Someone behind drinks ale,And opens mussels, and croaks scraps of songsTowards the ham-strung rafters about love.Dirk deals the cards.Excerpt from The Card-Players – Philip Larkin
Gaming and drinking are hardly new bedfellows, and it would be fair to say that the practice goes back many centuries if not millennia, so it was hardly a surprise that sometime in the late 1950s someone within the greater Smithwick’s brewery fold of marketing gurus had the brainwave to produce a poker game that could be used to advertise their drinks. It was at a time when many drink companies were exploring ways to brand their output and advertise their beers more in newspapers, and promote them with items such as branded glassware, beermats and other bits of ephemera. Colour printing was becoming more affordable and the use of graphics and images in newspaper advertisements was starting to become more the norm than the exception, and marketing brains were becoming more inventive in their pitching of concepts and ideas in that alleged golden age of advertising. So, it isn’t completely surprising that a brewery would go down the route of producing something a little unusual like this, a giveaway item, as a form of promotion - assuming that it was used in such a way.
The game was designed by Domas Ltd, an advertising and marketing company who also dealt with the newspaper advertisements and other marketing for Smithwick’s, and was printed by the firm of Bailey, Son & Gibson Ltd, both of whom were based in Dublin, so this is truly an Irish originated item - even if the images on the cards seem to have somewhat of an English slant? Based on the general style of the imagery and the typeface, plus the words ‘Everybody’s Drinking Smithwick’s’ on the reverse of the cards which was used in Smithwick’s advertising on the island of Ireland in the 1950s, it is from that period. The era can be narrowed down further as Domas appear to have taken over the advertising for the brewery in the second half of the decade, and the exact line-up shown by the counters was only available in Ireland at this time too, so although there are not dates on the pack it is an educated guess to state it dates from the latter half of the 1950s given the information at hand. There is also an assumption it was made specifically for the Irish market, which may not be the case of course.
As to the game itself, it comprises of 19 cards - 2 pairs of 8 different faces plus one joker - a booklet of instructions, and 24 counters showing the labels of 3 different types of beers, Smithwick’s No. 1 ale, plus their barley wine and their export ale. There are 4 different games listed in the booklet all if which seem relatively complicated, and one would think that with drink taken they would be quite a challenge! It is clearly a marketing tool aimed very much at men, which is hardly a surprise given the era we are dealing with. Some of the colour illustrations were no doubt thought of as cheeky at the time and certainly would not be tolerated nowadays. They are somewhat Gilroy-esque (the well-known Guinness illustrator) and there is something familiar about the style, although sadly the artist is not mentioned on any printed piece in the game or its packaging. (Incidentally, the illustrations in the instruction booklet clearly show the use of the flared pilsner glassware which had become the ubiquitous style used with bottled beers, as well as the standard shape used when ordering a ‘glass’ - the Irish terminology for a half-pint - of beer.) The whole game is very well designed and constructed, and they were presumably made in their 100s of not 1,000s, although they seem to be a relatively rare item now in this complete state.
-o-
But what of those ales featured on the counters and Smithwick’s beers in general in the 1950s? What do we know of them, if anything? Well, during this period these three products seem to have been the main output of the Smithwick’s company, with the Kilkenny brewery having chopped and changed its beers over the previous century or so depending on the tastes of the times, and other issues.
