Welcome back...

Yes, it has been a very lazy time at the ol' bottle cap collection.  Before I needlessly pillory myself, let me explain the "system I use to do this great cap collection.

First, I have a little black book in which I record the caps by brand, with descriptions just good enough for me to figure if the latest prospective member has a chance to join the collection.  Then, I have a computerized "master roster" which keeps track of brand, how many of, which of the now six binders I have them in, and on which page, as well as the description location in the little black book.  It can be a bit overwhelming, which is why I started this blog in the first place- to give me a photographic record.  But if you thumb through back posts, you see that it is just about as organized as the little black book.  Thus, I kinda get in the habit of collecting new contestants "off to the side", until so possessed as to update.  Which as you can see, took me 468 days since I last got around to it.

Of course, this post is going to be a bit easier.  Mr. McCarthy, whom I still hope the best for, has decided to unfriend me due to his inability to brook opinions not quite his own.  However, Bobby G stepped up into the breach recently, and he has gifted me with a bunch of caps- several of which I already had, and one I almost forgot to include, even though I DRANK ONE WITH HIM!

This was a Guinness Blonde American lager, and considering my American inability to handle their usual "sludge", it was pretty good!  Here we go with the rest of the update:

This first pair are obviously a couple of variations on popular themes I put in the book sometime less than 468 days ago...

Here you have the ones that Bobby passed on after valiantly disposing of their contents: the two Guinnesses plus the Harp.  Next to them is a Michelob Amber that I found, a Coors Light that KC consumed, and a couple more that I found sometime in my travels.  With the Blonde that sat in my room while everyone else got recorded and mounted, that brings us to a total (according to "compu-count") of 869 different caps.  Thanks to everyone involved, and we'll see you in December 17, 2016 (or sooner...)

And finally, the latest shipment!

As well as a couple I actually found...

 

 

Up top, our first cap is a new version of Third Shift, an "if no one looks, they'll think I'm a craft brew" by MillerCoors under the "Band of Brothers" brand.  Next up is from a dark lager from Session, a Full Sail imprint.  The original Session was a "pre-prohibition beer" much like Third Shift; this one is a dark lager "that doesn't drink like a meal", their website proclaims.  Funny how some of these dark beer brewers are now trying to get those that don't like thick beers to try it.  Next to him with the bee is a Shock Top honey bourbon cask wheat.  Shock Top is basically Anheuser Busch's version of "Band of Brothers Brewing", and this flavor is a honey wheat beer.

 

 

The Arizona flag cap belongs to Oak Creek Brewing out of Sedona, AZ.  It goes to their Amber Ale.  Oak Creek was founded in 1993 by German immigrants Fred and Rita Kraus from Pottenstein, a village near the Czech border between Bayreuth and Nurnburg.  Leading off the second row is the self-explanatory Leine's Lemon Berry Shandy, with blackberry juice.  The blue foot print goes to Sierra Nevada's Bigfoot Ale, a "barleywine style ale", which is a beer brewed like a wine.  They even suggest it gets better with age.  Next is another version of Goose Island.  The next one and it's brother beneath him belong to "Day of the Dead" beers, a label from Cerveceria Mexicano, who brought us the Black Mountain Chili Beers, among others.  The top one belongs to the "Death Rides A Pale Horse" blonde ale, and the lower one is the "Pay The Ferrymen" porter.

 

 

Starting row three is a variation on a Redd's Apple Ale;  Then comes Hop Nosh from Uinta Brewing of Salt Lake City, not to be confused with Uintatheriums, which died out in the ice age.

 

Now Hop Nosh is about the opposite of Session Dark, and claims to be "Literally a hoppy snack."  Ugh.  Next door is another one at the other extreme, the Red Hook KCCO Black Lager, which claims to be "Amazingly light..."  What that has to do with the green ostrich on the cap (which of course I have sitting upside-down), I do not know.

Lastly on the bottom is the Hoegaardens I bought myself.  A wheat beer from Belgium, It's much more to my liking than a "hoppy snack".  Once again we thank the wonderful Stephen T McCarthy, whose debaucheries make these additions possible.  Cheers!

 



Now that I've thouroughly confused you...

People that follow this poor little space of internet knew I messed up and posted this week's Time Machine here about 28 hours before I did.  That was an aberration; I am not planning on simulcasting TM on this channel or anything like that.  Somehow or another, I hit a wrong button.  Can't even blame Blogger this time... though I was about to when I finally sniffed out my culpability.

Anyway, I should have been here before this, as I had won a couple more caps on e-Bay.  One of them, however, was sent by a French-Canadian who not only added what I assume was someone else's merchandise (a packet of postage stamps) but packaged the caps in such a way that one of the many rollers the letter (not package, letter) that they were sent in went through ripped both my cap and a bonus cap they decided to send right out of the package.  Note to self- always send a note to Canadian suppliers to PACKAGE STUFF PROPERLY.  Perhaps the Canuck postal service kid-gloves their mail, but the USPS does not.

(Did I get any recompense?  What do you think?  The USPS said, "Not our fault, bitch at the dumb Canadian", and the dumb Canadian said, "Je ne peux pas vous entendre. Je ne parle pas anglais." (I can't hear you, I don't speak English) )

But I did get one, and then my work buddie Gary contributed one, and then a care package from Arizona arrived.  And that means I got all these:

Let's start with the solid green one in the ring and go clockwise.  This is from Twisted Pine out of that drunken town, Boulder, Colorado.  It came off of their flagship Hoppy Boy IPA.  I learned very little more there because their website takes a full minute to get to any link (at least today).  The purple one is from Nimbus brewing, whose info was also problematic since the Tuscon brewery went belly-up in late January If the angle had been better, you'd see the chimp face on it.

