Bert and Harry Piels story

Discussion in 'Breweriana' started by jesskidden, Apr 6, 2013.

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  1. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    NPR's program On the Media has a nice story running this weekend on the creation of Bert and Harry Piels (played by comedy duo Bob and Ray) for Piels in the 1950's.

    Pioneers of the Soft Sell [​IMG]

    And an accompanying story about Pabst's Old Milwaukee ads done by Will Farrell.

    A Modern Version of the Soft Sell
     
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  2. Bitterbill

    Bitterbill Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,772) Sep 14, 2002 Wyoming
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Cool!

     
  3. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Now that you're legal age, "bitterbill", remember that you can join their fan club.
    [​IMG]
    (They must have lost mine, however- still haven't heard back from them! :angry: ).
     
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  4. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,291) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It's their loss of a big fan! :wink:
     
  5. Bitterbill

    Bitterbill Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,772) Sep 14, 2002 Wyoming
    Pooh-Bah Society

    19 back then, wasn't it? Or was it only in certain States?
     
  6. Bitterbill

    Bitterbill Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,772) Sep 14, 2002 Wyoming
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Oh and the constant mention of how dry Piel's is....trying to snag some patrons from Rheingold, I presume.:slight_smile:
     
  7. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Would have been 18 at "home" in New York state ("zone" in address makes it pre-zip-code, so at least early '60's).

    Yeah, Schaefer in Brooklyn also had a second Schaefer brand for a while, that was touted as "dry".

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. Bitterbill

    Bitterbill Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,772) Sep 14, 2002 Wyoming
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Dry beers sure were all the rage back then. The 90s saw somewhat of a revival of them...Rainier Dry was particularly tasty but I never saw this one, ever:

    [​IMG]
     
  9. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Yeah, but I'd say the '90's "Dry" beers which, IIRC, used an enzyme, similar to that used in many modern low-cal "light beers", to allow fermentation of what were normally non-fermentable sugars, were of a different ilk (they also had a slightly higher ABV, because of it, IIRC?).

    Like the term "light" being used in that same post-Repeal era, "dry" just meant a beer with a higher degree of attenuation, a cleaner "lighter" beer (probably less hoppy, too). Piels even used a slogan during that era that their beers had "Less N.F.S. (Non-Fermented Sugar)" for an ad campaign in that period.
    [​IMG]

    As the standard for American adjunct lager beers got lighter in general, some brewers attempted to offer two different beers under their flagship brand - a "regular" and a more "modern" beer - lighter, less hoppy, etc. Most of the time it appears it just confused their drinkers and one or the other beer was dropped. Other breweries just seemed to have constantly "tweaked" their flagship recipes over the years.
     
  10. WassailWilly

    WassailWilly Initiate (0) Sep 8, 2007 New York

    Dont forget
    [​IMG]
     
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  11. lionking

    lionking Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2006 Pennsylvania

    I heard once that Harry and Bert were a great campaign for a really bad beer. More people tried the beer but people realized the beer was bad. Over time sales actually started to decline.

    I think i still see signs for these guys were Piels is sold.
     
  12. SirBottlecap

    SirBottlecap Initiate (0) Jan 28, 2013 California

    HA! That brings back memories. I remeber drinking much better beer (Rolling Rock...yikes!) while looking at that poster. I think I still have it somewhere. After at least a few beers, I'm pretty sure the blonde on the left started winking at me...
     
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