Why is there
a " 33 "
on Rolling Rock
beer labels ?
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_044
Dear
Cecil:
.
The other day my friends and I were sitting around knocking back a few beers
when we came upon a question we realized only you can answer: why does it say
"33" on the back of the labels of Rolling Rock beer
?
.
We all know it's brewed from pure artesian well water in the glass-lined tanks
of
.
I remember seeing it on the pony bottles ("a little nip") I drank in
the
.
Dear Stephanie: I would venture to
say there are still one or two people in this country who don't know about
Rolling Rock beer. Too bad. It is a brave little brew
with many shining qualities to recommend it. Among them:
.
(1) It's got a taste with some gravel to it, at least on occasion--the flavor
is notoriously variable.
.
(2) They print the ingredients on the label, unlike most brewers. (They use
water, malt, rice, corn, hops, and brewer's yeast, in case you're interested.)
But most important of all:
.
(3) It's got an undeniable mystique, which derives mainly from the enigmatic
33.
.
The official explanation for the number, which is not entirely coterminous with
the REAL explanation, is that 33 signifies two things:
the year Prohibition was repealed (1933), and the number of words in the legend
printed above the number on cans and returnable bottles. I quote:
.
"Rolling Rock from glass lined tanks in the
.
Now, this is a touching sentiment, and there is no question it has 33 words in
it. But from the standpoint of intellectual satisfaction, it sucks. Therefore, I hunted up James L. Tito, who at
one time was chief executive officer of Latrobe Brewing, the maker of Rolling Rock
beer.
.
Mr. Tito's family owned Latrobe from the end of Prohibition until the company
was sold to an outfit in
.
Based on some old notes and discussions with family members now dead, Mr. Tito
believes that putting the 33 on the label was nothing more or less than a
horrible accident. It happened like this:
.
When the Titos decided to introduce the Rolling Rock
brand around 1939, they couldn't agree on a slogan for the back of the bottle.
Some favored a long one, some a short one. At length somebody came up with the
33-word beauty quoted above, and to indicate its modest length, scribbled a big
"33" on it.
.
More argument ensued, until finally somebody said, dadgummit,
boys, let's just use this one and be done with it, and sent the 33-word version
off to the bottle maker.
.
Unfortunately, no one realized that the big 33 wasn't supposed to be part of
the design until 50 jillion returnable bottles had been made up with the errant
label painted permanently on their backsides. (I suppose this bespeaks a certain inattentiveness on the part of the Tito family,
but I am telling you this story just as it was told to me.)
.
This being the Depression and all, the Titos were in
no position to throw out a lot of perfectly good bottles. So they decided to
make the best of things by concocting a yarn about how the 33 stood for the
year Prohibition was repealed.
.
In retrospect, this was a stroke of marketing genius. Next to cereal boxes,
beer labels are probably the most thoroughly scrutinized artifacts in all of
civilization, owing to the propensity of beer drinkers to stare morosely at
them at three o'clock in the morning.
.
The Rolling Rock "33" has baffled beer lovers for generations, and
accordingly has become the stuff of barroom legend. I have letters claiming
that the number has something to do with a satanic ritual, that it was the age
of Christ when he died, even that it signifies the number of glass-lined tanks
in the Latrobe plant.
.
Tres
bizarre, but if M. Tito is to be believed, not quite as bizarre as the truth.
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