Sunday, August 15, 2021

This Day's Featured Can 2

This day's featured can is... Day's.


This can was given to me last week for my collection.  The brand has been around since 1946.  It's peach flavored, which is a great summer flavor for a soda.

It'd be great if they sold this in a 7-pack.  Then you could buy a "week" of sodas.


Sunday, August 8, 2021

Candy Apple Crisp

 I'm sure this is the only can of this flavor in my collection.

A candy apple crisp energy drink.  In light of my recent vacation, this sounds like something Santa may drink on Christmas Eve...


Sunday, August 1, 2021

This Day's Featured Can

This day's featured can is... Day's.

This can was given to me last week for my collection.  I've never heard of this brand and I didn't think to ask where they got it.  The brand has been around since 1946.  It's fruit punch flavored, which is an interesting flavor for a soda.

It'd be great if they sold this in a 7-pack.  Then you could buy a "week" of sodas.


Sunday, July 25, 2021

Non-Alcoholic Root Beer

The family finally made it to Holiday World last week.  We have been talking about taking that trip for years, so a few weeks ago I buckled down and made the reservations and declared, "We're going!"  

Holiday World is a theme park located in Santa Claus, Indiana.  And if you go there, ride The Voyage!!  Hands down, it's the best wooden roller coaster I've ridden.

Also in Santa Claus, Indiana, is a must-visit candy store not far from Holiday World called Santa's Candy Castle.

Not only will you find every kind of candy you've ever eaten, but you'll also find candies you never knew existed.

At one point I saw Dad's root beer flavored jelly beans in a plastic replica of a soda can.  I made a mental note to grab a can before we left.  After all, the can would make a great novelty addition to my collection.

When you see room after room, shelf after shelf of hundreds of different types of candy, you forget where some of the things you find are located.  So later in our visit I decided to take a picture of the shelf of "Dad's root beer jelly beans."  My powers of observation were lacking that day...

We continued to shop, adding more and more candy to our basket.  We finally reached the end of the castle and checked out.  We left through the castle's exit and returned to the car.  As the kids looked through the candy treasures we found, I grabbed the "Dad's root beer jelly bean" can to admire my purchase.


And that's when I noticed the words "Alcohol Free" on the back of the label.  Why would root beer have alcohol in it?  (btw, I like the jelly bean shaped barcode)


And that's when I took a closer look at the front of the label.  I had grabbed a can of "Draft beer" jelly beans, not "Dad's root beer."  My mistake sure cracked the kids up, but the thought of beer flavored candy about made me gag.

To look on the bright side of the situation, I still ended up with a can for my collection but this one even has a good story with it!  And the kids can now see what beer tastes like without having to drink it!!!


Sunday, July 18, 2021

The Second Amendment

The Constitution of the United States protects the rights of its citizens to keep and bear arms.  Therefore I present to you my Black Rifle:

This can was given to me empty by a coffee-drinking friend.  They said it was good.  The back of the can says this Espresso Mocha is a "blend of espresso, milk, cocoa, protein, and caffeine to help dominate your day!"

The Black Rifle Coffee Company is veteran-owned and distributes its beverages out of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Let the zombie apocalypse begin... now I've got my Black Rifle in hand!

*** This post is not intended in any way to be taken in a political manner.  Its sole purpose is for a poorly constructed joke, which is the same writing device used in many other posts on this blog.  It's getting harder to come up with new material after nearly 600 posts. ***



Sunday, July 11, 2021

Out of This World

This "can" was part of my Father's Day gift from the kids last month.

It's called Getaway Galaxy Rocks.  But you won't find any kind of beverage inside, this is blue raspberry bubble gum.

I'm not sure who this is intended for, but the back of the label claims:

Chunky, chewy gum nuggets, perfect for

blowing bubbles while plotting your escape

And it's not a very big can.  As you can see it easily fits in the palm of my hand.

I like these little novelty cans.  I received a six pack several years ago similar to this.

Whether they are aluminum cans filled with liquid or plastic cans filled with candy, all cans are welcome in my collection.


Sunday, July 4, 2021

Toxic Can

After a long break from antiquing and flea marketing, I finally hit the road a couple days ago and checked out about a dozen shops within a couple hours of where I live.  I had the same pre-pandemic results... plenty of beer cans out there for sale but hardly any soda cans.




Even though the trip was a bust as far as finding any new soda cans for my collection, my son came through for me and brought back a can from vacation I hadn't seen before:


I tried watching Rick & Morty.  I gave it a couple episodes.  But it just didn't click with me, although everything about it screamed that it should have been a favorite show of mine.

