Black and white image of football players and a referee, with red text and black text on a white background.

In 1861, a young German immigrant, Edward Frauenheim, started the Iron City Brewery, one of the first American breweries to produce a lager, in the river port known at the time as the "Smoky City." This founder of Frauenheim, Miller & Company started brewing Iron City Beer, now the flagship of the Iron City Brewing Company. In 1899, the Iron City Brewery was one of 12 local breweries to transfer their license to the Pittsburg Brewing Company. By 1977, Pittsburgh Brewing Company was one of just 40 breweries left in the country. To rebound from difficult years, the brewery introduced a new light beer, branded as Iron City Light—or IC Light. IC Light’s popularity also heightened the sales of regular Iron City beer, as it soon regained the position of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s favorite beer.

Yellow and red shield shape, with black text on yellow and red old fashioned text on red.

The G. Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA, operated from1858 to 1996. It was ultimately acquired by Stroh's, and its independent existence ceased. From 1872 until its acquisition, the brewery bore the family name of its co-founder, brewer Gottlieb Heileman. The G. Heileman Brewing Company declared bankruptcy in January 1991 and sought salvation with an aggressive push into the malt liquor market. In a controversial move, they developed a new brand of malt liquor calledPower Master. "Power Master" brand of malt liquor was brewed with an alcohol by volume of 7.4%, significantly higher than existing malt liquor brands. Protestors cited Heileman's distribution and advertising strategies as evidence that the company was targeting the high-alcohol beverage toward urban African-Americans, especially in Chicago, one of Heileman's core markets. A threatened boycott was organized against one of Heileman's established malt liquor brands, Colt 45 which at the time had an alcohol percentage of 5.6%. The Colt 45 boycott was called off when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives succeeded, in July 1991, in persuading Heileman to pull the "Power Master" brand from the market.

Illustration of a variety of woodland creatures carrying the Hamm's Bear along a path in the forest with a lake in the background. White and red text.

The Theodore Hamm Brewing Company was established in 1865 when Theodore Hamm, a German immigrant, inherited the Excelsior Brewery from his friend and business associate, A. F. Keller in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Hamm's bear was incorporated into the first campaign produced by the Campbell Mithun advertising agency, which sought to emphasize the supposedly superior cleanliness and naturalness of Hamm's beer owing to its clear water and production in pristine Minnesota, the "enchanted Northland". The first television commercial depicted animated beavers beating their tails to the tom-tom beat of the jingle, as well as live action shots of the forests and lakes of the "enchanted Northland". The second, produced in 1952, introduced the clumsy dancing black-and-white cartoon "Beer Bear", actually named "Sascha", which proved so popular it was used for the next three decades. The "Beer Bear" and other woodland creatures were seen many afternoons as Hamm's was the beer sponsor of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, and Minnesota Twins in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

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The "Golden Six" refers to an advertisement which touts six different foods with which the Miller High Life brand can be paired. The six ways that Miller advertised how the Beer can be enjoyed are: with steak, cheese, sandwiches, hot dogs, chips, and chicken. Another variation of the "Golden Six" advertisement simply refers to taking home a six pack of Miller High Life Beer.

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The A. Gettelman Brewing Co., then called the Menominee Brewery, was established in Milwaukee in 1854 and was eventually left to Adam Gettelman when his father-in-law, George Schweickhardt, left to handle a stone quarry on the Hawley Road in 1876.  In 1891, Gettelman advertised an offer of $1000 to anyone able to prove that Gettelman’s premium beer was brewed with anything but pure malt, hops and water.  The A. Gettelman Brewing Co. was sold to Miller Brewing Company in 1961 and Miller continues to market one of Gettelman’s leading brands, Milwaukee’s Best.

Red and blue text on a yellow background with a red bird singing

The Los Angeles Brewing Co. opened in 1897 on the banks of the Los Angeles River, using the water from the river as an ingredient in their beer. Twenty years later, a German immigrant and brew master purchased the brewery, renaming it Eastside Brewery, and it grew to one of the largest in the country. During the Prohibition years, the Eastside Brewery survived by producing near-beer and soft drinks. When Prohibition was lifted, Eastside had trucks stocked with alcohol ready to drive out of the brewery to begin sales one minute after midnight. Actor Walter Huston gave a speech and Jean Harlow broke a bottle over the first truck to drive out. Eastside was purchased by Pabst in 1948, the Eastside label was discontinued, and Pabst continued brewing their beer in the Los Angeles based plant until 1979.

See more photos of pre- and post-prohibition beer buttons on the Busy Beaver blog.

Black text on a white background with a Clydesdale horse

The Budweiser Clydesdales are one of the most beloved and endearing advertising images in American history. Given as a gift to his father by August A. Busch Jr to celebrate the end of prohibition, August Busch Jr started what would become Budweiser's most famous symbol. Realizing the potential, August Anheuser Bush, Sr. quickly capitalized on the magnificent creatures and began a journey across the eastern part of hte United States, gifting some of the first legally brewed beer to important politicians, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This may be the origin of the saying, because the beer was delivered to President Roosevelt at the White House. 

White and red text on a black rectangle, with white text on a red background.

Black Label is a Canadian brand of lager distributed by Carling. Although its original focus was on ale, Carling has been brewing lager-style beers since the 1870s. In 1927, as part of an overall corporate re-branding effort under new president J. Innes Carling, the company renamed its already popular Black & White Lager to Black Label. Three years later, Carling was purchased by Toronto business tycoon E.P. Taylor, who merged the company into his Canadian Breweries Limited (CBL), which grew to be the world's largest brewing company, at least for a time. Under Taylor, Black Label was promoted as CBL's flagship brand and went on to become the world's first beer to be brewed on a mass international scale, becoming particularly popular in Commonwealth countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Blue text on white background, illustration of a red bag of beer cans.

The Canadian Ace Brewery, originally the Manhattan Brewing Company, was run by Charles Schaffner until he sold it in 1919 to Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. Manhattan changed their name to Canadian Ace in 1947, and discontinued producing any brands bearing Manhattan in the name. The likely rational was an attempt to "clean-up" the post-war image of the brewery by retiring the Manhattan flagship brand and relying upon the well established Canadian Ace brand for the future. The link to organized crime remained as Lou Greenberg was a principal owner of the Canadian Ace Brewing Company. The Canadian Ace Brewery closed in 1968.

See more photos of pre- and post-prohibition beer buttons on the Busy Beaver blog.

Illustration of a Budweiser can with black text on a white background.

During the Prohibition Era, Budweiser encountered its first major obstacle to profit and growth. As alcohol became illegal to sell and produce, all alcohol companies, including Budweiser, struggled to remain profitable. Budweiser began producing non-alcoholic beverages during Prohibition to counter its ill effects. Prohibition began in 1920, and lasted into the middle of the Great Depression in 1933. These are two major setbacks that this company experienced. Just as laws regarding prohibition were repealed, Budweiser was faced with more serious economic struggles, which made their success very unlikely. In attempt to re-stimulate interest in their beer, Budweiser executed a hugely successful marketing strategy of introducing beer cans for the first time in 1936. This new packaging led to an increase in sales which lasted until the start of World War II in 1939. Over the years, Budweiser has undergone various design changes to its can. Many of these changes are in response to market conditions and consumer tastes. Since 1936, 12 major can design changes have occurred.