Guinness Stout — 1960

“Where men are men, Guinness matches their vigor with robust cooling refreshment.”

Champale — 1967 (Nina Simone)

Champale is not a champagne and not a wine but a malt liquor made to resemble sparkling wine. Its advertising was notable for being one of the first alcoholic beverages specifically tailored to the African-American market.

Old Forester Bourbon Personalized Train Miniatures — 1950

I love these! Miniature bottles, branded for specific train companies. I’m sure there’s a subset of railroad collectors who would be overjoyed to find a cache of these somewhere.

 

And here, a bit bigger, so you can see the labels on those cute little bottles:

 

Smirnoff Vodka — 1966 (Woody Allen)

Seeing Woody Allen in an ad is just weird.

Corby’s Whiskey — 1960 (Kentucky Derby)

My Kentucky Derby knowledge is miniscule, but I actually looked up to see which horse this 1960 ad is referring to — it’s the 1941 Triple Crown-winner Whirlaway (2:01.4), ridden by Eddie Arcaro, whose record wasn’t broken until 1973 when Secretariat ran it in 1:59.4 (a record that has yet to be beaten, even forty years later!).

Gilbey’s Gin — 1942

Look at those glasses! (Do people still call swizzle sticks “swizzle sticks”?)

Angostura Bitters — 1965

I tried a few dashes on sweetened strawberries a few days ago — it was pretty good. Here’s an interesting tidbit about Angostura bitters: the (very wealthy) family of actor Frank Morgan were the sole distributors of the product in North America. Frank Morgan is best known as the actor who played the Wizard of Oz.

Budweiser — 1961 (St. Patrick’s Day)

What could be more Irish than a Budweiser? Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Smirnoff Vodka — 1961 (St. Patrick’s Day)

“This year you’ll see many a thirsty parader sipping of the orange while wearing of the green!”

Arrow Blackberry Flavored Brandy — 1955

Interestingly shaped bottle. Looks like a smoothed out, headless Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup bottle.