2 - Southpoint Sun
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Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Local craft beer collector nears the 2,000 mark By Mark Ribble LEAMINGTON — For Herb Grundner, it’s not about the numbers, but about the joy of tasting a beer he hasn’t tasted before. The local collector has amassed 1970 empty craft beer cans and bottles over the course of six years in his Leamington home. Those containers are only empty because he drank them. “I don’t collect empty beers,” he said. “I collect full ones and make them empty.” It all started about six years ago when his neighbour, who was from Australia, introduced him to craft beer. Herb had just retired from his job at Gabriele Carpet and Furniture. The long time Labatt’s Blue drinker tried it — and liked it. He even received a donation of Blue bottle caps from Labatt, and used them to create a sign that says ‘Herb’s Bar’. The rest of the caps are attached to the front of the shelves to give the room a very unique look. It just adds to the appeal along with his hand-made table and cabinet. “I’ve made everything here by hand,” he said. One of the first he tried was Muskoka Brewery’s 750 ml bottle of its Legendary Oddity. He still has the bottle, but has managed to add almost 2000 more to his collection. He’s converted his garage into his ‘beer room’ and has space for maybe 80 more containers. “After that, I’ll have to expand into the bedroom,” he joked. “No — my wife will kill me.” Over the course of those six years, he’s managed to get beer from 10 Canadian provinces, 34 U.S. states and 42 countries, including 175 breweries right here in Ontario. His two newest breweries are Red Barn Brewing Company out of Blenheim and Leamington’s own Cured Craft Brewery. His barn-board shelves are lined with cans and bottles, sorted by the brewery that they came from. And he’s tried each and every one of them. ”I’ve enjoyed about 90 per cent of them,” he said. “But there are some that haven’t been to my taste.” He adds that even those he didn’t like — he drank anyway. He’s managed to decorate an Ontario
HERB GRUNDNER
road map with all of Ontario’s breweries marked on it. His plan is to eventually visit as many as he can. “When we travel, I drop my wife off at the local shopping centre and I hit up the breweries,” he said. Some of the more uniquely-named beers he’s tried include Black Goat, Hoptimus Prime, 10W30 and Farmer’s Daughter. Many of the countries you’d expect are represented, like Belgium, Germany and Austria, but he also has beers from Thailand, Chile and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), to name a few. His prize possession, however, is a bottle of Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, which hails from a brewery in Milton, Delaware. It’s a rare find for a collector such as himself. “It’s 22 per cent alcohol,” he said. “And you are only allowed to buy two bottles at a time.” Grundner’s got a hand-written catalogue of every beer he’s tried, and he keeps a copy in his car, so he can check out local LCBO stores for anything he hasn’t sampled. His real thrill is showing the collection to others and maybe sharing a beer with them. “I’d like to hear from other people who’d like to collect these things,” he said.