Next came two new colors from Alaska Brewing; the maroon one from their Amber Alt Ale, the green from an IPA.  Next is a Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish type Ale out of Tempe.

Next is an Avery brewing, also from Boulder. Then comes one from Sudwerk Brewing, a local hangout of UC-Davis students.  The Shock Top is different from my other one in that the text is white rather than yellow.   The Bear Republic difference from the one I had is just as subtle- the website address is absent from the bottom of this one.  Following is a Woodpecker Cider, technically not a beer, but a pretty cap to an alcoholic beverage, so I bent the rules slightly for it.

The brew, which comes from the UK, they say is in "managed decline"; they've lost 1/3 of sales in the last 13 years.  Next is a third different New Belgium for me, this one Trippel Ale, brewed with a touch of coriander.  The last member of the ring is a Colorado Native, which is one of Coors' "craft brews", made with "Rocky Mountain water, Colorado hops, Colorado barley grown in the San Luis Valley, and Colorado yeast, and sold only in Colorado."

On the inside are the other two I got.  The Schlitz, with the reversed color pattern, was one of their last cork caps, used from 1960-65.  The other is the brand new Miller Fortune, which is basically Miller's way to eat into the growing wine and spirits market by upping the alcohol content of their normal beer to 6.9%.

And somehow missing the boat was this one:

This is an Orkney Brewing Skull Splitter.  Brewed by the Orkney Brewery on the Orkney Islands off Scotland, it is named for the 7th Earl of Orkney, a Viking ruler named Thorfinn Torf-Einarsson, nicknamed the skull-splitter, though I confess the facts and fictions of his story are such that I couldn't tell if he was a warrior, or just got really bad hangovers.


Once again, a tip of the hat to ST MCCarthy and Gary Williams.  And if you shop on eBay, beware of seller ly***v  from Quebec- you may have to specify how you want your stuff shipped if you want them to arrive.

Knock knock...

I've been getting a lot of traffic here from new followers who've hopped on my profile and see my blogs sitting there in alphabetical order.  Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't seem to give one a way to adjust that.  So let me make this announcement now:  If you want to follow me where I mostly blog, go to Tilting At Windmills.  If you really really like beer caps, then this blog is okay too, but I'm only on it as necessary.  (Though I guess if you think about it, do you really want to hear from me 4 or five times a week- or once a month or so?  Maybe it isn't a mistake...

And when you have time off and a big snow coming....

...you go out and buy a mixed six pack!  Actually, you also go get something else in case you don't like the things you picked in the mixed bunch, too, but even that turned out aces this time.

First off, a word on what you didn't see:  I tried once again the Upland Wheat Ale.  I had this before, it had the cinnamon-stick kind of back taste.  At this point, we were halfway through the Chiefs/Colts debacle Saturday, so I devised a drinking game.  I really had to compromise on the "hot chicks" section, since NBC is afraid to show cheerleaders (Thank God for Morgan Smith Goodwin), but at least I did get a hit on the "Peyton Manning mentions" category, as well as several on the "ref blew the call" and "announcer is full of crap" sides.  Anyway, the beer that kicked this off was Bell's Oarsman Ale, which is hyped for it's tartness.  Me, I gagged my way down it, but Scrappy actually seemed to like it better.   I also had an Abita Amber Ale in the mix... for me, the coffee smell was enough.  Now, onto the three that made the collection:

First off is one of the Mickey's Malt Liquors I bought to give me something I knew I'd like (or wouldn't care much after a few).  I have a smaller one with the bee, but not a big mouth and not with the web address on it.  Next is the hit of the party, the Bells Winter White.  Next time, it might be a six-pack of these.  And that oddball on the end comes from Three Floyd's Brewing.  Their Pride and Joy ale was another that Scrappy liked far better than me- heck, when I grabbed it, I thought I was grabbing a Barking Squirrel, but obviously SOMETHING was misplaced.  They are brewed by father and two-son act, Mike, Nick, and Simon Floyd from Hammond, Indiana.  They started out in 1996 using an old swiss cheese aging barrel for a fermentation tank.  That explains a bit...it is described as "a great session beer which still has pale ale characteristics."  At least the cap was neat.

The Sgt. Pepper Shipment

As a loyal voter on The Battle Of The Bands on various blogs, I recently won the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band CD from Stephen T. McCarthy, a man willing to sacrifice his liver for my cap collection.  Thus I was not surprised that, as I fought mightily with the packaging the above CD came in, I felt a gentle thunk on my foot, and then heard a rattling sound.  No, I hadn't broke the CD; he had sent more lovely caps my way.

The first three up there we covered earlier; the fourth, a Bud Light Lime with an actual lime twist pictured on it, Scrappy helped me find a while back.  The next 8 are the ones that rode the Beatles express from Arizona, Land Of The Rainbow Shades.  (There was also a Blue Moon and a Shiner I already had.) 

The lone newbie on the top row is from Coronado Brewing, not surprisingly out of Coronado, CA (Which is smack in the middle of San Diego Harbor).  It is a mermaid with a round of beers (which I stupidly didn't recognize at first- DESPITE the fact it belongs to a Mermaid Red Ale.)  Starting off row 2 is my third different color from Alaska Brewing;  Beside him is an El Toro, from wine country in Morgan Hill, CA, south of San Jose.  My second Smithwicks is next, followed by Boulder Beer.  Founded in a goat shed outside Boulder, CO, way back in 1979, this offering from Colorado's first micro was a Kinda Blue Blueberry Wheat, which I might have to look up this spring (when the website says it comes out:  around March-April).

