able to get a couple of brews at their weekend only beer stand: Zoo Brews. When I went to the Zoo earlier in the summer, I posted their beer list to my IG page. It wasn't monumental but they had a couple of smaller craft breweries such as Fat Tire and Captain Lawrence on tap and a number of other beers in cans. The one beer that I wanted to try, which is apropos for the Bronx Zoo is Tiger Asian Lager.

Tiger was first produced in Singapore in 1932 via a joint venture between Singaporean food and beverage conglomerate Fraser and Neave, Limited and Heineken as the Malayan Breweries Limited. Tiger would win a number of awards in its early years and would continue production during the years leading into and during World War II.

Post World War would see Tiger continue to grow in its surrounding markets and it would eventually expand into Europe, the United States and Oceania. Heineken Asia Pacific would become the sole owner of the Tiger brand in 2012 and it would help to continue Tiger's growth and presence worldwide. It is brewed in 16 countries and available in 50. Tiger brews their classic original, a lighter version of the original called Tiger Crystal, a wheat beer called Tiger White and an Asian Black Lager what is brewed with black rice called Tiger Black.

 Here are some vintage Tiger beer ads from throughout the years:

I did come across something interesting as to how Tiger is made. As with many beers, the listed base ingredients tend to be Water, malt, yeast and hops. But with the listing for Tiger from the DBrewing page this is what they show for the four ingredients used to make Tiger:

Ingredients: Water, malted barley, sugar*, hop extract
*Sugar can often be added to beer to add flavour and body. Don’t worry, because this doesn’t mean that the beer is packed with sugars, as most of the sugar is used by the yeast to create alcohol and carbon dioxide during fermentation.

So does this mean that Tiger uses yeast and extra sugar in their beer in the form of sucralose? Is this what Tiger means when they refer to "The ‘tropical lagering’ process brews a bravely creative and unpretentious lager." Going to the Heineken page for Tiger Beer also gives another ambigious answer as to the "Tropical lagering."  Here is what they say:

Just a stone’s throw away from the equator, people said Singapore was too hot to brew beer. In 1932 Tiger defied the odds and pioneered Tropical Lagering, a unique brewing process designed to refresh a nation. Tiger Beer has been challenging convention ever since.

I have no clue as to what that means and why they use sucralose in the brewing process instead of yeast (?). I hope some of you more informed brewers/brewing aficionados will help shed some light on this. Well, enough about the lagering of the beer to the beer itself.

As you can see from the can, I was lucky to get one of the Tiger beers made and imported from Singapore. I did a quick video on the Tiger beer on my IG-TV channel that you can watch here: SiscoVanilla Has a Tiger Asian Lager at The Bronx Zoo 09-22-2019. 

Clocking in at 5.0 ABV and an 18 IBU,  I found it to be crisp, dry with a little bit more body that I expected. I really wished that it was ice cold, in the way that the Singaporeans drink Tiger in their tropical environment paired with their spicy food. I can see how it does the job at beating the heat. 

I'm not sure for how much long the Zoo Brews booth will be open near the Wild Asia part of the Zoo. But if you are at the Bronx Zoo during the next few weekends, check them out. They have cans, pints and sangria. 

For my next post, I'm staying in the Bronx. I recently took a trip to the Gun Hill Brewery Company and wanted to let you all know what I thought about it. So stay tuned true believers. 

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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Grolsch Premium Pilsner September 23, 2019

What's up peeps. I hope you all had a nice weekend. The weather in NYC was amazing with Summer still holding on, not wanting to give up its place to Autumn. With my last post, I examined the Italian beer Peroni Nastro Azzurro. For today's post I wanted to move North on the European continent to shed light on the Dutch beer Grolsch, which has been made in the Netherlands since 1615.

The brewery was founded by Willem Neerfeldt during what is known as the Eighty Years War aka or the Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648.) The struggle was for the independence of today the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg from Spain. The brewery was built in the Dutch town of Grolle. The operations would remain there until 1922. The man who made the decision to move the brewery from Grolle to Enschedesche BierBrouwerij in Enschede was Theo de Groen. de Groen was influential in introducing the "Swing Top" bottle that is distinctive for the Grolsch Premier Pilsner.

