get your goose on

Amazing NFL run...

2011-01-08T23:50:00.000-08:00

2011 NFL Playoff's top play

Wassup spoof 8 years later

2008-10-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

2008 spoof

Original

2000 spin-off

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Crazy Business Idea

2008-10-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

You probably haven't yet heard of the latest up-and-coming town, Achewood. That's because Ache-wood only exists in a webcomic of the same name. It's part of a growing cadre of webcomics mixing sharp humor and art with a successful business model.

These online comics have developed a large and loyal fan base of young, hip readers. And webcomics creators are learning to mold successful businesses out of counterculture art. Chris Onstad, the creator of Achewood, for example, sells everything on his website from T-shirts to a cookbook with recipes "written" by his cast of characters.

Joey Manley, co-founder of Comicspace LLC, says comics have always been an effective mass market medium, and webcomics have picked up where traditional print comic books and newspaper strips have left off. "Comics are perfect for the web," he says. Webcomic readers don't think of Dilbert or Garfield when they think of comics, he says. "They have a completely different idea of what a comic is, how they interact with the author and what they're looking for in that entertainment package." These audiences allow the artists to build a name brand directly linked to merchandise, which the fans buy to support a medium and artist they love.

Webcomics cultivate an underground rapport with readers that relies on word-of-mouth, so readers discover the comics--and affiliated merchandise--without the traditional online model of SEO tactics and advertising. When it comes to creating merchandise, says Onstad, 33, whose Silicon Valley-based webcomic earns around a quarter of a million dollars in annual sales and was named the No. 1 graphic novel of 2007 on Time.com, "I do what I feel like, and if it's in the Achewood sensibility, chances are it will connect with readers and stick as a product."

Jeffrey Rowland, 34, is profiting not only from his webcomic overcompensating and its merchandise, but also from the webcomic trend in general. His company, Easthampton, Massachusetts-based TopatoCo, handles merchandising and fulfillment for 19 different webcomics and has sales of more than $1 million.

Manley says the future of webcomics is looking bright as a new generation of readers is discovering a new medium for the art.

Source
entrepreneur.com
http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2008/september/196208.html

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Witchcraft rumor sparks riot at Congo soccer game

2008-09-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

KINSHASA, Congo (AP)—Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday.

Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo’s North Kivu province.

Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium by firing into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by fans.

The two local clubs involved were Socozaki and Nyuki System, the radio said.

Dozens of teenagers marched through Butembo’s dirt streets Monday in protest, and the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, paid a visit to the hospital.

Mpaluku said the government was investigating.

He made no mention of witchcraft, but confirmed that soldiers had fired into the air to calm angry crowds. The shooting prompted panic instead, which became fatal “when the crowds all tried to leave at the same time.”

“Most of the dead were children, only two or three were adults,” Mpaluku said.
North Kivu has been the epicenter of violence between Congo’s army and rebels over the last year which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

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2008-09-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

List of favorite links from Get Your Goose On

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Get Your Goose On

Man eats $50,000 worth of Big Macs

2008-09-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

FOND DU LAC, Wis. - A 54-year-old man says his obsessive-compulsive disorder drove him to eat 23,000 Big Macs in 36 years. Fifty-four-year-old Don Gorske says he hit the milestone last month, continuing a pleasurable obsession that began May 17, 1972 when he got his first car.

Gorske has kept every burger receipt in a box. He says he was always fascinated with numbers, and watching McDonald's track its number of customers motivated him to track his own consumption.

The only day he skipped a Big Mac was the day his mother died, to respect her request.
The correctional-institution employee says he doesn't care when people call his Big Mac obsession crazy. He says he's in love with the burgers, which are the highlights of his days.

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Worst Defeat EVER!!!

2008-09-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

There's the "agony of defeat." And then there's this women's ice hockey score from the European Olympic pre-qualifying tournament: Slovakia 82, Bulgaria 0.

That's correct: eighty-two goals for Slovakia, none for Bulgaria.

The International Ice Hockey Federation said the result, from a game played Saturday at the tournament in Liepaja, Latvia, set a record score for a women's IIHF-sanctioned event. It was not the all-time record for futility, however; that is still held by Thailand, which lost 92-0 to South Korea in the 1998 Asia-Oceania U18 Championship.

Slovakia, which won all four of its games at the tournament, outshot Bulgaria 139-0, scoring on 58.9 percent of their shots on goal. They averaged one goal every 44 seconds.

Bulgaria trailed 7-0 after 5 minutes, 19-0 after 10 and 31-0 at the end of the first period.

The drubbing capped a woeful showing for the Bulgarian women, who also lost 30-1 to Croatia and 41-0 to Italy in earlier games.

