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beerpuffery.bsky.social
Historic Beer Ads
@beerpuffery.bsky.social
880 followers 380 following 590 posts
In case you travel back in time and need to pick a beer.
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Better Know a Beer Cap #75: Bayern Brewing in Missoula, MT.

One of the best treasures in the Treasure State.
Crown cap against a white background. Cap is white with a large green and black circular design. Around the edge it reads "Packaged with 60% returned bottles---Return, Refill, Rejoice." and a large green and white lion's head emblem in the middle. (I did not return the bottle)
November 22, 2025 at 4:44 PM
beerpuffery.bsky.social
Rainier is...beerish?

Rainier, c1972 (via Seattle MOHAI)
Magazine sized advertisement showing a mountain scene with a herd of "Rainiers" (men wearing large fiberglass bottle costumes and black rights, mean to resemble wild elk or similar in behavior). Tagline at the bottom is "Rainier is beerish on America."
November 22, 2025 at 4:41 PM
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Better Know a Beer Cap #74: Goose Island Experimental Ale

An ESB from around 2015. Not really sure what made it experimental, though.
Crown bottle cap against white background. Cap is Black with the Goose Island logo (a goose head facing right, with "Goose Island" written above and below it) in the center and a light blue ring around the edge. "Experimental Ale" and four six point stars are printed twice on the top and bottom of this ring.
November 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
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It makes you so healthy!

Sanitätsbräu from the Bürgerliches Brauhaus Insterburg, 1912.
Animated beer poster ad from 1912, from the Bürgerliches Brauhaus in Insterburg, Germany. Features a cartoon man leaning against a large bottle of beer, saying (in a speech bubble) "so gesund macht unser" (ours makes you so healthy). The beer is called "Sanitätsbräu" (like "Medical brew"), a low alcohol, pasteurized brand.
November 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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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.
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.
September 20, 2025 at 3:03 PM
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O zapft is! Oktoberfest begins today in Munich!

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

(Löwenbräu, 1934)
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"
September 20, 2025 at 2:54 PM
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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.
September 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM
beerpuffery.bsky.social
1995 is cursed.
Munich's 1995 Oktoberfest poster. The image is a very roughly drawn (or digitally edited) image of a woman in a dirndl rushing from right to left with two enormous beer glasses in her hands. Her dirndl skirt is rounded and puffed out as though by several petticoats. The simplicity (some might call it crudeness) of the drawing style can't be overstated. It's a step above stick figures, IMO.
September 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
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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.
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.
September 13, 2025 at 3:30 PM
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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.
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.
September 13, 2025 at 3:15 PM
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Biere Phenix forcing that perspective.

Via Musée Européen de la Bière.
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"
September 13, 2025 at 3:03 PM
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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???
September 12, 2025 at 5:11 PM
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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.
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).
September 12, 2025 at 5:01 PM
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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.
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.
September 7, 2025 at 3:53 PM
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Schlitz Malt Liquor ad from 1978.

Three hundred quatloos to the first Star Trek fan to spot the familiar face. #startrek
September 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
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What do you think they used for the fake/stunt/prop beer foam in this ad?

Marshmallow fluff? Shaving cream? Asbestos?

Schwechater ad, 1974 (via Wien Bibliothek)
Beer ad with red background. Shows close-up shot of a plastic crate of beer. Normally these hold glass bottles, but here they're holding full half-liter glasses of golden beer. Each one has a very large, thick amount of foam. A hand has lifted one of the glasses out of the crate and is presenting it to the viewer. Tagline says "Schwechater, goldrichtig gelagert" (meaning Schwechater...stored correctly)
September 7, 2025 at 3:02 PM
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Better Know a Beer Cap #69: Sam Adams O-c-toberfest, circa 2010s design.

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Crown cap against white background. Cap is orange with navy blue outer rim and banner across the lower center. "Samuel Adams" is written across the center with branded font, and "Octoberfest" is inside the banner.
September 4, 2025 at 5:49 PM
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The 1979 poster is GLORIOUS. Makes me imagine scores of Bavarians belting out Misty Mountain Hop instead of Country Roads.