My third Abita is next, this is from their Harvest series, and is flavored with Pecans, of all things.  Leading off the bottom row is an offering from Epic Brewing, one of the many startups once Utah allowed them in 2008.  This came from a Hopulent IPA- something that is nowhere near my taste wheelhouse, sorry.  Finally, we have a Mendecino Red Tail Ale.  Founded in the early eighties, their first claim to fame was "the world's largest six-pack"- six magnum bottles that contained 50 ounces each and packaged out at 42 lbs.!  Impressive, but I wonder what a six-pack of the old Oktoberfest Gallon cans would have came in at...

Yet another beer-tasting weekend

Me, KC, and Scrappy had another two-day beer tasting adventure... some really good, some not so much, and one...

Here we have our first four contestants.  The solid yellow was a six-pack of Mad Anthony's Gabby Blonde Lager, of which we had a six-pack in case my other choices were stinkers.  This is made right here in Fort Wayne and was a nice, refreshing, light lager with yeast particles enough that you had a nice cloudy beer if you poured the whole thing in a glass.  And it was better cloudy.  Definitely was the winner of our lot.  Not surprising, because unlike "beer connoisseurs" , we don't prefer beers that taste like Barney Miller's coffee with a shot of bourbon and a pinch of allspice thrown in.

The Tyranea was more to that end of the scale.  It was a brew called Rocky's Revenge, a brown ale aged in oaken bourbon barrels.  Immediately KC was turned off, mainly by an aftertaste that was reminiscent of unsweetened toffee and vanilla- which I didn't think was too bad. KC thought it tasted like straight coffee, to which I replied, "I might not drink coffee, but if I did, I'd want it to taste like this."  To which he replied, "True that."  As darker beers go, it was pretty good and at 6% alcohol, quite fun as well.  But that aftertaste was still faintly in my mouth even the next morning.  KC grabbed another Mad Anthony's and promptly dropped it on the floor, giving Scrappy his chance to sample.

Scrappy is a lager dog, and sips of the darker beers were accepted, but the taste wiped off by licking his leg.  Never did that on the lighter beers.

The blue Kona cap belonged to their Big Wave Golden Ale.  Before I review, let me say something nice about Kona.  They are based in Hawaii on the Big Island, but much of their mainland stuff is brewed at the facilities of their partners in the Craft Brewers Alliance, Widmer Brothers and Red Hook.

The review?  Should have named it "Big Weed".  Tasted like you went out to your garden or flowerbed, found the biggest weed in the plot, and pulled it out with your teeth.  The garbage disposal got to enjoy it.

The last one on Saturday's adventure was the HopCity Barking Squirrel, made by a spin-off of Moosehead.  This is a 5% amber lager, and once again KC sipped and rejected, turning to the Coors Light he brought.  It was a lot like the Rocky's Revenge, but lighter and without the aftertaste.  Not repugnant as brown beers go, but I cant imagine it has enough oomph for regular dark beer fans.

And Sunday came round two...

 

These were all lagers/pilseners, and Scrappy was actually begging for a taste... what a lush!

By the end of things, I thought this was a good idea for the cap picture.  Maybe not, upon reflection...

The second Kona was their Longboard lager, which was definitely the pinnacle of day 2.  A light, refreshing, drink-all-you-want lager.  On the other end, you see one of 2 from Upland brewing of Terre Haute, Indiana.  This is actually from a Champagne Velvet, "the million dollar beer" which sold nationally from the early 1900's into the 1950's when it ceased production.  Craft brewer Upland acquired the original recipe and began reproducing it in the early 2000's.  KC thought it reminiscent of Miller Lite.  The final contestant was an oddity called Upland Wheat Ale.  A witbier-style pilsener, it has coriander, chamomile, and orange peel, which you don't taste until you swallow, and then it tastes like you had a spice stick in the back of your mouth.  I would think this better as a Christmas-season beer.  Unusual, but not bad.


After the tasting we adjourned to the Corner Pocket pub, where the night ended with PBR and a shot of duck fart.  Scrappy, much to his chagrin, was NOT invited.


(PS:  Scrappy got nothing more than scattered sips.  If he'd had his way, he'd have gotten a bowlful, but that did not happen.)

I am getting some on my own, really...

... but what with being next to broke, the lack of people willing to still litter, and the heat, we can only show 3 caps for our efforts.

A pry off Bud Light Lime we found in the woods (if'n you can believe that), a Keystone Light courtesy the parking lot at Pierre's, and a non-alcoholic St. Pauli Girl that we found on that walk with my niece a while back.  But don't feel sorry for the ol' collector, because STM has struck again from the Great Southwest:

20 more caps, and all winners!  The dark one at the top comes from Indian Wells Brewing, whose artesian spring supposedly saved dehydrated gold rushers in 1849.  The cap is wax sealed, and stamped "Metis Indians", and held something called Whiskey Barrel brew.  Aged in old whiskey casks that have set out in the heat to bring the liquor out, this stuff is an incredible 12% alcohol!

Next to him is a third cap from Goose Island, this one their Honkers Ale, and English style bitter which might just be the weakest of the lot at 4.3%.  Next is a Two Hearted Ale from Bells, my second, but a lighter shade of ale cap.  Then we have a second example from Cave Creek Chili Beer (which I still can't imagine drinking); the one with the pawprint is a huckleberry crème ale (with real berries added at the end ) from Laughing Dog Brewery out of Idaho.

