SOME DECENT BEERS ADDED TO THE COLLECTION IN 2020

[UncleBruce]

Just remembering some of the better acquisitions made for the COLLECTION in 2020

THE WATERLOO BREWING CO. // (Waterloo, IL) A Maverick (no city/state on the bottle). New amber variation added to the Library/Collection & a new CITY for the collection. LION BREWERY // New Haven, CT Surprised when this variation showed up. Now in the Library. I was pretty stoked to get this as I didn't have an example from this BREWERY. THE COLUMBIA BREWING CO. // Hartford, CT An exercise in good practices. When the LION beer was sent the seller included his “card”, with his contact information, all sellers should do this. I contacted them to say how pleased I was & ask if they had any other beers. They did & that is how I was able to add this new BREWERY to the Collection/Library. WM. A. CUNLIFFE’S BOTANIC BEER // Kearny, NJ A friend helped document this. I've wanted an example for years & 2020 ended that search. It is a new CITY & BEER BOTTLER for the collection.

BADGER BREWING CO. // (Milwaukee, WI) This Maverick was documented in the Library from a FeeBay listing. At the time I did not acquire it thinking it was rough for the price. Years later the same seller, using the same image, listed it for sale at the same price. I contacted the seller with a fair offer. They accepted & it became a new BREWERY for the collection. BOCA BEER // (Boca, CA) It's good to have collector friends. This was on my wanted list for a long time. A NC friend contacted me to see if I was interested in this & I said YES! It is a new BREWERY & CITY for the Collection. Collectors refer to this as a BOCA BOB BEER. While the embossing looks like BOB in a circle it is actually a BBCO monogram for the Boca Beer Company. SULLIVAN COUNTY BREWERY // Dushore, PA Already documented in the Library, but was a new BREWERY & CITY for the collection. A nice example too. STEPHEN NOVAK EXCELSIOR LAGER // So. Norwalk, CT 2020’s first beer bottle acquisition that was a Beer Bottler not a Brewery & unknown to me. I have a passion for branch bottlers. Most bottlers embossed only their name & used paper labels to identify contents. This was a new CITY & BEER BOTTLER for the Collection/Library.

CRYSTAL SPRINGS BREWING & ICE CO. // Boulder, CO This was a surprise. A previously unknown EMBOSSING variation. The seller had listed it on FeeBay with a low starting bid & MAKE AN OFFER. I made an offer & I'm glad to have this westerner in the Collection/Library. LEMPS ST. LOUIS LAGER BEER // A. FRIEDMAN // Denver, CO Friendships are the key to collecting. This Branch Beer came through friendship. It had been documented in the Library, but there had been no example in the Collection. THE JOHN. HAUCK BREWING CO. // Cincinnati, OH My NC friend was good to me again. This is an EMBOSSING & BLOB LIP variation previously unknown to the Library. I truly adore interesting blob top lips especially blobs with the extra collar. STETTNER & THOMA PRAEMIUM WEISS BIER BREWERY // St. Louis, MO Be attentive to the description details of listings on FeeBay. The seller did a minimal description on this. I almost missed this unknown EMBOSSING variation. Note the spelling of PREMIUM, which adds an “A”. Without that “A” I consider it to be easy to find. With the “A”... awesomeness! I asked several Missouri collectors & none had seen one. Thankfully I was astute & the only bidder I believe due to the poor listing. I'm very partial to Missouri beers & I consider myself fortunate when one is added to the Collection/Library. Paying attention is a good thing!

HOFFMANN & MERKEL ORIENTAL LAGER BIER // (New York) NY A Branch Beer Bottle documented by Gary Guest in his book on NY beer bottles, but did not have a picture for the Library. I’m not sure what ORIENTAL Lager Bier is, but I sure like having this new COMPANY in the Collection/Library. EMIL LADEWIG WALDSCHLOSS BREWERY // New Brunswick, NJ I 1st learned of this beer through NJbottles.com. The Brewery isn't documented in the AMERICAN BREWERIES II index so it's an enigma. I suspect it's an undocumented brewery, but it could be a Beer Bottler instead. It's a new COMPANY/BREWERY for the Collection. G. CINELLI BOTTLER OF POTHS BEER // Camden, NJ This came from FeeBay. It was an unknown BEER BOTTLER. Not even documented on NJbottle.com. The seller put their “card” in the box so I contacted them saying how pleased I was. They didn’t have any more beers to sell, but are a digger & I helped them to document a beer bottle variation from their home town that they did not know existed. It's good to make new friends. HENRY WEISS BOTTLER OF WINE, LIQUORS AND BEER // (New York) NY Another Branch Beer documented by Gary Guest in his boo, but didn't have a picture for the Library. Looking at the embossing one can say HENRY sure liked the alcohol business. Chalk up one more new BEER BOTTLER for the Collection.

