Category Archives: Labels

June 8, 2012 · 3:39 pm

Black Horse Beer. The Thoroughbred?

A strange thing happened to Black Horse over the years.  Most people in the United States and Canada who remember the brand (from anytime before the mid-1970s) will remember the beer as an ale. The picture I use on the main page, a Canadian Dow’s label from 1972, plainly states “Black Horse Ale.”

Black Horse Ale - 1972

Black Horse circa 1972

But there is somethings fishy with the Newfoundland product: it was rebranded to “Black Horse Beer” and made into a lager. This is pretty much the trend in North American beer at the time, everyone was mimicking the lighter tastes of American Beer and the big three Canadian brands wanted to follow suit. (See Ian Coutts, Brew North: How Canadians Made Beer and Beer Made Canada, Greystone, 2010, for a well researched and beautifully illustrated overview.)

When did Black Horse Ale and Black Horse Beer (the lager) part ways? Well, for sometime both must have existed. Check out this full page advertisement for Black Horse from a 1971 issue of the MUSE (the student newspaper for Memorial University of Newfoundland):

It’s a great advertisement, not only because it’s full of great copy about Black Horse, but also because it gives us a close up of the label. It still says it’s brewed by Bennett Brewing, which at the time was under the ownership of Canadian Breweries Limited (who gained control over the prestigious Black Horse brand after their 1952 purchase of National Breweries – which they renamed Dow Breweries). In all other ways the label is identical to the Canadian Black Horse Ale label.

Present-day Black Horse logo, from my well-worn baseball cap.

I wonder if the flavour of the two beers were similar and if the brewing of ales and lagers was starting to converge (ales becoming more watery and lagers becoming more bland) so that all beer just tasted like “beer.” Either way, the Newfoundland Black Horse, since at least the early 1970’s, has been a lager. While now it’s marketed as a “premium lager,” its interesting to think how far it’s come from it’s ale heritage. Thoroughbred? I think not.

 

 

 

Oh well!

1942 french newspaper advert for Black Horse Ale, framed as art in the Beer Bistro mens washroom in downtown Toronto.

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Filed under Bennett Brewing, Black Horse, History, Labels

June 7, 2012 · 11:25 am

Some Quirky Old Brands

I was re-watching a youtube compilation of old Newfoundland beer labels this morning and I realized that searching for them online didn’t bring up any results. Anyone looking for a history of Bavarian Brewing’s Bulldog beer would be totally out of luck. Here, I’m going to list a few of the brands highlighted in the video.

The original video can be watched here on YouTube. It’s not my content and I did not make the video, so don’t blame me if you don’t like the song they use!

From Bavarian Brewing Company we have Bulldog Newfoundland Style Beer, the Silver Doctor Summer Special, an Irish Style Porter, and their Three Star Lager. I’m guessing the Bulldog would be an ale, but I have no idea about the Silver Doctor. Sounds good!

Bull Dog Newfoundland Style (Bavarian Brewing)

Bulldog (Bavarian Brewing)

Silver Doctor Summer Special (Bavarian Brewing)

Three Star Lager (Bavarian Brewing)

Irish Style Porter (Bavarian Brewing)

From Newfoundland Brewing we have Moose Pale Ale, their Old Stock India Pale Ale, “India’s Holiday Bock Beer,” and a Red Top Golden Amber. These all sound amazing. Moose Pale Ale! How Newfoundland is that? Plus another India Pale Ale, an amazing 8% bock (a dark German spring beer), and an amber ale! What a line up!

Moose Pale Ale (Newfoundland Brewing)

India Pale Ale (Newfoundland Brewery)

India’s Holiday Bock Beer (Newfoundland Brewing) – 8%!

Red Top Golden Amber Beer (Newfoundland Brewery)

From Bennett Brewing we’re just missing Bennett’s beer. I love that green-and-black colour combination.

Bennett’s Beer (Bennett Brewery)

From the short lived Bison Brewing (in Stephenville) we have their flagship beer, Bison Beer.

Bison Brew Beer (Bison Brewing)

While they are harder to find, it’s important to remember that these old breweries didn’t just produce the scattered few brands that the big Canadian Breweries kept after 1962. They had a full line of beers for all sorts of different preferences. Plus, they are really beautiful labels!

