Chris goes crafty

Just got some new caps- and something else- in to share with you.  First up is something that will no doubt look familiar.

This Blatz is a mate to the Budweiser I got not long ago.  Unlike the Bud, I did find this one on the CCCI page, and they estimate a 1949-58 age.  In fact, I got it from the same guy- and he sent along a quarter to make up for the 50 cents postage due from the Bud.

That brings me to a set of Canadian corks that were both much older and more interesting than I imagined. 

Top and third are Boswells- one ale marked "QUEBEC" and one pale ale also marked thus.  Between them is a pale ale from William Dow and Co., Montreal.  Boswell was a brewer in Montreal from 1843-1952 until bought out by Dow. It was in turn bought out by Carling O'Keefe and shut down in 1966.  The Dow name was acquired with COK by Molson in 1989 and finally closed out by Molson in 1997.  But let me bring in Wikipedia to tell the really interesting part:


In August 1965, a patient presented to a hospital in Quebec City with symptoms suggestive of alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Over the next 8 months 50 more cases with similar findings appeared in the same area with 20 of these being fatal. It was noted that all patients were heavy drinkers who mostly drank beer and preferred the Dow brand, consuming an average of 24 pints of alcohol per day. Epidemological studies found that Dow had been adding cobalt sulfate to the beer for foam stability since July 1965 and that the concentration added in the Quebec city brewery was 10 times that of the same beer brewed in Montreal where there were no reported cases .^[3]
Although Dow denied any responsibility, the Dow Brewery in Quebec City temporarily shut down and the remaining beer was dumped into the Saint Lawrence River. At the time of the incident, Dow Ale was the number one selling beer in Quebec, however, as a result of the "tainted beer scandal" sales of the brand soon dropped dramatically never to recover.

UPDATE:  Found another page that claims Dow destoryed 390,000 cases of beer- or 16 years worth of beer for each of the 50 victims!
UPDATE #2:  A French-language  article I Looked at made several points about the Case.  For one, reporters were building a "case" out of bits and pieces of news that ended in unnecessary hysteria over the deal. Two, most of the other breweries in Canada, as well as some in the US of A, were at least testing the cobalt salts in their beers.  Third, the article listed Dow's market share at the time to be 51% and Quebec City's share over 85%.  A group was rumoured to exist among Canada's other brewers, and the article hinted that this group's fanning the fire of rumour was not out of the realm of possibility. Fourth, the article mentions that in light of 536 deaths from myocarditis in 1965 and 480 in 1966 in Quebec City, that 20 deaths and fifty cases over an 8 months span was far from earth shattering.  Apparently one of the doctors on the case, one Dr. Yves Morin, Quebec Institute of Cardiology, pushed the idea of cobalt being the problem to the province's newspapers.  I don't mean to bad-mouth Dr. Morin; he is a nationally-decorated cardiologist and Liberal member of Parliament.  But you gotta kinda wonder...
24 pints works out to around 32 cans a day- or in the neighborhood of 9 cases and a six-pack a week.  Somehow, I'm dubious that the cobalt sulfate killed them.  If this story is straight, the "victims" of "cobalt poisoning" were downing the average per capita Canadian year's worth of beer between Monday and Friday of every week.  And according to what I researched, this is the straight dope. Victims were malnourished enough that the first diagnoses were Beriberi.

The middle guy was a Dow pale ale.  I'm thinking it is a mid-40s, but couldn't find it.  The re Boswell was from 1942, the green from 1945.  Then at the bottom is a John H.R. Molson and Bros Export Ale, dating from 1935.

The other thing I got was this cute little bugger:

A four inch tall PBR!  Isn't it adoreable?  I decided to put in a shadow box, thus:

The background was from a picture of an advertisement painted on a brick wall on a building on historic 25th street in Ogden, Utah.  I cropped it onto a 4X6 glossy.

The great martin beer tasting #2.

