I found this AWESOME brewery whilst passing through Red Bank, NJ! Every beer I had there (8-10 of them) was really good, but the Orange Lunatic is one of the best ever! Perfect balance of a witbier and citrus. They also had a great kolsch. This style originated in Cologne, Germany (Koln to the locals), and this is the best version I've had since leaving there decades ago. This is definitely a brewery worth checking out if you get a chance!

Penny must generate a lot of laundry throughout the day! For decades Tennent's Beer was famous for showing "Lager Lovelies" on their cans. Most sets showed a variety of ladies looking sexy (or sometimes not so much), but this set was dedicated solely to Penny. By 1990 they decided not to put their Lager Lovelies on their cans, so now they have boring cans that nobody talks about.

I can't say that I was too thrilled to go to Bahrain back in 2008 while we were in the middle of two wars in the Middle East, but Bahrain was a really cool place to see. As you can tell by the picture, they even have a Hard Rock Café! The people there were incredibly nice and the food was great! Gets a bit warm in the summer though. Temps over 120 degrees, and when the wind kicks up you get to feel what it's like to be in a sandblaster. But I went there twice for a total of about three weeks and I would love to go back!

DuBois Budweiser Tray – Unbeknownst to most people, Budweiser was originally a style of beer rather than a brand. The style originated in the city of Budweis in what is now the Czech Republic. This meant that anyone who brewed that style of beer could call their beer Budweiser. Even Miller brewed a Budweiser back in the 19th century. And as you can tell by this tray, the DuBois Brewing Company in Pennsylvania did too. And Anheuser-Busch was unhappy with them for that! A-B and the DuBois Brewing Company fought it out in court off and on for around 60 years, and then in 1967 DuBois was sold to the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, and sadly, shortly thereafter, DuBois Budweiser and the DuBois Brewery would cease to exist.

Anheuser-Busch's attempt to compete with Colt 45 and Mickey's. Cool can, but it still failed.

It seems that people were throwing a fit over Spuds McKenzie being so cute and luring impressionable youths into a life of drunken debauchery. As if they need luring... Well, the response was to pick less attractive mascots, so they picked frogs. Apparently still too cute, so they slowly transitioned to chameleons. And then away from non-human animals completely.

There are times when you want a stout or an IPA or a wheat beer, but there are other times when you just want a regular beer. Like this.

This brand didn't last long. Maybe a year or two back in the early 80s? Anheuser-Busch saw that Miller Lite was really catching on, as were their own Natural Light and Michelob Light brands. But Budweiser had better brand recognition, so they came up with Budweiser Light. I assume that they decided that the name was too cumbersome, so they switched the name to Bud Light and it went on to become the biggest beer in the world.

I got this clock at a flea market for a couple of bucks since part of the right hand was broken off. A little bit of glue and a little beer mug and she's better than ever!

After his brother was elected President of the United States, Billy Carter saw an opportunity to cash in. He had his own brand of beer made at various breweries around the country. According to the label he thought it was the best beer in the world, yet he continued to drink Pabst Blue Ribbon. When this came out people were hoarding cases of it, expecting to sell them off at a later date to pay for their kids' college or buy themselves a mansion. Well, the value never materialized. They can still be had for a buck or two per can.

I met Iron Maiden backstage at Cobo Hall in Detroit in 1982 and they gave me a Stroh's beer. It was really good, but I wish they'd had this back then!

Another beer in the Iron Maiden lineup. Really good porter, but since it was a limited edition, we might not be able to get it anymore. The label is kinda bland. Not what we've come to expect from Maiden.

Such a horrible song. The beer was OK though. And the can gets occasional comments when people see it on the shelf, so that qualifies it for a spot in the ManCave Museum. Yeah, the standards can be low sometimes.

I had to look up who Ian Rush is. Seems he was a really good soccer player. I'm not a big fan of soccer, but the can looks cool, so I kept it.