CONSUMERS STAR BREWING CO. // Brooklyn, NY here is one more Beer Bottler documented in Gary Guest's book. It is nice to have photos of these NY beers in the Library. It's even better that a new BREWERY was added to the Collection. SPRING HILL BREWERY // Wooddale, DE A previously undocumented BREWERY from a new DE CITY. I was very pleased to add this beer to the Library/Collection. It’s so clean. J. A. LOMAX SUPERIOR BOTTLED LAGER BEER // Chicago, IL Lomax bottles are highly collected in the Windy City. A new COLOR variation for the Library/Collection. I really like that the bottle is covered by so much embossing. RUPPERT KNICKERBOCKER BIG TOP BEER // Orange, NJ Lots of collectors would not want a bottle this modern. I have several moderns, but I don’t find them very often. This is from the 1960s. Ruppert was one of the few breweries that survived Prohibition. They made it to 1965 before going out of business.

JACOB SCHMIDT BREWING CO. // St. Paul, MN Generally beers from this Brewery are easy. This one is special. It's the only example I’ve seen in an EXPORT shape, not a champagne shape. It came from the junking we did on our big road trip to the Miller Auction in Wisconsin where we got a Black River Falls picnic size beer. C. SCHAAL WHITE BEER // Philadelphia, PA Squat beers with a company embossed on front & contents on the back are native to just a few East Coast states. I already had a similar beer embossed WEISS BEER, but this new WHITE BEER variation got me excited. WEISS is German for WHITE & this is a great addition to the Library/Collection. S. PIANA EXTRA GERMAN BEER // (New York) NY 2020 was a good year for acquiring NY beers. Still one more Beer Bottler that was documented in Gary Guest's book with no picture in the Library. The last New York BEER BOTTLER collected in 2020. INDEPENDENT BREWING CO. // GLOBE // Pittsburgh, (PA) An EMBOSSING variation gladly added to the Library/Collection. This is the 5th variation documented from the brewery. It looks brand new and possibly never in the ground.

SEATTLE BREWING & MALTING CO. // Seattle, WA Green glass is desirable & sought by most bottle collectors. Documented in the Library for a long time & on my hit list. It's a new COLOR variation for the Collection, I never really expected to find one, but 2020 was kind to me. THE WM. GERST BREW’G CO. // Nashville, TN This beer bottle is out of the collection of a late friend Ralph Van Brocklin. This is an unknown EMBOSSING variation for the Library/Collection. All of us face the reality that we won’t live forever. Don’t waste your days & never take friendships for granted. BLACK RIVER FALLS BREWERY // (Black River Falls, WI) Picnic size beer bottles are arguably my favorite. This Brewery was documented in BADGER BREWERIES by the late Wayne Kroll. This showed up in Millers Auction at Tomah, WI. We drove 8+ hours to bid in person. It was a fun trip & we won the Beer. We also did some fruitful junking going there & back. This is a new BREWERY & CITY for the Library/Collection. DR. J. CORNWALL NATIONAL BEER // St. Louis, MO A Missouri resident for the majority of my life, I'm very partial to Missouri beers & never expect to find new examples from Missouri, because I have quite a few. This was the second Show Me State added to the collection in 2020 thanks again to a good friend.

ANHEUSER BUSCH BREW. ASSN. // Wilmington, NC My NC buddy added another specimen to the Collection. He's the one who originally got this beer documented in the Library. He knew I wanted one as I was born in NC. Thanks to him this WILMINGTON variation is my 3rd favorite 2020 acquisition. F. W. MULLER BERLINER WEISS BEER // Arlington, IL Can’t say enough good things about this Beer. Acquire through a friend, it's a new CITY & COMPANY for the Collection/Library, &… it’s COBALT! In nearly 40 years of collecting this is only the 3rd COBALT beer collected out of well over 2000 beers. Finding a COBALT beer is like winning the lottery. My 2nd favorite find from 2020. A. GRIESEDIECK BREWING COMPANY // PEARL LAGER // St. Louis, MO This was #1 on my bucket list, it's my home state & I never expected to own one. The Library had a quart sized example documented & to the best of my knowledge that bottle was the only example from the brewery known. It had originally been found in Kansas. The collector who helped document it, sold that bottle to the Griesedieck family, I’m glad it went to the family as it's their heritage, but I've hoped that if there was one... just maybe... WHOOP, a previously unknown PINT size discovered in Kansas by a picker is by far my #1 FAVORITE BEER BOTTLE FIND OF 2020!

 

[ArmyDigger]

nice beers

 

[yacorie]

Awesome - would have bought those CT beers also.

do you collect bottles that say beer or brewery?

 

[UncleBruce]

Awesome - would have bought those CT beers also.

do you collect bottles that say beer or brewery?

Thanks. Yes the bottles have to have some kind of reference like that in the embossing. Also center embossing.

 

[Csa]

Impressive haul. What’s your top target bottle(s) for 2021?

 

[UncleBruce]

Impressive haul. What’s your top target bottle(s) for 2021?

Thanks.
That would be difficult to determine. What I need no one wants to part with, which is fine as I can't own everything. Always hope to find green, an odd color beer, or something with an odd top. Looking forward to see if lightning strikes in 2021.