My son KC and I attempted another beer tatsing yesterday.  What you as possible beer connoisseurs need to know about us is that we grew up on American Lager.  My Dad started on Black Label and thankfully switched to PBR.  My Unlce Dick was a Falstaff man, as was my brother.  Another uncle preferred Busch.  A brother in law subsisted on Miller Lite and Meister Brau, later Milwaukee's Best.  A cousin introduced me to Drewrys.  The nice thing was, when I was little, you could go into our local tavern and get all these and more- Old Chicago, Colt 45, Little Kings, Schlitz, Blatz, the list goes on and on.  So with apologies to some of my friends, carbonated coffees like Guinness don't hit the spot for us.  In fact, we checked the review on BeerAdvocate.com and found that we only agreed once- and it was the day's winner.  So, let's take a look at the contestants and how they did:

#1 was the Flying Dog brewery's Tire Bite ale.  This was a "Kolsch" beer, originating from Koln (Cologne), Germany.

KC carefully poured himself a drink, sipped and said, "It Tastes like a Rolling Rock... with some bad aftertaste".  I didn't detect the aftertaste, but agree that it was very similar to a Rolling Rock (IOW, good when you are hot and thirsty, but not neccessarily the brand you buy for lazying around the house.

Next up was St. Pauli Girl, famous from posters  worldwide.  It comes in a green bottle, which I do not understand why ANYONE uses anymore, and of course it had the green bottle's curse...

KC:  "Good, but a bit skunky."
It was good despite the skunk, very light.  But why on earth put it in the damn green bottles anyway?  You KNOW three bottles out of five will be skunked. 

Next up came a contestant from Leinkugels:

Leinie's Red Lager is a Vienna-Style lager, rich amber color and a bit stronger than the regular American beer.

At this point, alcohol was beginning to effect the camerawork, so we had to stage KC's reaction.  (The original pic was a nice view of his shorts, though.)  He detected a bit of a salt taste, and agreed with me that it had a bit of a metallic taste, as if it had sat in a keg for a while prior to bottling.  It improved somewhat after we took Scrappy for a walk, but not much.

Next up:

Becks, from the same company that now owns St. Pauli Girl.  KC has had this in the past, and said he liked it.  But as you can see, it was in a green bottle, so you know what that means...

Yup, a little skunky.  Not bad, though I think if you take the skunk out, I'd have preferred the SPG.

This brings us to the most bitter failure of the lot- and not surprisingly, the highest rated on BeerAdvocate of our six...

(Funny how you get more junk on the table the more beer we drink, eh?) Rogue Brewery's Dead Guy Ale.  From Ashland Oregon, this is a Maibock, or pale bock.

KC: "YUKKK!  This tastes like straight earwax!!!"  I took a sip, and while I don't profess to know what brewed earwax tastes like, I quickly proceeded to the kitchen sink with this brew.  Only trying to get up off the floor kept KC from beating me to the sink with his mouthful.  I washed away this failure with a nice cold PBR.

We had one contestant left:

A Schlafly Unfiltered Hefeweizen, or wheat beer.  This one is brewed at St. Louis Brewing, and was founded by the nephew of activist Phyllis Schlafly.  Now, I've had wheats before, and they have two main charactaristics- light, with a dry taste.  This one was about the same.  However, the dry wasn't as prominent here, and it was so smooth it seemed to evaporate just as it approached the throat.  KC pronounced it "pretty good", and even Scrappy liked it enough to search out every fallen drop.

Mighty damn tasty... where's MY glass?

So there we have our six contestants:

And the winner?  It was between the Flying Dog and the Schlafly, but the Hefeweizen wins out in the end!  Surprisingly, it was the second highest rated of the crew on BeerAdvocate as well.

Next round of new stuff

Yesterday, I added to my "collection" of print ads this old PBR magazine ad:

Not real sure what the NRA patch to the right of the toast-er is about, but whatever.  Today I got the latest cap:

A 1940-49 Jacob Ruppert, AKA Knickerbocker Beer.  Around the edge it reads: "Knickerbocker the talk of the town".  Ruppert was owned by the famous Colonel who owned the New York Yankees way back when, and his family.  They sold out in '66, and another brewery kept it alive until 1974.  It was ressurected in the 1990s like so many others, but Pabst finally pulled the plug in 1997.

