Waxing Nostalgic Re: Packaging Evolution

I've been a legal beer drinker since the early 1980s. I'm not so long in the tooth that I can say I've quaffed hot beer from a stoneware stein under a tree on a regular basis and liked it, but I have been sampling the barley pop long enough to have seen the evolution of beer packaging and labeling.

As a beer novice, my over the counter beer of choice was Miller High Life. (Always in bottles. Never, ever in cans!) I didn't come onto the beer scene when it was known as High Life by Miller but after I learned that's what it was originally called, I made a point of ordering "High Life" when I went out and I'd often have a chuckle when the waiter or waitress would ask for clarification. In the 1980s Miller six-packs were contained in a cardboard type box with a sloping top. The box was predominantly brown and when emptied, could be folded into a nifty ball cap.

In the army I was without wheels and the distance from my barracks to the nearest convenience store was just short enough that every Friday after retreat formation, I'd saunter over and buy a bag of ice and a 12-pack of Miller High Life. The ice and beer were hauled back to the barracks where a metal trash can, lined with the shopping bag (waste nothing), served as a beer cooler for the evening and usually into the next day. I'll have to see if I can't dig out some of photos from that era - not that you give a rat's ass.

Anyway, I've seen beer packaging trends wax and wane in the twenty-five years or so that I've been (legally) drinking beer. I remember when A1 beer came out with cans that had famous figures from Arizona history - wish I'd saved a few of those. I'm astonished at the gimmicks that seem to have taken hold. Coors - another over the counter favorite frankly - has that goofy label that changes color when the beer is cold. Hey, if you're too drunk to know if your beer is cold or not - you probably shouldn't be drinking, and you definitely shouldn't be driving. Dumbass. I want a beer bottle with a built in breathalizer in the neck, or a breath mint in the bottom.

I think what I need to do is build a couple of plywood boxes in the crawlspace above my garage and start saving beer bottles and packages. Worth a tidy dime some day. Probably send this grandkid of mine to college. Oh, come on! Some of you are probably already doing that - don't bullshit me!