Row two, cap one is from Flying Fish Brewery; it is a HopFish IPA (most of these caps are one form of IPA or another).  This brewery was an internet brewery at first, where fans could help name the products.  This is one of the beers I got that are dry-hopped- the fully fermented beer then gets more hops added, not as part of fermenting, but to add oils, and aged.  This particular kind is aged with 22 lbs of hops to a keg (or barrel, I forget) for 2 weeks. Next is another Lagunitas, but this time it is a New Dogtown Pale Ale, which is a mix of their original pale ale with a beer made to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Frank Zappa and the Mothers Absolutely Free lp.  ESB on the next one stands for Fuller's Extra Strong Bitter, from the UK.  This company's original Griffith brewery building boasts an approximately 200-year-old wisteria growing up the side.

In case you didn't believe me...

Next, I kid you not, is He'Brew... "the CHOSEN beer."  From Schmaltz Brewery in New York (and San Fran), this offering is called Hop Manna IPA.  The yellow guy is my third Full Sail.  I have one just like it, but in a pale orange.  That brings us to row three, and that Left Hand brewery cap comes from a 400 pound monkey IPA.  This outfit was started by Dick Doore in 1990 from a brewstarter kit he got as a Christmas gift.  The dude with the wings is from Uniboure, a Quebec outfit that was bought out by Sapporo in 2006.  The beer that went into it was called Le Fin du Monde, which means "the end of the world"- and with 9% alcohol, it probably feels like it.

The big black O belongs to a Widmer Brothers flavor (which wasn't on their website anymore) called Omission Pale Ale- the omission being that it is/was a gluten-free offering.  The next one in line is from Wasatch brewing, who became Utah's first (legal) brewery in 1986.  This particular one belonged to a Ghost Rider White IPA, with a touch of coriander added.  The Red Hook IPA at the end of the line is another dry-hopped brew called Long Hammer.

My fifth Sierra Nevada leads off the last row, followed by that Oberon from Bells- exactly like my other one, except the first one had a tiny "TM" mark on the sun's right edge that this one lacks.  The next two are from the same six-pack.  Firestone Walker (a company we mentioned last time under the Nectar Ale cap) sells their Union Jack IPA in six pack with three each of the bear (first one) and the lion.  And we finish up with a Fireman's Brew Redhead Ale.  This company is run by a pair of California Firefighters who came up with the idea while resting during the Glendale Mountains wildfire of 2000.

We here at the Mighty Martin Cap Collection cannot thank the wonderful Mr. McCarthy enough for his contributions to the collection, which- if I counted right last time- stands at 801 right now.  Take a bow, sir!

The McCarthy Era

Once again Stephen T. McCarthy has provided us with (this time) 3% 0f the total collection in one shot!  Out of 26 caps he sent me, I had a use for 24 (including a Sierra Nevada that replaced a less-lovely doppleganger).  But before we get into these newbies, let me describe some of the processes that go into... well, processing a cap.

First of all, I have a main list on the computer that IDs the cap, tells me how many of that type, tells me the location, and gives me a page in my little cap notebook.  This is backed up by a hard copy of the list which I write newbies in by pen until I print a new list.  On the back of the last page, I write in the ones I don't have room for, tagging them with a number that corresponds to a balloon tied to the location it would go.  Right now, with all the financial fun we're having, the printer is on the DL, and there are 21 balloons currently on the last page.

Then we go to the previously mentioned notebook, which has an entry for each cap with a reasonable likeness and other necessary info so if I get a cap I might have, I can consult the main list for the cap and its page in the book, get a basic idea of what I'm dealing with, and if it proves ominously similar, the location so I can compare.

Then it gets attached to its place in the latest book (except that the latest book has yet to be purchased) after being photographed and researched for the blog post.  And that brings us to the new guys:

So we start with a Bud Light I found this morning (can't let Scrappy have all the glory).  The only other "pry off" BL I have just says, "BL".  Then on to the STM gang.  The next two on the top row, and the little "devil" are (according to STM-and thanks for the ID page- I wish people who send stuff through eBay would do that!) Levitation Ales from Stone brewing.  This is one of their "lighter" ales, described as a dry hopped amber ale.  The quote on the one is from Beverage World Magazine: "...one of the most devoted cult followings this side of the Grateful Dead."  Next to the devil in row two is another Stone Brewing, this time their Smoked Porter, which is an American style (more on the "smoked" part later).  Its logo reads:  "Stone Brewing has quickly established itself as a craft brewery to be reckoned with."- Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY.  And finally, their Arrogant Bastard Ale, a brew strong enough that they tell you on no uncertain terms that it ain't for everyone- barely for anyone.  At 7.72% alcohol, if you can gag down the first slug, the rest will be easy.

Finishing out row two, we have a Stella Artois that was just enough different from my other one to earn a spot, and a Dixie that he got on an amazing trip cross-country in 1983, I believe.  Dixie brewed out of NOLA until Katrina flooded the breweries and the fine people of NOLA looted the plant for everything not bolted down.  The owners still say the plan is to brew in town once again, but as of 2010 they were still contracting out to other companies.

Row 3 opens with a Bacardis Mojito, which is a malt liquor beverage laced with lime and mint.  Then comes a Red Dog, which was once a premium brew on Miller's Plank Road letterhead.  It started to fade from view in the early 2000s, so they re-positioned it between High Life and Old Milwaukee and it's back to doing fine.  Next is a Batch 19, from Coors' version of "Plank Road".  Another "pre-prohibition style"  Vienna lager, supposedly based on recipes in use in 1919.  Next to that ambles a Bear Republic Brewery cap, specifically their Red Rocket Ale a "bastardized Scottish ale" (which apparently means its like a cross between a strong ale and a barleywine.  Don't ask me, STM drank it!).  Finishing out the row is Alaska Breweries' Smoked Porter.  Smoked means it was brewed with barley malt dried over an open flame, giving it a bit of smoky flavor.  The neat thing about this brewery is it was started in the 1980's with recipes based on ones found in the files of the old Douglas Brewing Company which operated from 1899-1907.

