Guinness Coaster 1987-8 No Beer Comes Near

"No beer comes near" was a great slogan because I still think of it when I think or hear the name "Guinness." This was part of a whole set of coasters that had the iconic Guinness Harp Logo on one side and a little factoid about one of their advertising campaigns on the other. This one is about a plane called the Hawker Hunter Mk51s, a plane that had been used in a commercial.

North Carolina Matchbook

In case you didn't know, North Carolina is a US state. Apparently they felt they needed a little advertising at some point because that's what this matchbook advertises. North Carolina, Variety Vacationland. 

North Carolina Travel, Raleigh, NC

Dog Days Golden Ale

There was a brewery that used the art of Gonzo artist Ralph Steadman and I think it had the word Dog in either the name of the beer or the brand, and when I was looking through beer label scans for something to post I grabbed this one thinking it was one the Steadman labels. But now looking at it I don't think that's correct.

This is Dog Days Golden Ale from Aspen, Colorado and it looks like the picture of the dog is signed Pascarella. I've googled that name and there is an artist named Pascarella but his work doesn't look like this. 

Ohhhhhhh! and then I read the label and see this was brewed for the Flying Dog Brew Pub in Aspen, which IS the name I remembered for the beer company that used Ralph Steadman art on its labels. Ok phew.

Daisy BB Gun Ad

There was a time I wanted a BB gun so bad I could taste it. I finally got one, yeah, of course I got into trouble with it. This is from the back of a DC Superman Family comic book.

1983 Fantastic Four Bubble Gum ad

Classic ad for some gum I never knew existed. 

2004 Patriots Gear Catalog LOOK AT BILL BELICHICK!

This is the fan catalog they send if you buy NFL Gear. Look at this picture of Bill Belichick! I love this man so I do feel a little bad about posting this but it demonstrates the lengths he's gone to for the organization during his amazing coaching tenure.

1979 Winston Cigarettes Ad

This is from a Red Sox game program from 1979. "I want the best taste I can get, I get it from Winston."

I tell you what, I used to be a smoker and would have been totally on board with the concept of "taste" and cigarettes, but I very much remember cheating and sneaking cigarettes when I was trying to quit and they actually taste terrible, like cotton pulling the moisture from your mouth. It was peer pressure that made them enjoyable in the beginning, and then the nicotine that told me they were enjoyable and had some sort of "taste" that I should like.

Love the Mad Men episodes where they have to confront marketing these things- "It's toasted!"

The back of the book

This is the back of the Dennis the Menace comic from the other day. Make money get prizes American seeds!

The Pleasure is Back. Barclay cigarettes

This is a full page ad from the 1981 Seattle Mariners home game program. Barclay! My step-father smoked these for a long time. The filter wasn't round but the paper around the filter was, so there were chutes of airspace that you dragged hot and unpleasant smoke from. I was not a fan, and neither was he, they were "low tar." A few years later he said screw it and went to Camel filtered.

Hofbrau House Coaster and some Digits

I have two coasters from the legendary Hofbräuhaus in Munich. Here is one in its entirety, and the other is just one side. They would be identical, except that a girl I met wrote her contact info on the coaster. (I've blurred it, hopefully well enough that you internet weirdos never find her). Of course, this was in 1988 or so, so I'm sure she's gone on to great things and no longer uses her parents house as her place of residence.

To be honest, when I found this coaster I had (and still have) no recollection of this girl. A few weeks after raging at the Hofbrau, however, I met the girl that is today my wife of 27 years, so maybe that's why I never followed up with the coaster girl. Either way, it's fun to haul this stuff out of mothballs and see it again for the first time in decades!

What's More American than Budweiser?

Well, since it's now owned by a European company and was originally brewed using a European name and beer style, I'd have to say the answer is "a lot of stuff is more American than Budweiser."

But....

They advertise the hell out of the stuff, so that's pretty American!

This is a full-page advertisement from the 1979 Red Sox yearbook.

Happy 4th of July!!

Carlton is Lowest

This is a cigarette ad from the back of the Playbill for the play Annie. (Playbill is the magazine you get when you go to a Broadway Play).

This must be from 1977 or so, which is interesting because this company was advertising that it had lower tar than the others on the market, obviously trying to make their product seem healthier than the industry in general.

Musician's Friend Catalog Guitars 2004

I always loved to get the Musician's Friend catalog in the mail, look at all the guitars and the sound effect pedals and amplifiers and dream about owning all of them. It was a lot like being a kid at Christmas and going through the Sears wishbook and circling every single toy.

Frank Giuffrida's Hilltop Steakhouse

This is an ad from a 1979 Red Sox game program, the magazine you can buy at the Sox game with the scoring card inside and all kinds of fluffy articles to fill the rest. Hilltop Steakhouse, founded in 1961 by Frank Giuffrida was an iconic fixture on Route 1 going into Boston. (I believe there were multiple locations, but this is the one I think of).

The restaurant closed in like 2013 and I believe has been torn down now. There were all kinds of stories in the news after it closed of locals breaking in to steal souvenirs of this iconic place.

On a personal note, I ate there once. My mother and father were driving me to the airport so that I could board a plane for Ireland. I was 20 and would be gone for a year and we were all kind of nervous and sad. Ireland was still a bit of a war zone, so they decided that filling us all with steak would be better than sitting around and worrying.

I only remember that the steak I got was huge, and the only reason I remember is because the airline served a tiny little steak for the meal. I laughed and cried a little as I ate it, flying off to my first real adventure.

Orange County Choppers Guitars

I forget what the name of the show was- was it Family Feud? (that's a joke, but I really can't remember, was it American Choppers?) Anyhow, when this issue of the Musician's Friend catalog came out in 2004 the show was popular enough that there was such a thing as Orange County Guitars.

"They not only look incredible but they sound solid, with great playability and unbeatable value."

Hahaha. As a guitarist, this translates to "these look great but kind of suck."

I wonder if anyone bought these? That show was enormously popular. 

Madden 2004 Advertisement

Here's an advertisement for Madden 2004 from EA Sports. It is the back cover of the NBA Live 2004 manual.  

If you're wondering: 

Vikings #11- Daunte Culpepper

Packers  in 2004 #91 R-Kal Truluck in 2003 Joe Johnson

Chargers #89 Ryan Krause

Raiders #24 Charles Woodson

Rams #28 Marshall Faulk

Buccaneers #20 Ronde Barber

Guinness Jazz Festival 1986

Here's a beer mat or coaster from the 1986 Guinness Jazz Festival in Cork.
The coaster advertises Billy Eckstine, Humphrey Lyttelton, Helen Shapiro, Buddy Rich, Mary Coughlan, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Smith, Louis Stewart, Cayenne, Ruby Turner, Wild Bill Davison, Olympia Brass Brand, The Great Guitars, Kerry Lightfoot and dozens more!

October Holiday Weekend 24th-27th

Mandarin House Sedona, Arizona

Mandarin House Szechwan Cuisine and Cocktail Lounge

Village of Oak Creek
Castle Rock Plaza
Sedona, Arizona

Matchbook

Grand Hotel, Southhampton Row, London

Matchbox from the Grand Hotel, Southhampton Row, London, England and also for the Mount Pleasant Hotel, Calthorpe Street, London. and also the London Park Hotel, Elephant and Castle, London.

Best Western Executive Inn City Center Portland, Maine

Best Western Executive Inn City Center Portland, Maine