By far the most important and commonplace was ‘Smithwick’s No. 1 Ale,' which was predominantly a bottled product but was also available in draught form. This was a clear, golden ale - as were most Irish ales at this time - and could possibly trace its origins and popularity, at least, to the pale ale which was the mainstay of the brewery in the previous century. The travel guide writer George Measom, a visitor to the brewery in 1866, stated that there were 'two enormous pale ale vaults' in which were stored '4,000 hogsheads of ale.' Interestingly, he also mentions the malting process within the brewery and how carefully it had to be dried 'to prevent the slightest tinge or colour being imparted to the malt,' and also with regard to the boiling process he states that the coppers are uncovered 'to preserve the colour of the wort, which would be darkened by higher pressure,' so they were truly going to great lengths to keep the beer as pale as possible. It would be wrong to absolutely link this pale ale to the Smithwick’s No. 1 of almost a century later, especially as the brewery produced other beers such as what they termed Mild and Bitter ales in the latter half of the 19th century, and listed India Pale Ale, XXX, XX and X, along with various porters, toward the very end of that century. The ‘No. 1’ could be related to that XXX ale either, as that beer would certainly have been classed as such by some breweries, although XXX ales would generally be quite strong and as we shall see the No.1 ale was possibly not very alcoholic, although it may have just been weakened over time. But regardless of the nomenclature or origins - the first advertisements seem to date from the 1930s - this 1950s version of a pale ale was the breweries most popular product at this time, and it lived on for a while after the brewery changed to the Time branding for its beers in 1960. It was certainly still available in the mid-to-late sixties as advertisements show, but - sadly - is now only remembered by the ‘No.1’ printed on the bottles of modern Smithwick’s ale. A beer which it certainly is not.
That Time rebrand in 1960 also helps with our knowledge of Smithwick’s Export Ale, as this beer was rebranded as Time Ale - or Time Beer - and an advertisement for this product describes it as ‘full of golden goodness,’ which at least gives us an idea of the colour. It was presumably the weakest of the three stablemates in the Time collection, with Time Extra sounding like a stronger version of the same beer (see below), and Time Barley Wine being the strongest. Smithwick’s Export Ale only became available in Ireland in 1955 - the brewery had been exporting their beers since the middle of the 19th century - and was called ‘Smithwick’s No. 1 Export Ale’ in newspaper adverts from that year. This iteration of their export ale appears to have been available beyond these shores since 1949 before finally surfacing here.
That last product in the Time line-up can be assumed to be just a rebrand of the barley wine from the 1950s as seen on the tokens in the poker game, although that label does not appear to be as common as other designs. Whereas the previous two Time beers were served in half-pint bottles the Time barley wine came in a third of a pint version, and it is possible that this was also the case in the fifties. The beer is helpfully described in Time advertisements as ‘rich, ruby [and] heartwarming’ which gives us a colour change at last at from it pale stablemates.
Sadly, we can only guess at the strength of these beers as the Smithwick brewing records are not available to the public. In later years with the brewery wholly in the hands of Guinness, well after the end of the Time rebranding experiment and the launch of the now ubiquitous Smithwick’s Draught, the barley wine was - at 5.5% abv - surprisingly weak, and was also now available in half-pint bottles. If that was also the strength of the product in the 1950s - and there are no available records that can confirm this - then export was weaker again and No. 1 possibly the weakest? It is quite possible that 1950s and 1960s barley wine was somewhat stronger and perhaps may have weakened over the years? (This may not be the case, as a poster in a Kilkenny pub showing the prices for beers in 1962 state that a pint of Time Barley Wine could be bought for 2 shillings and 2 pence versus a pint of 'plain' Time ale at 1 shilling and 6 pence. It would be unlikely to be very strong if sold in pints, and at that price.)
There were some other Smithwick’s ales around this time, such as one called ‘Black Diamond’ which was possibly a nod to the coalmining district of Castlecomer in Kilkenny, which isn’t far from the city, plus a beer called SS, which may have stood for ‘Special Strength,’ and was the intermediate beer in the Time rebrand, where it became Time Extra.
-o-
So this poker game is more than just a piece of inconsequential, fifties brewery marketing, it is a snapshot of the general output of the Smithwick’s brewery in the middle of the 20th century, before its Time rebrand and its complete regroup around Smithwick’s Draught, the then new English-style keg ale launched in the mid-sixties that we are so familiar with in the pubs of Ireland.
This is a tangible - and relatively playable - piece of Irish brewing history.
And we certainly appear to have been playing games with Irish brands and beers ever since …
Liam K
You can read more about the Time rebrand here.
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