suds series vol 2

Tonight, in our ongoing Suds Series, St. Louis vs. Milwaukee, we look at mascots: both in the baseball realm and in the beer realm.

First up, baseball. The Brewers have Bernie Brewer: A blonde haired, blue-eyed, mustachioed drunken man who slides down a beer slide every time the Brewer's hit a homerun. In theory: awesome. But in practice, not quite as cool. Why, might you ask? Well, when actually at the game, Bernie has to stay really close to his "dugout" in the outfield so that he can be ready to slide down his slide whenever the Brewers are up. This limits the amount of interaction that Bernie can have with the fans. He leaves it to the Bratwursts to hang out in the stands and throw t-shirts to the crowd. Sure, the Brewers gave us the Sausage Race. But do you really want a hot dog dressed up in a baseball outfit or a bratwurst  wearing lederhosen giving you free things? Well, maybe.

The Cardinals have the ever-popular FredBird. 

FredBird is admittedly more fan-friendly (and kid-friendly) than Bernie. He hangs out in the stands, runs around with flags when the Cardinals win, has a build-a-bear (bird?) store in Busch Stadium, and likes to touch people with his beak -- in a good way, of course. Michael's niece and nephew both love FredBird.

Sausage Race? Beer Slides? Or touching fans with your beak? Hmmm. Let's think about this while we ponder the mascots of the breweries.

Budweiser has a slew of mascots: Bevo Fox, the Dalmatian, the Clydesdales, the Eagle (All American!), Spuds MacKenzie, the frogs, the lizards, the penguins. I think there isn't an animal on earth that Budweiser hasn't used to promote their beverages. Next thing you know they'll be using red pandas or something.

Bevo Fox

And yet, when I google Miller Beer mascot, this is the first thing that comes up:

Miller!! Seriously?! It's a beer bottle holding more beer bottles. Yes, you have The Girl in the Moon. And apparently a beer bottle mascot type thing. But I don't think it's going to cut it against all of those animals listed up there.

So where does that leave us? I think that because Miller can't even come up with a decent mascot, despite the beer slide and bratwurst race at the stadium, it's tipping in favor of Budweiser.

We are all tied up:

St. Louis: 1
Milwaukee: 1

Tomorrow: advertising!

fentimans, firehouse brewing co

Today's theme is based not on a beverage but on a cap. As Michael (or anyone who knows me well) will tell you, I'm obsessed with dogs. Whenever we walk down the street and there is someone walking his dog, I have to stop myself from staring. If the dog does something adorable, I coo. If the dog barks, I make excuses for it.
Growing up, I asked for a dog all the time, but the only pet I ever got was a gerbil. I made up for the lack of canine companionship by becoming the resident dog-walker of the neighborhood. Now I live in an apartment where dogs aren't allowed, so I have the next best thing: a cat that acts suspiciously like a dog.

Both caps in this post prominently feature dogs. Fentimans is a UK-based soda with a curiously old-fashioned name and unusual flavors. Established in 1905, Fentimans prides itself on its Ginger Beer and other herb-tastic flavors. While I haven't tried all of them, I recently found a storefront in NYC that carries quite a few of the flavors. Now that it's getting warmer out, trips to said storefront will be more common and hopefully more Fentimans will be enjoyed.
The bottle cap, as mentioned, has a lovely dog on it -- AND the name of the company! If it were in color, I'm pretty sure this cap would have made it into the HOF. And if they ever decide to make a series of caps (like Boylans does!) it would be an excellent starting point for a collector.

Florida Firehouse Brewing Co.'s cap was discovered at Crownvention. You would be surprised at the number of "firehouse brewing co's" that come up on Google. This one claims to be from Florida, but I'm not sure. Anyway, this cap has a regal looking Dalmatian surrounded by the name of the brewing company. Again, could be a contender for the HOF. But it's just not quite there.