Barley Travis
Have 2 der tall!
Tom sends an email to us guys a few weeks before this
issue is supposed to be printed. And here it is, a few
weeks later and I have nothing. So let s ramble on like Led Zepp a little bit.
It s kind of the winter doldrums when it comes to collecting. The Northstar
chapter s freeze your can show will be coming up, and it will be good to
see old friends there again. Who knows? The Vikings maybe playing in a
game on that weekend. But as any longtime Minnesota fan knows,
chances are doubtful.
About 15 years ago I had the chance to buy beer items from an original
border b atch member, Jay Smith from Minnesota Lake. He had passed
away in 1999, and his wife
Margie invited me over to
take a look in 2002. As I
went down the basement
to look at all of his stuff, I
spied a wood case below
his can collection. There
were five cans in there,
and man... where they
beauties. But a gentleman
picked up the case and
walked back up the stairs,
saying that they weren t
for sale. Damn. This past
weekend, after writing
letters to the guy (her
son)on a yearly basis, his daughter got a hold of me. She had convinced
1st Albert Lea Session 1979
her dad that he had way too much
stuff, and the cans were now available
for sale. What makes it so great is that Steve Miner himself supply two of
them to Jay Smith back in the day. He had found the Badger can and the
Kato. Steve also told me that Jay had picked up the Soul and Rainier cans
on a trip to California. A liquor store still had them in the cooler. Well, I
better wrap it up here. Hope to see some of you knuckleheads in the near
future. Stay safe, happy and hydrated. Until we can have a cold one, this
will have to do!
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