The History of Black Label Beer

Black Label is a brand of beer that is most popular in Britain and is well-regarded through the entire former British Empire. It is also known as Carling Black Label, as the beer used to be produced by Carling Company.

The beer was created the year Prohibition ended, 1933 (perhaps as a celebration of it). It started out in a former automobile factory (Peerless Automobile factory) in Cleveland, Ohio. Carling Company had been around for awhile, but Black Label was its first venture into the American market. The executives of Carling were very intuitive and intelligent, and intended Black Label to be cheap yet high quality. They did this by placing breweries in strategic places around the United States to ensure freshness and cheapness. The strategy worked, as it turned Carling from the 20^th largest brewer into the 8^th largest. Even more amazing, they did it in six years, and with so many competitors, that is really saying something about the company.

Although it did well in the United States, the owners were determined to make Black Label into an international drink. It went to Britain (where, as stated, it is still very popular), and once it had a foothold there, started entering more countries such as South Africa, New Zealand, and Austraila.

Despite the beer's success, there was a short period when Carling stopped brewing Black Label in order to focus on making something better. The decision resulted in a sharp decline in sales, and Carling knew they had to bring it back. When they reintroduced it, the beer became associated with the "mascot", a beautiful woman named Mabel (portrayed by Jeanne Goodspeed). Mabel was an odd name, but it rhymed with Black Label and made for quite an appealing slogan ("Hey Mabel, Black Label!").

Even though Carling was a relatively large company and Black Label was a popular beer, the company was still small in comparison to big companies like Anheuser-Busch. Carling was pressured for years from big brewers, and in 1979 was bought out by Heileman Brewing Co. of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. It didn't stay with that company for long, and is currently owned by Molson Coors Brewing Company.

Black Label was popular in South Africa for reasons that it couldn't have in any other country. During the anti-apartheid movements, Black Label was a prideful beer to the native Africans (it had a connation with Black, obviously). Another, much more literal and physical reason was that it had more alcohol than other beers available.

An ad campaign used in the United Kingdom was one that resulted in the beer being the best-selling since 1971. The commercials involved someone doing something amazing, and then a person watching would say, "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label."