Florida Student about to Cash in Big

2007-09-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

Big lawsuit coming for this University of Florida student at a John Kerry visit. Excessive use of Taser anyone? Ummm, arrested for no reason?

Unedited View

Shipoopi

2007-06-07T23:42:00.000-07:00

Family Guy - Patriots Offensive Lineman Peter Griffin Celebrating after TD

“Shipoopi” is a song in the 1957 musical The Music Man. The song is sung by the character Marcellus Washburn, friend of Harold Hill. In the play, the song is about finding love and occurs at about the same time that Marian begins to fall for Professor Hill’s wooing. Some versions don’t feature Harold and Marian at the dance, and it is not acknowledged that the song is specifically about them, so the song may be regarded as somewhat of a non sequitur (adaptations may or may not include the couple).

“Shipoopi” is again in our pop culture. It was featured in a 2006 episode (Patriot Games) of the Family Guy in which Peter Griffin becomes a member of the New England Patriots.

The plot for the episode Patriot Games begins with Peter attending his high school reunion. At his high school reunion, Peter pretends to be a secret-agent astronaut millionaire to impress his classmates, but the truth comes out when he meets Tom Brady and loses all self-control. Peter makes a drunken run for the bathroom, knocking over everyone between him and the toilet. Brady is impressed and lands Peter a spot on the New England Patriots football team as the starting center. Peter sings the "Shipoopi" song during a celebration after scoring a touchdown. Life is great for the Griffins until Peter’s new high profile goes to his head and he’s traded to the London Silly Nannies. Peter decides to turn them around and stage a game between the Silly Nannies and the Patriots. The Patriots cause his team to run away, leaving Peter facing the Patriots alone. He attempts to play, but he is overwhelmed and defeated. However, Tom Brady compliments Peter on having the nerve to stand up to them.

"Shipoopi" has made other appearances during this generation of pop culture. On the premier episode of Blue Collar TV, which originally aired July 29, 2004, it was sung by guest star Drew Carey during a camping trip while the men took turns singing songs.

In the early days of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Craig Kilborn, a video was shown of this song during a high school performance of The Music Man. Dancing on stage in the video was a teenage Monica Lewinsky, who later was involved in a sex scandal involving President Bill Clinton.

Japanimation Spoof of Family Guy Shipoopi

Shipoopi - The Music Man

Absolut Vodka

2007-06-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

The Absolut Vodka

Absolut Vodka is a Swedish brand of vodka, owned by V&S Group, and produced at their facilities near Åhus, Scania in southern Sweden.

Building on a four century tradition of producing vodka at Åhus, Absolut was introduced in 1879 by the entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith. Absolut is the third largest brand of alcoholic spirits in the world after Bacardi and Smirnoff, marketed in 126 countries. The largest export market is the United States where close to 97 million litres were sold in 2006. More than 40% of the imported vodka in the USA is Absolut.

The name "Absolut" was introduced in 1879 by the entrepreneur Lars Olsson Smith. Smith introduced fractional distillation that produces liquor without fusel alcohol in Sweden in 1877, under the name "Tiodubbelt Renadt Bränvin" (Tenfold Purified Vodka). Brännvin literally means "burnt wine" and is analogous to the German "Brandtwein". The term is also used in Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic. ("Vodka" was not used for Swedish liquor until 1958, with the potato-based Explorer Vodka.) The name was changed to "Absolut Rent Bränvin" (Absolutely Pure Vodka) by Smith to market his much improved product. Smith challenged the city of Stockholm's liquor marketing monopoly with his superior vodka. It was sold at a lower price than the monopoly's product, just outside the city border. Smith even offered free boat rides to the distillery and "Rent Bränvin" made Smith a fortune. In 1917 the alcohol industry in Sweden was monopolized by the Swedish government. Vodka was then sold nationwide under the name "Absolut Rent Brännvin". The name changed with intervals, Renat Brännvin or Absolut Rent Brännvin. In 1979 the old name Absolut was picked up when the upper-price range Absolut Vodka was introduced.

The Absolut Vodka bottle has become something of a modern icon. Inspired by the classic Swedish medicine bottle of the 18th and 19th centuries, the bottle is a blend of traditional Swedish glass-making craft and contemporary design.

Over the years Absolut has commissioned not only over 300 painters, but leading artists in all fields; sculptors, glass designers, musicians and fashion designers, e. g. Digital Art pioneer Laurence Gartel designed a campaign for Absolut Vodka in 1990, joining world famous artists such as painter Andy Warhol and glass artist Hans Godo Frabel. These ads are considered to be the first digital art ads.

