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.