Sapporo Beer

Shapely, recyclable bi-metal can from Sapporo Beer, but why are the graphics of a Japanese beer so Soviet? (Star, wheat, red, gold, etc.) Coincidence? Geographic proximity? (Soviet poster from an Ebay auction is provided here for comparative purposes.)

 

Came across another, different sort of Soviet style beverage packaging... “Leninade” This photos was from the SodaKing website. I can’t find out much about makers, “Mr. Yin and Mr. Yang,  LLC” although there appears to have been some trademark litigation with Pepsi in 2005. (Anyone know anything more about it? Please comment.)

 

Comments

[J. D. King]

From Staten Island comes a sad attempt to revive the Cold War?

[Kelly]

RE: Leninaid

All I can tell you is that it tastes OK and for some reason is really popular with college students who do too much gaming (xbox live to rockstar/guitar hero to D&D) I am not sure why other than it's heavy sugar content. (It also goes well with vodka, but I am unsure if this is a factor.) The local Famima!! shops sell it in mass quantities.

[Lily]

I've had Leninade. The bottle is plastered with literally dozens of little Yakov Smirnoff-caliber "it's this or the Gulag!" type jokes printed on the bottlecap, on the label, on the glass of the bottle itself...

[Randy Ludacer]

Lily, Thanks for the comment. For me, the ironic use of the hammer & sickle symbol will always remind me of the 1966 movie by Karel Reisz, "Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment"... Although I guess there are also plenty of more recent example of it (New York Dolls early gigs with Malcolm Mclaren as manager; Komar & Melamid...) Part of the appeal, I think, for post-Mccarthy baby boom generation was the 'dangerous' idea of flirting with Communism. Hammer & Sickle = radical, crazy and hip. (And now: nostalgic)

http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/morgan_a_suitable/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan%21

[Vincent Vacco]

I have an old bottle of Sapporo Beer.
Imported by Corydon & Ohlrich Inc.
Chicago, Ill.

Can you tell me if it is worth anything.

Thank You
Vince Vacco