Picture Two, row one, leads off with an Odell's, my second, this one their red ale.  The Polish import from Heineken, Zyweic, is fascinating in that the Hapsburg Family of Austria owned the brewery from its founding in 1856 till the Soviet takeover in 1946.  They now operate the most state-of-the-art building on the continent.  That next one has three hummingbirds on it, because it is a Nectar Ales brew, Red Nectar American Amber.  Nectar Ales is now owned by the Firestone Walker Brewery since 2005.

I can honestly say there's no way I'd drink that next one, Black Mountain's Cave Creek Chili Beer, with hot Serrano chilies brewed in.  It would seem this is the only beer that Crazy Ed Chillins' company brews.  The Green Flash at the end of the row is their Hop Head Red, a "West Coast style ale", which one commenter said means, "hops, hops, hops."

Moving to our last full row, the "solar powered brewery" is the Anderson Valley brewery of Booneville, CA; the cap is their Boont Amber Ale.  Next up is my second Full Sail, this one their ESB (extra special bitter) a spring-only "medium-bodied ale."  Middle of the road is a Bridgeport IPA, from a Portland, OR, brewery that was bought by former big player Gambrinus in 1995.  Then comes my second Big Sky, again an IPA.

Finishing out the row is North Coast's Pranqster Golden ale, a Belgian pale ale.  This brewer bought out another of those "former big players,"  Acme ( not the kind that Bugs and Fudd drank).  And all by himself is a Sam Adams Summer Ale, my second- the other was a more readable blue-and-white.


And with that, and after fighting my computer for the ability to download pictures yet again, we have concluded this journey.  The cap total is up to 778.  Just think if I collected all the different rebus-on-the-underside stuff!

Pssst... come closer... shhhh....

This is Scrappy, and I had to tell you what I did tonight! (Thank God for Google Translate, eh?)  Anyway, Daddy took me for a late walk, and, well, his eyes aren't as good as mine at night ( and not much better in daytime, really).  And I found him this:

Daddy says it's a Michelob Light, and it's the first one he's got since 3/18 (which I guess means he's filled 18 pages of caps since then).  Anyway, I wanted to let you all know before you-know-who took the credit!

BTW, I really like beer.  Daddy gave me a sip of something he called Canoe Paddler last night.  Mmmm.  I don't know why he won't share more with me...

KC and more beers

My son KC brought over another mix of beers.  In addition to a six-pack of the Canoe Paddler we tried before, he brought a sample pack that netted me one improved-condition cap and four newbies.

 
The first one I dug into was the Third Shift (which has been pretty heavily advertised by parent Coors).  I can definitely tell you it does NOT taste like Coors.  A "pre-prohibition style" Amber Lager, it actually tasted better a bit warm.  The bitter backflavor becomes more pronounced when colder; it was smoother and better blended of flavors a bit warm.  Scrappy liked it over the Molson Canadian when he was offered.

KC had started off with the Mikes Strawberry Margarita, a flavored beer with (to KC's chagrin) no tequila.  Normally, I wouldn't have put this into the collection, until KC showed me "flavored beer on the neck label.  He then went to a Molson Canadian, which he thought had a "funny smell" and, after the Third Shift, tasted to me like the bottled had been returned to the brewery, filled with water without washing the bottle first, and sent back out.  It had zero flavor cold and vaguely like an olive had marinated in it warm.  I think KC ditched it halfway.

I drew the Victoria next.  It is a Mexican brew made by Modelo, a Vienna Lager.  That is apparently the same thing as a "pre-prohibition style,"  Because they're both amber lagers.  But two strikes against Modelo:  one, the Third Shift was better (perhaps because the Victoria was colder), and while they are the same general style, the TS was 5.3 abv next to the 4.4 of the Vic.  According to the wiki, every bottle has a drawing of King Gambrinus on it, a heritage of the Austrian immigrants who brought the style to Mexico in the late 19th century; unfortunately, I was much too occupied by baseball and pizza to pay attention.

mmmm..... beer....

I forget who had the Labatts, I think KC.  Oh, yeah, I did because then he  got a Michelob Ultra.  I have plenty of Labatt's Blue caps, but only two say imported, and this one is quite a bit different than the other.  You can see it (kinda, it was taken with the old camera) here, sixth picture down, second on the bottom.  One day, I'll have to go through and update those pictures.

I think I ended the night with another Third Shift, and a Canoe Paddler, but by this time a pizza had arrived (just 11 minutes after ordering, somehow), and we were playing music and commiserating on the lack of good vocal performances nowdays, so attention on the beer began to wander.  Scrappy tasted a Budweiser Black Crown, but again preferred the Third Shift (before anyone calls PETA, he basically was licking the mouth of the bottles and got precious little actual liquid- though I think that we considered going ahead with giving him the rest of the Molson Canadian since it was flavored water anyway).

The Leinkugel's Summer Sampler

is what my boy brought over today.  It has three bottles each of four Leinie's brews- Summer Shandy, Honey Weiss, Canoe Paddler, and Berry Weiss.  Of these, I did need the Berry and the Canoe paddler- which gives me 13 caps of ten different Leinkugel brews.

Canoe Paddler was our first try.  A Kolsch beer- from Cologne, Gremany, warm fermented and then lagered- it was light and nice.  Then we did the Honey Weiss- while we didn't taste the honey it still was pretty good.  A bit heavier than the CP, with a hint of bitter aftertaste.  Now, from here, I was thinking, this might get really gross, because flavored beer is not my métier.