In 1991 Absolut began an art commissioning program to select artists from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Absolut Vodka arranged to run full-page ads in USA Today with images of the commissioned works every two weeks. Artists selected included Jon Coffelt, Burton Morris and Rev. Howard Finster. A limited edition of 300 lithographs of each work were sold to raise funds for Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS. As a commemoration to this campaign, "Absolut Statehood: 51 Painters, Visions of Their Home States" a book by Glenn O'Brien, was published with a foreword by Michel Roux of Carillon Importers with photography by Antonio Alia Guccione. 51 Absolut Statehood artist were interviewed by Peter Tunney and made into a film about the campaign. "Absolut To The People," a Peter Tunney Film, was simulcast in New York, New York and Hong Kong, China, March, 1993.

One bourbon, one scotch, one beer

2007-06-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

One bourbon, one scotch, one beer by John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an influential American post-war blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. From a musical family, he was a cousin of Earl Hooker. John was also influenced by his stepfather, a local blues guitarist, who learned in Shreveport, Louisiana to play a droning, one-chord blues that was strikingly different from the Delta blues of the time. John developed a half-spoken style that was his trademark. Though, similar to the early Delta blues, his music was rhythmically free. His best known songs include "Boogie Chillen" (1948) and "Boom Boom" (1962).

John Lee Hooker was born on 22 August 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the youngest of the eleven children of William Hooker (1871–1923), a sharecropper and a Baptist preacher, and Minnie Ramsey (1875-?). John and his numerous siblings were permitted to listen only to religious songs, with his earliest musical exposure being the spirituals sung in church. In 1921, his parents separated. The next year, his mother married William Moore, a blues singer who provided John's first introduction to the guitar (and whom John would later credit for his distinctive playing style). The year after that (1923), John's natural father died; and at age 15, John ran away from home, never to see his mother and step-father again.

Throughout the 1930s, Hooker lived in Memphis where he worked on Beale Street and occasionally performed at house parties. He worked in factories in various cities during World War II, drifting until he found himself in Detroit in 1948 working at Ford Motor Company. He felt right at home near the blues venues and saloons on Hastings Street, the heart of black entertainment on Detroit's east side. In a city noted for its piano players, guitar players were scarce. Performing in Detroit clubs, his popularity grew quickly, and seeking a louder instrument than his crude acoustic guitar, he bought his first electric guitar.

Hooker's recording career began in 1948 when his agent placed a demo tape, made by Hooker, with the Bihari brothers, owners of the Modern Records label. The company initially released an up-tempo number, "Boogie Chillen", which became Hooker's first hit single.

Though they were not songwriters, the Biharis often purchased or claimed co-authorship of songs that appeared on their labels, thus securing songwriting royalties for themselves, in addition to their other streams of income .

Sometimes these songs were older tunes renamed (B.B.King's "Rock Me Baby"), anonymous jams ("B.B.'s Boogie") or songs by employees (bandleader Vince Weaver). The Biharis used a number of pseudonyms for songwriting credits: Jules was credited as Jules Taub; Joe as Joe Josea; and Sam as Sam Ling. One song by John Lee Hooker, "Down Child" is solely credited to "Taub", with Hooker receiving no credit for the song whatsoever. Another, "Turn Over a New Leaf" is credited to Hooker and "Ling".

Despite being illiterate, Hooker was a prolific lyricist. In addition to adapting the occasionally traditional blues lyric (such as "if I was chief of police, I would run her right out of town"), he freely invented many of his songs from scratch. Recording studios in the 1950s rarely paid black musicians more than a pittance, so Hooker would spend the night wandering from studio to studio, coming up with new songs or variations on his songs for each studio. Due to his recording contract, he would record these songs under obvious pseudonyms such as "John Lee Booker", "Johnny Hooker", or "John Cooker."

His early solo songs were recorded under Bernie Besman. John Lee Hooker rarely played on a standard beat, changing tempo to fit the needs of the song. This made it nearly impossible to add backing tracks. As a result, Besman would record Hooker, in addition to playing guitar and singing, stomping along with the music on a wooden palette.

He appeared and sang in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers. Due to Hooker's improvisatory style, his performance was filmed and sound-recorded live at the scene at Chicago's Maxwell Street Market, in contrast to the usual "playback" technique used in most film musicals. Hooker was also a direct influence in the look of John Belushi's character Jake Blues, borrowing his trademark sunglasses and soul patch.

