A Post Halloween Post: Open Heart-Open Mind

In the Spirit of Sir Bowie's previous post where he resounds the age old and very accurate phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words.", we'll keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking.

7 years ago on Halloween I had a very real horror story when I had my chest cracked open, ribs raised and spread and my heart exposed as I was given new life in Frankenstein's Laboratory.

The experience changed my life literally, and I have documented the journey in a body of original work soon to be released on CD titled, "Open Heart-Open Mind". Therefore, Halloween, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, The Day of the Dead is a particularly poignant time for me to celebrate life, love, and a open heart and open mind! So, I give you Sir Hook's Cast of Characters!

Sir Hook's calling card for the evening as "Bob Gnarly, Pirasta Man"...No Ship or Spliff too big to take on!

Lady Allwinky as "Beannie Richman of Coffee Talk" fame!

Lady Mo of Chicago as "Lady Mo...Mistress of the Night!

And here's the starring cast at their first stop, the KMSA Sacred Watering Hole...and where it all began...Old Chicago.

We had the fortune to have Hannah Montana as our bartender! Notice the KMSA Sacred Watering Hole plague over her shoulder.

Here's the Soul Rebel with the "King" at Casino Aztar's Hoosier's Lounge...Stir it up Mr. Memphis!

Bob Gnarly and Caesar debate which is bigger, the Spliff or the Sword. Note to Sir D, this is Chris the Geordie bartender at RiRa's.

Bob Gnarly with our RiRa "Batty Waitress". I'm a fool for your stockings I do believe!

Another RiRa Waitress...BEER GIRL...striking her super powers pose! Complete with twist cap brazier...I didn't ask her how many times she's been tapped!

Of course we had the distinct honor of partying with French Royalty and the 18th century original "Party Girl", Marie Antoinette!

Here's the Creature from the Deep surfacing for a few Bud Lites!

I think he was actually following the Skipper and Gilligan to claim a few more victims for Davy Jones' Locker!

We took a wild guess and was correct...I give you the inflation bug!

The Mad Hatter appeared, forgoing his taste for Oxford brew for a PBR!

This lucky gent was riding his Ass to the bars last night!

We ended the evening at O'Brien's Pub where one of our favorite bands and good friends, Rachel and the Jimmies were playing as the Adams Family. Here's Rob as Gomez. Rob plays bass on my CD.

Bob Gnarly gets down with Francine Kruger!

Here's Rachel as Wednesday and Dave as Lurch belting out a tune!

Rachel, or Wednesday, packs a powerful punch in such a small body! She sings on my CD. Her husband Jeff played guitar with me and helped me produce. We go back 25 years!

Finally, John McEnroe makes a winner after arguing the call and celebrates by playing air guitar with his wooden tennis racket. Remember those?

So, there you have it. A small visual tour of another great Halloween evening!

Sir Hook the Gnarly Man of Warrick

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

Happy Halloween! Halloween and beer go together perfectly -- like bullies and beating up defenseless little angels and stealing their candy (but, I digress).

Instead of a lot of words, I present one of my favorite stolen Halloween images of all time (unknown source).

Think. Drink. Be Merry. Be Safe!

Sir Bowie "who may be going as a swine flu victem" of Greenbriar

The Listeners

Reading Lady Tammy's splendid blog of 28th October, it struck me that the talk of William Jones not being the only apparition at the Inn, and that a little girl had also been mentioned, plus a strange figures in the windows, it all reminded me of one of my favourite poems The Listeners, by Walter de la Mare, and seeing as it is Halloween weekend I am pleased to be able to bring this fine piece of thought to you, and hope it haunts you as much as it has me, over the years

The Listeners
by Walter De La Mare

'Is there anybody there?' said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest's ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller's head
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
'Is there anybody there?' he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller's call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
'Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:-
'Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,' he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hoofs were gone.


Sir Dayvd ( the Traveller who came ) of Oxfordshire

Ghost in the Tavern

So since the conversation about Hex signs led to a conversation about beer which led to a brief history of Allentown and since Allentown and Bethlehem are practically the same thing (and Easton, but that's irrelevant to this story, so we'll ignore it for now) I figured this might be as good a time as any to share a story I heard in Bethlehem about the Sun Inn and the haunting of same.


