goose island matilda = frobscottle

The last time my mom took me out on a beer run, we got quite a few Goose Island products.

Matilda is Goose Island's Belgian style pale ale that comes in what looks like a wine bottle. I think they're trying to appeal to a crossover audience of beer and wine lovers. I'm sold!

But really, Matilda reminds me of the Roald Dahl book of the same name that I read as a child. This book and The BFG were two books that I come back to time and again. Matilda was amazing: she could move things with her eyes, and was friends with her teacher. When I was a kid I wanted to be Matilda. Or I wanted to be the kid Sophie who was kidnapped by the BFG so that I could drink frobscottle (the bubbles go down!!). What do you think THAT bottle cap looked like? So the Matilda bottle cap makes me think of Frobscottle*...and wishing I was friends with my teacher when I was little. A leap, I know. But it all makes sense in my head.

To get back to the beer and bottle cap portion of this blog post, I recall that the beer was pleasing on the palate, but nothing to really write home about. I do like the bottle cap: A silhouette of a goose -- silver on black. Very classy, and again, appeals to the wine drinker in me.

*Going back to the Frobscottle, because now I'm thinking about it: Can we have a bottle cap design contest for Frobscottle and market this stuff? I want to be able to buy it. This is a million dollar idea, people!

mystery cap!

A mystery cap! This was found at Randall's and the grape soda was sticky sweet and I think has basically turned me off of grape soda for the rest of my life.

Guesses in the comments section!

fox barrel cider co.

Oh. My. God. People. There is a beer/liquor distributor in St. Louis that puts every distributor in NYC to shame (we honestly don't have that many, so it's not hard to beat us. Sadly.) Have you ever heard of Randall's Wine and Spirits? They have a huge selection of not just beer, but ever kind of liquor you have ever heard of (and then some), as well as a beer selection that puts my corner deli to shame. It was a little overwhelming.

Ultimately, Michael and I decided on Fox Barrel Cider, a delicious pear soda, for our first purchase. Their bottle cap pretty much gives you what they advertise: a fox in front of a barrel. Cool! I would love a little more color on the cap, but they have the two-tone thing going on.

Next time I'm in STL, there will definitely be another run to Randall's. I only wish that I coud mix-and-match a six pack. There is so much to choose from, and usually my trips to the Midwest are too short to drink that much, so I always end up having to be very choosy. In fact, score points for NYC, where New Beer Distributor DOES allow for mixed six packs. But I'll still go back to Randall's.

ski

Michael and I recently had to take an unexpected trip back to his hometown, a place we affectionately call "The Patch." One of our favorite pastimes in The Patch is going to Walmart. If you can believe it, we don't have a Walmart in NYC, so this is like a safari for me: wide aisles, one-stop shopping -- seriously, you can get a t-shirt, sneakers, AND carrots in the same store (and guns, if you really want them -- but I find that weird). Amazing!

We were in The Patch smack dab in the middle of the World Series, and if you recall, Michael has a bit of a superstition with Schweppes, so we had to make a Walmart run to get him his soda. What am I thinking about this whole time? What OTHER sodas do they have at Walmart that I might not be able to get in NY? And I was not disappointed.

Ski has been around since the '50s, and is your traditional lemon-lime soda. I had heard of it, and even seen it available online, but never had I seen Ski "in the flesh," if you will. Walmart stepped up with a four-pack, and along with our Schweppes, we were all set for soda.

I am sure this is not the only incarnation of Ski: and sadly, it has that little black marking across the main part -- I couldn't find any without that stamp, but it does have a nice bold appeal. I also like that it's a local Illinois soda: Ski is made in Breese, Illinois. Next time we're in town, Michael and I will have to see if there are tours available.

Koningshoeven

Now I'm officially getting into beers that I can't pronounce. Is this a good thing? We're really expanding the borders here at Super Cool Bottle Caps. It is like going to a new beer garden and pointing to the weirdest beer on tap, only to find that the bartender gives you a glass with a weird wooden handle. (This happened last weekend! I swear! What is this contraption? I know, it has nothing to do with the beer I'm talking about, but this beer glass disturbed me. I understand how different types of wine glasses open up certain wines, so I guess this is similar for beers. But what happened to a good old fashioned pint glass? Even the cool Delirium Tremens glass looks like something that you could conceivably find in a bar. But this thing? That is just way too much storage space for a NYC apartment to commit to.)

Anywhooooo....This bottle cap is another one from @Vadrach that was sent to me a few weeks ago. It seems I can't go long before I need to blog about another bottle cap that has some sort of animal on it; Koningshoeven fits the bill. It's a beer from the Netherlands, has a horned animal (a ram? a deer?) and bright, bold colors.  Animal. Check. Colorful. Check.  Perfect for SCBC!

P.S. I know it's not out of it's protective plastic case! I have such a nice collection of caps from @Vadrach I didn't want to mess it up yet! 


P.P. S  OOps!!! I made a mistake!  The brewery is actually called Koningshoeven. 

Červená Selka

How excited was I when I came home about two weeks ago to find a huge package full of bottle caps waiting for me? Well, as @Vadrach knows, very excited. Thanks to him, I have a whole slew of international bottle caps and plenty to blog about for weeks to come. There are quite a few that I definitely want to discuss, but first and foremost, I must blog about this bottle cap:

Doesn't it remind you of the Disney movie Pocahontas? When I saw it, that was the first thing I thought of.  Check it out: 

OK, maybe our bottle cap girl has red hair and isn't a Native American who "falls in love" with John Smith. But there is something about the flowing hair, the almond shaped eyes, the barely-there nose... the whole thing! Either way, it's a pretty awesome bottle cap, and based on the other bottle caps I've seen that have women on them, this one is doing pretty well, considering the ratio of naked ladies to clothed.

So, thanks @Vadrach! I'll blog more about the caps you sent and make sure to tag it in the labels.

Carolina Blonde

As mentioned yesterday, Michael and I had some tasty BBQ in the Charlotte Airport, of all places. I'll admit it: my favorite is from Kansas City. (And I can say I've had Texas, Kansas City, Southern Illinois and Carolina BBQ, so I'm pretty well versed, if I do say so myself. And this is from a mostly-practicing vegetarian, so that's saying something. Seriously, people, I eat pulled pork. I don't eat chicken or beef. Deal with it.)

Carolina Blonde is proving to be a curious beer, though. It looks like it started in the Carolinas, but has been sold at least a few times. I can't even find a dedicated website for it! When looking over the bottle (and bottle cap), we noticed that the beer is actually brewed in Pennsylvania. So, we have a bit of a schizophrenic beer on our hands. Sure it tastes good with BBQ, but where are you from? PA? NC?  Long Island (see: lighthouses)? Somewhere else?

I will say that I think this bottle cap is lovely. Bold letters. Bright picture. And if I were a betting woman, I'd say that my dad would also like this bottle cap (hi dad!). He has a bit of a lighthouse theme in the house that my sister and I encourage with small lighthouse knickknacks, paintings, and lamps. It's like me with sheep and, um, bottle caps. It gives you character. Just keep telling yourself that, Lauren!