In 1989, he joined with a number of musicians, including Keith Richards and Carlos Santana to record The Healer, which won a Grammy award — one of many awards. Hooker recorded several songs with Van Morrison, including "Never Get Out of These Blues Alive", "The Healing Game" and "I Cover the Waterfront". He also appeared on stage with Van Morrison several times, some of which was released on the live album A Night in San Francisco. The same year he appeared as the title character on Pete Townshend's The Iron Man: A Musical.

Hooker recorded over 100 albums. He lived the last years of his life in the San Francisco Bay Area, where, in 1997, he opened a nightclub called "John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room", after one of his hits.

He fell ill just before a tour of Europe in 2001 and died soon afterwards at the age of 83. The last song Hooker recorded before his death, is "Ali D'Oro", a collaboration with the Italian soul singer Zucchero, in which Hooker sang the chorus "I lay down with an angel". He was survived by eight children, nineteen grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren and a nephew.

Among his many awards, John Lee Hooker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1991 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Two of his songs, "Boogie Chillen" and "Boom Boom" were named to the list of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. "Boogie Chillen" was included as one of the Songs of the Century. He was also inducted in 1980 into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2000, Hooker was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

John Lee Hooker's guitar playing is closely aligned with piano Boogie Woogie. He would play the walking bass pattern with his thumb, stopping to emphasize the end of a line with a series of trills, done by rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs. The songs that most epitomize his early sound are "Boogie Chillen", about being 17 and wanting to go out to dance at the Boogie clubs, "Baby Please Don't Go", a more typical blues song, summed up by its title, and "Tupelo", a stunningly sad song about the flooding of Tupelo, Mississippi.

He maintained a solo career, popular with blues and folk music fans of the early 1960s and crossed over to white audiences, giving an early opportunity to the young Bob Dylan. As he got older, he added more and more people to his band, changing his live show from simply Hooker with his guitar to a large band, with Hooker singing.

His vocal phrasing was less closely tied to specific bars than most blues singers'. This casual, rambling style had been gradually diminishing with the onset of electric blues bands from Chicago but, even when not playing solo, Hooker retained it in his sound.

Though Hooker lived in Detroit during most of his career, he is not associated with the Chicago-style blues prevalent in large northern cities, as much as he is with the southern rural blues styles, known as delta blues, country blues, folk blues, or "front porch blues". His use of an electric guitar tied together the Delta blues with the emerging post-war electric blues.[10]

His songs have been covered by MC5, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison, The Yardbirds, The Animals, R.L. Burnside, and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. One of his later songs, "Harry's Philosophy", was heavily sampled by acid jazz DJ St. Germain for use on the song "Sure Thing", off St. Germain's album Tourist.

Criss Angel and Beer Magic Tricks

2007-06-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

Criss Angel has some cool tricks with beer. The first video is Criss putting a cell phone in a beer bottle and is very impressive if you have not seen this trick before (i.e. David Blane). The 2nd video is not as good, he turns water to beer, its like come on - Jesus did a similar trick over 2,000 years ago, create something new buddy.

Cell Phone in Beer Bottle

Criss Angel At A Party - Funny home videos are a click away

Magic Trick Stolen from Jesus

Criss Angel's Brewery - Funny videos are here

Schlitz Beer

2007-06-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Best Schlitz song ever! (also might be the only schlitz song). This video is great!

The Schlitz Music Video

History of Schlitz Brewery
The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The beer it produced, Schlitz, was often considered the archetype of working-class beers. It has one of the best-known slogans in the American brewing industry: "The beer that made Milwaukee famous"

The company was founded by Joseph Schlitz, who came to America from Mainz, Germany in 1850, at the age of 20. Schlitz flourished in the frenzied beer industry of pre-Civil War Milwaukee, where saloons and breweries sprang up by the hundreds, and in 1856 he took over management of the large brewery owned by the recently deceased August Krug. Two years later he married Krug's widow and changed the name to the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co.

The company really began to succeed after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when Schlitz donated thousands of barrels of beer to that city, which had lost most of its breweries. He quickly opened a distribution point there, beginning a national expansion.

Schlitz died May 7, 1875, when returning to visit Germany. His ship hit a rock near Land's End, England, and sank.

The company flourished through the 1970s, being ranked as the No. 2 brewery in America as late as 1976. But problems with its production, specifically its attempt to cheapen the brewing process by using a high-temperature fermentation, which produced a product that the public deemed inferior, combined with a crippling 1981 strike by workers at the Milwaukee plant, led to serious financial difficulties. On June 10, 1982, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. was acquired by Stroh Brewery Company of Detroit, Michigan. The regular beer is still produced, though in relatively small quantities, by the Pabst Brewing Company, along with three malt liquors (Schlitz Malt Liquor, Schlitz Red Bull, and Schlitz Bull Ice).