The Berry was next- and where the CP smelled like beer, and the HW didn't really have a smell, this stuff smelled like cough syrup to me.  Packed with loganberry, blackberry, and elderberry, it tasted to me just like the legendary MD 20/20, "mad dog" wine.  I really thought I wouldn't like it, but it wasn't bad.  KC actually liked it best.

Then came the one he was waiting on, the Summer Shandy.  A shandy is a beer mixed with a soft drink or juice, and this one has been heavily advertised around here, thus KC was anxious to try it.  First sniff had "lemon-fresh Joy" written all over it.  The taste though seemed about a 70-30 lemonade to beer mix.  It wasn't bad, though not what I'd mix with beer.  KC was not impressed, but Scrappy liked it.

Unfortunately, the lay-off has prevented me from getting a new binder, and Berry Weiss took the last spot in Book #4.  Canoe Paddler leads off book #5, which for now is a page from an old photo album without a home.

Okay, I've a Summer Shandy to finish off- eventually- so that's the story from the Summer Sampler taste test.

And now, Stephen T. McCarthy

One of my most thoughtful and thought-provoking blog friends, he stars over at Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends  (No, this is not a Frank Burns tribute site), and along with something else I will mention after I have enjoyed it, he has sent me four new caps....

In apologia for taking the picture upside down, I'll start with the Odell on the upper right.  It comes from their IPA.  Odell is a craft brew founded in a converted 1915 grain elevator near Ft. Collins, CO.  Diagonal down from it, we have an entry from Deschutes Brewery from Bend, OR.  (The A's used to have a rookie-league team in Bend...)  Deschutes, as of 2010, is only behind Boston (Sam Adams), Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, and Spoetzel  on the most sales list.  The cap came from Mirror Pond Pale Ale, their "base camp" brew.

The other two ( and the font of a long comment discussion you can read here)  Belong to Lagunitas Brewery of a town of the same name in California.  The green fellow is their "Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale", a kind of a wheat beer/IPA combo- which, given my last experience with an IPA, might be the only way I could take one.  (Raised on lager, sorry!)  The other is their "Sucks", which was born as a substitute for their Brown Shugga ale when a bottleneck between desire and capacity forced them to forego the Brown Shugga one season.   The Brown Shugga was born of a similar story; apparently this brown sugar ale was itself a failed attempt at making their Olde GnarleyWine Ale that ended up good.

Again, I want to thank STM for the caps (and the other thing...), and also for sending the descriptions along so that I could tell you the story of each without spending two hours hunting them on the interwebs!  (Of course, thanks to a psychotic PlayMemories program, it took two hours to download the picture- and that's why you get the Odell upside down!)

Unexpected riches

I started out today thinking I had but two caps to show you.

The first is my latest "eBaby", a King's Tavern Ale.  This cork cap is of 1934-9 vintage and brewed by what was then the Flint Hill Brewery, which eventually took on the name of it's home town, Frankenmuth Michigan.  The Frankenmuth brewery was bought in 1989 by a German investor, but it burned down the next year.  He sold it to another group who rebuilt as a craft brewpub, and by 1993 it was up and running again.  Then in 1996 it was the target of an F3 tornado.  Again it rose from the ashes only to be shut down when a bank loan was turned down.  Still another group re-established it in 2009.

The other is what my son has been drinking, Redd's Apple Cider Ale by Miller.  It has "natural apple flavor"- IOW, no apples were harmed in the brewing.

As I said, I thought that was it.  But Juli over at Surviving Boys said she'd send me some caps she'd acquired, and I checked the mailbox to see if they arrived.  Hoo Boy, did they!

SEVENTEEN caps, all new to the collection!  On the top row that you see, these caps are ones I have, but not this design or style.  The first is Brooklyn Pennant Ale.  Then comes a Saranac with a nifty New York State silhouette in the middle.  That Troeg's is just a couple shades different on the maize color than the one I have.  The next one is from Bluepoint out of Long Island.  After that is a Bud Select that I didn't have, and ending the top row is a Wauchusett which is like one I had, but the reverse color scheme.

The next row are all new to me.  Rogue Ale- "for the Rogue in all of us"- is out of Oregon, and (hey Deadliest Catch fans) one of their beers is Captain Sig's Northwestern Ale.  That dude has his name on everything!

Beer, coffee, salmon patties- even popcorn fish!

Anyway, that next white cap is an O.K. beer from Okocim brewery near Warsaw, Poland.  This is from Carlsburg Polska, the Polish division of Carlsburg brewing, and is their premium lager.  Then comes an Affligem Blonde, a pale ale brewed on license to the Affligem abbey in Belgium and distributed by Heineken.  If you look all the way to the end of line two, you'll see another foreign beer distributed by Heineken.  It is a style called La Rossa, a doppelbock (double bock) brewed by Italy's Birra Moretti out of Udine.

After the Affligem is a pair from Ommegang, a company out of Cooperstown, NY that brews Belgian style ales.  They were formed originally from a US beer importer and three Belgian breweries which have since been absorbed, plus another Belgian brewer, Duvel Moortgat, who bought out the whole thing in 2003.

Finally in row two, and additionally in row three are a pair from Abita, an outfit out of New Orleans.  The brown one is a Munich lager they call Amber; the purple is called Purple Haze, and has raspberry flavor.  Next to the Purple Haze is one from Heavy Seas from Clipper City brewery.  It's founder, Baltimore's Hugh Sisson, was behind making craft beer legal in Maryland, and they brew 24 different styles in 3 "fleets".