One of the coolest beer names ever! A semi-literate customer got mad and posted an online review that claimed "Your manager is bitch." The people in charge at Beale's Brewery in Bedford, VA decided to commemorate this phrase as the name of a beer. Cool idea! She wasn't there the day I visited the brewery, but I got the impression from others that she isn't bitch.

Great band an a really good beer! Megadeth's mascot - Vic Rattlehead - never caught on the way that Iron Maiden's Eddie did. Eddie seemed fun and playful - aside from the stabby stuff - but Vic didn't. Maybe that's the reason?

Lemmy's voice is definitely an acquired taste. When Motorhead's album No Sleep Till Hammersmith came out all of the British music mags were talking about it being one of the best albums ever, but I didn't agree. It took many listens over many months, but I finally got it. It IS one of the greatest albums ever! And Road Crew is a great song! The beer however, is another story. To me it's more of a gose than an American Pale Ale. I'm not a fan of gose beers. Perhaps this beer is an acquired taste too? I have four cans left to be convinced.

The University of Virginia sports teams are officially the Cavaliers, but apparently they were dismissively referred to as Wahoos back in the old days when that word was actually used. But the U of V embraced the term, thus leading to Virginia Wahoowa Pale Ale.

Seems to be a popular drink at the Fredericksburg Nationals games. Or "Fred Nats" as us cool kids call them.

One of the more colorful cans from the 50s. If you needed help with the pronunciation of the brand, that was there too (Fifers). And Johnny is playing a fife. The weird thing is that they printed "35.5 centilitres" on the label. Trying to kiss up to the Windsorites invading from the south? BTW, did you know that Windsor/Detroit is the only place in the Continental U.S. where you go north from Canada to reach the U.S.? I think that was a Jeopardy question (answer?) once, so no, that's not useless information!

The Winery At Rapidan - or WAR for short - is a very cool and relaxing place in Northern Virginia. Great beers too! When they started brewing they went with WAR Craft Brewery for that aspect of their business. Cool play on words. And soon they'll add distilling to their repertoire! The owner is a fellow Air Force Veteran, so help support the business if you get the chance. Find out more here: WAR Craft Brewery

Schultz and Dooley have been promoting Utica Club beer for many decades, as if Utica Club should even need to be promoted! As a poor technical school student I've never met a better student-priced beer! Apex of the Student Food Pyramid!

Iron Maiden has a few imported beers out there, but this one is made right here in the good ol' US of A! The beer is good, but nothing spectacular. The can looks good on the shelf though! I'm not sure about the "Cold IPA" phrase though. Using science and an oven I found that the phrase can be deceiving.

Great beers in the Madison, Virginia area! Cool place too! Check them out here: Bald Top Brewing Company

Another in the Iron Maiden beer lineup, this one named for a song off their awesome album Piece of Mind. This is a "sake lager" so it contains elements Japanese rice wine along with regular old American lager. This is basically a good lawnmower beer. Just get one of those helmets where you can insert a can over each ear and the straw in your mouth and you're all set for a few minutes.

Did you know that Budweiser hasn't always been red, white, and blue? When beer began to be packaged in cans back in the 30s Anheuser-Busch decided to go with gold for their flagship brand. It didn't last too long though before they adopted the colors of Old Glory. You can tell that this is one of the really early cans since it has instructions on how to get at the beer. People didn't know how to use a church key to pop a couple of holes in the top of the can. But they caught on quickly and the opening instructions went away.

Back in the 1930s, beer in cans was a new concept, and brewers were concerned about how this new packaging would affect their sales. Pabst didn't want to risk the reputation of their award-winning PBR, so they canned it as Pabst Export Beer. This way if a customer deemed it crap, perhaps they would go back to the old standby, Pabst Blue Ribbon. Sales were good, so they added "Blue Ribbon" to the label and shrunk the word "Export." As time went on, "Blue Ribbon" got more prominent and "Export" slowly disappeared. This is a very early can, as you can tell by the opening instructions. Similarly, see this Budweiser can

One of the bigger - thus more useful - Utica Club beer steins. He looks like he could use a nap.

