CARLING

'Carling' is the name of a brand of lager in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and South Africa. ''Carling'' is the best-selling lager in the UK.

Contents

History

Brands

Black Label

References

External links

History

In 1840 Thomas Carling began a small brewing operation in London, Ontario selling beer to soldiers at the local military camp. When he died, his sons William and John took over, naming it the W & J Carling Brewing Co. John Carling became a prominent figure in Canadian business and politics and was later knighted in 1893. Sir John Carling died in 1911 and the company has changed hands numerous times since.
Carling O'Keefe Breweries was bought by Carling Futvoye of Kansas City and later merged with Molson to form Molson Breweries Canada in 1989.
Carling brands are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. In South Africa it is distributed by SABMiller.

Brands

★ ''Carling'', formerly known as ''Carling Black Label'', is the best selling beer in the United Kingdom. Alcohol: - 4.1%

★ ''Carling Black Label Ice'', commonly referred to as just simply "Black Ice" is a strong, low-priced ice beer sold in Canada with an alcohol content of 6.1%, sold as Molson Ice in the United States using a variation of the Black Label Ice label & logo.

★ ''Carling Lager'' is a no-preservatives lager sold in Canada. Not to be confused with Carling (Black Label)

★ ''Carling Ice'' is an ice brewed product from the Carling line

★ ''Carling Light'' is a lighter variation of Carling Lager

★ ''Carling Premier'' is a strong cream-flow premium lager with an alcohol content of 4.7%, introduced to celebrate Carling's sponsorship of the FA Premier League in 1992. In cans it is sold with a nitrogen widget, similar to those used in some canned ales. Unlike most lagers, Premier needs time to settle.

★ "Carling Extra Cold" a colder version chilled to 2ºC, was launched in 2002, and is available in British pubs.

★ "C2" is the low-alcohol version of Carling, with a 2% volume. It has been tagged, "The swift-one-at-lunch pint."

★ "Carling Black Label Supreme" is an extremely cheap, powerful 8% brew.

★ "Carling Black Label Big 10" is also a cheap, strong beer, clocking in at 10%.

Black Label

'Black Label' is a brand of beer well known throughout the former British Empire, where it is best known for its slogan "Hey Mabel, Black Label!". The most famous slogan for this product was, "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label!" In several countries it is also known as 'Carling Black Label'. However, in the UK it is now known as just 'Carling' - they dropped the 'Black Label' in 2000 in response to public demands for a snappier call at the bar (according to the company).
Around 1990, Black Label had probably one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever made in Canada. Using the phrase 'The Legend is Black' and some highly stylized black and white photography & video along with a quirky sense of humour, Black Label was instantly transformed from being an obscure old-man's beer to being the most popular beer around. The genesis of the advertising campaign came from the tendency for people on the trendy bars on Queen St. in Toronto to drink black label because it was cheap.
Created in Cleveland, Ohio in 1933 in the former Peerless Automobile factory, Black Label was the Carling Company's foray into the American market. Black Label's stated purpose was to be high quality beer at a discount rate, strategically placing breweries around the country to ensure low costs and fresh taste. Originally called 'Black and White Label' the 'and White' soon was dropped. Their strategy turned them from the 20th largest brewer in the United States to the 5th largest brewer in a matter of six years. (That is according to a company newsletter dated March, 1967.) A failed attempt to create condensed beer was covered up by Canadian owners by returning this condensed beer to the Black Label beer already brewed, causing a huge reduction in sales, due to poor taste. This was in turn blamed on the workers in Cleveland, but a letter was revealed to the staff, which detailed the plot, and the plant in Cleveland was subsequently closed and blamed on poor sales.
In Britain, Black Label began to take off and was shipped around the globe where it took up residence in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
After the Carling breweries in the United States stopped producing Black Label to focus on a more profitable lager, they found their sales plummeting and re-introduced Black Label with a beautiful blonde named Mabel, portrayed by Jeanne Goodspeed. The twenty year marketing campaign cemented the name in the popular culture of America.
In 1979, after several years of intense pressure from the larger American Brewers Miller and Anheuser-Busch Carling-National was bought out by the Heileman Brewing Co. of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Carling and the Black Label brand are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. In the U.S., the Black Label brand is owned by the Pabst Brewing Company.
In South Africa, Black Label began to take on a different tone with the anti-apartheid movements. Not only did it have more alcohol than the other brands of beer (5.5% as opposed to 5% noted in the popular advertising catch phrase "only hard working students deserve an extra 0.5 percent") in the country, but the connotation of black to the racial issue became a point of pride to the native Africans. It is often sold with the motto, "America's Lusty, Lively Beer", perhaps in reference to Canada, though it is seldom seen in the United States. The motto came from an older advertising campaign in the United States, of which many pieces of advertising can still be purchased. The beer is commonly referred to as simply 'Black label' or, even more simply, in order to provide a snappy call at the bar, 'label' by South Africans. It also goes by the name 'Zamalek', 'quickcharge', 'silvertop' or '1011'. (10-11 Malt Liquor is a Carling's brand.)
The beer was parodied by South African t-shirt company
laughitoff. The slogan was changed to "Black Labour, White Guilt" which led to an unsuccessful copyright infringement law suit from SABMiller.
In the United Kingdom, Carling Black Label released a series of ads showing someone doing something cool, clever or difficult, and having a bystander say "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label". Created by the WCRS agency in 1989, many of the adverts featured comedians Mark Arden and Stephen Frost (alias The Oblivion Boys) delivering the classic punchline. Largely because of this advertising campaign, it became the best-selling brand of beer in Britain since 1971.
WCRS also created hugely successful television and cinema adverts for Carling Premier. Carling Premier adverts were renowned for their unusual cinematography and stylish soundtracks. Cult film director Wim Wenders shot one commercial in Iceland, starring actor James Buller and actress Rebecca Godwin showing Buller riding a bicycle on a highwire over a waterfall. This advertising campaign alone cost in excess of 1 million GBP. All Carling Premier adverts were large budget and designed to promote the premium nature of the brand.
In 1999 Carling achieved sales of 1 billion pints in the UK, breaking the previous record and strengthening its position as the No.1 selling lager.
Carling are currently the main sponsor both Celtic F.C and Rangers F.C in an attempt to make the brand more popular in Scotland. Scotland is the only region in the UK where Carling is not the top selling Lager currently outsold by Tennent's Lager. They are also the main title sponsor of the Football League Cup, and were former sponsors of the Premier League.
Carling is also a major sponsor of live music in the UK, sponsoring the Academy Music Group venues (including Brixton Academy), as well as the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

References

★ Molson merges with Carling - CBC News: National, Broadcast Date: Jan. 18, 1989; reporter Tom Kennedy

External links

★ Falstaff Brewing -- History of Carling

★ Partial essay on the History of Carling

★ Museum London -- Carling

★ Official Carling Lager website

★ RateBeer - Molson

★ RateBeer -South Africa

★ British Carling television ads