Won a lot of forty caps (mainly defunct micros) from eBay. Spent most of the afternoon trying to track the little buggers down! But, I was 98% successful, so here we go!
A TON of these are from Evansville Brewing, who brewed a lot of rare and wild things for others before going belly-up. On this page, they include top row #1, a Gerst (originally from Gerst Haus in Nashville, TN); right next door, that is Joe's Freakin' Micro; then the next three, two are Blue Ridge beer ( originally from Rainbow Ridge in Marietta GA), the second one having a FL tax stamp, and the third is a Red Ridge Ale; second in row 2 is a John Gilbert's Riverboat Brand; next to him a Bicycle malt beverage ("We brewed the beer flavor out and brewed the fruit flavor in", somewhat like today's Smirnoff Ice flavors); At the front of the bottom row, that's a Bad Frog Malt Liquor flipping you off ( a trait for which it was banned in Pennsylvania); and third and fourth in that row are a Jackaroo Micro Light and a Gringo Light. The remainders of the picture? Leading off row 2 is an Eddie McStiffs, a bar/pub in Moab, UT. Fourth in the row is a Teton Ale from Grand Teton brew/pub in Wyoming. The text says, at the top, A Taste Of The Tetons, and at the bottom, Jackson Hole's Original. Next is a Burger, which I have others, including from it's first life as a major brewer out of Cincinnati; this is from it's current life as a craft brewer. That rogue in the middle of the rows is a River City, which is a micro out of Wichita, KS. Bottom row #2 was a "Certified" Sauna Beer made by Bosch from 1968-1973, based on a traditional Finnish recipe "for when you get out of the sauna". After that, the brand was bought by Leinkugel, who sold only the Bosch brand until 1986. The last one in the picture is a 10th anniversary version of Winterfest, a seasonal by Coors. 10th Anniversary puts it at 2005.
This is Scrappy, who had to have his picture took when I turned on the camera.
Evansvillians (or Evansvillains, for what they put me through looking for them) are but 2 in this picture- the last two. The sunny fellow is a Hey Mon Lite, and the other is a Mississippi, a twist off to go with a plain one I have elsewhere in our journey. Top row consists of, first, an Iron City. I have a comic book where a omnipowerful character goes to some alien boardwalk and orders a beer. The bartender says, "Rigellian, Skrull, or..." and OC says, "Earth beer, you dummy!" The bartender says nervously, "Of course, sir, Iron City, sir, the BEST!" Next is a Rhino Chasers beer. This brand was aoriginally brewed by William and Scott brewery in Huntington Beach CA, where a rhino chaser was a surfer hunting a "rhino" (big wave) with his "gun" (Board). That concern folded, but a craft brewer in northern Virginia bought the TM and brewed it once again in tribute. This one also has a FL tax stamp. Then comes a Slim Chance Light Ale, one of two caps in the lot brewed by Red Hook - the other being the Black Hook porter at the front of the bottom row. Then comes a Red Bell, from a defunct Philly brewery. The next one posed the biggest problem to find, because the only way to find it was to figure out what the near microscopic writing on top of the word "country" in "Country Spring" was. I finally found one I could blow up on a Russian collector's site- it said, "MountainMeadows". The Mountain Meadow Country Spring company was a San Diego concern that has, as Rush Limbaugh says, assumed room temperature.
The next one, second in the bottom row, is not actually a beer brand. Morgan's is an Australia-based outfit who sells beer-making kits for home brewers. Then comes an Aviator Ales, which was out of Woodinville, WA.
The last of the lot Had the remaining 2 Evansvillains, an Alabama, and it's twist-off twin. Then comes a WBC, which stands for Wyoming Brewing Co., out of Hazelton, WY. The next is a Widmer Brothers (who I discussed in a much earlier post), this one being an exact replica save for the much-larger text around the edge band. Then comes a pair from Wachusett Brewing, also talked about in that much earlier post. The first says "only available in Wachusett Brewery, Westminster, Massachusetts", while the second says "since 1994" on the top. The SSB is from State Street Brewing, another cap from that post. And there at the end... well, I have no clue what it is, after hours of searching it out. I'm guessing it could be another Evansvillain, but I have no idea.
Later in the day, my plan to eliminate having binders lying about the living room came to fruition, when a nice man from Rome City delivered this:
Yes, sir, an Old Crown beer case! In fact this was no normal beer case...
The stamp says "DRINKING CUPS", and what it held at one time were rounded down cans that could be used for... drinking cups! What it holds now are the 550 members of the Martin cap collection. And that nice man, having learned what I had intended for it, also brought along another surprise...
A Centlivre Old Crown, cork backed, from the early 40's. Altogether, an exhausting but A-1 day for the collection!
The Ship on Gold is Cold Storage Brewing out of Tampa, FL. Yes, it is contracted out of Watchusetts in Mass. Possibly they bought the brand but it is only a year or so old.
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