The Sun Inn, located on the main drag in Bethlehem PA, has been in service since before the American Revolution. (In American terms, my fine friends from across the pond, that is very very old indeed) some notable dates, according to the Sun Inn's website, include:

• 1758 ~ Building of the Sun Inn began
• 1760 ~ First Guests Welcomed
• 1777 ~ Meeting of the leading members of the Continental Congress. Signed the order of Protection.
• 1792 ~ A deputation of Six Nation Indians, fifty-one chiefs and warriors, including Red Jacket, the Corn Planter and Osiquette, lodged at the Inn on the way to Philadelphia to meet General Washington.
• 1799 ~ Fries Rebellion at the Sun Inn
• 1803 ~ Commodore Berry of the ship United States stayed at the Inn.
• 1826 ~ A full story is added to the Inn
• 1865 ~ November 3, a gala dinner for the honorable Asa Packer upon his announcement of the founding of Lehigh University.
• 1892 ~ Memorial Tablet placed on the occasion of the Sesqui-Centennial Celebration of the settlement of Bethlehem.
• 1910 ~ Brother Albrecht's Secret Chamber: A Legend of the Ancient Moravian Sun Inn at Bethlehem Pennsylvania and What Came of It was published.
• 1972 ~ Founding of the Sun Inn Preservation Association to restore the Inn.
• 1982 ~ The restored Sun Inn is opened.

During our visit, we learned that many notable people had visited and accepted the hospitality of the Sun Inn. We visited some of the guest rooms and suites that had housed them. Yep. George Washington slept here.


Now we learned all of this when we visited this summer. But what really caught the attention of our kids was this:


That's right. The Inn has been declared officially haunted by R.I.P.A. - Research and Investigation in Paranormal Activity. And this Halloween, for the first time since the 1960's, people will actually be allowed to sleep at the Inn hoping to spot a spectre. It's rumored to have a few. According to The Morning Call:

RIPA Members say they have had their pants leg tugged, their hat tapped and their hair pulled. A camera left recording in an empty room was mysteriously knocked askew.

It is the tangible evidence of strange happenings that is the most exciting for the group. And there is plenty of strange evidence.

Recordings done in the first floor room, known as the Gas Tube, includes a spectral voice singing along to the hymn ''A Mighty Fortress is our God,'' and an exclamation of ''God Save the Queen'' after the British national anthem was played on a harpsichord in the corner of the room. In another recording, the voice requests ''play the piano'' and says his name is ''William.''

Members speculate that the music-loving spirit is William Jones, who was secretary of the Navy under President James Madison and died at the Inn in 1831.

Now old Bill isn't the only apparition who has made his presence known at the Inn over the past couple few years. There's a little girl who has been mentioned. And there have been strange figures in the windows. I don't know if I believe all of this or not, but I DO know that I won't be making any reservations at the Sun Inn anytime soon.

Lady T ( I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do) of the living

Sir Dayvd's post yesterday got me thinking about a lot of things, including wondering if there have been Hex Signs on Beer Cans (see Beer Can Collecting a few posts ago).

Here's your answer:

I have to admit that I have never heard of Horlacher. So, I went to my trusty search engine and found the story. Here are some brief notes from http://www.falstaffbrewing.com/horlacher.htm

The area around Allentown, PA was settled around by 1737 by German immigrants, primarily Mennonites and Lutherans. The first structure on the Allentown site was, appropriately enough, a tavern, and a store opened next door a short time later. Small houses began to spring up around the tavern and the beginnings of Allentown took root. Allentown survived the French & Indian wars, and later sheltered the Liberty Bell while Philadelphia was under English occupation during the American Revolution. With the coming of the railroad in the 1840s, coal from nearby mines became readily available. Blast furnaces, rolling mills, and cement factories followed, and Allentown became a gritty heavy manufacturing town.

Frederick Horlacher was born on December 3, 1840 in Wurtemburg, Germany. In 1865 his family emigrated from Germany to Philadelphia. Horlacher attended Pierce Pioneer College and learned to speak English in just six months. He married Carolina Schwartz on January 30, 1868 and the couple eventually had 7 children.

Having tremendous success with the soft drink beverage business, Horlacher took over the brewery formerly operated by J.J. Hottenstein at the northeast corner of 4th and Hamilton Streets in Allentown. In 1886, Horlacher’s son Fred H. joined the growing business.

