V O L U M E 2 9 I S S U E 4
P A G E 3
As I sit here, I’ m trying to decide what to write about. Not that I’ m at a loss for words. I’ m just wondering what you, the readers of this column,( of which, there are probably not many) would like to read about. I had an article all wrote up but it was about our families Beer travels this summer. So, I thought, do the readers of this column want to hear about ME and our Beery adventures or do they want something with a little more“ meat” on the bone. In my past articles, I’ ve generally focused on our Beer travels and such, which I’ ll continue doing. But, that brought me to a question. I know that there’ s got to be more people out there that have Beery adventures( and live a more exciting life then me) and I for one, would sure like to hear about them. What I’ m saying is, write something and send it to Tom for publication. It would be great to hear from some other members about what YOU are doing and collecting, or even what the local Beer scene is like in your area.
With that being said, I will give you some of our Beery adventures and some food for thought. So... Welcome to October!! It’ s hard for me to believe that this year is already coming to a close. It seems like we were just at Schell’ s Bockfest last February. It has been quite a“ Year of Beer” for us again. So, with the leaves turning color and summer, but a warm memory, I think I will pop a top on a nice Schell’ s Octoberfest and take a look back and reminisce about the past few months.
If you missed the Nordlager show in July, you missed a good one. This year we had the Legend and Mrs. Legend camp with us. On Friday afternoon, we managed to get our tents set up without too much trouble, right Murray? Then in the evening we all walked over to the Northeastern bar for the nighttime festivities. The usual suspects were there, Wendls, Post, England, The Nordlager Boys and others I can’ t remember now. The show on Saturday was bigger then last year and a free keg of Lake Superior Beer was tapped by 9 am. I think Murray was the first in line. The Northeastern had a live band on both nights, plenty of good food and a nice selection of Micro brews to choose from. I picked up a nice Northern tray for 10 bucks, the buy of the show, I was told. Put this show on your calendar for next year and come camp with us, if you dare.
If you missed“ Stubiefest”, you missed another dandy show. The Billy can shoot was a“ Blast”. Even a Budweiser tray took ample punishment. Ted Marti showed up and accepted the award for Firebrick“ Can of the Year” from BCCA Prez, Joe Germinio, who traveled all the way from the Jersey shore. By the way Joe, how far is New Ulm from the Jersey shore? Speaking of traveling, 2 collectors came all the way from Atlanta, Georgia for the fest. They were Paul Letostak and Neil Davenport. I had to rub my eyes when I seen those two. It had been about 7 years since we last shared a Beer. The local press was there and Tom, Ted Marti and Joe, made the FRONT page of the Sunday New Ulm Journal. A bunch of us were also in Monday’ s paper as well. Went on a wild Hayride, stopped at Smiley ' s, Kegel Klub and some other party place. Then the evening was Karaoke time. I had the Vice Presidential Suite on Saturday night, which was a bed in Tom and Judy’ s’ camper, and believe me, I slept like a baby. A BIG THANKS to all Stubies!!!!!!!!!!
On September 29th Teri and I, went to what was billed as the Autumn Brew Review. This event is put on by the Minnesota Craft Brewers Association and was held at the historic Grain Belt Brewing complex in Minneapolis. There were 40 Breweries represented and well over 100 different Beers to sample. Teri and I met Bob Jackson and Jeff Lonto and we drank the best Beers in the state that afternoon. The line up of Beers was incredible to say the very least. Some of my favorites were a cask ESB from Summit, Breakwater Blue from Fitgers, Cabernet Stout from Town Hall and what was called, Ungespundet-hefetrub Pilsner from Schell’ s, which is a Kellerbier. We
also got to sample Schell’ s Snowstorm and it is a dandy. If you want to attend a Beer festival, all I can say is, this is one hell of a Das Goot time!!
Well, I’ m thinking that by the time you read this, Guzzle and Twirl will probably be a memory or very close to it. As Barry Travis says,“ It’ s the shortest day of the year” and he’ s not talking about the Winter Solstice either. I gotta agree. We blow into the hotel on Friday afternoon and before you know it, the Saturday show is over. It’ s a“ Twirl wind” of a weekend. I hope to see many of you there and share a Beer or maybe even two.
Of course, what would this column be without a Budwater rant? The other day I was listening to the radio and a Michelob ad came over. The gist of it was that, you should not drink any Beer that’ s brewed in someone’ s basement. The meaning of which was directed at Home brewers. Well, Spud, I got news for you boys, the selling of your flavorless water is coming to an end. Deal with it. So now you have resorted to attacking Home brewers in hopes of turning people against Home brewers and locally made Beer. It won’ t work, my friends. I’ ll stop there, because if I go on, Tom will just edit the rest. Ha Ha.
Well, I promised some“ meat” at the beginning so, here goes. I started collecting cans sometime in 1973, around when I was 12 or 13 years old. Which seems like a lifetime ago. At that moment in time I had no idea where that first beer can would take me, nor did I even care.
The Beer can, has taken me, Teri, and even our two boys to places that we would of probably never seen. If it was not for the Beer Can, we would probably would not have seen places like, Santa Clara CA, Los Angeles, Toronto Canada, Nashville, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, Atlanta, Syracuse NY, Shiner TX and too many others to list. Also about 70 plus Breweries and Brewpubs across the country, and not to even mention all the wonderful people we have met through our travels.
I guess what I’ m getting at, is that, I think this hobby, and yes, to me, it is a hobby, not a business, is about the People and the Beer itself. I see people paying big money for stuff and I ask, what really is this hobby about? To me, it’ s about getting together and sharing a laugh and a tall cool one. If I get something for my collection, that’ s fine but I don’ t worry about it anymore. The stuff we collect, I have no doubt, that the contents of which, was shared and laughed about in the past.
As Tom has said, you can sit home and look at your walls of stuff but what fun is that. I have seen collections that boggle the mind and seen some that all the person collects is Labels or Openers. It doesn’ t matter. I think having some fellow collectors at your place to see your stuff and sharing a beer and a laugh is really what it is all about. At least that is what I think this Chapter is about. Look at where this chapter was just a few years ago. It was ready to fold up and die. Now, here we are a strong and vibrant chapter and might I say, having a good time doing it. I hope to continue the trend. Well, that’ s the view from here and besides I need another Beer!!!
Now of course it’ s time for my quote of the issue.“ Give me a woman who loves Beer and I will conquer the world” Kaiser Wilhelm. Till next time, Jay.