Boards 8-9

But first, for those allergic to links, here's the pictures of my prize from yesterday- a 1935 Centlivre Old Crown from the Summit City (AKA Ft. Wayne), complete with bottle.

This is a cork lined original to the two replicas featured on the board six post.  Apparently, several brewers used this cap- and at least one was our hometown brewery.

Anyway, let's get started with boards 8, which ends the first binder.

This board is also part of the great e-bay initial haul. We lead off with Costa Rica's Imperial.  This is made by Cerveceria Costa Rica from San Jose- but was originally known as the Florida Ice & Farm Co. started in 1908 in La Florida de Siquirres, Costa Rica.  Next up is a Guinness; Beside him is the GB of the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, brewed by founded by Dan Gordon and Dean Biersch out of another San Jose, the one in California. Then comes the very pale colors of Plzensky Prazdoj, which I incorrectly thought was Polish.  I was close- it is from the city of Plsen, currently in the Czech Republic in Bohemia.  The name can be roughly translated into English as "the Fountainhead at Pilsen" or "the original source of Pilsner".
Then comes your standard Fosters- "Australian for 'beer' ".

The second row leads off with Birra Peroni, out of Lombardy in Italy.  This is brewed by SABMiller, a huge Kraken of a company which is the merger of South African Breweries and Miller, which is in North America the Miller/Molson/Coors empire, and in Europe include not only Peroni but the aforementioned Plzensky Prazdoj and Holland's Grolsch, as well as extensive holdings in Latin America. Next are a pair of identical twins- two color variations of Sierra Nevada.  The first is a Pale Ale- the second leading USA craft beer in sales behind Sam Adams Boston Lager.  The second is their Glissade Golden Bock.  This company was formed as a home brewery in 1979 in Palo Alto, CA.  This brings us to one of my 2 Amstel Lights.  Rounding out row two is a Bud Ice.

Row three is a Sam Adams Seasonal; after him is a Warsteiner, brewed since 1753 in Warstein in west-central Germany- the largest private brewery in Germany.  Sandwiched between standard issue Bud lights and Coors Light is a Modelo from Mexico City.  An identical with slightly different shading we'll come across later.  After the standard Michelob Ultra in row 4 we have a Troegs, out of Harrisburg PA.  Then comes the sister Amstel Light, with "imported at the bottom instead of the top.  Next is a Saranac, brewed by F.X. Matt, formerly better known for Utica Club and Maximus Super (another can which I found the first in our area- and traded it for a Schlitz Malt Liquor because I liked the color!!!).  Finishing off the board is a Blue Moon, a Coors witbier ( a Belgian type which uses little or no hops and a lot of orange). 

Board 9, which opens up book two, goes back to the older caps of the collection.  The first two rows feature a collection of Schlitzes:  A tall twist that was found near that Georgia Falstaff behind the shed at the old house; A Malt liquor tall twist, probably from Zulu; a pull ring, found at the dump in Pokagon; a non-twist oldie also from the dump; the standard "twist off or use opener", one of my nephew's acquisitions; in row two, a Florida twist from the legendary trip; and a fellow tripper from Georgia.  Then come a pair of Stroh's tall twists- one a pale gold, the flat one a pale silver, both road finds.  Rounding out row 2 is a Schmidt's twist off, another road find.

Next comes my first two Rolling Rocks- the first a twist off acquired by my nephew; the other, with the gash poked in the middle, he had on a bottle he got from some collector.  Then comes a blue Bud twist off, perhaps home-drank.  Then come two road finds: a Little Kings tall twist, and a Miller Lite twist off.  Moving to row 4, We have the color-scheme twins Miller twist offs, from Zulu.  Then come three Stroh's to end our journey- a rarely seen red, the "old style" twist off, and the standard maize-background crested cap.  The first two were road finds, the other a Zulu child.

Finally, let's answer the question: what/where is Zulu? The dry details are here; But to me, Zulu was a second home.   My Aunt and two uncles (siblings, people) all lived there; The general store, the Zulu Tavern (Later Billy's Haystack), and the Zulu Garage were all there.  The legends of my youth, the semi-legendary Hiney Winery behind the library, the local "dead man's curves", were all there.  My first legal beer and my first illegal wedding was there.  R/T Machines, with snowmobiles and so much more, is there.  It was a dead three-mile walk from my door to the door of the general store (though by the time I walked it, it was Lortie's Bar).  In 1898, it was a hamlet, a crossroads called 4 Corners- but the government wanted to establish a post office, and that name was taken.  Somebody got out a geography book, randomly turned to a map of Africa and stuck a pin in the page- whence comes Zulu.  In my father's youth, it had two baseball teams- the Blues and the Juniors. It was the gathering point of my father's family, and the site of some of the most pointless arguments ever waged.  I had my first paying job there, and my first bad case of poison ivy.  About 70% of our families old 8mm movies were filmed there.  It wasn't quite home, but to tell anyone out that way you lived on the near side of Zulu was enough to get an, "Oh, I know where you're at."  The best cheeseburgers I've ate to this day were cooked by Bill Riley at Zulu, and in a poem I wrote that got published in the Monroeville Breeze, the term Zuluburger was born, and to the best of my knowledge still exists.  I never lived in Zulu, it's true.  But you could never tell the story of my life- not by half- without it.



Three Rivers Festival find!!

Hop on over to Tilting At Windmills and see the new addition to the collection - aprize that will NEVER go into the binder books!  Why? well, go see!

Boards 5-6-7

Time to get some more boards put up here.  No new acquisitions here lately- with work the way it is, I probably won't be e-baying for a while.  We are up to board #5.