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Filed under Atlantic Brewery, Bavarian Brewing, Bennett Brewing, Labels, Newfoundland Brewery, Other Brewers

March 23, 2012 · 8:56 am

More on the Quidi Vidi Brewing British IPA

So a few posts back I mentioned that Quidi Vidi Brewing brought the IPA style back to the island after a far too long hiatus. IPA’s are one of the most popular craft beer styles in North America, so it’s really about time Newfoundland started to catch up.

There are several varieties of IPA, the more popular style is the American West Coast IPA which has big fruit and floral aromas from the hops, while the British is slightly more malt-centered with a rich, citrus-copper bitter finish.

I am very fortunate to have a friend who was willing to ship eight bottles up to Toronto so I could give it a try. I don’t want to discuss the taste to much on here, it’s not the function of this blog to review beer, but I strongly suggest that if you are in Newfoundland then you should to drop down to the brewery and pick up at least a 6 pack! It’s exciting to see beers coming from Newfoundland with a more pronounced hop character.

Quidi Vidi Brewing British IPA, circa 2012

The haul in Toronto.

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Filed under Contemporary Beer, Labels, Quidi Vidi Brewing

March 17, 2012 · 4:03 pm

Quidi Vidi Brewing Release a Seasonal British IPA

This is more about current events than about brewing history, but I am happy to announce that Quidi Vidi Brewing are bringing the IPA style back to the island. No IPAs have been brewed commercially (as far as I know) in Newfoundland for home consumption (though Yellowbelly’s Hodge Podge seasonal was close) since the end of the “India Pale Ale” by Newfoundland Brewery (excepting homebrew, of course).

This is a British IPA, not a more America hop-heavy version, about which they state: “IPA’s are brewed strong and are highly hopped  originally to withstand the voyage from England to India.” While I’m not in Newfoundland right now I do have some pictures provided by my folks.

A picture of the Quidi Vidi British India Pale Ale seasonal, circa March 17, 2012.

A close up of the British IPA label, circa March 17, 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If all goes well I might have a couple of bottles to sample in Toronto later this week. If that happens I’ll update with some thoughts on the taste and a high-quality label scan. Hopefully it’s hopped enough to survive the voyage up!

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Filed under Contemporary Beer, Labels, Quidi Vidi Brewing

March 8, 2012 · 12:13 pm

Get Thee to the Gallows | Beer in The Republic of Doyle

Watching the Republic of Doyle last night (season 3, episode 9, “Mirror Mirror”) I noticed something: beer advertisements for a fake beer! Posted all around the walls of the bar (not the Duke set, another bar that I’ve only seen in this episode) were signs for a beer brand called “Gallows,” with the line (from what I can tell) “Get Sent to the Gallows” as its tag. [Update: see below, it says “Get Thee to the Gallows”]

From around the 38 min. mark.

Grainy zoom-in.

Slightly better lighting.

Another poster was on a different wall, but it’s even harder to make out the text.

Behind Mr. Pinsent, at around the 12 min. mark.

So, it looks to be a well-headed amber ale that you can get nice pints of on draft. But, to make it even more appealing, you can get a six pack of Gallows in cans as seen scattered about a hungover Doyle in episode 3 (“Hot Package”) of the same season.

Crumpled Gallows cans from around the 5 min. mark.

Until the DVD’s come out I won’t be able to grab any higher quality images of the cans/adverts. It would be really great if they ended up in some of the extras, as I think they are new to this season (other seasons have had subtle Quidi Vidi labels).

The distinctive coat-of-arms logo is pretty clear in this one.

A grainy zoom-in.

One more thing. In the background of the bar (again, not the Duke) there was a lineup of some of the NL-marco brews. Nice to see India beer getting screen time. Again, note the beer on the far right (next to the hula dancer) looks to be a Gallows too. (An amber ale in a green bottle! Preposterous! So much for reality on the television!)

Coors Light, India Beer, Bud Light, Something, and what looks to be a bottle of Gallows beer.

I’d love to find out some more about the branding because even though it’s a fake beer, the Republic of Doyle is a pretty iconic show so it’s interesting that they’ve created a new brand rather than borrowing one from Quidi Vidi, Storm, or Yellowbelly. Couldn’t these all just be 1892 adverts? Maybe Allan Hawco is planning to make a foray into the craft beer business after the show? I doubt it! It’s probably just less paperwork for legal if they make up a brand.

