Cape Girardeau, MO

I went on a road trip to Cape Girardeau today with a couple of people.  It was our first time there, so we checked out the local junk stores and commercial shopping (after the historical sites).  I found three cans I didn't have.

Today's new cans

Old design

Toby Mac

At Big Lots I found the Sparkling Clementine Izze.  The only Izze I had in my collection was Sparkling Apple.  So I doubled my Izze count.

I also found the Sugar Free Rockstar at Big Lots.  I had one already but this is an updated version of the can.

The last can I found was a Mtn Dew can with an ad for a free download of a Colton Dixon song.  I already had a can for a free Toby Mac song.  I wonder how many artists Mtn Dew did this for.

I did see several more soda cans at antique stores but I wasn't willing to pay the $5-8 per can they were asking.  If I could sell each of my cans for that much, I'd sell them all in a heartbeat and then I'd have plenty of money to buy more cans.

Website Pick #7: Mtn Dew Kid

 On the first of every month I will feature one of my favorite can websites.  

Please send an email if you have a website for consideration.

  http://www.mtndewkid.com/

This clean, well-organized website has news, reviews, history, collectibles and much more.  And it's all about Mountain Dew.  Definitely visit the "About" page for more information on the collector who runs the site.

The collector is interested in trading, so you can use the "Contact" page on the site if you're interested in that.  He's working on some articles about knock-off Mtn Dew brands, so he's looking for cans of knock-off brands.

I've visited the site several times for info or to see particular cans.  If you're interested in Mountain Dew at all, you should definitely check it out.

Sprite 6 Mix

Last month I went to my cousin's daughter's birthday party which was at my cousin's sister-in-law's house.  While there, my cousin found a half-empty Sprite can in the house and brought it out to me and asked if I had it.  Nope.  I didn't have any Sprite cans that large (a strange 19.2 oz can).  I asked his sister-in-law where she got it and she said it was from the convenient store two blocks from my house.  How convenient.

Several days later, before I went and bought one of my own, my parents stopped by and handed me the can.  They had been at that store and saw the can and picked one up for me.  Nice.

So this is the LeBron James 6 Mix edition. I couldn't tell much difference in the taste of this versus regular Sprite, but the flavor is a combination of cherry, orange and Sprite's usual lemon-lime.  7-Eleven has even added the Sprite 6 Mix flavor to their Slurpee lineup. 

I am not a sports fan.  I had heard his name before but had to Google it to make sure he was a basketball player as I thought.  So when I was trying to figure out the other two flavors to make up the "6" mix, I found out he wears a number 6 on his jersey.  Oh.

I like the look of the can, especially all the LB's in the background.  And as the banner says at the top of the can, it's a Limited Edition flavor.  So if you haven't tried it, go out and get one now.

Cool Can Brewsday (10 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

A Cake With Soda On It

I live near St. Louis, MO.  This year it celebrates its 250th anniversary.  So 250 fiberglass cakes (about 4' tall) were built and different artists decorated them.  They were placed at various landmarks, heritage sites and local favorites around the St. Louis metro area earlier this year and will be on display until the end of the year.

I just found out about this last week.  So the kids and I have decided to see how many of these cakes we can visit in the next six months (you can follow our progress here).  Yesterday we visited the cake that sits at the base of the World's Largest Catsup Bottle, located in Collinsville, IL.  The cake was decorated with famous St. Louis businesses, two of which are Vess and Cheer Up.

Although I didn't find any new cans while visiting the cakes, I did enjoy seeing my hobby memorialized in fake frosting.

New Cans from a Sleepover

My daughter went to a sleepover two nights ago.  While unpacking yesterday, she gave me two souvenirs she brought home for me.

The first was this new Pepsi can.  I didn't know Pepsi had a new can.  I've seen ads that they were going to be using real sugar so of course that means they would have a new can.

The second was this pineapple soda from Walmart.  This isn't a new flavor, just a new can design.  I had the old one and now I have the new one. 

So, when's the next sleepover?

What's in a Name?

Ok, they got me!

I would have never bought a Coca-Cola at Walmart tonight... if they hadn't put a bottle with my name on it in the check-out aisle.  I heard about this "Share A Coke" campaign a couple of months ago and started seeing the bottles and cans a few weeks ago.  

The bottles are the ones with names.  The cans have "nicknames" on them.  Yesterday someone saved a couple cans for me, so these were my first two name cans:

 

Today I had a couple more people text to tell me they were watching for name cans for me.  I don't know how many different cans there are, but I'll update this post every time I get a new one.  We'll see how many I can score in the upcoming weeks.

07/18/2014 Update - I found this Buddy on the side of the road.  "Never pick up hitchhikers," but this one I couldn't resist.

