Dan Becker - Beer: A Genuine Collection of Cans

In our hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, my friends and I were always up to something, and everything was a competition.
One day, my friend Keith showed me his collection of beer cans. Sure, they looked cool, but he only had fifteen or so, and I knew I could do better. While I had no idea where to start looking, the trash I soon discovered in nearby parks yielded a few of my lifelong treasures.
One hot summer day, I ventured out to Ault Park. Not far from the trail I took to get there, I hit the mother lode. There were beer cans everywhere, some caked with dirt, others faded beyond recognition. I came across some trash bags, and loaded them full of the rusty steel and aluminum.

It was my first day of searching, and I was hooked.
Over the next few months, my friends and I scoured every park in town. By summers end, I had amassed over three hundred different beer cans, which I artfully arranged into a giant pyramid in my room. With a little help from my parents, my collection quickly grew larger and more diverse. My dad traveled for business and would pick up cans for me from the cities he visited, while my mom gave me cans she found on the road while riding her bike to the market. During family vacations, Id fill any extra space in the trunk of our 74 Cadillac with as many beer cans as I could find.
On my fourteenth birthday, I got just what Id been asking for: a book, appropriately titled Beer Can Collecting. It was a stunning visual encyclopedia that included information on where to find beer cans and how to fix damaged ones.

From there, my obsession grew, and in the following years, so did my collection.
As I grew older, days spent searching for cans seemed harder to come by. Eventually, my collection found its way into boxes, gathering dust in the basement. My passion for collecting had all but faded when one day my wife asked me what the boxes contained. A bit embarrassed to admit that I was still holding onto what most people considered to be garbage, I quietly replied, Beer cans. Her suggestion to build shelves to display them on surprised me, and from that point on the thrill of collecting started all over again. Nowadays I dig through online auctions rather than the trash in nearby parks.
I would like to thank my parents, friends, and especially my wife for putting up with me for all these years.

Heres to you.
Josh Russo Red Top Brewing Co. Cincinnati, OH | 1950s Harold C. Johnson Brewing Co. Lomira, WI | 1950s Arizona Brewing Co. Phoenix, AZ | 1960s F. Cook Co. Cook Co.

Evansville, IN | 1950s Aztec Brewing Co. San Diego, CA | 1930s/1940s August Wagner Breweries Inc. Columbus, OH | 1970s Acme Brewing Co. San Francisco, CA | 1940s

Acme

One of the first breweries in California to can their beer was Acme Brewing. This Steingirl can, circa 1957, underwent several design iterations over time that reduced clutter and contemporized the look of the waitress. Acme Brewing Co.

San Francisco, CA | 1950s Acme Brewing Co. & General Brewing San Francisco, CA | 1980s Joseph Huber Brewing Co. Monroe, WI | 1970s Cerveza Elaborada por S.A. El Aguila, Spain | 1970s Moosehead Breweries Ltd. Dartmouth, Canada | 1970s Peter Hand Brewing Co. Chicago, IL | 1970s Pittsburgh Brewing Co.

Pittsburgh, PA | 1980s Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Pittsburgh, PA | 1970s/1980s Archipelago Brewery Co., Ltd. Petaling Jaya, Malaysia | 1970s August Schell Brewing Co. New Ulm, MN | 1970s August Schell Brewing Co. New Ulm, MN | 1970s

Anoka Halloween Festival Beer

Referred to as The Halloween Capital of the World, Anoka, Minnesota, is the hometown of this holiday brew. August Schell Brewing Co. August Schell Brewing Co.

New Ulm, MN | 1970s Asahi Breweries Tokyo, Japan | 1970s/1980s