P A G E 6 B O R D E R B A T C H B R E W I N G S
Life Through Beer Goggles Written by Bryan Madsen
As I sit down to write this edition’ s installation- a real article for a change instead of the creative“ fluff” I’ ve passed on in the last few rounds of Life Through Beer Goggles- summer solstice is fast approaching and I find myself in the middle of the requisite summer tasks: mowing lawn, a myriad of little projects around the building site, grilling and of course trying to keep up with the kids endless schedule of activities. But summer has to have its pleasures too, like escaping to a shady spot with the lawn chair, a lemon laced Schell’ s Hefeweizen & my new laptop to write this article. Someone please tell the flies dive-bombing my liquid refreshment that they are not a welcome part of my idyllic escape. The more time I spend outdoors and away from my collection, however, the more I’ m challenged to stop & ponder why invest so much time & treasure in such an odd pursuit. I’ m sure I’ ve said it before in this column, but I’ ll say it again, I initially got into this hobby to decorate the bar that was part of the recent addition to my house. I’ d say I’ m about neon, a lighted sign or two, & a few choice signs away from being adequately decorated in any reasonable person’ s estimation. None-the-less, I don’ t envision upon reaching that goal finding an end to my collecting days. So what it is it about the accumulation of old stuff, in our case breweriana that is so attractive? On a personal note I’ d bet you a six pack that if it wasn’ t breweriana it would have been some other antique type collection that graced my bar’ s décor. No matter how I kick around this subject I’ m brought back to the same core hypothesis. Like all grand hypotheses my little idea needs a fancy name. I’ m going to call it Nostalgia Factor. Now before I address Nostalgia Factor I better tip my hat to the people end of the hobby. Yes, the people do make the hobby great & we do have a really fun group of people in our club. But face it there are people in pretty much every hobby. If you golf, you’ ve got golfin’ buddies. If you like football you’ ve got plenty of fellow fans to associate with, etc., etc. So this hypothesis goes beyond the comradery & addresses the obsession with the“ old stuff”. Enter Nostalgia Factor. For my purposes Nostalgia Factor stems from one central core principal and thus ultimately explains the desires behind the collector personality. It all centers around the fact that old stuff makes us feel good. Why does old stuff make us feel good? It puts us in touch with a simpler time. It harkens to a simpler way of life. Face it,
nowadays who doesn’ t have more“ things to do” on their list than they’ ll get done in two life times, not to mention all our recreational goals. However, plainly stated, the“ life was soooo much simpler X number of years ago” line of thinking is an easy crutch for our minds to use. Sure to a degree it may be true that life was simpler back then, but in all reality this line of thinking is just a well constructed misconception. I’ ll take a wild guess that my grandfather working these 80 acres that I’ m lounging on now with a team of horses, milking cows & raising hogs for a living probably didn’ t think his life was so simple. So if life really wasn’ t so much simpler back in the day, what we’ re looking at is a kind of the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence phenomenon. I’ d argue the green grass on the other side of the fence is something that stands the test of time, on our side of the fence – change. Yes, I fear the collector of old stuff fears change. Old stuff is a rock against which the tide of change is constantly raging. Old stuff is like a boat anchor the keeps us from going adrift in a sea of change. No matter how much our families grow, evolve, & change & no matter how much change is thrown at us in the work place & no matter how much change attacks us from every other angle in life we can always grab a cold one & go enjoy our collections as centering point in our lives. This fear of change is the core principle behind Nostalgia Factor. This is the big reason why. From there some simple self examination will probably go along way in determining why you as a collector horde the things you do. So how does one end up collecting breweriana? For me, I’ d say it’ s the simple fact that I’ ve always enjoyed beer( even before I knew what good beer was) coupled with a blending of Nostalgia Factor & aesthetics. Take the false, but very real“ simpler life equation” from above and extend it to beer advertising. I like simplicity & clean( in an aesthetic sense not necessarily a moral sense) advertising & labels that build on a sense of easy going living. Simple elegance, timelessness, a nod at the past or a good founding in long lasting tradition, even the occasional catchy hook, these are the benchmarks of great beer advertising worthy of collecting. Enjoying cans, bottles and advertising pieces that fit this bill whisks me away to a simpler time while I sip a few brews and try to shake off all the craziness that seems to attach itself to my everyday life. Look at some of the crap that Madison Avenue churns out these days. It’ s got more colors than an explosion at the Crayola Factory, it’ s full of silly mindless jingles, it’ s totally devoid of class or sense of timelessness and it’ s all geared towards a society that’ s got the attention span of gnat. No wonder I collect old breweriana & no wonder that you do too.