Wild Turkey is a brand of bourbon that is distilled and bottled in Kentucky, being most famous for it's country roots and "country" clients. Bourbon, a type of whiskey, was created by Reverend Elijah Craig in 1789, that uses a special mixture of corn, rye and barley malt. It became known as "bourbon" after being distilled in Bourbon County, KY. Fast forward to 1855, Austin Nichols starts up a business as a wholesale grocer specializing in teas, coffees and spirits. In 1939, they decided to shed their wholesale grocery business to focus totally on fine wines and spirits.

Just one year later, Austin Nichols' executive Thomas McCarthy took a jug of undiluted high-proof bourbon on a wild turkey hunting trip with his friends. His friends liked it so much that they asked him to bring more of "that wild turkey whiskey" for future outings. McCarthy launched the brand 12 years later, paying homage to his friends by naming it "Wild Turkey."

Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the U.S., being established in 1829. It all started with German brewer, David G. Jüngling, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1823. He anglicized his name to Yuengling and began the "Eagle Brewery" in Pottsville, PA in 1829. After his eldest son took his own stab at starting a brewery, which ended up burning down, the father and son teamed up to create "D.G. Yuengling and Son" in 1873. Although the company's name changed, the bald eagle remained the company emblem as a symbol of the company's long tradition. In 1970, Albert Marzano created the existing logo.

Some good to know info: Yuengling survived the Prohibition era by producing "near beers" that were only 0.5% alcohol. The company also ran a dairy, which produced ice cream and opened dance halls in Philadelphia and New York City. After the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933, Yuengling sent a truckload of "Winner Beer" to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in appreciation, which arrived the day the amendment was repealed – particularly notable since Yuengling beer takes almost three weeks to brew and age.

Bacardi is a clear rum, that was first produced in Cuba by Facundo Bacardi in 1862. The origin of the bat logo comes from the first Bacardi distillery, where there was a colony of fruit bats living in the rafters. Facundo's wife, Dona Amalia Lucia Victoria Moreau, suggested employing the bat as the trademark. Her reasoning was that bats were considered a sign of good fortune and it would make for an easily recognizable symbol. With the local rate of illiteracy being very high, placing an easily identifiable icon on the bottle would tell people that they were buying Don Facundo's rum of the bats. They implemented the bat logo on all bottles and it worked. Word of Don Facundo's bat, which brought good fortune and smooth charcoal-mellowed rum, spread. Today, Bacardi is the top-selling rum in the world.

An interesting fact is that even though Bacardi started in Cuba, they no longer have any factories or ties to the country. Bacardi was a considerable force in the Cuban nationalistic movements for over 100 years. For this reason, in the 1950s they supported Fidel Castro, donating tens of thousands of dollars to his cause. But soon after Castro came to power, he appropriated the Bacardi factories and exiled most of the family. Bacardi sued and won rights to keep their name and rum but they never forgot the betrayal. To this day, they continue to use their financial and political power to make things difficult for Cuba.

Jägermeister is a 70-proof spirit which contains 56 herbs, roots, and spices.

According to legend (that is, the Jägermeister site), the deer trails back to the story of St. Hubertus, the patron saint of hunters. In his youth, Hubert was a wild and unrestrained hunter, who had no respect towards the creatures he hunted and was consumed with a drive to kill. This happened until one day, emerging from the dark woods, a large deer carrying an illuminated cross between his antlers confronted him. Suddenly a voice from above commanded, "Hubertus, unless you turn to the Lord and lead a holy life, then you will parish in Hell." From that point on, he devoted himself to good works under the banner of the antlered stag. He died in 727 AD and centuries later he was honored as a patron saint. It is from this story's inspiration that the trademark derives.

Jägermeister was created by Curt Mast in 1935, an avid German hunter (who apparently was involved in the Nazi party). Originally marketed as a medicinal product, it claimed to cure everything from coughing to digestive problems. It was even used in World War II as a field anesthetic. The actual word "Jägermeister" is German for "Master Hunter" and is a respected hunting position in Germany. Rumors suggest it contains deer blood and/or heroin.