What remains of the historic Schlitz Brewery complex has been transformed in to a business park called Schlitz Park. Many of the buildings, including the Keg House, Bottle House and Malt House, have been turned into commercial and governmental office space and a middle school.

Best Schlitz Commercial

Another Animated Beer Song

2007-06-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

While doing some research on beer, I keep getting distracted by these stopmotion vidoes set to beer songs. I just had to post another because this one is so hysterical.
Beer Song - Legos

After watching the lego's stopmotion beer musical, I came across another couple that were too funny also.
Monty Python - Spamalot Song

Grand Theft Auto - Lego City

OK Go Treadmill - Legos

Thriller - Legos

World of Warcraft - Beer Song

2007-05-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Beer Song #1

Beer Song #2

Back when marketing beer to kids was OK...

2007-05-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, marketing beer to kids was normal. Check out some of these Hamm's Beer commercials.

Hamm's Beer
Hamm's is the name of a former American brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The original Hamm's was established in 1865 when Theodore Hamm, a German immigrant, inherited the Excelsior Brewery from his friend and business associate, A. F. Kellar. Kellar had constructed his brewery over artesian wells in a section of the valley of the Phalen Creek valley near St. Paul, Minnesota, known as Swede Hollow. Hamm hired Christopher Figg to be his masterbrewer, and by the 1880s the T. Hamm Brewing Company was reckoned the second largest in Minnesota.

His son, William, and grandson, William Jr. inherited the operation in 1903. During Prohibition the company survived by producing soft drinks and other food products, leaving it in a position to expand rapidly through acquisitions after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. In 1968 the company was acquired by the Heublein Brewing Company, which sold it to Olympia Brewing Company. In 1980 Olympia merged with Pabst, which was acquired by Stroh's in 1984 and it by Miller Brewing in 1999. The future of the brand is uncertain. There is limited distribution in North America.

Several beers are produced: the original Hamm's, a pale lager; Hamm's Golden Draft; and Hamm's Special Light.

The name is most famous not for the company's beverages, however, but for its advertising jingle and for its mascot, the Hamm's Beer bear.

The original jingle, first used on radio and later extended to television, was derived from "From The Land of Sky-Blue Water," a 1909 art song with lyrics by Nelle Richmond Eberhart and music by Charles Wakefield Cadman.

Hamm's Beer Bear
Even more famous than the jingle was the Hamm's Beer bear. The bear was incorporated into the first campaign produced by the Campbell Mithun advertising agency, which sought to emphasize the supposedly superior cleanliness and naturality 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.

Hamm's is often one of the cheapest beers found on the shelf - roughly $10-$12 for a 30-pack is common. This factor has made it enduringly popular with drinkers on a budget, like college students. The most interesting thing about the beer is that today it is still talked about and many advertisements are sought after. The descendants of the Hamm's family are alive and well, today being spread throughout the country. A branch of the family still resides in MN and proudly honors their heritage and family ties. Check out many bars in northern MN and ND and you will find the Hamm's sign lighting the way home for every Hamm's beer lover out there.

What ever happened to Stroh's Beer?

2007-05-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

I really want to drink a Stroh's right now, but can't because I live in a city that has never heard of Stroh's Beer. That led me to do some research on the history of Stroh's Beer and what happened to it.

Establishment
The Stroh family began brewing beer in a family-owned inn during the 18th century in Germany. In 1848, during the German Revolution, Bernhard Stroh, who had learned the brewing trade from his father, emigrated to the United States. Bernhard Stroh established his brewery in Detroit in 1850 when he was 28 and immediately started producing Bohemian-style beer, which had been developed at the municipal brewery of Pilsen, Bohemia, in 1840. In 1865 he purchased additional land and expanded his business. He adopted the Lion's Crest from the Kyrburg Castle in Germany and named his operation the Lion's Head Brewery. (The lion crest is still visible in its advertising and product labels)

Bernhard Stroh Jr. took charge of the brewery on the death of his father. He changed the brewery's name to the B. Stroh Brewing Company. With the introduction of pasteurization and refrigerated rail cars, Stroh was able to ship some of his beer as far as Florida and Massachusetts. In 1893 Stroh Bohemian Beer won a blue ribbon at the Columbian Exposition. The company's name was changed to The Stroh Brewery Company in 1902. In 1908 Bernhard Stroh's brother Julius Stroh took over the brewery. After a tour of famous European breweries, he introduced the European fire-brewing method in the Stroh brewery. Today, Stroh's is the only fire-brewed beer on the American market. Common in Europe before World War I, the fire-brewing process uses a direct flame rather than steam to heat beer-filled copper kettles. The company claims that the resulting higher temperatures bring out more of the beer's flavor.