During Prohibition, Horlacher Brewing had a secret celler with four wooden fermenting vats. The fermenting room was on the top floor and hoses were strung out through a trap door to fill barrels. The door to the secret room was axe proof and the tanks could be emptied in seconds if necessary during a raid. Even with all these precautions, a Federal Prohibition agent did eventually manage to break into the room and collect evidence as the last few gallons of illegal beer went down the drain. (can from www.breweriana.com)

Troubles began for the brewery in WWII when grain was rationed. Horlacher had a large market share in New Jersey, so while Neuweiler decided to focus on the Allentown market, Horlacher neglected its home town and tried to ration beer to hold onto its N.J. markets. They felt that it would be easier to regain share in their backyard later than rebuild in New Jersey. This led to huge bitterness among local taverns and distributors, who could not get beer.

The company did everything it could to stay open, but eventually closed for good in 1978.

And now you know some of the rest of the Hex / Beer story.

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

What the Hex?

Hex Signs

One of the nicest chores I sometimes get given whenever i go "home" to Harrisburg, Pennsylvannia, is paint up some Hex signs.



Decorating everyday items with colorful designs was a common practice for the German Lutheran and Reformed settlers of Eastern Pennsylvania. Furniture, to clocks, to birth certificates were decorated with symbols and motifs which the first settlers had been acquainted with in Europe.

Many of the motifs used in these decorations included birds, hearts, tulips and very often, geometric designs which would immitate the stars, sun, and moon. Sometime in the mid 19th century folk artists began to transform the old geometric designs by enlarging them and painting them on barns. The most popular hex signs were six-sided, brightly colored geometric designs. The german word for six is 'sechs' and this word evolved to the present-day hex.

These designs would get the name Hex Signs in the 1920's. It appears that the name and the legend of Hex signs was due largely to two events. The first being a book by Wallace Nutting titled Pennsylvania Beautiful(1924) in which he raised the claim that barn signs were used to ward off evil and the second was a witchcraft-related murder in York County, Pennsylvania which attracted the attention of the news media and introduced the word hex into the American vocabulary.



I have not found a lot of books written on the subject of hex signs but the ones I have found seem to have different opinions as to the purpose of the signs. Although the purpose is debated, the motifs used in various hex designs seem to have universal meanings such as using hearts for love and tulips for faith.

Back home in the UK... i have begun to wonder if there is a novel way of bringing the whole idea of the protection/good luck element of the Hex signs into the homes on this island.... The mention of Clockfaces above has now just made me think, here is an avenue to expand my business.

Clock movements and hands are cheap by the dozen, I could call them the "If Not Now, When?" Clocks, Isn't it funny how I always get my bright ideas at Midnight when i should be thinking of going to bed.

Sir Dayvd ( who'll think about this again at dawn ) of O

Man of Straw

It always pays to remember to take your camera to Oxford, as there is always something happening downtown that you end up kicking yourself for,if you don't take one.

This time it was something that coincidentally follows on from Sir Hooks splendid Blog ; Bonfire of the Vanities :24th Oct 2009. regarding trying to change history by burning its writings, and the mention of King James 1st.

As I outlined in my KMSA Blog: Guy Fawkes: 5th November 2008

We in the UK, have celebrated Fall Bonfires for centuries, then 400 years ago we started to include the burning of the effigy of Guy Fawkes one of the Catholic Conspirators that tried to blow up the Protestant King James 1st in the Houses of Parliament, in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Over the last few years, political correctness has meant that the whole event, has inch by inch, been whitewashed over into being called just Firework Night, with the term Guy Fawkes and the building of his effigy pretty much airbrushed out of everything except maybe in far flung rural areas.

It all naturally comes under Hooky's winds of change and I suppose it must have seemed bizarre trying to explain to small kids about the burning of a Catholic etc...(but then it didn't to me)

But, its seems we Brit's have a hankering for burning down some kind of human figure, so you can imagine my great amusement this afternoon to find a huge Wicker Man (pictured above), stood in Broad Street outside Balliol College.

