Beer Bears

Les Brasseurs du Nord’s BorĂ©ale

Les Brasseurs du Nord is a brewery located in Blainville, Quebec. Founded in 1987 by three students at the UQAM (Laura Urtnowsky and brothers Bernard and Jean Morin), who paid their way through school selling home made beer, after which they established a commercial brewery.

Hamm’s Beer

Hamm’s is a former American brewery in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Established in 1865 by Theodore Hamm, a German immigrant. They were famous for their Jingle (‘From the Land of Sky Blue Waters’) and 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 Minnesota, the ‘enchanted Northland.’

The Hamm’s Beer Bear appeared in many commercials in the 1950s and 1960s. We have put four commercials on a special page. In all its commercials the friendly Hamms Bear danced, jumped and bounced, but he never spoke a word. The bear first appeared in a black and white commercial in 1952, which combined animation and real action. This combination was used frequently in later commercials.

British Hofmeister Beer

Hofmeister was a brand of lager sold in the United Kingdom. The brand was marketed with a series of advertisements featuring a bear, George, with a shiny, yellow jacket and a pork pie hat. The ads featured the tagline ‘For great lager, follow the bear’.

Labatt Brewing

Labatt Brewing Company Ltd. is a Canadian beer company founded by John Kinder Labatt in 1847 in London, Ontario. Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada.

Schlitz Beer

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company was founded by August Krug in 1849 and acquired by Joseph Schlitz in 1858. Schlitz, was known as ‘The beer that made Milwaukee famous’ and advertised with the slogan ‘When you’re out of Schlitz, you’re out of beer’. The Schlitz ads have featured a couple of bears.