St. Pauli Girl is a German beer that is brewed in the St. Pauli Brauerei, located within Beck's brewery in Bremen, Germany. The name, "St. Pauli" comes from the ancient St. Paul's Monastery on which the original St. Pauli Brewery was founded and built in the 17th Century. The beer is brewed according to an ancient food regulation still in force throughout Germany today. A Bavarian duke known as Wilhem IV sought to establish a standard, which all German beers were required to follow for "how beer is to be brewed and served in both winter and fall." The actual decree states: "from now on, in all towns, markets and villages, nothing more is used for beer than barley malt, hops and water alone."

According to sources, the St. Pauli girl on the label was introduced in the 1800s to depict the traditional outfits that beer maids would wear. There is also speculation that the image is supposedly an allusion to Hamburg's red light district known as the "St. Pauli district".

The beer was first introduced in the U.S. in 1965. Since 1977, St. Pauli Girl Beer has chosen a model to represent the beer brand nationally each year, with the last 10 years typically being a Playboy Playmate. It is currently the second most popular German beer in the U.S.

Captain Morgan Rum was first produced by the Seagram Company by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1944 in Jamaica. They named the libation after Captain Henry Morgan, a buccaneer who spent much of his career roaming the Bahamas, wreaking havoc, searching for gold, and drinking lots of rum. He was actually one of few pirates who was knighted, thus making him "Sir Henry Morgan". His greatest feat was in 1670, when he led a fleet of 36 pirate ships to attack the City of Panama. He burned the city to the ground and made off with 400,000 pieces of gold, later stealing much of it from his own men.

Initially in the 1950s, the Captain Morgan character was often seen in high-society areas, holding his hat, looking like he was up-to no good. However, in 1983, Captain Morgan introduced spiced rum thus re-introducing the Captain Morgan character wearing a hat and holding a sword. Some say that the real Captain Morgan initially had nothing to do with the actual Captain Morgan Rum Company. That the character wasn't introduced until the 1950's (a decade after the company began). It is currently the second most popular rum in the world.

Sam Adams is currently the largest U.S. brewery, founded in 1985 by Jim Koch in Boston, MA. The original recipe, however, was developed in 1860 by Louis Koch under the name Louis Koch Lager. The Koch family brewed beer for 4 generations, until Jim's father, Charles decided to leave the beer business due to the lack of demand for classic, full-flavored beers. Jim didn't get into the beer industry until 1984 when he was 35. He reformulated his great-great grandfather's recipe with the help of Joseph Owades (who was credited with inventing light beer in the 70's) and introduced it as Samuel Adams Boston Lager, in Boston on Patriot's Day in 1985. Six weeks later, it was voted "Best Beer in the U.S." at the Great American Beer Festival and has never since turned back.

Koch originally wanted to use his family name for the beer, but was fearful that people would mispronounce it as "Cock". He instead decided to name the brand after Boston patriot Samuel Adams, a revolutionary thinker who fought for American independence. More importantly to Koch though, Samuel Adams was also a brewer who had inherited a brewing tradition and a brewery from his father. Oddly enough, the man that you see above is not Sam Adams. It is actually Paul Revere. Apparently, Sam Adams was not a good-looking man, so the company decided to combine Paul Revere's looks with Sam Adams achievements.

Johnnie Walker is the most widely distributed brand of Scotch whiskey in the world, with a yearly sales of over 130 million bottles. It all began with John "Johnnie" Walker, when he started selling whiskey in his grocer's shop in Scotland. One year, a devastating flood struck, completely wiping out his supply. Rather than giving up, he decided that he would come back twice as strong with a new strategy. Walker's son, Alexander first turned the store into a wholesale trading business, supplying pubs and stores across Scotland. Then he devised a new strategy of paying ship captains to haul and sell the liquor while they traveled the world. Within 2 years, the Walker brand had thousands of drinkers worldwide.

Alexander is also credited with improving the branding. He introduced the iconic square bottle with the label at a 24 degree angle in 1870. In 1906-1909, John's grandsons expanded the line and added color names. Then in 1908, James Stevenson, the Managing Director, implemented a re-branding and changed the name from Walker's Kilmarnock Whiskies to Johnnie Walker Whisky. They added the slogan, "Born 1820 - Still going strong!" along with the Striding Man, to be modeled after the company's founder, Johnnie Walker (created by cartoonist Tom Browne). While his dress and demeanor told the public that this was a drink for the elite, his belief was that through commitment and perseverance, any dream can be achieved and any obstacle overcome.