(super-ironically on the very same spot where the Protestant Martyrs; Latimer , Ridley and Cramner were burned at the stake by the Catholic Queen Mary the 1st)

18th Century Wicker man

Wicker Men were a large wicker statue of a human used by the ancient Druids (priests of Celtic paganism) for human sacrifice by burning it in effigy, according to Julius Caesar in his Commentary on the Gallic Wars. In modern times the figure has been adopted for festivals as part of some neo-pagan-themed ceremonies, notably without the human sacrifice element.

Wicker man on fire at the Archaeolink outdoor museum, Oyne,, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

^{Today's particular Oxford Wicker Man, built especially to set alight at the City's major Firework display on South Park Hill on November 7th, was the winning design, by Joshua aged 7, in a competition that apparently had been opened to all the school kids in the county, for them to draw a Wicker Man that would be made by craftsmen, who were all surrounding it as I took the photo, collecting for charity in buckets.}

^{See it being made at; www.wickermanoxford.co.uk}

^{So there we have it, we have gone from having to explain the burning of a religious terrorist to children, to explaining the neo-pagan activities of our forefathers, which doesn't actually worry me none, its just the way that the powers that be, have gently slid one bit of history out from under our noses and eased another in. In a few generations us oldies who were brought up to love the sound of Guy Fawkes name, will die out...and then they will burn the books.}

Sir Dayvd (the Corn Dolly) of Oxford

Bonfire of the Vanities 2009

There are two constant rules in life: 1) The only constant thing is change. 2) The more things change, the more they stay the same. Basically, like Gerbils on their wired wheel of fortune, we humans keep running around in circles until we exhaust ourselves, and each other, and find ourselves right back where we started.

Take for example....book burning. It's a well documented (if it survived the fire) fact that when narrow minds can't think of a better way to spread their narrow views...they burn books so that their view is the only one left. In theory it works, in real life it's always a dismal failure. I know all too well. At the age of 17, after my mother's death, I became a lunatic disciple and burned all my vinyl records. Today, I have paid for that mortal sin many times over by downloading them on iTunes for 99 cents each!

Bonfire of the Vanities was a book written in 1987 by Tom Wolfe, which became a classic novel turned screen play for a 1990 movie starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City. (Gee, sound familiar as the Gerbil wheel spins?) The title is a reference to a historical event, the Bonfire of the Vanities, which took place in 1497, in Florence, Italy, when the city was under the rule of the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola.

Now, ole' Girolamo, who would have made an outstanding Taliban leader, was so upset about the "corruption" (read, thoughts not in line with his thinking) surrounding him that he decided to burn books, pictures and any thing that didn't resemble his narrow view to save mankind.

Fast forward to 2009 and today's version of Girolamo, Pastor Mark Grizzard of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina. Grizzard is setting his flock of 14 loose cannons to accomplish the Grizzly task of burning modern versions of the Bible, and books by Christian authors James Warren and Billy Graham on Halloween to quote, "Light a fire under true believers!"

You see, in Pastor Mark's narrow mind, any thing other than the King James version of the Bible is being influenced by "satanic" forces. Well, perhaps if Pastor Mark had finished 2nd grade, he would have been taught that all versions of the Bible where translated from the original Greek and Hebrew transcripts available at the time. The King James version of the Bible was translated to bring the Bible to the masses in their own tongue at the time, instead of in Latin. So, if Pastor Mark was alive during King James reign he would have burned what he now believes is the depository of sole truth. Finally, historically King James was hardly a contemporary of Jesus Christ, Paul, Mark, Luke, John or Moses.

Tom Wolfe attributed the story he wrote to the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes and its theme of all is vanity. He wrote in 1968, “For of all I have ever seen or learned, this book [Ecclesiastes] seems to me the noblest, the wisest, and the most powerful expression of man’s life upon this earth – and also the highest flower of poetry, eloquence, and truth. I am not given to dogmatic judgments in the matter of literary creation, but if I had to make one I could say that Ecclesiastes is the greatest single piece of writing I have ever known, and the wisdom expressed in it the most lasting and profound.”

Let's hope he read the King James version! LOL!

Sir Hook the Expanded Mind of Warrick

Knights Take Over TV Land

Back on September 22, I introduced you to Tom Seefurth's Mamma Mia Pizza Beer. When they found out about our Merry Band of Knights, they couldn't wait to join the fun.


So, we Knighted Mamma Mia of St. Charles and Sir Pizzabeeer of St. Charles.


