This article is about Black Label beer. For other uses of the phrase see black label.
Black Label is a brand of beer well known throughout the former British Empire except for the United States, where it is best known for its slogan "Hey Mabel, Black Label!". In several countries it is also known as Carling Black Label.
Created in Cleveland, Ohio in 1933 in the former Peerless Automobile factory, Black Label was the Carling Company's foray into the American market. Black Label's stated purpose was to be high quality beer at a discount rate, strategically placing breweries around the country to ensure low costs and fresh taste. Their strategy turned them from the 20th largest brewer in the United States to the 8th largest brewer in a matter of six years.
In Britain, Black Label began to take off and was shipped around the globe where it took up residence in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
After the Carling breweries in the United States stopped producing Black Label to focus on a more profitable lager, they found their sales plummeting and re-introduced Black Label with a beautiful blonde named Mabel, portrayed by Jeanne Goodspeed. The twenty year marketing campaign cemented the name in the popular culture of America.
In 1979, after several years of intense pressure from the larger American Brewers Miller and Anheuser-Busch Carling-National was bought out by the Heileman Brewing Co. of LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Carling and the Black Label brand are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company.