Although the icon itself has been drastically simplified, the image of the brand stays the same: through determination, you can achieve anything. "Keep walking."

Guinness is a dry stout beer that is known around the world. It was created by Arthur Guinness in 1759 in Dublin, Ireland.

Guinness's iconic stature is in large part due to their marketing campaigns. The company actually relied on word of mouth for 170 years, before rolling out its first advertising campaign in 1929. The campaign stemmed from market research, where people told the company that they felt good after drinking a pint. The famous slogan "Guiness is Good for You" was born. The most notable advertisements, however, were the ones from the 30's and 40's, created by artist John GIlroy, who featured a zookeeper chasing after his mischievous animals, exclaiming "My Goodness My Guinness."

Apparently, Gilroy got the idea after visiting a local zoo. He intended for a pelican to be the star of the campaign, encouraging Brits to drink "a Guinness a day", pictured with its beak loaded with seven pints. However, when the copy for the ad was deemed too outrageous (it used "hell" in it), they had a popular writer (Dorothy L. Sayers) re-write the copy, which focused on the Toucan and thus, a star was born. Gilroy produced more than 100 Guinness advertisements and more than 50 poster designs. His ads were often considered before his time for the typography and content, and they were very successful in their uplifting nature during such harsh economic times.

Other notable marketing campaigns were the "Bottle Drop" promotion, the "Pure Genius" campaign, and the "Surfer" campaign. This year, Guinness celebrates 250 years in business.. and they're still going strong.

Budweiser is one of the top-selling beers in the U.S and it all began with a German immigrant named Adolphus Busch.

Busch came to America with big ideas and almost no brewery experience. In 1859, he opened a brewer's supply store in St. Louis, MO with a small inheritance from his father's death. Meanwhile just across town, Eberhard Anheuser acquired the Bavarian Brewery, a struggling brewery that had been around since 1852. He renamed the brewery E. Anheuser Co. and soon became one of Busch's best customers. However, the brewery continued to fail and Anheuser soon became in debt to Busch. He offered Busch a percentage of the company and Busch agreed to it. He eventually became a salesman for Anheuser and within a year married Anheuser's daughter, Lilly.

Busch was a master marketer and employed a group of "collectors", as they were called, to go to all the local saloons and buy Anheuser beer for the locals. They didn't care who the beer was given to, they just wanted people to drink it. All the while, they would pamper the saloon owners to get their loyalty so they would keep their beer, despite the dismal sales and awful taste.

Then in 1876, Busch's close friend, Carl Conrad went traveling to Bohemia and bought a recipe for "the best beer he'd ever tasted" from a group of monks. Returning to America, he had the Anheuser brewery make the beer for him calling it "Bohemian Beer." He soon found it hard to keep his books balanced, and before long he was in debt to Busch. Busch offered to clear Conrad's debt, give him a job, as well as a handsome bonus in exchange for the formula. Conrad accepted. With this, Busch finally had the key to make the Anheuser business boom: the best tasting beer in the U.S. that could be bottled and sold cross-country without spoiling.

By 1879, with his father-in-law's death, Busch became President and in recognition of his contributions, the brewery was renamed Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association. 12 years later, they changed the name of their prized beer from "Bohemian Beer" to "Budweiser", after the town that it had been discovered in.

Budweiser is still one of the top-selling beers in the U.S. to date and their marketing techniques still haven't failed. Enter, the Budweiser Clydesdales. The Clydesdale horses were introduced to the public on April 7, 1933. August A. Busch presented the red, white, and gold beer wagon as a gift to his father, August Anheuser Busch Sr., to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition. The hitch carried the first case of post-Prohibition beer throughout the city of St. Louis in a grand celebration. Six teams of Clydesdales must meet certain requirements to qualify to be a Budweiser icon including size, age, and color specifications. Each horse, for example, must have white stocking feet and a blaze of white on its face. The Clydesdales have been used for many promotions in Budweiser television commercials, particularly in Super Bowl advertisements, symbolizing strength, tradition, and value.

For a listing of sources used in this posting, click here.