Forget the fact that many of these fine small breweries are long gone. Sportsmen and women have been a focus of beer advertising for decades. Certainly the brewers are not advocating that you suck down a six pack while pheasant hunting....but who has not enjoyed an icy can of beer when fishing on a hot day. I enjoy liberal amounts of malt beverages while watching boxing and eagerly await a cold beer after an early September dove hunt.
In the late 19th Century, Philadelphia had nearly 100 small breweries offering their pilsners and ales at local tap rooms and by the case.Indeed, there is a section of the City known as "Brewerytown." These small guys have vanished and while the craft and boutique beer trend is thriving, it is not quite the same as it caters to beer snobs and pseudo-afficiandos who scoff at the pedestrian beers I will happily swill all evening.
The big "Walmarts" of beer have gobbled up most of the trade...even Rolling Rock was bought out and packed up and away from Latrobe,PA. We still have America's oldest brewery: Yuengling, here in the Keystone state but Ortliebs and Schmidt's are just hop-flovered memories and old coasters and neon at the Antique store. Old Milwaukee and others still launch campaigns aimed at hunters and fisherman but generally not with the same grace and warmth of these old ads.
As Christmas approaches, I will offer a bit of a suggestion for the Season...crack open a Yuenling Porter if you can find it...and enjoy it by the fire after a long cold afternoon in the goose pit or after trimming the tree.
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