How's their Pizza Beer business going? Yesterday, Sir Charles and Lady Mamma Mia sent a link to a recent TV appearance.
Enjoy:


http://www.fox6now.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=00169d34-f9ab-4375-8875-b3920ef47210&src=front


Questions about Tom Seefurth's Mamma Mia Pizza Beer can be directed to Chef's Tom & Athena at: pizzabeer@comcast.net

Sir Bowie of Greenbriar

Tick that Bucket

As we slide down the last bit of banister of 2009 and the "If not Now, When?" sign gets ever bigger, its heartening to see the Knights and Ladies out there ticking that Bucket.

Before my latest batch of travel I managed to tick a couple of my own last week.
A song that was a veritable sound track to the time i lived in America in the late 80's was "Letter From America" by the Proclaimers. The Scottish twins went on to have a raft of other fine singles too the sort that guys could get emotional too, and sing at the top of their voices, without appearing sappy, most notably "I'm gonna ( walk 500 miles )"

So it was with great sore throated pleasure i managed at last to see the guys at a sell out gig in Oxford, and you can bet my voice was the loudest when it came to the chorus's.



The next day, another event happened in the City that I had never gotten around to going to; The 12th Oxford Beer Festival. Over the years I had supped ale at all the outdoor local events, imbibing under the summer stars, but never entered the Oxford Town hall when one of these mammoth fests was all in one august room.

You buy your pint glass with your ticket and off you go into the Aladdin's cave of cask upon cask of British Ale from all over the Isle, not knowing where to start, and eventually not knowing when to finish.

They don't serve enough Mild ale in our pubs, and so i headed for the sweet dark tastes that i prefer and found Ruby Mild , by Rudgate Brewery of Tockwith, and Special Mild by Green Mill of Rochdale, Lancashire.

I have put the list below to show you just a small sample of the beers available in the UK, and that talk of the demise of the real ale industry is really just that. The guys i met here are serious beer fanatics, and it was good also to see the Hook Norton Crowd putting in a great Showing.

