24 November 2010

Let's Dash Another Urban Legend About Beer on the (Plymouth) Rocks....

Yeah, you've no doubt heard those Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 because the were "out of beer"?

Baloney, says this article:
So where did these legends start? In the years following the end of Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch and other breweries began running ads with slogans such as "Pilgrim Fathers drank it." The U.S. Brewers Association also ran holiday ads using the tagline "Beer, Not Turkey, Lured Pilgrims to Plymouth Rock." The beer industry was still stinging from 13 years of Prohibition, and they wasted no time trying to persuade customers that beer was a fundamental part of America's history.
I always figured the rewriting came from some fraternity house myself.  (Now to go submit this one to Snopes.com.....)

1 comment:

Andrew said...

It was comical how quickly Caligione abandoned the topic after bringing it up in Brew Masters on Sunday. As usual, you can tell when someone is saying something they can't back up, as they generally say it while already retreating from the point.