Bevo (beverage) facts for kids
Bevo was a non-alcoholic malt beverage, or near beer, brewed in the United States by the Anheuser-Busch company beginning in the early 20th century. Bevo enjoyed its greatest success during the time of Prohibition, when beer, wine and distilled liquors were made illegal for thirteen years.
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Prohibition
The Anheuser-Busch company started brewing Bevo when alcoholic beverages were prohibited in 1916 by the United States armed forces. Production rose greatly with national prohibition in 1919, and Bevo was by far the most popular of the many "cereal beverages" or "near beers" of the time. At the peak of its popularity in the early 1920s, more than five million cases of Bevo were sold annually.
Labels on the bottles billed it as "Bevo the Beverage". The name "Bevo" was coined from the word "beverage" and the Slavic language word for beer, pivo, and was pronounced "Bee-vo".
Decline
In the late 1920s, smuggled bootleg beer and liquor as well as "homebrew", cut into Bevo's marketshare. With sales flattening to 100,000 cases by 1929, Anheuser-Busch stopped production.
The Bevo building, with the Renard character prominently displayed at the corners, still operates as a bottling facility at their main brewery in St. Louis, Missouri. The landmark Bevo Mill, constructed by August Anheuser Busch, Sr. in 1917, was closed in 2009, but reopened in October 2009 under new owners.
Advertising
Some Bevo advertising featured the character "Renard the Fox" (based on the protagonist of a medieval French folk tale), and promotional mugs with this character were manufactured. In 1930, Anheuser-Busch built a series of boat-bodied cars in its St. Louis shops called the "Bevo Boats" which were used for promotion. Seven are believed to have been built on Pierce-Arrow 8-cylinder chassis while one surviving example was based upon 1930 Cadillac 353 V8.
A contemporary advertisement read "Cooling and invigorating, Bevo the Beverage. Order by the case from your grocer, druggist, or dealer." The paper label on the back of the bottle read "The All-Year-Round Soft Drink. Appetizing - Healthful - Nutritious - Refreshing. Milk or water may contain bacteria. BEVO never does."
Popular culture
Bevo became part of the popular culture of the time, and is mentioned in various popular songs and vaudeville skits of the era. This led to secondary slang uses of the word; for example, in American military slang a young and inexperienced officer was called a "Bevo". The University of Texas named its mascot "Bevo", a name which has stuck to this day.
In 1919, Tim Moore, a vaudeville comedian who had just arrived in Detroit to fulfill a theatrical booking, wrote this line tp a Chicago newspaper editor, "Dry Detroit, Mich.; Dear Pal Tony: Just a few lines to let you know we arrived safely in the home of Ford's Tin Lizzies, "Bevo" and other temperate beers."