Through World War II and accidents, the Enschedesche BierBrouwerij is still making the four Grolsch beer offerings: Grolsch Premier Pilsner, Grolsch Weizen, Grolsch Radler and Grolsch 0.0%.

The Grolsch Premier Pils is the company's flagship beer and is made in the same way since the early days of production. It is made using two hops harking back to Willem Neerfeldt's apprentice Peter Kuijper who brewed his beer with the two hops. One was used for aroma while the second was used for bitterness. Here is how the Grolsch Premium Pilsner is described on the Grolsch website:

Our Premium Pilsner has a naturally green hop aroma, a crisp finish and a clean, confident bitterness from the combination of two Hallertau hops: Emerald and Magnum. This is joined by supporting malty flavours from both pale and specifically chosen malts. The result is a pilsner with depth of taste, that naturally appeals to a more developed palette.

I had a nice cold Grolsch Premium Pilsner at home last week which I posted about on my IG-TV: SiscoVanilla Has a Grolsch Premier Lager 09-19-2019. So what did I think of it? Clocking in at 5.0 ABV and an IBU of 28, I found it to be crisp and clean. It was tasty and bitter, which I would attribute to the two hop beer making process. I found it to be a nice pilsner but nothing too mindblowing.

Ok folks, I'm going to pack on the virtual airmiles with the next post. I'm heading to Singapore via the Bronx Zoo 🦁🐯🦍🦏🐻 for a taste of the Asian Lager: Tiger Beer 🐅🐅🐅. Keep an eye out for it.

Unitl Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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Peroni Nastro Azzurro September 21, 2019

Buon pomeriggio, signore e signori. For today's post I'm staying in Europe. I'm taking the SiscoVanilla Beer Chronicles from Ireland to Italy to profile the Italian beer Peroni Nastro Azzurro.

 

While the Peroni Nastro Azzurro beer has been around since 1963, the Peroni Brewery was founded by Francesco Peroni who established his first brewery in Vigevano, Pavia province in 1846. The company and its beer became so popular that in 1864, a second brewery was built in the Italian capital of Roma with Francesco's son Giovanni Peroni taking over the reins. The war years would prove to be difficult for most breweries on the European continent but the years post 1950 and 1960 would prove to be a bounty for Italy. With its economy on the rise and the shift of population from rural areas to cities, Peroni Brewery grew by leaps and bounds.

In 1963, the Peroni Nastro Azzuro beer was launched for the international market and would have a major advertising campaign launched in 1968. Here are a couple of examples of those ads:

The ads would highlight a nautical theme that would hark back to 1933 when the Italian liner SS Rex won the coveted 'Blue Riband', a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by passenger liners. Blue Riband translates to 'Nastro Azzurro' in Italian.

By 2005 the Peroni Nastro Azzurro beer went through a rebranding with slight changes to its logo and bottles. The bottle neck was draped with a blue label aka blue ribbon that states the following:

Peroni Nastro Azzurro
Il gusto unico, secco e rinfrescante della birra premium italiana più bevuta al mondo
Prodotta in Italia

Peroni Nastro Azzurro 

The unique, dry and refreshing taste of the most popular Italian premium beer in the world 

Produced in Italy

As with the launch in 1963, the 2005 rebranding produced a number of different ad campaigns. One that stands out to me is the series of posters created by Italian artist Riccardo Guasco. Here are four of those posters: 

 

I had this beer at the Artichoke Basille's Pizzeria (59 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217) with two slices of their Margherita pizza late on Wednesday night. Hey, I had a hankering for a pizza and a brew after work 🍕🍺. 

So what did I think of it? I thought it was crisp, clean and a little dry with a slight bitter taste of the back end. It was a refreshing lager that paired well with the slices I was enjoying at almost 3am in the morning. I've seen Peroni of draft at a couple places on my excursions. I'm going to have to pop into one of those places and have a taste of it to see how it compares to their bottled version. Anyone up for an excursion? For my next post I'm staying in Europe just going up to Holland and profiling Grolsch Beer. 

