So, another year is in the books, which means another hour spent on New Year’s Day employing my children to sort and count the bottle caps collected from the previous year. As always, these simply represent every bottle of beer opened in the Nelson household during the previous year, regardless of who consumed them (though the vast, vast majority was me).
Total caps: 490
Breweries Represented: 28
Breweries with more than 10 caps (and % of total):
Schlafly – 17.8%
Firestone Walker/Nectar Ales – 12.4%
Budvar – 9.4%
Stone – 8%
Homebrew – 7.3%
Founder’s – 5.9%
Bell’s (all Two-Hearted) – 4.9%
Weihenstephaner (all Festbier) – 4.9%
Goose Island – 4.9%
Moosehead – 4.5%
Odell – 4%
Capital – 3.2%
Sierra Nevada – 2.2%
As “interesting” as these raw numbers are, I must add a few points for context. First, thanks to the generosity of Portland-bound friends Zac and Kate Duncan, I returned to the privileged class of people with kegerators, when Zac and Kate donated theirs to my cause. Since that point, I’ve enjoyed the following:
1/4 bbl of Odell St. Lupulin
2 – 1/4 bbls of Odell IPA (2d keg in progress)
1 – 1/6 bbl of Urban Chestnut Zwickel (which lasted all of 7 days during the worst of this hateful summer’s heat)
1 – 1/6 bbl of Founder’s Red’s Rye
1 – 1/6 bbl of homebrew (still in progress)
So, taking the kegs into account, Odell was far and away the most consumed brewery this year, basically tripling Schlafly. I’m very much in love with Odell’s IPA, and their St. Lupulin and (incredibly boringly named) Red Ale, all of which meld a serious punch of hop aroma and flavor, with a velvety malt load that just works for my palate. Founder’s also would get a significant bump, and Urban Chestnut would jump into the ranking.
Also missing from the above numbers are canned craft beer. I know I went through a couple of 12 packs of Capital Supper Club (thanks, Annie!) , and several (4, 5, 6?) six packs of Ska Brewing‘s Modus Hoperandi. I just did a crap job (read – no attempt at all) to track those this year. Sorry to the fine folks at Capital (who’d be finer if they distributed to St. Louis!) and Ska. Love your beers, but caps are easier to keep than cans.
Finally, I feel a need to explain the Moosehead entry. I grew up in Michigan, and, during college, Canadian beer was cheap. Really cheap. In fact, when I moved to St. Louis, a case of Moosehead bottles at the store where I worked would set you back all of $12, and it was the most expensive of the Big 3 Canadian brands. When we were too flush with cash for bottom tier stuff like Weidemann’s, Beast or Schaefer (all at about $5 a case), but not spendy enough for craft, we went Canadian.
So, the summer of 2012 went through a rather oppressive phase. This isn’t uncommon (especially for someone from Michigan), but I was desperate for a beer I could chill and swill. I had been reading some mysteries set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during this period, many of which featured Canadian beer prominently. This triggered a nostalgic craving for some basic Canadian suds. Moosehead being the freshest of those at the Schnuck’s, I went with it. And enjoyed it. I might even do it again.
Previous years are here:
