P.O.C. Hockey Ad – October 12, 1949

Here's a great ad featuring two iconic things that aren't around any more – the Cleveland Barons and P.O.C. beer. (WEWS is still around.) The ad was pretty big, taking up the better part of a page in the October 12, 1949 Lorain Journal – sixty-three years ago this month.

According to this Wiki entry, the Cleveland Barons were the most successful team in American Hockey League history, winning ten division titles. For many years they were owned by Al Sutphin, who was an owner of the Braden-Sutphin Ink Co. (The printing company that I work for still buys ink from Braden-Sutphin.)

P.O.C. beer is still well-remembered. Of course, everyone is aware of the mystery as to what the P.O.C. name stood for ("Pride Of Cleveland," "Pilsner On Call," etc. ) Apparently, even the beer's owners weren't sure as time went by.

P.O.C. went out of production in 1986. I didn't feel too bad, since I was too busy drinking Old Dutch to notice.

I remember when some entrepreneur briefly revived P.O.C. in the late 1990s. (Here's the story.) It was only available locally at a beverage store on Clague Road. I drove out there and bought a few six packs, thinking they would be collector's items.

I guess I lost interest in them as collectibles because I ended up drinking them. I did save one bottle, though, and displayed it on my desk at work for a while (which probably didn't look particularly professional).