I really like novelty cans like this.  And this isn't a painted can, it's more of a plastic or vinyl wrap.  Even though the design is awesome, my son said the taste was terrible.  It was a red/pink color and he couldn't even finish it.

So this moves into the basement along with other cans themed with fictional characters such as the Simpsons, Pac-Man, and Bill Clinton.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Three Reasons I Kept This Bottle

#1  Moe
#2  Curly
#3  Larry


As I mentioned in a previous post, I generally don't go out of my way to collect bottles.  There are way too many out there.  But every once in a while one comes along I simply cannot pass up.

And that's the case with this Three Stooges root beer bottle someone brought to me from their vacation in Branson, Missouri.  When I was young, the Three Stooges were just as developmental for me as elementary school.  Come to think of it, I probably spent more time with the Stooges than with school, haha.  


The soda is actually branded Rocket Fizz.  And the person who drank the root beer said it was pretty good.

And to end this post, here's a quick exchange between Curly and Moe from the 1938 short "Tassels in the Air."

          Curly: You mean I'm um-day in pig language?
          Moe: You're um-day in any language.


Sunday, June 20, 2021

A Monster Assault on Taste

Click bait title.

Introducing Monster energy drink... Assault.

And here's a pic of some info you can read:

I didn't drink this.  Someone else did and saved the can for me.  

Its camouflage makes it hard to find in the jungle.


Sunday, June 13, 2021

Kist by the Sun

My son and I were at the store last week and he saw these two flavors of Sunkist soda.

They both sounded so delicious.  Of the two, we decided to get the "NEW" Berry Lemonade flavor.

Doesn't the can make your mouth water?  I believe the psychological trickery used is including the big drops of water in the paint scheme.  It looks like that can has been in a cooler full of ice and is now sweating in the heat, ready for you to drink its ice-cold soda inside.  A very refreshing thought.

It's an old trick that's been used plenty of times, I'm sure, but with the summer heat here now it makes this can look even more enticing.  Maybe the next trip to the store we'll pick up the Strawberry Lemonade.


Sunday, June 6, 2021

Rise and Shiny

Someone recently saved these four shiny Mtn Dew Rise energy drink cans for my collection.

The four flavors are Peach Mango Dawn, Pomegranate Blue Burst, Strawberry Melon Spark, and Tropical Sunrise.  I have not had the opportunity to taste any of these, but Mtn Dew sure did a great job at naming them.  In fact, just hearing the enticing flavor names and seeing the spirited designs of the can gives me a little energy.  

As a bonus, each can shows the same information panel telling you that the can contains caffeine equal to 2 cups of coffee.  Zero sugar means calories are low at only 25 per can.  And the stripe near the top of the can claims "Immune Support" and "Mental Boost."

Mtn Dew usually does a great job with the presentation of their cans and these shiny silver cans with a splash of color are no exception.  What better way to RISE and shine in the morning?


Sunday, May 30, 2021

Double AHA

My flavored water adventure continues.  Recently I tried two new flavors of AHA: strawberry + cucumber and orange + grapefruit.


Normally I'm not a fan of cucumber or grapefruit beverages, but combined with strawberry and orange, respectively, it made the two vile flavors tolerable.

I really like the design of the AHA cans.  To me, they give off a summery vibe and with the warmer weather here it's already starting to feel like summer.

And there's nothing more refreshing than ice cold water in hot weather.  But this summer I'll continue my flavored water adventure.

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Not the Type of "Brew" I Expected

Where does one draw the line when collecting cans?  Some people pick a brand or two and focus on just that.  But if you choose to collect Coca-Cola cans, soda cans are obvious but what about Coca-Cola energy drinks?  Or Coca-Cola coffee?  For a brand-completionist the lines can quickly become gray.

The brand Pepsi would include Pepsi soda.  But do you also collect Brisk since it's under the Pepsi umbrella?  If yes, now you're collecting soda and tea.  And then juices show up.  And what about those weird relaxation drinks?  How do you decide which cans to keep and which to refuse?

I've stated many times on this blog that an easy line to draw is whether the drink has alcohol or not.  I'm not against alcoholic beverages, but with that as the deciding factor it's a simple YES or NO whether to include a can in my collection.  Now that does open the door to a HUGE can pool (any non-alcoholic drinks), but the more the merrier, right?

So when someone handed me this can for my collection, I almost threw it away.  It's a "cold brew" and I don't collect cans with alcohol, which includes ALL beer cans.  

But wait!  That symbol looks familiar.  Upon a more careful read of the label I realized this was a Starbucks coffee can, not some micro-brewery beer can.  OOPS.

