Charlie Staats from Texas stands in his hotel room at the Adam’s Mark in Denver, with the door propped open. He’s stashed the hotel trinkets in drawers, and every horizontal surface—the coffee table, the bed, the chairs, even the ironing board—has become display space for his collection of Texas brewery memorabilia. Staats specializes in anything... View Article
In 1951, when Herb Haydock returned to Wisconsin from his tour of duty in Germany, he brought back nine beer glasses that intrigued him. Over the next 35 years, he and his wife Helen built their breweriana collection into arguably the world’s finest and largest, with over one million items covering all areas of breweriana.... View Article
A list of the major collecting organizations, and their annual events. June 17-22, Dubuque, IA. The American Breweriana Association (ABA) Annual Meeting, www.americanbreweriana.org July 16-19, Sunday River, Bethel, ME. Eastern Coast Brewerania Association (ECBA) Convention, www.eastcoastbrew.com July 29-August 3, Bettendorf, IA. NABA National Association of Breweriana Advertising (NABA) National Convention, www.nababrew.org July 30-August 3, Bad... View Article
Song and beer have gone together for thousands of years. Every one of us has surely found our inner “idol” after a few pints of liquid courage. The drinking ballads of the British Isles, the German Schnitzelbank, the jukebox in a local dive or honky tonk, or karaoke bars in Asia—few of these would thrive... View Article
When I first considered writing this column, I thought I might need a US-to- Canadian dictionary. But re-watching the timeless movie classic “Slapshot” put me in the correct frame of half a mind to address how beer and hockey have been connected over the years.
Now with the opponents in SuperBowl XLI decided, it is time to look at how beer and football have huddled together.
For a number of years now, the bio at the bottom of this column has mentioned that my breweriana collection numbers over 400,000 items. It was not until this past spring that I realized how vast a number that is.
As Halloween increasingly becomes an adult holiday as much as one for kids, many breweries have discovered that All Hallow’s Eve is a theme to increase sales.
When the craft beer renaissance began in 1977 with New Albion Brewing Co., canned beer was not an option. The main hurdles included the high cost of a canning line, the availability of affordable cans in manageable quantities, plus the perception among consumers that good quality beer could be found in cans.
