Ad of the week: Damon Runyan tells why!

March 22nd, 2013

Damon Runyan, newspaperman, author. Covered baseball for many years, and entered the writers wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967. Wikipedia lists 20 of his stories that became motion pictures; the most famous of these is probably Guys and Dolls.

My favorite lyric from the title song of that film, incidentally, is found in only certain recordings, such as at 1:24 in the Bobby Darin rendition:

When you see a mouse
Hurry, scurry out of the house
And she runs 20 blocks for cigars and rye

Oddly, Runyan’s Wikipedia entry indicates that he quit drinking altogether by 1920, some 18 years before this ad ran. I wonder what the truth of it is.

[LIFE; March 21, 1938]

Ad of the week: Hiram Walker gin

February 22nd, 2013

ZOOMA ZOOMA!

Life; February 21, 1938.

Love all the detail about the botanicals in the gin. A quick Google search isn’t turning up anything on Jimmy Corosu. The Peoria distillery closed in 1981; it now makes ethanol for ADM. Peoria, incidentally, was apparently once a powerhouse in whiskeymaking, with access to abundant crops of corn and barley. (This, incidentally, is why I keep up this ad project. I never know when a bit of research into a brand will uncover nuggets of cool booze history.)

Ads of the week

August 31st, 2012

A hodgepodge, from Life‘s issue of August 30, 1937:

(Another Norman Rockwell ad. I keep meaning to do a specific post on Schenley’s history. Another time.)

(Burnett’s is still around; the brand, today, is owned by Heaven Hill.)

(If you need me to tell you that Myers is still around, you don’t drink enough.)

Ads of the Week: Two approaches to gin

August 24th, 2012

Both from the August 23, 1937, issue of Life magazine:

CRANK IT.

Wait, what does that say?

“rich, full flavor” Oh, so gin is supposed to be richly flavored. Got it.

But wait!

CRANK IT.

Gin is supposed to blend, to disappear into the drink. You shouldn’t actually taste gin when you have a gin cocktail! (We’ve seen this before, of course.)

Ad of the week: Seagrams Gin

August 10th, 2012

From the August 9, 1937, issue of Life:

Blow that mother up:

Have a recipe:

Egg white! Ramos Fizz! Can you imagine that running in a mainstream magazine today?

Ad of the week: Hiram Walker Gin

August 3rd, 2012

From the August 2, 1937, issue of Life comes this unintentionally goofy ad.

To read the text more easily, click through to here and here to see an enlarged version on Flickr.

Ad of the Week: Gordon’s Gin

July 6th, 2012

Love this Gordon’s ad. Love love love love. Life mag, July 5, 1937.

First, I love the stem glass, especially the stem, but also the bowl. The other glassware, the ice bucket, the martini pitcher. All lovely, and all items I now covet. I love that the martini has a bit of color to it, perhaps from the vermouth that was used.

Here’s the text, if you want to read it:

But I also really love the bottle. Let’s look at that in fancy giant size.

Check out the detail! The weird cap with the wire-twist enclosure. The juniper berries. The boar’s head. The words NEW JERSEY embossed on the bottle side. And, of course, the proof: 94.4. (If Wikipedia is accurate, bottlings sold in continental Europe are sold at 94.6, or 47.3% abv.)

Some hot stuff here, folks. These are the gems that keep me coming back to this feature.

Ad of the week: G&W

June 29th, 2012

From the June 28, 1937, issue of Life comes this one rule for staying cool in the hot, hot summer:

Add a sea lion to your bath.

The text on this bizarre ad isn’t interesting, but if you want to read it, click through and read it.

Ads of the Week: Fleischmann’s Gin

June 22nd, 2012

Interesting message in these ads: the gin in a mixed drink shouldn’t taste like gin. First up, one from the June 14, 1937, issue of Life magazine:

Next, a week later, June 21, 1937:

The text in these is tricky to read. Here’s the first:

And the second:

Great Gimlet Controversy, Redux

March 5th, 2012

I promised to follow up on my Gimlet post from a while back. I was happy to see it garner so much commentary, so I wanted to address everyone’s thoughts.

First, the majority of you rightly shun and abhor Rose’s Lime Cordial. I’m sure that at some point, before the addition of HFCS, preservatives, and artificial colorings and flavorings, it was a quality product. No more.

Second, there’s far less agreement on whether a drink of gin, lime juice, and simple syrup deserves the moniker “Gimlet.” I believe that it does not. A Gin Sour is a fabulous drink, one I’ve enjoyed in the past and will enjoy again in the future. It is not, however, a Gimlet.

So, what’s a drunk to do?

I side with those of you who either use the Employee’s Only cordial or who make their own. I have yet to actually tackle that project, although I keep meaning to. It’s a worthy endeavor. I even have a bottle of Rose’s in the fridge that I intend to use as a control. If I get around to it while computers still exist and while blogs such as this are still a viable means of communication, perhaps I’ll even post about it.

A Dash of Bitters

A weblog detailing cocktails, spirits, liqueurs, barware, bars, and bitters. Maintained by Michael Dietsch, a writer and hobbyist mixer in Brooklyn.

Category Archives: Gin