Here is an Old Reading Gus Beer Tray from the Old Reading Brewing Company located in Reading, PA. This Old Reading Gus Beer Tray is from the 1950’s era and is in excellent condition for it’s age. The graphics on this tray are still very bright and vibrant. The graphic on the tray is the Old Reading Brewery’s Pennsylvania Dutch mascot “Old Gus” holding his beer stein attempting to make his dog do a trick. The tagline “Say Old Reading Beer” was a tag the brewery used on a lot of their advertising signs and in marketing campaigns, not just with the dog but as a stand alone tagline for the viewer.
Old Gus was also used in other promotional items from the brewery too. He appeared on signs, trays, billboards, glasses, lights, statues, tap knobs, coasters just to name a few. Probably one of the most recognizable examples of signs that Old Gus was on was the Gillco Old Reading Beer Cab Light. Old Gus was the face of the brewery up until the end of the 1960’s when the brewery changed names and wanted to go for a more up-to-date modern way of marketing themselves to the public.