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. 

Wychwood mysteries solved

Straight from the horse's mouth:

Thank you for your email.

The bottle cap is one of our standard Wychwood bottle tops and could be from any of our range of Wychwood Bottled Beers. Unfortunately we do not produce a non alcoholic beer. The January’S ale is only available in cask during January and this year is 2.8% abv. (this was 3.8% in 2011).

The lowest abv bottled beer that we produce is Brakpear Bitter at 3.4%, the next are Goliath and Ginger Beard at 4.2%

We hope that you are able to get the opportunity to try one of the above beers, which are widely available from most major supermarkets and if we can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Kind Regards

Wychwood Brewery

Marstons Beer Company

So to sum up, there is no non-alcohol Wychwood, so I'm wondering if maybe it was the Gingerbeard (which is alcoholic but if you think "ginger beer" you might think it isn't).  January'S ale (with the capital "S" that mad me think it was January Sale at first) has a alc. content that varies by the season and thus the discrepancy there, and the cap is their "standard one" which is about what I figured.

Just in from Australia...



From our good friend Mynx , 5 new caps.  Starting at top left, we have a Crown Lager.  This beer was so premium, from 1919-54 it was ONLY served to visiting dignitaries in Australia.  Next is a Cooper's Pale Ale, from a brewery established way back in 1862  Their beers have a secondary fermentation, meaning they have yeast- and thus, sediment- left in the beer. Not sure I'd like that...  Then comes a West End Draught, first brewed by the South Australia Brewery, since bought out by Lion Nathan in 1993.  Up to then, it had been the top selling beer in the state.  Next is a Miller Chill, their version of Bud Light Lime- even though it had started out as a "chelada-style beer"  (meaning it had clamato, red pepper, and other disgusting things added to it).  So when BLL took most of their market share, they re-formulated, while Bud began making their own chelada beer.  Ring around the rosie..  Finally, we have a contestant from Wychwood breweries of the UK, who make a whole mess of different beers.  I'm not sure which one, though I know it is NOT a Hobgoblin, which seems to have a blue cap.  One of my sources says its a Scarecrow Golden Ale, but I don't know.

So that's the scoop.  Thanks again to a lovely lady for the lovely caps.

New years day

First off, the best harbinger of the new year came Friday from our friend Theng:

A lovely homemade Christmas card from Malaysia!  Thanks and God Bless you!!

Then we move on to the NYE party.

People were losing their clothes pretty early at this thing.

Laurie got a high score on a Wii game that I could see about as well as the camera...

But the reason why the story is here was that I opted to do another beer tasting, the results of which I shall now reveal.

First at the top- and last one I drank- is a Red Stripe Light.  This Jamaican Lager was actually pretty good- however, it was made better by how bad the one before it was.  Next to him is a Leinkugel's Honey Weiss, which was a lot better than the other wheat beers I've had.  (Sure beat the Fireside Nut Brown I had at Christmas!  Who wants coffee in their beer?) 

The solid gold is a Leffe, a Belgium Abbey beer.  Leffe Blonde is what we tried.  you can look here for what they have to say about it.  This was to us, like a bad attempt at wine (which when you consider that someone brought a chocolate wine that tasted more like chocolate Ny-Quil, is saying a lot).  Tasted like it had a clove soaking in it.

To its left is a New Belgium Ranger IPA, an India Pale ale.  For us, one picture is worth a thousand words:

As Jack's face can tell you, this had to be the single most vile thing of any sort that ever passed my lips. EVER.  Both the bottle and the sip's worth in Jack's cup swiftly found the kitchen sink.

The final one there was a Landshark Lager, a benign little  Bud Light-ish lager that offended no one.

This here is an unopenned Boulevard Pale Ale. Boulevard is the 10th-largest craft brewer in the nation.  However, since our experience with the Ranger IPA was so, er, bitter, this bottle will go into the "Bottle Wing " of the collection unopened for the forseeable future.

Combine these with various sips of slushie concoctions, a swig of that horrifying Chocolate Ny-Quil (sorry, Joyce), and more-than-neccessary palate cleansings with Rum and pepsi, and you could say that a good time was had by all:

However that does leave us with the nasty experience of before...

...and after...

Mommy, I promise I'll get the caps catalogued tomorrow... I don't feel so good right now...