Prohibition
During Prohibition, Julius Stroh operated the business under the name The Stroh Products Company, producing near beer (beer with its alcohol extracted), birch beer, soft drinks, malt products, ice cream, and ice. Though production of most of these items ceased when Prohibition ended in 1933, a special unit of the brewery continued to make Stroh Ice Cream.

Expansion
Upon Julius Stroh's death in 1939, his son Gari Stroh assumed the presidency. Gari's brother John succeeded him in 1950 and became Stroh's chairman in 1967. Gari's son Peter, who had joined the company following his graduation from Princeton University in 1951, became president in 1968.

In 1964 the company made its first move toward expansion when it bought the Goebel Brewing Company, a rival across the street. The company had decided it could no longer compete as a local brewer and was about to move into the national scene. One reason was a costly statewide strike in 1958 that shut down Michigan beer production and allowed national brands to gain a foothold. When Peter Stroh took over the company in 1968, it still had not regained the market share lost in the strike 12 years previous.

Stroh ended a 40-year relationship with a local advertising agency for a large national agency and began targeting the larger national market. By 1971, Stroh Brewery had moved from 15th to 13th place nationally and in 1972, it entered the top 10 for the first time. A year later it hit eighth place. Peter Stroh's willingness to depart from years of tradition enabled Stroh's to survive, but the changes were hard to swallow for many Stroh's employees. Stroh broke the company's tradition of family management and recruited managers from companies such as Proctor & Gamble and Pepsico. He also introduced a light beer, Stroh's Light.

By 1978, Stroh's served 17 states when it produced 6.4 million barrels of beer. By this time, the original Detroit facility was 66 years old and had a capacity of seven million barrels annually. As it became difficult to make efficient shipments to new markets in the East, the company recognized that it required a new brewery. The F&M Schaefer Brewing Company had fallen victim to the Miller beer wars and Stroh's took over all of Schaefer's stock. In 1981, the combined breweries ranked seventh in beer sales. In addition, Stroh was able to take advantage of Schaefer's distributors in the northeastern part of the country. The acquisition also brought Stroh three new brands: Schaefer and Piels beers, and Schaefer's Cream Ale. The company now had a volume of over 40 million barrels and 400 distributors in 28 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean islands.

In 1982 Stroh bid for 67 percent of the Schlitz Brewing Company. By spring of that year, Stroh had purchased the entire company, making Stroh's the third largest brewery in America. During the takeover, Schlitz fought a fierce battle in the courts trying to remain independent. Schlitz finally accepted the takeover when Stroh raised its offer from an initial $16 per share to $17, and the U.S. Justice Department approved the acquisition once Stroh agreed to sell either Schlitz's Memphis or Winston-Salem breweries. By 1988 annual sales reached $1.5 billion. They became the United States' third largest beer brewer when they bought G. Heileman Brewing Company in 1996.

Decline
But changing tastes and lifestyles began to eat into the company's success. Heavy debt, over $500 million the brewer took on to finance its acquisition of Schlitz, drained Stroh's ability to compete. Declining sales and severe financial problems conspired to put an end to a long brewing tradition. Cutbacks and layoffs failed to halt the bleeding. Peter Stroh, chairman of the company his family founded a century-and-half ago, negotiated a deal to sell most of his beer operations to Coors Brewing Company. According to industry analysts, acquisitions made by Stroh's in the fiercely competitive beer industry ultimately made it weak. But the deal with Coors fell through. and in 1987 redeveloped its former headquarters into Brewery Park, a modern office complex. Stroh's attempts in the mid- and late 1980s to diversify into other beverages--such as White Mountain Cooler, a fruit-flavored drink with 5 percent alcohol, and Sundance sparkling-water fruit drinks--met with little success. Stroh's sold its Stroh's Ice Cream operation to an Ohio company in 1988.

Stroh then implemented a three-pronged strategy to revitalize the company: developing new products, brewing beer under contract for other brewers, and expanding overseas. The new product area was critical because the explosion in beer brand and types of beer in the 1990s undermined the market share for all established brands. Stroh's strategy when seeking to enter the market for a new type of beer was to extend one or more of its existing brands. In the increasingly popular non-alcoholic beer segment, for example, Old Milwaukee Non-Alcoholic was introduced in 1991, while Stroh's Non Alcoholic debuted in 1993. Old Milwaukee NA quickly became one of the top three selling non-alcoholic brews. In the ice beer category, Stroh launched Old Milwaukee Ice, Schlitz Ice, Schlitz Ice Light, Bull Ice, and Schaefer Ice, all in 1994. Another hot category in the early and mid-1990s was the packaged draft beer; Stroh made its presence felt in this category as well with Stroh's Draft Light, Old Milwaukee Genuine Draft, and Schlitz Genuine Draft.