One of many in the Utica Club beer stein series. This one doesn't hold much beer though. So either get the Farmer Mugee stein, or sit close to the fridge.

Another in the Utica Club beer stein series.

The Big Red Machine! With a lineup of Bench, Morgan, Perez, Rose (who should be in the Hall of Fame), Concepcion (who also should be in the Hall of Fame), Foster, Griffey, and Geronimo, this is one of the greatest lineups ever! Six MVPs in eight years, five division championships, four trips to the World Series, and two World Series wins.

Named for Thomas Jefferson's crib in Charlottesville, VA, this can is from the 1950s. The home (now a museum) was designed by Jefferson and is located on top of a mountain and has a great view of the surrounding area! And if you like the architecture of the place, check out the campus of nearby University of Virginia since it was founded by Jefferson and has other buildings designed by him.

Schoenling was best known for their Little Kings Cream Ale, which was one of the best beers ever! The only problem was that they came in 7 ounce bottles, which is barely a sip. In the 80s Schoenling merged with Hudepohl, which was another Cincinnati brewery, but that didn't help and in 1997 the actual brewery was sold to the Boston Beer Company, brewers of Samuel Adams. The Schoenling brands have been sold multiple times since then, and have been brewed in various parts of the country, but if Little Kings ever shows up in your neighborhood, you should definitely try some!

This is where it all started. Lite/Light beer, that is. Originally developed as Gablinger's Diet Beer in the 60s, it didn't do very well. Then Meister Brau obtained it and it did slightly better, but not good enough and the brand was sold to Miller. Rebranded as Miller Lite and advertised by a bunch of sports guys as "Tastes great" and "Less Filling" it really caught on and proceeded to ruin the brewing landscape in this county for decades.

IRTP = Internal Revenue Tax Paid. That phrase is stated on the back of this can, as it was stated on every can of beer in this country (with VERY few exceptions) up until March 1950. Very important piece of information when it comes to figuring out how old a can is.

This is an old steel Coors can. Since they were the first brewery to switch to aluminum cans - in 1959 - we know that this can is at least 65 years old. Still holding up pretty well. It's surprising how little their design has changed over the years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Gasparilla is basically Tampa's version of Mardi Gras. It's been going on since 1904 and they have parades and floats and beads and drinking and pirates. Everything you need for a party! The REAL event it the Sant' Yago Illuminated Knight Parade! This parade takes place in Ybor City at night when the little kiddies should be safely at home. There's a lot of drinking and ladies "earning" their beads. The city is tr4ying to make this more family-friendly though. That's too bad.

This is part of a series of aluminum bottles commemorating various National Parks. As far as I can tell, there are 12 different parks represented, covering 12 different states.

Would you really want a cold beer if you were hanging out in Antarctica? Well, it does say "SERVE COOL" rather than "SERVE COLD." But still, it seems like one of those drinks that you light on fire might be a better choice under those circumstances.

Full Goebel beer from the 1940s. I'm probably not going to drink it. This is a painted label bottle. The oldest bottles had the brand embossed on the bottle, then came the painted labels, then the paper labels that we're all used to. As you can kinda see on the left side of the bottle, it says "INTERNAL REVENUE TAX PAID" which means that it's from somewhere between 1933 (the end of prohibition) and March 1950. After that the phrase was no longer required.

This isn't really beer, but I had to get it since it's got CERTIFIED COLOR!

Did you know that Al Capone was in the brewing business? Yep, this was one of his brands. He and his cohorts acquired the Manhattan Brewery in Chicago during prohibition, and pretended that they weren’t a brewery even though they actually were. The brewery went legit after prohibition and survived into the 1960s, with a name change to Canadian Ace in 1947. This was supposedly to distance themselves from their prior illicit activity. This can was from the 1950s, which is when cone top beer cans started fading from existance.