Until Then Happy Drinking,

SiscoVanilla

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Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale September 19, 2019

Hello fair lads and lassies. I recently had the pleasure of visiting The Storehouse (69 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10010 (212)-243-8898) and found an interesting beer on tap: The Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale. For those of you who don't know, I LOVE red ales. Add the combination of nitrogen and CO2 and that just leaves me 🤯🤯🤯. Before I talk about the beer, I wanted to go into the history of the Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale brand.

This particular Irish ale traces has been brewed under the Kilkenny name since 1710 having been brewed by the St. Francis Abby (also written as Abbey) brewery in the town of its name sake: Kilkenny. Its roots date back even further back to the 1230's. It is believed that the recipe for the Kilkenny Irish Ale is one of the ones used by Franciscan monks that lived in the Abby in Kilkenny. The brewery, it was located on the grounds of the St. Francis' Abby, home of the Franciscan monks that were brewing beer as far back as the 13th century. It is believed that the Abby itself was built between 1231 and 1234.

In 1710, John Smithwick in partnership with duke of Ormond Richard Cole opened the brewery. If the name Smithwick looks familiar, the famed Irish ale Smithwick's was one of the main ales brewed at St. Francis Abby Brewery.  Up to its closure in 2013, it had been the oldest continuing brewery in Ireland. Since 2013, the Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale has been brewed at the St. James' Gate Brewery under the Guinness umbrella of beers.

According to the December 2016 edition of Globe Magazine:

It is served in similar manner to Guinness; fully raised with a head of 3/4 to 1" approximately. The ingredients are water, malted barley, roasted malted barley, hops and yeast. Kilkenny is a rich and creamy ale with a smooth clean taste. It is brewed from 100% Irish malt, giving it a distinctive ruby-red color.

The website BreweryDB further describes the Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale as being: similar to Smithwick's Draught; however, has less hop finish and it has a nitrogenated cream head similar to Guinness. Take a look at the pint that was poured to me by Eamonn the bartender:

So what did I think of this beautiful beer? To see what I thought of it when I drank the beer, check out SiscoVanilla Has a Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale at the Storehouse 09-15-2019 from my SiscoVanilla IG-TV channel. Clocking in at 4.3% ABV and an IBU of 29 this was a delight of a beer to drink. Creamy, filling and smooth are just three words that I would use to describe this beer. There is no bitterness to this beer whatsoever. I definitely need to go back to the Storehouse for some more of this beer. Highly recommended.

What I now need to do is to do a side by side tasting of the Smithwick's Irish Red Ale and the Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale. Anyone want to join in? Hit me up and let me know!!!

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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What Does Oktoberfest Celebrate September 17, 2019

Hey Peeps!!! Hope everyone had an awesome weekend. I had an amazing time trying a couple of beers with Momma-San and Yo Gabba Gabba this past Sunday. You can check out those adventures on my SiscoVanilla IG-TV channel. For today I wanted to go into the history of Oktoberfest.

Now I know that for many of you Oktoberfest brings images of men in lederhosen, Fraulein carrying many steins full of beer, schnitzel, sausages, pretzels and other German delicacies. Think Clark Griswold from the slap fighting dance and chase scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation.

But as with most drinking festivals and "holidays" there is real life history behind the reason for the season. Yes, even St. Paddy's Day celebrates the life of the missionary who would become St. Patrick and not just a drinking "holiday." But I digress, back to Bavaria/Germany and Oktoberfest.

Back in 1810, October 12, 1810 a massive wedding celebration was held in Munich to honor the nuptials of Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. 

