Stroh's Beer Ad – May 25, 1954

Here's a scene of 1950s suburban bliss from the pages of the May 25, 1954 Lorain Journal  – a Stroh's Beer ad showing several couples enjoying an outdoor barbecue. 

The illustration of the people is kind of interesting. I like how several of them are holding Stroh's beer cans (although the woman on the right is holding her can funny). And I like that classic brick barbecue pit. You see them every once in a while in the backyard of old homes, like this house on Lorain's east side on Missouri Ave.

The focus of the ad is that fire-brewed Stroh's was now available in space-saving cans that cool "in a jiffy." The can design is kind of surprising in that it doesn't incorporate the classic Stroh's script logo. Here's a surviving can, courtesy of eBay. There aren't too many on eBay with this design.

Anyway, I was curious if Stroh's was still brewed in Detroit. After all, at one point Stroh's was the third largest brewing company in the country, producing other beer brands as well, including Schlitz.

Alas, according to the Historic Detroit website, the brewery closed in the mid-1980s. The company itself was broken up and sold to Miller Brewing and Pabst.

However, the beer seems to have made a comeback of sorts in the Motor City. According to its Wiki entry, "In August 2016, Pabst partnered with a brewery in Detroit's Corktown neighborhood called Brew Detroit to begin brewing batches of Stroh's Bohemian-Style Pilsner, a beer derived from an original 1850s Stroh's recipe. The first batch was shipped to area bars, restaurants, and liquor stores on August 22, with special events all across metropolitan Detroit on the 26th. 

"On May 4, 2018, Stroh's released its Perseverance IPA, as a Michigan exclusive. 

"A version of Stroh's brewed elsewhere (evidently by Pabst) was set to be reintroducted to the Detroit area in 2022."

I guess that's why if you visit the Stroh's website, you are greeted with friendly reminders of the beer's Detroit heritage, even though it is brewed in Wisconsin.

****

UPDATE (Jan. 3, 2026)

Here's a jolly holiday ad for Stroh's that appeared in the Lorain Journal on Dec. 20, 1955.

Hunting for More Hunting Ads – October 1953

From the October 7, 1953 Lorain Journal.

I thought I'd close out the week here on the blog by taking a shot at posting some more hunting ads. As one commenter observed on an earlier post, hunting was a big part of the lifestyle back then in areas such as Lorain County. It's reflected in these ads, which all ran in the Lorain Journal back in October 1953.

Above is an ad for the Lorain Surplus Center, with locations at 515 Broadway and 2836 Pearl Avenue in Lorain. (You might remember the excellent 2018 post by blog contributor Rick Kurish about the military surplus stores.)

In the Lorain Surplus Center ad, there's everything you need for hunting: rifles, shotguns, knives, boots, mitts, gloves, ammunition, hunting caps, hunting bows and duck decoys.

The items that caught my interest were the Lohman Duck, Crow & Squirrel Calls. I'd heard of duck calls (from watching Daffy Duck cartoons) but the crow and squirrel calls were new to me. Lohman still makes squirrel calls; this one 'reproduces the squeals of young squirrels in distress." I wonder what the intention was of the squirrels being bamboozled by the call. Were they going to offer aid and comfort to another squirrel? Or rob him of any nuts he might have been carrying before his misfortune?

As for squirrel calls, it reminded me of something from my college days. Squirrels were all over the Ohio State campus, and my roommates and I used to make clicking noises to get their attention. Many times they would come a-runnin' as if to say, "Hey, that kid is speaking my language!" Others would approach slowly, trying to figure out what was going on. But the funniest incident I remember was when my roommate Hoob was doing the tongue clicking thing, and one squirrel came closer... and closer... and closer... and then LUNGED AT HIS LEG! I still remember Hoob trying to get that thing off him!

But back to the ads.

Here's one for Stroh's Bohemian Beer featuring a comely huntress and her retriever. It ran on October 13, 1953. I like the illustration in the background. 

The ad would be very appropriate today (according to the articles in my issues of American Hunter), as women make up a large portion of those buying guns for the very first time, as well as increasingly participating in the sport of hunting.

The bottle of Stroh's looks unfamiliar to me as I've never been a Stroh's drinker. Here's a closer look at the bottle from that era. It's on eBay right now.

Lastly, here's an ad for Sears specifically promoting the J. C. Higgins Model 30 .22 Automatic Rifle. It ran in the paper on October 7, 1953.

 

Looks like the squirrel in the ad is not long for this world. 

And speaking of things that aren't around any more, that would include Sears stores. While at one time there was one in Downtown Lorain, today there are only ten in the entire mainland USA. Unbelievable!

As for the J. C. Higgins Model 30 .22 Automatic Rifle shown in the ad, they are pretty popular with collectors. Here's a nice color photo of one.

Courtesy MaynardsFineArt.com