July 28, 2007

"Yes, he can see you fine through his solid-gold eyeglasses, he simply doesn’t have time to dally with the likes of you."

Modern Drunkard picks the 10 greatest alcohol icons of all time, beginning with "The Striding Man," who embodies Johnnie Walker. (Via Throwing Things.)

14 comments:

Rick Lee said...

bad link

Joe R. said...

Here is the correct link for those of you still up. I have to wonder if linking to your own website for "Modern Drunkard" wasn't an invitation to leap into the Anti-Althousiana vortex.

hdhouse said...

ABSOLUTEly

Ann Althouse said...

Oops. Sorry. I didn't actually link to my own website.... Blogger just does that when there's an incomplete link....

vet66 said...

ZIMA!

I wonder why they didn't use this guy as a symbol of the democratic party?

ZIMA is for folks that like poodles, preferably mad, and enjoy getting bitten on the butt!

Modern Otter said...

Maybe it's my age and Milwaukee origin, but I kept expecting to see the Blatz singing cartoon bottle, can & keg guys ("I'm from Milwaukee and I oughta know..."). But when I googled for an image, much less video, not a sign of them.

From Inwood said...

He omitted Sandeman's Port's black-garbed figure, complete with hat!

And Cutty Sark's Ship

Iconic, both.

Maybe I'll think of more when I sober up.

Cedarford said...

hdhouse said...
ABSOLUTEly


Henhouse is a little confused. Absolute has no icon, but it worked so hard to be associated with affluent gays that the Brand -Absolut - became a Gay Icon.

Now held up in MBA classes as a lesson in advertising. A product with broad sales should seek market niches, but not at the cost of becoming so associated with the niche that you lose part of your broader base. Absolut became so associated with gays and "oh, so precious flavorings" that other straight drinkers began shunning "the gay vodka" for other brands, dropping net sales.

***************
Anyways, the list misses The Budweiser Clysdales, The Cutty Sark icon, Silver Bullet, St Pauli Girl (world's largest selling beer), 400 year old Sapporo symbol, Mt Rainier icon on Olympia beer, and so on. Then there is Lone Star beer, where the single star is debated as either denoting Texas or beer quality on a 4-star rating system.

One lost icon was Ernst and Julio Gallo, which brough the masses back to wine in America, starting of course with the West Coast wino population. Then gave their names and faces to further civilization with the introduction of the wine cooler.

Zeb Quinn said...

Me, I'm partial to the St. Pauli's Girl.

Ann Althouse said...

There's also that Rolling Rock girl.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drew W said...

If Modern Drunkard counted the Hamm’s bear -- who does look amusingly lushy -- then they really should’ve put Bert and Harry Piel on their list. Voiced by Bob & Ray, the Bert & Harry commercials were some of hippest on TV in the ’50s and ’60s, in both humor and artwork. They were huge. Twenty years after the commercials went off the air, I found a Bert & Harry serving tray in an antiques shop and gave it to a friend for her birthday.

From Inwood said...

Miss Rheingold (a NYC Beer) Voting by hand ballot by patrons of Beer Gardens! No mispunched chads.

Jack Daniel’s Old No 7 with all that writin’ on the label

Seagram’s 7 with a “7” topped with a crown

Southern Comfort with the old plantation on the river

Old Grand-Dad Whiskey with a picture of a geezer

Pabst Blue Ribbon with its logo on a Blue Ribbon

Four Roses with four roses on its label

The Anheuser Busch Eagle

Ruppert Beer with Father Knickerbocker

Miller High Life Girl

Mogen David with the elders around the table.

Black & White Scotch with two dogs, one White & the other Black

Kirin Beer with its dragon

Old Crow with its crow

Can we count Lydia E. Pinkham's Herb Medicine or is it just an Urban Legend (anecdote) that it was well fortified with alcohol?

From Inwood said...

Nobody cares anymore but that’s not gonna stop me” dept.

Blue Nun –Stiller & Meara comercials

The Beefeater Gin beefeater

Balantine Beer-Three Intertwined Rings

John Jameson Irish - The whiskey cases dropped on the rat fink in the hold of the ship in "On The Waterfront" to stop him from talking. (He never coudda been a cotenda)

(BTW, My Miller Girl was one of the Top Ten I was supposed to be adding to; My Bad