Another important new product area was specialty beer, the hottest beer category of the 1990s and led by the hundreds of microbreweries that arose to craft them, not by the industry leaders. Stroh and the other leaders, however, were not shut out of this category; in some cases they purchased all or part of microbreweries, in others they formed units to produce specialty beers. Stroh did both. It purchased the Augsburger brand in 1989 and over the next several years developed and introduced both specialty and seasonal brews under the Augsburger name. The company also purchased Ontario's Sleeman Brewing & Malting and a second, undisclosed, small brewer. In 1994 Stroh launched Red River Valley Select Red Lager, a regional premium specialty beer produced by a division of the company's St. Paul, Minnesota, brewery called Northern Plains Brewing Company. Two years later, Red River Honey Brown Ale was introduced.

The international market provided growth opportunities for Stroh that were very limited in the stagnant, hyper-competitive U.S. market. In 1986 Stroh International, Inc. was created to begin to tap into these markets. Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, and Russia were the main targets of Stroh's overseas push. From 1992 through 1995, Stroh's international sales grew each year at rates exceeding 50 percent. In 1994, the company entered into a licensing agreement with Rajastan Breweries, Ltd. (located outside Delhi) to produce, distribute, and market Stroh's and Stroh's Super Strong beers in India. The following year, an agreement was reached with Sapporo Breweries Ltd. of Tokyo whereby Sapporo began distributing Stroh's beer nationwide in Japan. By 1995, exports comprised more than 10 percent of overall Stroh sales.

In early 1995, William Henry assumed Peter Stroh's CEO position to become the first non-Stroh family member to hold that position for the company. The following year Stroh finally landed a long-sought-after target when it acquired Heileman for about $290 million. The Heileman purchase brought more than 30 brands to the Stroh family, many of which Heileman had itself acquired since its founding in LaCrosse, Wisconsin in 1858. Among the more important brands were Colt 45 malt liquor, which when combined with Schlitz Malt Liquor, gave Stroh more than half of the malt liquor market.

Stroh neared the turn of the century in a much stronger position than it had entered the 1990s, but by the end of the decade, Stroh would finally give in to the pressures of the larger brewers and be acquired.

Acquisition
The end finally came on February 8, 1999, when word came down from Stroh headquarters that the 149 year-old brewer was selling its labels to the Pabst Brewing Company and Miller Brewing Company. John Stroh III, now company president and chief executive, said of the decision to sell: "Emotionally, it was an extremely difficult one to make, knowing that it would impact our loyal employees, and recognizing that it would mean the end of our family's centuries old brewing tradition that had become, in essence, an important part of our identity.

After its disolution in 2000, some Stroh brands were discontinued, while others were purchased by other breweries. The Pabst Brewing Company acquired the most Stroh/Heilman brands. They currently produce Colt 45 malt liquor, Lone Star, Schaefer, Schlitz, Schmidt's, Old Milwaukee, Old Style, Stroh's, and St. Ides. The Miller Brewing Company got Mickey's Malt Liquor and Henry Weinhard's. Most other Stroh/Heileman brands disappeared after 2000.

Commercials
Stroh's had some memorable TV commercials as well. One featured a youthful-looking fellow asking for a Stroh's Beer at a bar, with the bartender asking him for identification (the age was not mentioned, due to the minimum legal age for drinking at the time being 18 in Michigan and Ohio and 21 elsewhere). The purchaser willingly furnished an ID, with the bartender serving him a Stroh's Beer with the greeting "Happy Birthday!".

Another featured a man confronting his son with great emotion. "Son, answer me. Do you drink beer?" To which the son tearfully replied, "Yes, dad, I drink beer. I'm thirty-four years old!" The father put his arm around the younger man and asked to be reassured that the beer was Stroh's.

Later, Stroh's was known for its amusing "Alex the Dog" commercials, where Alex would fetch a Stroh's from the refrigerator for its owner. One commercial ended with Alex lapping a liquid after pouring two glasses of Stroh's, with his owner yelling "Alex, that had better be your water you're drinking!". There was a reference to "Alex from Stroh's" in the 1989 hit single Funky Cold Medina by rapper Tone Loc.

The company then turned to the "From One Beer Lover to Another" campaign that had science fiction and phantasmagorical themes. The brewery won two awards for its "Beer Lover" ads. In 1985 Stroh moved to the good times-good friends-good beer theme popular in the beer industry. Its slogan was "Stroh's Is Spoken Here." The company felt the theme was more relevant to the all-American beer drinker and showed more confidence in the beer, rather than being merely entertaining.