Ok kids, the can-collecting lesson of the day: Be sure to read the label carefully.  Don't glance and assume.  Other than Monster, black cans aren't real common so it's nice to have another cool black can.  And to think, I almost threw it away.

And my other surprise... this can only has 10 calories!  Wow.


Sunday, May 16, 2021

Pretty as a Peach

Isn't it great when a week is themed?  Let's take last week for example.  All three cans that found their way to me were peach flavored.  Neat.

I've still been trying different brands of flavored water and the last 12-pack I bought was AHA peach + honey.  My daughter saved a can of Just Peachy Peace Tea for me.  And my son came home with a can of peach Crush.

Summer is quickly approaching.  And with juicy flavors such as peach, I just can't wait for the scorching temperatures, high humidity, mosquitoes, thick air, sunburns, etc.  On second thought, I can't wait for fall to get here.


Sunday, May 9, 2021

Those Aren't Cans

Every once in a while an exception is made for my can collection.  And this time it was for a couple of bottles someone gave me.

What makes these two bottles so special?

They both come from Mexico.  And living in the Midwest, I don't often see cans/bottles out in the wild from exotic foreign lands.

I've heard the tales of yesteryear of people tracking down Mexican Coca-Cola and soda-smuggling rings at the US-Mexico border because Mexico's soda is still made with real sugar, not like America's high fructose corn syrup variety.  And that means the Mexican version tastes better.  But now in the future, it's not so hard to jump online and have a crate of whatever delivered from wherever to wherever.  So this find may not be as rare as it once was, but it's still neat to have these bottles.

And both bottles came with their bottle caps which takes me way back to when I was young and started a bottle cap collection.  I sure do wish I still had all those brown paper grocery bags full of caps I collected from the early 80's.  But they were tossed out with other "trash" during one of my house moves through the years.

Mi coleccion sigue creciendo.


Sunday, May 2, 2021

Curb Find

Yesterday we had awesome weather here and it was my return to a couple flea markets after more than a year of shutdowns.

While strolling along a sidewalk I noticed a Dr Pepper Zero Sugar can I didn't have yet lying against the curb.  When I first began my collection a decade ago, this was how I found a lot of my cans.


Fortunately I had a plastic bag with me, so I was careful to pick up the can without touching it.  I got home and cleaned it very thoroughly.  


And that's how I got a new can yesterday.  Things are starting to return to normal...

Sunday, April 25, 2021

More Caffeine, Please

 I was recently given my first Coca-Cola Coffee can.

There are three flavors in the line: Caramel, Dark Blend, and Vanilla (which is the flavor I have.)

And just to give an idea of the caffeine content of this can, Mtn Dew has 54mg of caffeine, Surge has 68mg for a 16oz can, and this 12oz can has 69mg.  

So if you need that extra pick-me-up:

Coca-Cola + Coffee = Energized


Sunday, April 18, 2021

When Life Gives You A Lemin


Yep, the brand is Lemin.  The drink is strawberry lemonade.  Sounds delicious, but the can was given to me empty so I didn't get to try it.

I've been on furlough for over a year now.  But I try to stay positive and remember the old saying: When life gives you a Lemin, write a blog post about its can.  Or something like that...

Sunday, April 11, 2021

10th Anniversary Post


On this day, April 11, ten years ago the first entry for this blog was posted.  It was titled "My First Can (This Time Around)".  That was 568 posts ago.

In that first post I set an immediate goal of collecting 100 different soda cans.  I had NO idea what I was getting myself into.  Ten years later, I now have more than 5000 cans stored in my basement and garage.  I have cans from at least 30 different countries.  My oldest can is from the 1960's (not as old as some soda cans out there.)  And I've traded with some great collectors throughout the years, a couple of which I still maintain contact.  

My personal life has changed immensely since this blog began.  I read back through the years and remember those different stages of my life.  In that way, this blog has also been a personal journal recording many trips, purchases, gifts, and surprise finds in physical stores and online.

When does it end?  I still can't go to a flea market or antique shop without scouring it for cans.  People still bring cans to me to see if they have a new addition for my collection.  I still occasionally jump on eBay "just to look around" at the cans.  As of now I have no plans to stop.  

And what currently has me excited is the pile of new cans in my pantry that I haven't blogged about yet.  So you can expect many more weeks, or months, or years(?) of exciting stories chronicling "The Thrill of the Hunt."

Thanks for reading!

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Easter Treat

While I don't have any new cans that feature bunnies or Easter eggs, I went with the closest thing I could find in my pile of new cans.

Cotton candy bang energy drink.  I think it speaks for itself.

Happy Easter!!