In the course of my research on the history of the International Brewing Awards I keep coming across comments from the brewing industry that could easily be said today; this one comes from late 1938, perhaps when a lot of people (not everyone) was breathing a sigh of relief in the wake of Munich and thinking that history would just go on as before.
‘One thing, however, occurs to me about advertising: Do we as a trade use our own premises enough as an advertisement? My experience of the ordinary man and woman is that their knowledge of the actual process of brewing is nil, and this is often the cause of some of the ridiculous statements one hears made about beer and the brewing trade.
‘Continental breweries appear to make much more use of their premises in this way and I feel we might well copy them. Other trades, such as tobacco and chocolate makers, do a lot of it, but I do not believe that any of these processes is more interesting than the brewing of beer.
‘One has days for this and weeks for that. Why not a brewing day and get local maltsters or manufacturers of brewers’ requisites and materials to open their premises for inspection by the public on the same day as the brewery. It would all help to educate the younger generation and show what a pure and health giving drink a good glass of beer can be.’
Captain HD Wise, Chairman of the Allied Brewery Traders’ Association, Saturday, October 29, 1938, from the Brewing Trade Review, December 1938.
Captain HD Wise was my grandfather. Not sure he ever got his wish with instituting brewing days for the public, but he did invent (or at least cause to be invented) Gold Label barley wine, at the time the strongest beer available on draught.
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