 

Feasts were held and horse races were run for the celebration that initially lasted for five days. The festival would prove so popular that it would be held again the next year and grew with each passing year. The addition of beer started slow but would later grow to prominence within the celebration. According to the The History of Oktoberfest from the official website for Ofest:

In the first few decades, the choices of amusements were sparse. In 1818, the first carousel and two swings were set up. Vistitors were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands, which grew rapidly in number. In 1896 the beer stands were replaced by the first beer tents and halls set up by the enterprising landlords with the backing of the breweries. The remainder of the festival site was taken up by a fun-fair. The range of carousels offered was already increasing rapidly in the 1870's as the fairground trade continued to grow and develop in Germany. 

This year marks the 186th celebration of Oktoberfest which runs from September 21 - October 6, 2019. Only wars and plagues would interrupt the yearly festival which marked its 200th anniversary in 2010.

Though as of now I don't see myself attending an Oktoberfest this year, I have already sampled a couple of Oktoberfest beers.

I had the Sam Adams Octoberfest on September 1, 2019 and the Goose Island Oktoberfest on September 15, 2019. Click on the link for each brew to see what I thought about it on my IG-TV channel. Plus I have some other Oktoberfest offerings on deck. So keep your eyes peeled for my posts on those.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
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Why Are Goats Associated With Bock Beers September 13, 2019

Hey peeps. For those of you who are beer aficionados, have you ever wondered why the Bavarian style of beer known as "Bocks" are associated with goats? Before I go into a little beer history, I wanted to give you a visual as to what I mean.

Now here goes.

Bock beers originate from the Bavarian area of Einbeck which is in current Lower Saxony, Germany. As per the story from the United States of Beer by Dane Hucklebridge and the Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth, it took a quirk of language to forever link the beer brewed the by the residents of Einbeck and goats.


When the beer was being sold throughout Bavaria, the accent of those in Einbeck was slightly different than the accents of other areas in Bavaria. In actuality, each area had their own accent. Think of it as to how the Boston accent differs from the Chicago accent which differs from the South Carolinian accent.

So to some the word Einbeck as spoken by the Einbeckers (?) sounded like the word Einbock which translates to "Billy Goat." It would seem that those who heard Einbock instead of Einbeck chose to refer to the beer as the Goat beer. So where there was an initial point of ridicule by calling the beer Einbock, it would become a badge of pride of the product and eventually its defining visual cue.

So worldwide, Bock beers have the image of a goat attached to their label. Here is the logo for Shiner Bock which is brewed by the Spoetzel Brewery in Shiner, Texas:

 

And that's it in a nutshell. Next time you're in a bar and order a Bock, you have a little tidbit to tell the person next to you. 

For the next post, I'm going to stay in Germany and go into the history behind Oktoberfest.

Until Then Happy Drinking,

SiscoVanilla

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Golden Road Brewing of California September 5, 2019

While school shopping with the kids this past weekend, Momma-San and I popped into the Outback Steakhouse at the Bay Plaza Mall for a quick brew. On tap they had the Bloomin' Blonde made by Golden Road Brewing. I sat there for a second wondering where I had seen the Golden Road Brewing name before. Then it hit me while looking up at the TV: They advertise at Dodger Stadium.

Golden Road Brewing is a California brewery based in Anaheim,  Orange County. Its brewery is located across from Angel Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Angels. Founded by Meg Gill and Tony Yanow in 2011, the company saw tremendous growth. by 2015, they were producing 45,000 barrels of beer making them the largest craft brewery in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. This caught the attention of Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Golden Road Brewing would be sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2015 which has only helped to shed more light on the company and build up the exposure to the brand. Currently Golden Road Brewing has a licensing deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Rams.

The core beers of Golden Road are the Wolf Pup Session IPA, Point the Way IPA, Get Up Offa That Brown and Golden Road Hefeweizen. They also have a line of beers inspired by the street carts that sell fruit. Currently that line has three wheat ales: Mango Cart, Pineapple Cart and Melon Cart.They also have other beers such as the Palisades Pineapple, the Guava Dia and the So-Cal Coconut Wheat. So what did I think about the Bloomin' Blonde?

Coming in at an ABV of 4.8% and an IBU of 18, this is a very light and crisp ale. It almost had a fruity feel to it with a slight bitter back. This is a nice beer to kick back, put your feet up and catch the ballgame. I look forward to coming across some of the other offerings that Golden Road has in their beer portfolio.

