American Breweriana is a three-volume series of reference guides containing imagery captured by Jim Bunte while shooting for auction catalogs in the early 2000s. As collectors decided to divest, or estates were being liquidated, incredible examples of beer and liquor advertising from the 20th century would pass before the camera: serving trays, tip / change trays, retailer displays and figural back-bar items like brewery mascots — all for a nearly forgotten period in American marketing history. Coming in at 140 pages in a softcover, perfectbound format, Volume I begins in the late 1890s and proceeds through Prohibition, with more than 130 rare and collectible items depicted in full color, accompanied by short histories of the breweries, distillers, rectifiers and importers who gave the trays and signs to bars, saloons, private clubs and hotels — wherever their products were sold. Return to a period of greatness — and in the case of Prohibition (1920-1933) — a national attempt at behavioral control that only fueled violence, organized crime and illicit brewing, distilling and smuggling — which ended up with the repeal of the 18th Amendment in late 1933.
Jim Bunte is an author of numerous books, including the Antique Americana series of reference guides on old toys, advertising and coin-operated devices, as well as Grand Prix 1966, a behind-the-scenes look at the film starring James Garner with images captured by his best friend and business partner, Luis Delgado.