Those last two were a pain in the butt as they had no ID on them.  The first is a Scottish Ale brewed in Belgium (I didn't make that up) by the Scotch de Silly brewery (didn't make that up either; Silly is a town of about 8,000 in central Belgium where the brewery is).  The other turned out to be my second Steinlager ( and first that didn't say "Steinlager" on it).

My best addition says we're at 745 caps now!  Not as big as many, but if you consider I don't count caps that have different things on the bottom (like playing cards or rebuses) as different and stay away from "non-beer" caps as much as possible, it ain't bad!

And now... a glimmer of hope...

Long ages ago, when I was assisting my can-collecting nephew, we went to an old dumping ground my dad called "Sowtown".  A little research years later told me it was the former site of a platted town called Centerville that died as quickly as it was born when the railroad decided to put its depot a few miles southeast in Monroeville.  Or perhaps, as my memories are no longer clear, it might have been a dump we discovered in the wild area of Pokagon State Park.  In either event we found a can that was almost unidentifiable.  It was fragile and about 95% rust.  But we had discovered the "magic" of boric acid solution, and took it back to see what could be salvaged.  What we saw- barely- once looked like what you see above.  Its value was negligible- its condition on the lower end of the "poor" category- but I fell in love nonetheless.  I always did have a thing for rusty, "antiquey" cans.

I was hooked then and there on Drewrys, though it would be years later when I could drink it legally.  Soon after I found a cork "big D" cap in my dad's 1937 Chevy upholstery.  But you remember the 1990's- Budweiser marched over everything and everyone like the Wehrmacht over Eastern Europe, and Drewrys became another on the long list of "Hey, remember that beer" brands.

So the other day, I hit something I couldn't believe on eBay, and today it came home.

That's right, a little Drewrys Draft "shortie", formerly the holder of 12 ounces of South Bend's most refreshing beer.  And since I have another cap coming, I was going to wait and post this sometime this weekend.  But then I did a little research, and was knocked over by this bit of news:

Though Drewrys labeled beer has been non-existent  since it was last produced in 1997, Drewrys was purchased in 2011 by Chicago-based entrepreneur, Francis Manzo. The city of South Bend will be the site of launch for the rebranded beer as this was the location for Drewrys largest operation. Production is slated for 2013.

WHAAAAT?

I quickly found the website for the reborn company, and learned that it's TRUE!!!  Sometime this year- and I signed up for the newsletter and liked them on Facebook so that I can get some as soon as possible.  To be sure, it will NOT be the original recipe- diligent searching came up with a verdict of "recipe lost", which we will blame on Pittsburgh Brewing, since they had the rights last (though they never brewed it).  However, they have looked at notes and consulted experts to come up with as close as they can to the original flavor.  Also, they hope to be able to produce it in South Bend as soon as feasible.  It seems that for now it will be brewed in the last location it was brewed- Evansville- and will be mainly marketed to the South Bend area.

South Bend is just under 2 hours away.  I can't wait!

And now- tall twists!

I had to jump on this when I saw it on eBay- almost nobody seems to collect the tall twist-off caps but me!

I was amazed I didn't have the Bud, but mine had "twist off" written on the top. The two red ones are Kruegers.  Krueger was a NJ beer that in January of 1935 became the first beer sold in cans.  The brewery sold out to Narragansett in 1961, which was soon later gobbled up by Falstaff.  I had an Olympia TT, but mine was gold-ringed.  The Rainier is the first I've ever seen touting a "recyclable bottle".  Bottom left is a generic with the Georgia state seal on the bottom.  Yes, that PBR from West Virginia is green; Never saw THAT Genesee logo before; the last two are a Schmidt's and a Lucky.

This wasn't the whole haul- there was a Coke cap (WTH) and a double of the generic.  Also a Miller High Life that improved upon the one I had (which has gone into retirement in the bottom of the Old Crown box).  Oh, and this one:

Despite two days of extensive searching and contacting the seller, I still have no idea what this is.  Anyone with an idea will win the coveted Trophee du Beagle!

Because it pays to pay attention...

I mentioned on the main blog that Mynx had sent me her lovely artwork, but I had got so excited that I forgot she said she was sending caps with it!  So I dug out the package, and sure enough, here were these two beauties:

All the way from Oz, here are two from Coopers.  Not only are they noted for their high quality beers, but are also the world's largest manufacturer of home-brew equipment.  As you can see, the brewery is celebrating their 150th anniversary.  If the pic I saw on Wikipedia are accurate, I believe the red one is a Sparkling Ale (which is one of those cloudy, stir-it-first English styles) and the green one is their original pale ale.   Many thanks again!

Here's the other bunch!

I told you I had another lot coming in, and this was a fun bunch to look at and research.

Let's start clockwise from the black horse, which would be a Black Horse Ale.  Originally a Carling product, it was contracted to the Fred Koch brewery in 1961.  Like all small breweries, Koch was shuffled around and ended up with Genesee by 1984.  Genesee actually won a gold at the great American Beer Festival in 1988 with BHA, but by the early nineties had shuttered most of the Koch brands, including BHA.  Next is an Old German, followed by a National Bohemian.  Nat Boh is still around as a Pabst brand, but the interesting thing is where it ties into the Altes on the bottom.  Altes was first brewed by Tivoli from 1933.  Tivoli changed names to Altes Brewing in '48, and in 1954 Nat Boh bought them out.  Nat Boh merged with Carling in 1973, and were both part of the G. Heilman empire from 1979-96.  I'm not sure when the Altes brand was shut down in all this, but I believe the brewery itself was shut down in '91 so we'll go with that.

