Carling Black Label is a lager distributed by Carling Brewing Company.

History

Although its original focus was on ale, Carling has brewed lager-style beers since the 1870s. In 1927, as part of a corporate re-branding under new president J. Innes Carling, the company renamed its Black & White Lager to Black Label.

Three years later, Carling was purchased by Toronto business tycoon E. P. Taylor, who merged it into his Canadian Breweries Limited (CBL), which grew to be the world's largest brewing company. Under Taylor, Black Label was promoted as CBL's flagship brand and went on to become the first beer to be brewed on a mass international scale, Carling Black Label was available to GIs in Vietnam, but still in steel cans, which were sometimes rusted when the troops got it there, and served warm.

When Carling stopped producing Black Label to focus on a more profitable lager, they found their sales plummeting. Carling re-introduced Black Label with a beautiful blonde named Mabel, portrayed by Jeanne Goodspeed, with the slogan "Hey Mabel, Black Label!". The twenty-year marketing campaign cemented the name in the popular culture of America.

In 1979, after several years of intense pressure from Miller and Anheuser-Busch, Carling was bought out by the Heileman Brewing Co. of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Carling and the Black Label brand are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. Though no longer widely distributed in the U.S., Black Label is still available in select markets (notably, metro Detroit), and remains the official beer of Beer Frisbee.

thumb|left|A pint of Carling in a pub in [[Kettering, England|alt=|324x324px]]

thumb|left|Carling Black Label sign on a club in [[Pontefract, West Yorkshire.]]

In the 1970s and 80s, Carling Black Label sales were driven to great heights, due partly to increased advertising support, in particular the classic "I bet he drinks" series of advertisements, and partly with the launch of Carling Black Label in cans. Cans were important to Carling's success as they helped open up the "take home" market. and at number 17 on Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest TV Ads" in 2000. Campaign Live also ranked it at number 5 in their list of the "Top 10 Funniest TV Ads of All Time" in 2008.

Carling was Britain's best selling draught beer between 1985 and 2024. Black Label was dropped from the brand name and logo in Britain in 1997,

South Africa

In South Africa, Black Label began to take on a different tone with the anti-apartheid movement. This was partly due to the fact that, at 5.5%, it had more alcohol than the other brands of beer that generally had 5.0%, as noted in the popular advertising catch phrase "only hard working students deserve an extra 0.5 percent".

thumb|upright|right|[[SABMiller variants of Black Label]]

Furthermore, the connotation of black to the racial issue became a point of pride to the native Africans. It used to be 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. Another famous Afrikaans slogan for Black Label in South Africa is "Black Label sê die bybel", which means "The Bible says (one should drink) Black Label".

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 trademark infringement lawsuit from SABMiller.

The brand has the local nickname "Zamalek", after the Egyptian soccer team Zamalek SC beat Kaizer Chiefs in the 1990s.

References

  • Official Carling Lager website