07/19/2014 Update - I saw this lying in a parking lot.  A sad thing indeed.  So now I know there is a can with "Legend" on it.  For those wondering, I did not bring this one home for my collection.

07/21/2014 Update - I visited a friend this evening who had saved six cans for me.  Nice!  "But you already have Buddy, Friend and BFF."  Yes, but the ones I got tonight each have a Six Flags coupon ad on it, making them different than the plain ones I had before.

Keep 'em coming...

07/30/2014 Update - Last night a friend dropped off a bag of Coca-Cola cans on my front porch.

After going through them, I found the three cans below that I didn't have.  I already had the version of each can with the Six Flags ad, but not the plain can.  So now I have the plain ones.

I keep seeing the same nicknames over and over, so I may have them all as of now for my area.  Sometimes new batches will come through a little later, so that's what I'll be watching for.

08/16/2014 Update - Last night I got my first Diet Coke nickname can.  And appropriately enough, it was given to me by my dad.

Cool Can Brewsday (9 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

Red Bull Summer Edition

Last month I read about a special Summer Edition of Red Bull that would be available exclusively at 7-Eleven stores only during July and August.  July's almost half over, it was time to start looking.

Yesterday at work I did a quick Google Maps search that showed the 7-Elevens in my area were quite a bit off my commute route.  Fortunately, we have a delivery driver whose daily route takes him all over the place. So I sent him a quick text asking him to watch for 7-Elevens on his route.

He returned with the golden tropical flavored Red Bull.  This is the first Red Bull special edition since last year's Red, Silver and Blue Editions.  The Summer Edition is in a 12oz slim can, a little bigger than last year's 8.4oz cans.

While he was there he asked if I had the Red, Silver and Blue cans.  I only had the Blue.  So he picked up the Red and Silver for me too.  So now I can sit back and wait for the next special edition to come out...

Cool Can Brewsday (8 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

Website Pick #6: Canogram (NPCC)

On the first of every month I will feature one of my favorite can websites.  

Please send an email if you have a website for consideration.

 

 http://www.canogram.com/index.php 

Wouldn't it be nice if there was an official group of national pop can collectors?  There is!  It's called National Pop Can Collectors club.  Established in 1975, it's the premier "soda" can collecting group.

On the website you'll find a history of soda cans, useful links, a page to buy collecting supplies, the current Can-o-gram newsletter, older newsletter archives and info on how to join the club.

The newsletter, published a few times each year, is a great place to find articles, see rare cans other collectors have found, read about upcoming can-related events and peruse the classifieds section to see what other collectors are wanting to buy/sell/trade.

I joined the NPCC a couple of years ago.  If nothing else, it shows other people you're serious about your hobby when you can flash your NPCC # at them.

Cool Can Brewsday (7 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

It's Not Always A Success

Last weekend I was out of town at a convention and during the down time I visited a couple of nearby antique malls.  I've said this a few times here, but there are so many more beer cans to be found at those places over soda cans.  And this time I documented it. 

Here are some of the beer cans I saw:

Then I saw this display:

 

But there were no Coca-Cola cans to buy, just merchandise.  So I'll keep looking...

Cool Can Brewsday (6 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

Cool Can Brewsday (5 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

Father's Day Muscle

Another year, another Father's Day.  The kids did good this time with a barrage of gifts including this trio of Monster Muscle cans.  I didn't even know there were energy shakes.

Cool Can Brewsday (4 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

Dr Pepper Vanilla Float

Recently I've seen fellow bloggers report on a limited edition Dr Pepper flavor called Vanilla Float (here and here.)  So I held my breath as I circled the soda aisles in Walmart Tuesday evening, hoping to catch sight of the elusive flavor.  And then I saw it.  A few 12-packs waiting to be discovered.

Once again I decided this was worth buying an entire 12-pack.  And this will also be another taste test for the household.  I must admit, Dr Pepper has always had some of the coolest limited edition can designs.

Very summery

Cool Can Brewsday (3 of 10)

There were some beer cans in a large lot of soda cans I once bought.  Even though I don't collect beer cans, I admit some of them do have great designs.  For ten Tuesdays in a row I will feature different beer can designs that I find worthy of sharing.

Website Pick #5: Bevnet

On the first of every month I will feature one of my favorite can websites.  

Please send an email if you have a website for consideration.

 

http://www.bevnet.com/ 

This month's pick is a little different than the collection or reference sites I usually feature.  This one is a news site that I've got in my RSS feeder.  They cover the entire beverage industry including energy drinks, waters, juices, soda, etc. 

Some of the news is beyond my interest such as corporate takeovers or executives with new titles, but I enjoy their beverage reviews and previews.  It's one of my sources to know what new upcoming cans to watch for.

There's a lot on this website.  I recommend you take a few minutes and dig around.  You'll probably learn a thing or two while there.