Interesting Trivia

Yesterday, I was talking with some students about this cooler I have at home with the Falstaff Brewing Company logo on it. I told them that it was the third largest brewery in the U.S. at one time and was centered in St. Louis, my home town. It was my parents' cooler and they gave it to me. It is easily 40 years old now and going strong.

Last night, at the copyright presentation, I mentioned Jasper Johns' bronze sculpture of two Ballantine beer cans and how the beer company might sue him now but not back then. I queried the presenter on the reason.

Painted Bronze (Ballantine Ale)
1960
Painted Bronze
14 x 20.3 x 12.1 cm (5 1/2 x 8 x 4 3/4")
Kunstmuseum Basel

Upon my research this morning, I realized that Ballantine Ale had fallen under the auspices of Falstaff Brewing Company in the 1960s--a strange cooincidence. Even stranger, was that as I was researching the Falstaff Brewing Company, the Lemp family, who started the company had a very familiar sounding name to me. Then it dawned on me: The Lemp family has a mansion in St. Louis called The Lemp Mansion, which is the most notorious haunted house in the city. So, there you have it: Jasper Johns, St. Louis, Falstaff Brewing Company, Ballantine Ale, and haunted houses: all connected. And, it is always nice to make connections in one's hometown. : )