By Ben Marks — Baseball season is upon us, so naturally our thoughts turn to beer. Yes beer, the social lubricant that transforms even the most taciturn fans into long-lost brothers and sisters—when it isn’t serving as the catalyst for countless post-game brawls in countless parking lots and bars. “Ruth responded to the writer's hyperbole by swatting a three-run homer.” We all have our beer-and-baseball stories, whether it’s the salving effects of a couple of cold ones after your team was literally...

Vintage Beer Boxes and Why Recycling Pays

By null — Since no one has ever knocked on my door offering me old beer stuff, I make no secret of my collecting passion. As it turns out, having a few breweriana items on display in my office at work paid off—in the form of these six-pack boxes. Most boxes of this type survived by accident. I have a few that have the words "Xmas ornaments" written on the bottom or top. Clearly, someone's mother was resourceful in re-using a cardboard box to store non-beer items in over the years. Many times these...

The Beer Can That Brought Them to Tears

By null — As a sixth grader assembling my can collection from the ditches of Minnesota, I found a book showing all the elusive rarities in the beer-can world. I was amazed at the variety, colors, and sizes made throughout the years. But my Holy Grail can, which I discovered in this book, was the Travis cone-top beer can made in the mid-1930s in San Antonio, Texas. Not only was this an early can, it also was a beer named after me. I had to have one. Fast forward to 1996, when my parents threatened...

Beer Steins, From Stoneware to Faience

By Maribeth Keane — I’ve been a beer stein collector for about 25 years. About 10 years ago I sold my business, a specialty database provider. At that point, I had some experience in compiling databases and beer steins were my passion, so with the spare time that had become available to me I tried applying my business skills to the hobby I enjoy and the Beer Stein Library was born. If there’s one thing missing in almost every hobby, it’s a source of searchable information. When you’ve found an old beer stein...