The CANQuest (TM) Achieves #1,000!

For those newcomers, some background is probably in order. I am the (in)famous Woody ChANdler, creator and instigator of The CANQuest (TM), an ongoing attempt to review EVERY CANned beer in existence.

It began about six years ago (Winter 2007-'08) when I wanted to take part in the nightly Late Night Beer Advocate (LNBA) thread. The problem was that it was started late-night in California, well after I had retired for the evening, until one night when a blizzard began in the early-evening and school was canceled for the following day, enabling me to stay up. My disappointment was profound when I realized that it was mainly about chasing whales and when I inquired about something, anything more universal, my ex-pat homeboy, Nick "The Tick" NickD717, shot back that I should be the one with the idea and when I had it, they would be all ears. I then cogitated on this CANundrum for several days and suddenly hit on the idea of beer in a CAN. I reasoned that everyone had access to some CANned beers and so I broached the idea on LNBA only to be jeered and subjected to ridicule! "Tell you what, Woody," said TickD717, "you embark on this CANQuest of yours and report back to us on its progress." or words to that effect.

I loves me a challenge and so I began seeking out and reviewing every CANned beer that I could find, naively thinking that one hundred would be an acCANplishment. Soon, the Craft CAN Revolution began in earnest and I suddenly found myself at the tip of the sword! I began trading for CANs in earnest and before long, I had a cadre of CANtraders, including CraftCans, Another6Pack, MSUBulldog25, JenRay, BigBry and so many others that I CANnot enumerate them all.

I was stupidly crushing and recycling many of my spent CANs until this past summer, when I met Jeff Lebo, owner and curator of Brewhouse Mountain Eco-Inn in York Haven, PA, a two-story, five bedroom bed & breakfast-style resort that he built himself (!) to store, house and display his massive collection of over 83,700 spent beer CANs! I now rinse out my empties and set them aside for him for inclusion in his collection and a separate add-on wing is now being postulated which will be named for me to house my empties.

Now that I have made the mind-boggling plateau of 1,000, you might wonder if I am finished (in addition to questioning my sanity). No way! I am too CANmersed to stop now.

If you are thinking of embarking on a CANQuest (TM) of your own, feel free to do so, but do know that there are a few ground rules, as follow: 1. NO drain pours! A CAN must be fully CANsumed and reviewed in order to count.; 2. No Crack!ing of a CAN without an extant picture on this site. Crack!ed CANs are unsightly, plus some CANs are one-offs and people would like to see what it looks/looked like.; 3. Environmentalism is first and foremost. Begin looking for discarded CANs of any stripe to recycle. I CAN usually find at least one empty CAN a day and I take a load to the local recycling center every six months.; 4. Get involved in CANTrades! They are easier and cheaper to pack and ship than bottles.; 5. Do not listen to detractors and know the rules of this site. If it is a 5-L mini-keg and not pressurized, it is a CAN.; 6. Establish a spreadsheet with a link so that others may follow your progress and offer up unlisted CANs for trade. For example, here is mine: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...JBSVViQWtfNUtBbC04OW1uLXc&usp=drive_web#gid=0 ; 7. Have fun. Your detractors may be legion, but have fun with it all the same.

 

Most definitely OCD. #1,000 = The One They Call Zoe, from Hops & Grain in Austin, TX, courtesy of JenRay.