Got some new oldies coming in...

...and the first to arrive is a lovely ancient Budweiser (Surprising in that the sender didn't account for the cardboard protection he put around it and it cost me 20 cents postage due!).

Maryland state seal, cork lined, and can't find a thing out about it as no online collector seems to have one!  Seller said 40's-50's, and that matches with the logo style.  The manner of the state coat of arms tends to put it towards the later end, so I'll guesstimate late 40's.

Board 21

Much of board 21 are corks that I got from eBay.  Hamms corks are leading off row one, fourth in row three, and second in the last row.  The blue one dates from 1957; the reds, differentiated by the brighter white on the last one, date from 1953 and 1948, respectively.  That second one in row one is a Michelob Ultra, actually one I just found that improved on a rusted one I had before, and is not a cork.  The Pabst in row one, pre-Blue Ribbon, was from 1942.  Of course, the MGD is not a cork, but it is a handsome cap.

Row two starts with the Rolling Rock I mentioned yesterday, with the difference being the lack of the tax amount on the side; it dates from 1948.  Three Drewrys are on the board.  The first one, here in row two, is a 1946.  The second one, second in row three, dates from 1954, and the third, sitting second to last on the board, is also a 1948 cap.  Three Schlitz also on the board, in varying shades of cream/off white.  All three date from 1950, and you see them in the third and fifth slots on row two and third on row three.  The PBR that finishes off row two in the fourth slot is a 1948 gold.

Row three begins with a Gunther Premium Dry.  Gunther was a Baltimore brewer bought out by Theo Hamm in 1959.  Hamms dumped the BBC brands, but sold out to Schaefer three years later.  Schaefer remade Gunther as one of its discount brands until it was in turn sold in 1976.  The only one we haven't hit in this row is the Meister Brau at the end.  Meister Brau was a Chicago brand until a beer chemist invented the formula for light beer.  Meister Brau Lite was much more attractive than the main brand, and Miller bought the brewer and changed it to Miller Lite.  In more recent news, Meister Brau, Handi-Wrap, and 150 other brand trademarks are up for auction next month by Brands USA Holdings.  For a pittance, it could be yours...  my Meister Brau dates from 1947.

Row four starts out with Breunigs,  from Rice Lake Brewing in Rice Lake, WI.  This brewer went belly-up in 1974; the cap is from 1962.  The blue one in the middle is a non-cork Rolling Rock;  and the last one left to mention is the Budweiser at the end.  Buds are almost impossiblr to get a good date from, but I'm guessing late 50's.

That's it for this trip.  Hopefully I'll get through the next few boards really soon.

Well, here we go again

I think you'll excuse how long its been by the small buncha caps I have to show you that are newbies.  But I'll make up for it by using my NEW camera to show the bunch off!

Just the bottom 9 here, guys.  First up is a super-size Coors Light.  That next pale little fellow is a Bud Light Platinum, which believe it or not we found at a campsite along the river.  The red one is a Miller 64 contributed by my ever-lovin' firstborn.  Next comes a Blatz Pilsener, a cork used from 1933-57 that I got on e-bay.  Next to it is a Budweiser cork from 1935-42 from the same purchase.  The Dos Equis featured here I acquired from a group of lackwits who came to the pool across the street.  First they sat right at the corner of  the street waiting for someone (and along came us) to move so they could park right across the street.  Did them no good though; when they took their flimsy styrofoam cooler out, the bottom dropped completely out, and all their barley pop and ice (including the bottle this cap came from) shattered in the street.  Most of which they conveniently left.  The Bud next is a tall twist version of an earlier acquisition.  Next up is a Goose Island "pry-off" that also falls to KC's credit, as I found it near the door of his new apartment building.  Finally, that last one is indeed the lower half of a dancing guy in shorts, apparently hula-hooping a garland.  That is from a Michigan micro called Short's Brewery, out of Belaire, a town not far from Grand Traverse Bay in the far north-west of the lower penninsula.  We found that one on the far side of Johnny Appleseed park yesterday.

