A friend shared this image with me partly because I used to collect beer cans and partly because jokes about the Honey Badger are still making the rounds. Just in case you don't know about the Honey Badger all you have to do is look it up on youtube. It has to be one of the dumbest video ever but maybe that's why it's so funny. "Honey Badger don't care" is one of those passing catch phrases that's a lot like "Homey don't play that game" -what you don't know who Homey The Clown is? Yeah, that's so 1990's -which for some people might as well be the dawn of time.
Like I said years ago I had a beer can collection but I gave it way because I was moving from place to place at the time. Back then beer cans was a low cost hobby that shunned the commercialism of other types of collecting -like stamps, coins, baseball cards and comic books. These days some of the rarest cans sell for thousands of dollars and there is even a small market of replica classic beer cans.
One thing I enjoy about beer can collections is seeing how many different brands and companies there once was. There was a time where almost every American town had either a brewery or a local brand of beer. Before and after Prohibition, Newark New Jersey had 12 breweries.The water from the deep aquifer under the city is perfect for brewing and this might be the only reason why Budweiser still had its facilities there. All the other breweries are long gone.
After the great consolidation of breweries where the market was dominated by Bud, Miller and Coors there had been a renascence of local craft brewers. As commercial beer sales have flatten, craft brewed beers have become a growth market expanding at 20% a year or more. It could also be a renascence in new beer cans to collect.
The growth of craft beer might also be an indicator of the things to come. The Achilles Heel of suburban living is what to do on the weekends? People are looking for walk-able spaces, community events, live entertainment and unique shopping experiences. Though it's doubtful American towns will adopt European style pedestrian malls, though some small town Main Streets are being rediscovered. Actually Ithaca NY has a neat pedestrian mall but then again Ithaca is a pretty radical place compared to rest of the country.
The rediscovery of Main Street leaves me optimistic and looking forward to the day where every town has a brewery, a bakery, a specialty butcher / grocer / fish market, book store, cafe and a dozen other thriving businesses that give a community a sense of place.
I want to say thank you to my friend Tom, also known as Tom The Collector Of Everything. Tom is the type of collector who is almost a hoarder. I have several friends that would fit that description but I have to admire a person's passion to preserve part of the past -to keep things alive and remind us what was.
As a side note another friend is having a gathering of artists at his house this weekend. Everyone will have a chance to show off their newest work and compare notes. The host asked for suggestions on what beverages to serve, with an emphasis that he is on a tight budget. The weather is still warm so homemade sangria would work.
And here's a recipe for a simple rum drink.
1 part white rum
2 parts orange juice
1/4 part Goya Ginger Beer
The Goya Ginger Beer is very important because it's much spicier that the relatively bland and overly sweet ginger ale that's sold in most stores.
If you have a recipe for a party drink please feel free to share it. Have a great day.
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