I struggle against letting bits of this and that pile up around the place. I don’t like hoarding stuff, but I also don’t like throwing stuff out. The latter mindset there usually wins. I have been making a concerted effort to just throw out beer bottles. But looking around just now I can gather together a shelf-full of the things despite that. I’ve just tossed three Sharp’s Single Brew bottles in the recycling. That wasn’t hard. Not sure why they were still on a shelf in the study – perhaps a sort of “gotta catch them all” mentality. (I think I had 1, 2, and 4…)

This led me to wander about and see what I’ve still – after quite some effort – not managed to let go of.

We have the mantelpiece “del Borgo collection”. These are beautiful bottles. Custom made for del Borgo – this sort of detail tickles me in a special place, the St. Peter’s oval bottles do as well. Add to the custom container some quite beautiful labels and tossing these in the bin would feel like throwing away art.

There’s also the “New Zealand 2011” collection. Red Zone Enigma barleywine – a beer that survived the Christchurch earthquake and was collected and bottled when the brewers could get to it again. Steampunk Strong Ale – bought at the brewery’s roadside shop in Riwaka. I passed it on a road-trip returning from the Mussel Inn and screeched to a halt with an exclamation of “brewery!”. It was impossible to resist the “Steampunk” branding. The Liberty Debilitated Defender – the last beer we drunk from our NZ collection, that’s the sentiment behind it having a spot on the shelf. Memories of a wonderful time in New Zealand…

Others are just memorable beers. Wild Beer Co Ninkasi, so good I bought a second bottle recently (for a big bottle of beer this is very rare). The Magic Rock Bourbon Barrel Bearded Lady – love screenprinted bottles, even if they are a bugger from the homebrew perspective. Buxton’s wacky Smokey and the Band-Aid. BrewDog’s crazy Sink The Bismarck. Beery memories.

Tucked away in a corner we also have, only just recently relived of their content, the BrewDog Bashah Reserve bottles. These Johanna Basford labels really are art. Toss them in a bin? Callous!

*sigh* … but, really, the bin is where they all belong. :(

Now… how about the boxes full of bottle caps then? :-|

Pretty sure there are more of these somewhere…

Do you have a beery collecting habit? Bottles full of beer – there’s some value in that at least. But empty bottles? Bottle labels? Glasses? (Oh, I have quite a few of them too…) Bottle caps? Beer mats? I know my tiny collections are but a nothingth of some out there… I know a chap with a front room stacked high with (carefully indexed) beer mats.

[I am totally ignoring collecting bottles for homebrew use. This I do also! But that is a practical thing – they’re in boxes and not being treated as “collector” or “display” pieces.]