First up is an almost flat Michelob Light from Florida, obviously a Florida trip prize.  Next to him is a split-color Mich Light ez-twist that looks like it might have been a home drank bottle. Then comes the standard Mich ez-twist, along with a Florida model of the same thing.  Finishing out row 1 is a Miller High Life ez-twist from Florida. On the bottom we see one of the green Miller caps which I think may have indicated 3.2 beer (weaker alcohol for Sunday sales).  Next is a trio of Canada's Molson beers- first is a Molson Golden Ale, then the blue clipper ship that indicated Molson Export, and finally the red and blue of Molson Canadian.  Then we have a rather rough around the sides Oktoberfest, from Canada.  I remember the huge 132-oz cans you could get of this stuff, the biggest can you could collect back then.

Next is an Old Chicago twist off, a Zulu cap.  Then come my pride and joy Old Crowns- First my cork liner Old Crown red c.1950, then a white version plastic liner, and finally an Old Crown Ale.  The red and green are '37 Chevy finds, the somewhat worse for wear white one was a more modern 1980s cap after Peter Hand bought the brand.  Wrapping up that row is an Old German 2¢ Virginia cork that was a dump find; below that we have three Old Milwaukees out of four.  The first is a Florida which I think was also a dump find , rather than a trip prize. After him is the surrounded Heileman's Old Style, a Zulu cap.  Of the remaining Old Mils, the next one is a Florida and the last is a regular, and I believe both of them I found on the Florida trip. The difference in the two Floridas is that the first has it printed right under the crest, the other is just above the ring.  The last of board 5 is an Olympia tall aluminum twist that may also have came on the trip.  It would've been neat if I'd have kept track of the when and wheres, but it hardly seemed important back then.

That brings us to Board #6, and it leads with another "Oly", this one the regular size "sof-twist cap"  Back then, Olympia advertised with a character that came in the bar and shouted "Olys for the house!"  Our High School a.d. back then was a well-known alcoholic, and was often greeted in large groups of students by an anonymous "Olys for the house!" shout.  Never did quite figure out where it was coming from though.  Usually from someone in our little group.  Next is an Olympia Gold, which was their original light beer.  This was a "nephew" acquisition. The next two were road finds- a standard Oly, and an Oly Light (you can see "light" in cursive above the "Olympia").  Then begins the great collection of my father's brand, Pabst Blue Ribbon.  At the end of row 1 is a tall twist; The next two were the standard Pabst caps of the day. #1 is a dark blue on flat silver, a zapatA cap, the other a Crown Cork Co. that was a lighter blue on polished silver.  Interrupting the group was a Renner Old Oxford Ale, that was pilfered by my nephew from the can show.  I suspect this was a re-creation, as the Goerge Renner Brewing Co., the oldest brewery in Ohio, shut down in December of 1952 and nobody picked up the brand's production.  After him are the oddballs of the Pabst family- a blue-background that has the outline of the ribbon, and a red one that does not.  The red one was from the Chevy; I think I found the blue one in our basement.

Next we have a red twist off, and I think that was a road cap.  Then come three blue  twist offs: the first a GEORGIA from the trip; then the standard with the light blue; then a Georgia state seal (which is almost obliterated by a rust spot).   Next comes Pabst's foray into light beer, the Pabst Extra Light.  Second row is another standard twist, this one the dark blue and flat silver version.  Exiting the PBR family, we then have a Pearl with the double "twist-turn" and stamped FLORIDA.  Pearl was a brewery out of Texas, I think San Antonio.  Then the final two of the four "pilferings" from the can show, a pair of generic Bock  caps from Armstrong.  Out of the four, only the Renner held up, the others gained "age spots" almost immediately.  Finally for board six is an Old Chicago with the signature "PHBCO" for Peter Hand, who I suspect had a bit of an ego.

Board seven has some of the caps I got in my first great e-bay purchase- a lot of 100 caps, mostly microbreweries, of which I got 78 usable caps from.  The first is a "Rich and flavorful O'Doul's Amber." I think this is a Miller non alcoholic brand.  Next comes the first of many Rolling Rocks.  I remember another trip with my brother's family, this time to Fawn Forest campground near Angola.  On a walk there I found the first Rolling Rock can we'd ever seen, before it had ventured far from its Latrobe, PA base.  It took me five minutes to even determine if it was indeed beer, it seemed. Next is a Bud Light, standard fare; that HB is a Hofbrauhaus out of Munich, and next to him a Samuel Adams.  Second row is a Sam Adams "brewmaster's collection", followed by a Bud Light "pry off".  The following Miller Lite reads "4-time world beer cup gold award winner" on the top, with the years below.  Then comes a "Millenium " Budweiser, released to celebrate the millenium in 1999.  The green cap with the lighthouse comes to us from the Blue Point micro from Patchogue, Long Island.

Wrapping up this especially-long trip, we lead off the second half of board seven with a Leinkugels "Leinie's Oktoberfest".  Next is from the Brooklyn brewing micro, folled by one of my two Amstel Lights.  The red "h" is the Harpoon micro out of Boston, and Windsor, VT.  The next cap, with the Eagle and "America's Oldest Brewery" logo is a Yuengling, which was established in 1829.  We used to get uengling cans; but in 1996 they pulled back into their home area to reconsolidate to better meet demand.  They then slowly expanded, and bought the old Strohs plant in Tampa to complete their jouney back into the wider world.

Bottom row starts out with a Guinness draught, then a Clipper City micro from Baltimore.  Then comes a Bells which seems to be a tavern beer from England, but I could be wrong here.  Next comes the Smuttynose brewery of Portsmouth, NH, which features a seal in front of a mountain, with the legend, "Make Mine A Smutty!" (which was quite an eye opener for someone who hadn't heard of them before).  And we finish off this post with a Newcastle Brown Ale, which is brewed by Heineken in the UK.

Wow, three boards done! take your time, savor the flavor, and I'll send ya some more later.