“We’re not in the business of making beer, we’re in the business of selling beer” is something often heard in the brewing industry. The marketing of American beer has proceeded in recognizable, parallel cycles: first notification that beer is available, then touting its quality, and finally placing the beer as an accessible and aspirational product. With variations, these cycles developed in the pre-Prohibition era, the post-Prohibition era, and the craft era. Beer has been advertised with science, with history, and with humor. 

In this session, brewing historian Doug Hoverson will illustrate these cycles and discuss how beer advertising changed with other trends in society.

Doug Hoverson is the author of The Drink that Made Wisconsin Famous: Beer and Brewing in the Badger State and Land of Amber Waters, the History of Brewing in Minnesota. Amber Waters won the 2008 Minnesota Book Award for Minnesota non-fiction. He has also written about beer for publications ranging from All About Beer and Good Beer Hunting to The Onion. Recent work includes an article on the history of Native American imagery in beer marketing and a forthcoming article on the marketing of beer at World's Fairs in the late 19th century. His work seeks to relate the business and culture of beer to larger trends in American history.

THIS SESSION IS SUPPORTED BY:

WILLIAM BLAIR