Artist: Fritz Wagner
Munich's official Oktoberfest poster for 1979. Features a man in traditional Bavarian garb drinking from a giant beer stein, except the man is a centaur rearing on his hind legs, with a Bavarian flag printed saddle/blanket.
September 3, 2025 at 9:58 PM
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1994

Flirting with the danger zone here. Just before Oktoberfest posters entered what I call their MS Paint era...

Artist: Emil Sogor
Munich's 1994 Oktoberfest poster. The image is white except for a large outline of a Maß of beer in the center, made out of just three broad paint strokes outlining the glass, the foam, and the handle, in yellow, blue, and red respectively.
September 3, 2025 at 9:46 PM
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1964, back when the herring-on-a-stick was a bit more popular.

Still taking year requests (1952-present) to share Munich's many official Oktoberfest posters.
Munich's official Oktoberfest poster for 1964. It's a color pencil sketch of a man and woman at Oktoberfest. The man is standing behind the woman, playing a horn instrument, while the woman holding two beers, herring-on-a-stick, shooting target, and rotisserie style chicken. They are both wearing traditional Bavarian garb and their features are styled like a Raggedy Anne/Andy doll.
September 3, 2025 at 2:08 PM
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The 1989 poster raises questions...

Someone gimme another year!

Artise: Thomas Weyh
Munich's official Oktoberfest poster for 1989. White poster showing a man in lederhosen in a cross-legged sitting position, except that he's actually suspended in the sky, held up by his suspenders. One suspender attaches to a cloud and the other his own hand. It makes no sense physics, wise, but he's also holding a Maß of beer so...
September 2, 2025 at 11:48 PM
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Munich's 1978 Oktoberfest poster, alternately titled "Cookies, Cookies, Everywhere, Not a Bite to Eat"

Artist: Cordelia von Seidlein
Munich's 1978 official Oktoberfest poster. Drawn image of a woman in a dirndl (from the hips up), with flowers placed in her bodice. Hanging all around her are the fest's iconic heart-shaped cookies the frosted floral decorations and happy messages on them. At the bottom is printed "Oktoberfest München" and the message on the lead cookies offers the dates of the fest. Festival tip: don't eat the cookies. Never eat the cookies. Cookies aren't for eating, why would you think that, you silly goose.
September 2, 2025 at 11:32 PM
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2001, a poster odyssey

By which I mean only before 2001 could one still imagine that much white in the Arctic Circle.

And is that a pretzel comet?

Artist: Stefanie Wagner
2001's official Oktoberfest poster. Poster is deep blue, evoking outer space with a dimpled stein mug serving as the earth. Foam is sloshing from the top of the mug to form the continents on the side of the glass. Around it are various space-y features, like a heart with Saturn-style rings on it and a pretzel with a trail of salt or crumbs trailing behind it. At the top is printed "Oktoberfest München 22.9.-7.10.2001
September 2, 2025 at 11:00 PM
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1984! Anyone got another year?

Colorful in all the right places. You might think this rips off the Take on Me music video, but that wasn't made until 1985. Maybe Aha ripped this off 🤔🤔🤔

(Artist: Emil Sogor)
Munich's official Oktoberfest poster from 1984. White background with a sketched man facing away from the viewer, hands behind his back, holding a variety of Oktoberfest-themed items: a heart shaped balloon, a Masskrug, a paper target showing bullet holes, and a pretzel in his locket. He's smoking a pipe as well and wearing a Bavarian style hat with a flower in it. At the top is printed "Oktoberfest München" with the dates: 22.9 - 7.10, 1984.
September 2, 2025 at 7:54 PM
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Tis the season.

Better Know a Beer Cap #68 is a classic design for Sam Adams Octoberfest (with a 'c').

This would have been in use...late aughts...maybe?
Crown cap against white background. Cap is bright orange with "Samuel Adams" and "Octoberfest" written in white lettering. A thin, dark blue and white line lines the outer edge of the cap.
September 2, 2025 at 2:27 PM