For my next post I highlight a curious historical note as to why Bock beers are traditionally linked with billy goats. Keep your 👀👀👀 peeled for it.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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For Further Reading:

• Golden Road Brewery founder on why the brand was sold and what’s next from the Los Angeles Times 
• Anheuser-Busch InBev to Acquire Golden Road from Brewbound 
• Golden Road Co-Founder: LA Brewery Can Be a Million Barrel Brand from Brewbound

Panther Pils Grande Bière Vintage Poster September 4, 2019

I love vintage ads and posters of products of the ages gone by. I especially love this poster that I came across on Pinterest for Panther Pils.

 

Now I haven't been able to find much on the Panther Pils Grande Bière aside from it being from France based on this old beer bottle label:

The art looks like it might be from the 1920's or 1930's.  There is a name on the bottom by the name of Coullard (?) Any guesses peeps? The internet is quite silent on this. On a side note...

The comic geek in me sees that ad above and can't help but see DC Comics Wonder Woman villainess Cheetah. Check them out side-by-side:

Cheetah made her debut in Wonder Woman  issue number 6 back in 1943. Its not inconceivable that whomever created that character was influenced by the Panther Pils poster. But that's just speculation on my part. If I find out more, I'll update the post. For now, just enjoy the art.

Unitl Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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Dogfish Head World Wide Stout September 1, 2019

Hey peeps, how's everyone doing this Labor Day weekend!!! As I promised in my post on ABV and IBU, I have a special guest post coming from the Sunshine State of Florida. My good friend Melvin works at a major craft beer bar down in Florida and he is in heaven surrounded by dozens of delicious brews. Unlike me who doesn't like the strong and bitter brews, Melvin loves them all. The stronger, the better. Recently he gave me a heads up on the Dogfish Head World Wide Stout. This stout measures in at a whopping 15% - 20% ABV depending on the brewing season and aging.

 
For those of you who don't know, Dogfish Head Brewery is a Delaware brewery based in Milton which is on the Southern part of coastal Delaware. Dogfish Head was founded by Sam Calagione in 1999. Calagione is profiled in an amazing article that appeared in the November 24, 2008 issue of the New Yorker entitled A Better Brew by Burkhard Bilger. I recommend that you give it a read. Dogfish Head not only makes beer but they also distill a variety of spirits. For this calendar year of 2019, Dogfish Head as 21 different beers, many of them that are high in ABV, one of which is the World Wide Stout.

First brewed in 1999, the World Wide Stout is not for a lightweight drinker. Here is how the Dogfish Head website describes it:

Brewed with a ridiculous amount of barley, World Wide Stout is dark, roasty and complex. This Ageable Ale clocks in at 15-20% ABV and has a depth more in line with a fine port than with a can of cheap, mass-marketed beer.

World Wide debuted in the winter of 1999, and the staying power of this brew is undeniable. Like Fort and 120 Minute IPA, World Wide Stout only gets better with age (more on aging beers here). After some time in your beer cellar, the heat of the booze fades into the background and the port notes and roastiness take over.

World Wide goes great with (or as!) dessert. Share one with someone you love.

The following describes the makeup of the stout:

Color: Dark and opaque
Aroma: Roasted malt, coffee and licorice:
Flavor: Roasted malt and subtle coffee notes
Mouthfeel: Slightly dry, sweet and warming.

So what does he think about it? He loves it. Finds that it is smooth but doesn't have the thick viscosity of a stout like Guinness. Finds that it has a more thin consistency (due to the ABV) with a strong alcohol nose and vanilla notes that stand out to him. I can't that I am surprised with that description since there are a couple of descriptions of the World Wide Stout being more like a port than a stout.

Any of you out there like the World Wide Stout? Let me know what you think in the comment box. Thanks to Melvin for his thoughts and I look forward to getting some more recommendations on the high octane brews that he likes. Enjoy the three day weekend...for those of you who have one.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
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