And that brings us to boards 19, 20, and 21.

First up is a navy-and-gold Busch "twist-off".  Then a tall-twist Haffenreffer Private Stock, the malt liquor as nasty as you want to feel.  A Corona Extra, a Miller Lite, and a formerly-tall twist Milwaukee's best round out row one.  Following a worse-for-wear Busch light on row two is a Magnum, a malt liquor from the Miller-Coors stable.  Hard on the malt liquors at this point, we next have a tall Colt 45; the rusty specimen next is an Aspen Edge, a discontinued Coors light.  A Natural Light (pre-"Natty light") closes that row.  A Blue Moon variant sits at the head of row three, followed by a Guinness Extra Stout, a Stella Artois variant, and a Bass variant.  The cool black one closing the line is a Michelob Amber Bock; Heading up row four is a Mickey's sporting a green bee.  Then a Smithwicks out of Ireland, a Spaten from Munich, a brand begun in 1397.  Next up is a Red Hook Ale, out of Seattle and distributed nationally. Finally a Old Dominion, a micro from Virginia begun in 1989.

Board twenty kicks off with a Black Label, a classic Strohs, and then a Gibbons, Brewed by Lion out of Wilkes-Barre PA until 2007.  Then a pair of Buckeyes, which was brewed in Toledo until 1972, after Miller bought Meister Brau from Peter Hand (and took Buckeye with 'em).  Miller folded the brand in '74, but the Maumee Bay company bought the name from Miller and spent quite a while trying to re-invent the old formula.  Next is Burger, a Cincinatti beer owned by Hudepohl since 1973, and then lost through a number of hands until local business bought the brands between 2004-6 and in 2009 brought Burger back to life. 



Next up is Queen City's Cumberland Old German, a brewry bought out by Iron City (aka Pittsburgh Brewing) and is still produced.  A red-rimmed Black Label next, then a pair of Rolling Rocks, the solid green is a cork from 1948.  There is another on the next page just like it, except the tax paid message on the side (this one gives the tax paid as 2 cents).  A Burger "twistop" leads off row three followed by Lucky (a Texas beer from Falstaff/General).  Next is a Fyfe and Drum twist.  I don't know if I dug into the previous F&D;  It was a 1960-70s Genesee brand.

Then comes IC Light, the "IC" being Iron City. Next is a twist-off POC. This was originally brewed in Cleveland by the Pilsener Brewing Company. POC was a matter of a guessing game. I had always been told that it stood for Pilsener On Call, but apparently that was just one of many possibilities (such as Pride of Cleveland). The brewery claimed the real meaning was lost to the mists of time; speculation points to it originally meaning Pilsener OF Cleveland. It was another local revival, re-started in 1999 by brewer Stuart Sheridan.

Last line starts with a Stegmaier; this is another beer in the Lion stable, who bought it in 1974 when the brewery went belly-up and its facilities were sold to the city for back taxes. Lion is still brewing Stegmaier. Then a Ballantine, and a Schaefer. Schaefer, which claims to be the oldest beer in the nation, was at one point the world's best selling beer according to wikipedia. That gorgeous blue Pabst is a Florida cap.  And last but not least is an Alpen Brau cork, circa 1933.  AB was brewed by Columbia Brewery from 1933-1948; After that, Falstaff gobbled it up and AB didn't resurface until renewed by Augusta Brewery, a micro from Augusta, MO.

Holy cow!  That's enough for now, I'll probably get to page 21 tomorrow.

Hi There!

I realize it's been a while, but what with winter weather, the unwillingness of my neighbors to drink wild and unusual beers, and lack of hours at work with which to waste money (not to mention Obama's bang-up job on keeping gas prices down-)

...it has been since January 23rd since I've got to add a cap, and longer since I've posted on caps I already had (I'm sure that's Obama's fault too).  But today, all of that changes.  Well, the lack of money and the high gas prices haven't, but the weather and the willingness of neighbors to drink have, so here we go!