Update: I found an old tweet from @republicofdoyle where there is a nice large picture of the sign! All that work for nothing! It’s a premium pilsner, so I’m imagining it’s like the Barking Squirrel by Hop City because of the similar darker than expected for a pilsner color.

A high-res version!

Major Update (March 15, 2012): So, the week after I made this post a whole episode of the Republic of Doyle was focused on the murder of the owner of the (apparently quite affluent) Gallows Brewery (season 3, episode 10). I might update with a few of the other advertisements when I can.

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Filed under Culture, Labels, Television

March 7, 2012 · 2:05 pm

The Burger Bar

Ok, so the Burger Bar is a great beer/burger bar in Kensington Market, Toronto. They have a large collection of vintage and craft beer bottles lining the walls of the restaurant. I was there for lunch today (drinking a new Ontario craft IPA called Hops and Robbers) and I found this old Black Horse stubby wedged in-between the Kenyan beer Tusker and Duggan’s Number 9 (another local IPA):

Picture taken at the Burger Bar, Toronto. March 7, 2012.

I can only guess at the age of the bottle, but it seems older than the labels that I have. The outside is brown (not golden as it was in the 60’s) but it’s still a square label (not round like up until 1952-ish). My guess is that this was the Ontario version of the label (it doesn’t say “Brasserie Dow” it says “Dow Brewery,” see below) sometime between 1950 and 1970. Also note the difference between the crown in this 1969 label and the older one at the Burger Bar.

1969 Black Horse Label, note the crown and the squaring.

Dawes Black Horse Ale label circa 1939-1952, with a round label.

This might have something to do with the Dow/Dawes connection (see the main page for the history), as the newer crown looks like two D’s. It’s in a stubby too, so, aside from the nice condition, it’s a pretty beautiful thing. Now, if only Burger Bar would put it on the menu!

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Filed under Black Horse, Labels, Material Culture

February 29, 2012 · 10:49 pm

The Atlantic Advocate

I was looking through some old copies of The Atlantic Advocate today and I found some great old advertisements. First, the one I was looking for, is this 1966 advert for the Newfoundland Brewery. Note the stubby bottles and the Molson Canadian beer. This was after the Molson takeover of 1962.

Newfoundland Brewery Advert from The Atlantic Advocate, September 1966 (page 57)

Close up of the 1966 India Pale Ale bottle.

Close up of the 1966 India Beer bottle.

Note that the label on the main page is older than the more contemporary looking version in this advert, which helps with the dating of the label and the more contemporary looking bottle.

More surprising to me was the cover of the June 1958 issue, which features a rainbow over Newfoundland as a “symbol of Newfoundland’s hopes in the Tenth Year of Confederation.” I have no evidence, only speculation, that this has something to do with Rainbow beer. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

The Cover of the June 1958 Atlantic Advocate

The Atlantic Advocate featured content from all of the Atlantic provinces and I found two other pretty interesting beer advertisements from Nova Scotia in the issues I was looking through. The first is this nice Moosehead (who are still independent) advert from the back of the 1958 issue of the Advocate.

A Cape Breton themed Moosehead Advertisement

The other was this much more provocative (read: sexist) advert for Oland’s export. Oland also made a Schooner Lager and is now caught up in the whole Labatt and Alexander Keith branding under Anheuser–Busch InBev. Either way, this advert is pretty visually stunning.

A racy advert for Nova Scotia's Oland's Export, The Atlantic Advocate, September 1966 (page 26)

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Filed under Advertisement, History, Labels, Maritimes, Newfoundland Brewery, Rainbow Beer

February 18, 2012 · 8:13 pm

More Black Horse Labels

The goal of this project is to consolidate as much Newfoundland beer/brewery history into one place as possible. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, at the University of Toronto, has a large collection of old beer labels donated by Lawrence C. Sherk which have been scanned in very high quality. Since they are creative commons licensed for sharing, remixing, or commercializing with the condition that “[y]ou must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work),” here are a few of the older Black Horse ones:

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Filed under Black Horse, History, Labels

February 17, 2012 · 7:57 pm

More Beer Labels

The following videos, uploaded to youtube by coldplay871, have a much wider selection of Newfoundland beer labels. Again, I didn’t make these, so the music choice was not mine!

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Filed under Labels, Material Culture