Brewer Beer ABV
Acorn (Barnsley) Spalt IPA 5.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Adkin (Wantage) Alfred's Honey Mild 3.2 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Adkin (Wantage) Alfred's Elswith's Ale 4.0
Adkin (Wantage) Alfred's Wantaig Ale 4.0
Allgates (Wigan) California 3.8
Allgates (Wigan) Pretoria 3.9
Arbor (Bristol) One Hop Motuweka 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Art Brew (Chideock) GHB 4.6 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Ascot (Camberley) Oktoberfest 4.8 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Ascot (Camberley) Anastasia's Imperial Stout 8.0
B & T (Shefford) Phantom Thirst 4.5 (+ Saturday duplicate)
B & T (Shefford) Bodysnatcher 4.5
Batemans (Wainfleet) Miss Germany 4.1
Beer Engine (Newton St Cyres) Silver Bullet 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Best Mates (Ardington) Vicar's Daughter 3.7
Best Mates (Ardington) Midsummer Madness 3.9
Best Mates (Ardington) Alfies 4.4
Blue Monkey (Ilkeston) Organ Grinder 4.6 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Bogart Park Ale 4.4 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Bottle Brook (Kilburn) Obsession 5.4
Bowman (Droxford) Elderado 3.5
Brakespears (Witney) Oxford Gold 4.0
Brakspears (Witney) Bitter 3.4 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Braydon (Chippenham) Gibbles 3.8
Brewdog (Fraserburgh) Bashah 8.6
Brewdog (Fraserburgh) 77 Lager 4.9 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Brewdog (Fraserburgh) 5am Saint 5.0
Buckle Street (Honeybourne) Dog in the Fog 4.2 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Cheddar (Cheddar) Goats Leap IPA 5.5
Clarks (Wakefield) Femme Fatale 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Crouch Vale (Chelmsford) Brewers Gold 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Cwmbran (Upper Cwmbran) Special 5.2 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Darby Old Winkle 5.0
Dare (Aberdare) Green Dragon 4.2
Dare (Aberdare) Falcon Flyer 5.2
Dark Star (Ansty) Hophead 3.8 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Dark Star (Ansty) Espresso Stout 4.2
Dark Star (Ansty) Oktoberfest 5.2
Devon Earth (Paignton) Devon Earth 4.2
Donnington (Stow) BB 3.6
Donnington (Stow) SBA 4.4
Dorset (Weymouth) Ammonite 3.8
Downton (Downton) German Pale Ale 4.2
Forge (Hartland) Porter 4.2
Forge (Hartland) IPA 4.5
Fremington (Yellstone) Puffin 3.7
Fremington (Yellstone) IPA 4.3
Glastonbury (Somerton) Thriller 7.0
Golden Valley (Kingstone) 4.10 4.1
Golden Valley (Kingstone) Hop, Stock & Barrel 4.6
Green Jack (Lowestoft) Lurcher Stout 4.8
Green Mill (Rochdale) Special Mild 5.1
Hambleton (Melmerby) Silver Spur 4.0
Hidden Agenda 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Hook Norton Bitter 3.6
Hook Norton Old Hooky 4.6
Hook Norton (Hook Norton) Hooky Dark 3.2 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Hook Norton (Hook Norton) Hooky Gold 4.1
Hook Norton (Hook Norton) Flagship 5.3 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Hopback (Downton) English Hop Medley 4.0
Hopback (Downton) Entire Stout 4.5
Hopstar (Darwen) Bojangled 4.1 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Hopstar (Darwen) Singing Mouse 4.0
Hornbeam (Denton) Dark & Devine 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Hunters (Ipplepon) Full Bore 8.0
Ilkley (Ilkley) Olicana Gold 3.9 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Ilkley (Ilkley) Olicana Best 4.0
Ilkley (Ilkley) Darwin Tipple 4.0
Isle of Avalon (Ashcott) Sunset 4.3
Isle of Avalon (Ashcott) Sunrise 5.0
Jollyboat (Bideford) Hart of Oak 4.4 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Leadmill (Denby) Autumn Goddess 4.2
Leeds (Leeds) Midnight Bell 4.8
Lees (Middleton Junction) Cock & Bull 4.5
Liverpool Organic (Liverpool) Founders Ale 3.7
Liverpool Organic (Liverpool) 24 Karat Gold 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Liverpool Organic (Liverpool) Shipwreck IPA 6.0
Loddon (Dunsden) Hoppit 3.5 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Loddon (Dunsden) Russet 4.5
Lymestone (Stone) Stone Faced 4.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Lytham (Lytham) Royale 4.4 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Lytham (Lytham) IPA 5.6
Mallinsons (Huddersfield) Amazon 3.8
Mallinsons (Huddersfield) Riva 3.9
Mallinsons (Huddersfield) Oatmeal Stout 4.3 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Matthews (Timsbury) Honey Mine 4.7
Monty's (Montgomery) Maple 3.8
Montys Moonrise 4.0
Moorview (Ilkley) Full Mashing 3.6
Mordue (North Shields) All Hallows Ale 4.4
Mordue (North Shields) The Ginger 4.6
Nook Brewhouse (Holmfirth) Nook Pale 3.8
Nook Brewhouse (Holmfirth) Nook Blonde 4.5
Nook Brewhouse (Holmfirth) Nook Light 4.6
North Yorkshire (Pinchinthorpe) Fools Gold 4.6
North Yorkshire (Pinchinthorpe) Lord Lee 4.7
Northern Chocolate and Chilli Stout 4.6 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Old Bog (Oxford) Dancing Morris 4.1
Old Bog (Oxford) Quarry Gold 4.1 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Old Bog (Oxford) Autumn Fayre 4.5
Old Bog (Oxford) Half Wit 5.5
Ossett (Ossett) Turning Leaves 4.5 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Panned Out Prospect 4.0
Pitstop (Grove) Star 3.8
Pitstop (Grove) Penelope 5.0
Pitstop (Grove) Monaco 5.5
Pitstop (Grove) Sump 6.0 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Plain Ales (Warminster) Innocence 4.0
Plain Ales (Warminster) Innspiration 4.0
RCH Steam Fair 4.5 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Rebellion (Marlow) Liquid Assets 4.3 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Roseland (Phillheigh) Cornish Shag 3.8
Roseland (Phillheigh) High as a Kite 4.8
Rudgate (Tockwith) Carouse 3.7
Rudgate (Tockwith) Ruby Mild 4.4 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Severn Vale (Cam) Pub Dog 5.2 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Steel City (Sheffield) Bez Sucheho Chmele - Jeden 4.8
Steel City (Sheffield) Hop Manifesto 4.8
Steel City (Sheffield) Life of Brian 4.8
Tigertops (Wakefield) Idle Weiss 4.1
Tigertops (Wakefield) Das Alt 4.8
Tintagel (Tintagel) Castle Gold 3.8
Tintagel (Tintagel) Gull Rock 4.4 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Tring (Tring) Phanton Monk 4.0
Triple fff (Four Marks) Alton Pride 3.8 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Two Bridges (Caversham) Golden Cygnet 4.9
Uley (Uley) Bitter 4.0
Uley (Uley) Old Spot 5.0
Waen (Caersws) Fuggle Hop Waen 4.3
Waen (Caersws) Landmark Waen 5.5
White Horse (Stanford) Bitter 3.7 (+ Saturday duplicate)
White Horse (Stanford) Village Idiot 4.1
White Horse (Stanford) Fibbertigibbet 4.3
Wild Walker (Derby) Foremost IPA 5.8
Williams Bros (Alloa) Ceildh Lager 4.7 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Wychwood (Witney) Hobgoblin 4.5
Yorkshire Dales (Askrigg) Skellgill Pils 3.9 (+ Saturday duplicate)
Yorkshire Dales (Askrigg) Dobble Fokker 6.0