Ton Loc Video making reference to Stroh's Beer in Funky Col Medina Song

Sam Adams Summer Ale 2007

2007-05-27T20:18:00.001-07:00

Sam Adams has released it summer seasonal beer in May 2007; Summer Ale. If I was some sort of critic, I would give it a 10 out of 10. But then again when I drink one I am usually really thirsty. This beer will be distributed to stores thru August 2007, then discontinued once September arrives. I recommend trying this beer before the summer comes and goes.

From Sam Adams:

Samuel Adams® Summer Ale is an American wheat ale. This summer seasonal uses malted wheat as well as lemon zest and grains of paradise, a rare pepper from Africa first used as a brewing spice in the 13th Century to create a crisp and spicy flavor and body. The ale fermentation imparts a background tropical fruit note reminiscent of mangos and peaches. All of these come together to create a quenching, clean finishing beer perfect for those warm Summer days.

Wheat ales originated near Brussels, a wheat growing region in the 14th Century. The style got its name from its lighter color and cloudiness or veil, the result of suspended wheat proteins in the beer. These crisp ales were often brewed with coriander, juniper berries, and orange peel. We decided to use lemon zest and Grains of Paradise, to give our Samuel Adams® Summer Ale its unique flavor. Grains of Paradise, also known as Malaguita Pepper, are more closely related to cardamom than pepper and according to medieval legend were thought (erroneously) to have aphrodisiac properties.

Wheat ale brewed with grains of paradise and lemon zest.

Fake Beer

2007-05-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

Ever drink a Pawtucket Pat beer? Neither have I, it does not exist, therefore I could not review. But just in case you wanted to learn more, see the information on Pawtucket Pat Beer below.

Pawtucket Brewery, the makers of Pawtucket Patriot Ale

Pawtucket Brewery is a fictional brewery on the television series Family Guy and is the place of employment of the show's main character Peter Griffin. It is most likely based on the the real life Boston Beer Co. which brews Samuel Adams Beer. Pawtucket Patriot's signature (and perhaps only) product is Pawtucket Patriot Ale.

Although it is never explicitly stated, the brewery is most likely located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It is named for its original owner, Pawtucket Pat, although his name may ultimatley refer to the Rhode Island town as well.

The brewery was first seen in "Wasted Talent" where it was shown to be a surreal place that shares many similarites with the chocolate factory in the episode Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The brewery's owner, Pawtucket Pat, is a whimsical character largely based off of Gene Wilder's portrayal Willy Wonka (nearly the entire first half of the episode is a homage to the film). Although it should be noted that one of the earlier espiodes, "Mind Over Murder", showed the "patriot" on the can coming to life and identifying himself as "Pawtucket Pat" after Peter bumped his head. However, this could be seen as nothing more than Peter's own delusion, especially since he hadn't met the brewery's owner at that point.

The second episode which centered the sub-plot on the Pawtucket Brewery was "Jungle Love" where Peter quit his job as a fisherman and took one with the brewery. This time, the brewery was portrayed much more realistically which was humourously addressed when Peter remarked "This place sure has changed since Pawtucket Pat sold it." One of the fringe benefits the brewery apparently offers its workers is free beer, as long as it is consumed off the clock. However, Peter shows little regard for the "off the clock" stipulation in the epsiode causing him to be drunk nearly all the time. This leads to Peter being demoted to a menial office job in the brewery's basement later in the episode.

get your goose on

2007-05-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

Like beer? So do I. In this blog, I will review beer and other alcoholic beverages. This should provide me with something to do this summer.

The title of this blog, "get your goose on" was made infamous by Maurice Clarett. He was known for showing up to practice drunk, stating that he needed to get his "goose on" before practice. He would also bring a "special" water bottle to practice for his Grey Goose.

get your goose on

Amazing NFL run...

Wassup spoof 8 years later

Crazy Business Idea

Witchcraft rumor sparks riot at Congo soccer game

Favorite Links

Man eats $50,000 worth of Big Macs

Worst Defeat EVER!!!

Florida Student about to Cash in Big

Shipoopi

Absolut Vodka

One bourbon, one scotch, one beer

Criss Angel and Beer Magic Tricks

Schlitz Beer

More Family Guy Drinking Videos

Another Animated Beer Song

World of Warcraft - Beer Song

Back when marketing beer to kids was OK...

What ever happened to Stroh's Beer?

Sam Adams Summer Ale 2007

Fake Beer

get your goose on