Hamm’s Beer started production in 1865 in St. Paul, Minnesota. But it was not until the 1950s that the brand debuted the Hamm’s bear, a cartoon bear mascot. The Hamm’s bear made his way into a series of commercials, always accompanied by the catchy jingle that was also created in the 1950s. Below is one of the earliest of these Hamm’s Beer commercials, in black and white and coming in at a full minute and a half.
The Hamm’s bear was originally drawn by the Ojibwe artist Patrick Desjarlait. Desjarlait had a long and varied career as both a fine artist, mainly in watercolors, and a commercial artist. While he made such logos as the Standard Gas firebird and revamped the Land O’ Lakes butter maiden, Desjarlait always considered the Hamm’s bear “one of my most delightful accomplishments in commercial art.”
Bill Stein, a career illustrator for Hamm’s, took Desjarlait’s design and inked it into the commericals, other advertising, and company memorabilia. You can watch Stein talking about his experiences with Hamm’s below. As he describes, “I started with Hamm’s Brewing Co. in 1954, and I drew him so many times that I’m almost a bear myself. Me and that bear were close friends for 30-some years. It feels great. I’m very humbled that I could be a part of something that was so successful. It was just a fantastic ride. It was my whole life.”
The Hamm’s Beer commercials featuring the bear came and went in various guises over the decades. By the late 70s and early 80s, the Hamm’s bear was featured in a series of advertisements with a little interspecies hijinks, including with a beaver, as you can see below.
The Hamm’s Beer commercials were wildly successful, helping to fuel sales and generate a core group of Hammpions, as lovers of the beer from the land of sky blue waters are known. The bear fell into disuse in the 1990s, but the beer is still going strong. And, not too many people have forgotten the star of it all, the Hamm’s bear, who was named one of the top 100 ad campaigns by the industry journal Ad Age.
If you are interested in more on Hamm’s Beer commercials and the rest of their advertising, definitely check out The Paws of Refreshment: The Story of Hamm’s Beer Advertising. And, if you were at all confused, the lyrics to the jingle are as follows:
From the land of sky blue waters,
From the land of pines, lofty balsams,
Comes the beer refreshing,
Hamm’s, the beer refreshing.
Brewed where nature works her wonders,
Aged for many moons, gently mellowed,
Hamm’s the beer refreshing,
Hamm’s the beer refreshing,
Hamm’s.
