Whether I like it or not, everyone and their mother is telling me what beer they are drinking on Untappd. I made a joke on twitter once, something like, “For every beer you drink on Untappd I expect an update from some other social media site that tells me when you piss out said beer…let’s call it Pisstagram or Peebook”. Well, with all this talk about digital beer drinking, how about the real thing? Conveniently located inside a bar called Ye Old Watering Hole in East Taunton, the Beer Can Museum & Hall of Fame is dedicated to everything old-school brew. With more than 5,000 different beer cans organized alphabetically, some of the oldest containers (a Krueger Ale) date back to the mid-1930s and are displayed alongside obsolete brands like Blitz, Blatz, and Boh as well as Billy Carter’s infamous “Billy” beer and “Quittin’ Time: The Beer for Quitters”.
Visitors can also check out antique cone tops, beer folk art and crafts, beer clothing, beer telephones and radios, miniature dollhouse beer cans, pub towels, thousands of coasters or “beer mats”, 1970s crocheted beer can hats, and a beer can-and-breweriana-related library (for anyone who can read while drinking). How did this all start, you might ask? The museum’s director and curator (how official) Kevin Logan began collecting beer cans in 1978. Even though his collection is technically private, tours can sometimes be arranged by appointment and in the summer he hosts an annual “Museumfest”, where recent donors (of cans, not organs) are treated to a barbecue, private tour, and an awards ceremony. And for people who happen to just stop for a drink at the bar, there is cheap beer (the drinkable, craft kind) and free pool. So get your drink on!
