Students revel in beer cans

A beer collector? "Yes, I am!" College senior Dan Balber might exclaim. Balber, who owns a collection of 258 empty beer bottles and cans, may even be considered a beer expert by some. "Nothing goes better with a cold can of Beefaroni than a bottle of Mickey's Malt Liquor," he said. Balber and his friends, Engineering senior Ken Sable, College seniors Mike Ray, Steve Goldberg and Matt Keegan and Wharton seniors Lance Teitelbaum and Scott Newcomb, joined forces to gather the bottles and cans. They began their amassing the collection when they first came to the University in 1991. As Quadrangle neighbors during their freshman year, they would share six packs and exchange anecdotes on many a late night, Balber said. The collectors began hoarding the empty beer bottles and cans by accident. When they neglected to take out the trash for quite some time, they noticed that the piles were mostly composed of empty aluminum cans. But instead of making a trek outside to the garbage can, they decided to keep the empty beer containers as mementos. "[The collection began] because we like to drink beer, not because we like to collect cans," Balber said. Each can or bottle in the collection is unique. The cans range from common brands like Budweiser and Coors to the very exotic, including Chimay Ale from Belgium, which costs $60 a case, a bottle of Mockobockoe Beer from Russia and a 12-ounce brown glass bottle of Foecking light beer. They did not gather the bottles alone, however. When friends and relatives travel, they bring back native ales as souvenirs, Balber said. But most of the work has been done by the seniors themselves, Balber added. The collectors said they are recognized regulars at the Springfield Beer Distributor across the South Street Bridge. "We've spent many a drunk hour contributing to this collection," Ray said. According to Balber and Ray the collection's monetary worth is irrelevant, and the containers hold only "nostalgic value." "We drank it all and we're proud that we spent so much time collecting this," Ray said. Ray said he is confident that no other beer bottle and can collections can compare. "We've seen a few feeble attempts, but nobody can match us," Ray said. The collection, which the friends hope to increase to 500 by the time they graduate this spring, is kept in Balber's bedroom inside the collectors' shared off-campus house. The bottles are artistically arranged on five shelves, and the cans are piled in high, leaning stacks. When Balber moves out he will store the collection in his mother's basement until he has a house where he can "line the den walls," he said. Ray said, however, that he would like to see the collection moved to a boathouse on the Schuylkill River, where the housemates might one day co-habitate.