First up, here are the two newbies that Scrappy and I found this morning.

The first is from Leinkugels- a Leinie's Summer Shandy.  Now a Shandy is a fruit flavor/beer mix, and Leinkugel describes this as their "take on a traditional German Radler".  A radler is a 50/50 or 60/40 mix of beer and "German lemonade" which is more along the concept of Sprite or 7-Up.  Next to it is a Michelob Ultra "pomegranate raspberry".  This is one of three MU flavored beers.  The MU site calls it a "light pilsener infused with fruit flavor and aroma."  One reviewer called it, " A decent beer that is barely beer enough to not be a wine cooler. "  Which one is right?  Well, after the fact I thought about getting a page snapshot, but since I can't seem to find the sign out button, I'll have to describe:  when I went to get on the MU site, it had the standard blanks to fill in to make sure you were of age.  The first blank had a shadow "DD" in it and a caption of "Month" below it; the second had the shadow "MM" in it and the caption "Day" beneath it.  Hmmm...

Okay, we left off so long ago on board #16, so let's move on to board #17.





Top left is your standard Bud tall twist.  The large gentleman next door is a Mickey's ML "Big Mouth" cap.  Next is a fifth variation on the Little Kings cap.  Little Kings was brewed by Schoenglings, who bought out Hudepohl, who were then gobbled up by Samuel Adams, but by 2004 it had went the Pabst route, being brewed on contract by several regional breweries.  The next is the blue twin of that first Bud tall twist.  Following that is an old-style Olympia cap.  Next up is the original (to me) Bud Light cap, followed by a fairly rare red Strohs.  Then comes a Molson Golden, followed by a blank gold cap that came off a German beer called Kessel.  Then comes a Michelob Light twist off.  Row three has another red Strohs, followed by a Raffo, which is a European-style pale lager from Italy.  Then comes a Wolfbrau from Germany, and a ring pull from South Pacific, which claims to be the dominant beer in Papua New Guinea.  Then a Labatts 50 twist off, and the last line of board 17 leads off with a Asahi Draft, which is the founding beer of a company that holds 40% of the Japanese market.  It is a pale lager that I am told goes well with ramen noodle dishes.  Next a pair of old timers, a Busch and a Hamms, followed by a Michelob Classic Dark.  Finally, we have a Hacker-Pschorr Munchen from Munich (duh).  This brewery has been around since the 1400s and still going strong.

Board 18 leads off with an Augsburger.  This brand started out with the Monarch brewery in Wisconsin, and then like most little brewers passed up the chain, starting with Potosi in 1967, ending up going from Strohs to Stevens Point Brewery in 2003.  Pabst bought the brand and had Stevens Point produce it afterwards, but apparently it is now out of circulation.  Next is another Mickey's Big Mouth, allegedly "pilfer-proof".  Never met my nephew, I'm guessing.  Then come identical Strohs, one a tall twist and one a regular crown, differing from the one on the last board because the logo is an outline rather than filled in.  Then comes a misprint Miller tall twist (they seemed to be good at that) with the top blank and the logo on the side.  Leading off row #2 is a Sagres, yet another pale lager from Portugal brewed by an underling of Heineken.  Then, after a Lowenbrau twist-off, we have a Cristal, "the preference of Cuba".  A Bud Light tall twist is next, followed  by a Haffenreffer Private Stock, formerly a Falstaff brand now brewed by Miller.  This is a Malt Liquor which, I can attest to, tastes crappy the first sip and you don't notice the taste thereafter.  6.8% will do that for you.

Row three leads off with a plain jane Michelob, followed by a twist Labatts Blue and a Modelo of a slightly different hue than the other I have.   Next, another Bud variation, followed by a plain jane Miller Genuine Draft.  Row four has an Old Milwaukee tall twist that I remember finding on an empty bottle somewhere along the highways and byways.  A crown twist off OM is next, followed by a Michelob Dry, yet another Strohs variation, and a Michelob Light with a cleaner look that the one on the last board.

Okay, enough for now.