Next is a Van Merritt, which was easily the hardest to get a straight story about.  As far as I can confirm, it was Brewed by the Burlington Brewing Co. of Burlington, WI from 1933 to 1953, when it changed names to reflect its main beer.  Two years later, the Van Merritts sold out, and here's where the story gets iffy.  I have seen it connected to the Wisconsin Brewing company, to Centlivre/Old Crown, to Monarch Brewing in Joliet, to Joseph Huber, and even saw an article saying the company's assets had been sold to a New York cosmetic firm.  In any event, I saw no evidence that it was brewed after the brewery closed in 1957, but the cap is plastic lined and not cork, so I can't really be sure.

Then comes a Storz, one of the old-time brews founded by Gottlieb Storz in Omaha in 1876.  Grain Belt bought them out in 1966, and shut down the plant in 1972.  Next is another Blitz-Weinhard, which was another one of those brands that got bounced around and finally got shut down when Strohs sold the brewery in its death throes to Miller, who shuttered the plant.  Then a Schmidt, the aforementioned Altes, and a Schlitz Malt Liquor.

This bunch was neat for me.  So many of these brands- Altes, Nat Boh, Van Merritt, Storz, even the Bosch from last post- they were some of those neat, uncommon brands that were within reach of the average can collector when we all got started in the seventies.  Heartbreaking to see all the brands- and the jobs they supported- gone by the wayside, many of them through the 1990's stupidity of Strohs and G. Heilman.  I really salute Pabst and the various startups that kept so many of these brands alive.

I think I may have one more coming, I'll let you know.

Playing catch up

Well, now that I've gotten a bunch of new caps in, let's take a look at the latest.

Okay, so the top three on the first row we covered last post (which admittedly was in July, but...).  Right after that is a Beck's Premier Light, then a Smirnoffs (as is the one right below it).  The Coors Light and Miller Lite are variations that I acquired on or about Jack's surprise party earlier this year, along with the Smirnoff.  The CL has a white boundary around the mountain.  I think the ML was actually from in front of KC's new apartment on our first visit.  Next was a Bud Light Lime that Scrappy found on a walk (no lie!) and next to it is a Sam Adams Oktoberfest I saved from a dumpster.   The next Bud Light was found right out in front of the door on another walk.

The Dow is a cork, undetermined date, and you should remember the crazy Dow story from last post.  (Consider it a subtle hint to look at the last post again!) From here on, we have the caps from the new lot I got yesterday.  First off is another Buckeye, albeit more modern than the previous two I've posted.  That next one (row three center if you lost track) is from Capital Brewery in Middleton WI (which isn't a capital, but a suburb of state capital Madison).  This plant was founded in 1986 in what used to be an egg-processing plant.  The red one (which is hard to make out even up close) is from Whole Foods and bears their premium Authentic Food Artisan seal. 

Leading off row four is Big Sky IPA, made by a craft brewer from Missoula and is the biggest brewer in Montana.  They gained fame of sorts a few years back when Moosehead brewing sued them over the name of their brown ale- Moose Drool.  Then comes a modern Berghoff, and there's actually a connection between it and the third guy in the second picture.  They are both part of the brewing empire of Ravinder Minhas and his wife Manjit.

Ravinder, his wife, and their beers Boxer, Lazy Mutt Farmhouse Ale, and Mountain Crest Lager.

They built up the Mountain Crest brewing company renting space in the old Joseph Huber brewery in Monroe, WI.  Huber is of course a veteran of the beer wars, founded in 1845 and the oldest contiuing brewery in the midwest.   After Huber bellied up it was bought by Leinkugel, and in 2006 they sold it to Mountain Crest.  Mountain Crest had been basically brewing in Wisconsin to export to their home in Calgary, and they split the company into a separate outfit to brew Berghoff products, and renamed the main brewery Minhas Brewing.  They brew Huber's line of beers along with the aforementioned cap on picture 2, which says "Bock=Taste" and belongs to their Billy Bock beer.

That puts us in the middle of row three and Big Boss Brewing.  This is a Raleigh, NC, outfit founded in 2006.  Next is an Alpine, celebrating their 75th anniversary in 2012.  The distinctive "Banquet" logo of the next one marks it as a Coors, from their recent short-lived ad campaign.  Last row of Pic one leads off with the very interesting Coney Island Craft lager.  This beer, which a portion of the proceeds goes to support Coney Island, is brewed by Shmaltz brewing, originally  the American Jewish Celebration Brewing Co.  They started out brewing something cleverly called HE'BREW, which was actually a pomegranite beer.  They went on to develop their Coney Island line along with others, including a winter ale they call Human Blockhead.  You tell me, we both know.

Next is a Brown's, founded in 1993 by Garry and Kelly Brown in a dilapidated Troy, NY, warehouse.  Then is a Bayhawk, an Irvine, CA, outfit who won a world beer cup gold in 2002 with their "chocolate" brown porter.  Next is Mexico's Carta Blanca, the original premium brewed by the same outfit that brings you Tecate, Sol, and Dos Equis.  The Bosch is another long time vet, whose home brewery in Houghton, MI, closed in 1973.  Leinkugel bought them as well, but declining sales led them to shut the brand down in 1986.  Devout worshippers of the brand have been hoping to get Leinkugel to re-start production, and Red Jacket, which brews now in that very building, has tried to get them to sell the recipe.  To the most recent of my information, Leinkugels has said nothing.

Which brings us to pic 2, which is led by a Coors Light with the "Twist Off" and arrow sweeping around the perimeter.  Next up is a Boulevard, a mate to the IPA I still have on it's bottle just inches from this keyboard.  I've already covered the Billy Bock, so that leaves us with this cute little guy with the colorful little town on it.  This is an Ayinger, from the village of Aying outside Munich.  This brewery is young by German standards,  only 136 years old.

That's it for now, but stay tuned for something coming real soon!

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.