So All Hail the Ale, Protect your Pint, and Tick that Bucket List.....
now, can you tell me where the Gents Toilet is please? Thankyou.

Sir Dayvd ( surviving all that is thrown at him ) of Oxford

Can you?

A conversation the other night with Sir William of Keglers, Sir Cock of the Walk and Sir Norman of William Nottingham Court led me down memory lane:

Sir Cock of the Walk: “Did anyone here collect beer cans?”
Sir Bowie: “Hell yes – we had a room full of them. My dad even built special wall shelves that fit cans perfectly.”

It’s true, my brothers and I had hundreds of cans. But, that’s nothing compared to a couple of collections that follow.
First up: The Museum of Beverage Containers and Advertising in Millersville, Tennessee. Many years ago Lady Suzanne and our young daughters give me a father’s day gift of allowing me to travel way, way out of our way to The Museum of Beverage Containers and Advertising. They still roll their eyes at the mention of it; I want to go back!.

The Museum – the collection of basically of one family -- Museum contains over 36,000 different beer & soda cans, 9,000 different bottles, and all types of advertising.

The complete story can be read at

http://www.gono.com/museum2003/museumbeginning/museum%20beginning.htm

Second: The Beer Can Hall of Fame (and Museum) near Boston.

I love how a local paper described the museum: “Arrayed in a kaleidoscopic precision, a sea of painted, weathered steel, these little steel and aluminum vessels are a wonder to behold”

http://kevslog.tripod.com/beercanmuseum/index.html


What is it about collecting stuff?

Over the years I’ve collected baseball cards, Pez candy dispensers, root beer mugs, MAD magazines (just to name a few).

Stephanie Simon (in a L.A. Times story) has an interesting insight:

"No one is quite sure how many of these oddball exhibits exist, because many are set up in private homes, open by appointment only. Officially, the Institute of Museums and Library Services in Washington classifies them as "collections of curiosities," not educational enough to gain true museum status. But some academics are not so quick to dismiss them as random junk."

"There's something about bringing [ordinary objects] together as a collection that lets you see a phenomenon in a way you wouldn't otherwise.... And there's something about the relentless focus of really hard-core collectors that's impressive and intriguing in its own right," said Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, a professor at New York University who has written extensively about the interplay between food and culture.

"What the Museum of Modern Art does in classifying paintings by genre and period--that's the same thing that the Mustard Museum or The Beer Can Museum or the nut museum is doing," Steiner said. "Only, unlike modern minimalist art, these museums are dealing with something that everyone can relate to."

An enterprising beer can collector created this portrait of one of the Queen’s corgis from flattened duplicates.

So, fellow Knights, what do you collect?

FYI: The world's largest beer can collection and is now at 75,000 - a third of all the types of beer cans ever made!

Sir Bowie “who has closets, attic, shelves full of junk” of Greenbriar