Recently the "Serious Eats" blog ran a feature entitled "Restaurant Shirts Are the New Concert Tee". The author opines that "restaurant shirts have replaced the concert tee". I don't own any restaurant tees per se, however my thoughts went right to my own collection of brewpub and brewery tees. It doesn't happen at every stop, but I do like to pick up a shirt when I visit a new brewery. I prefer beer shirts that are from specific breweries, rather than generic tees that simply have some witty (or not) saying about beer.
The shirts tend to elicit comments and some serve as great conversation starters about craft beer. I frequently can be seen in my "Get Hazed" shirt for Hazed & Infused Pale Ale from Boulder Brewing. Although, I'm not so sure the reader's first thought is of beer when I wear that one. I wore a "Great Minds Drink Alike" shirt from Great Divide Brewery to the World Beer Fest in Raleigh last Spring, and was actually stopped by someone who wanted take a picture of the shirt. (I'm pretty sure it was the shirt she was interested in, not the physique behind it.)
My most recent acquisition is a shirt from Outer Banks Brewing. The tee bears the slogan "Beers With Character, Characters With Beer". Catchy. And now that we're getting close to cooler weather, it's time to dig out my "hoodie" from Blue & Gray Brewery. That sweatshirt initiates many opportunities to tell folks about Fredericksburg's local craft brewery.
There are any number of beer-related tees bearing that oft-repeated quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." We know that the quote is little more than legend, but it's a fun thought none-the-less. Recently, Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus decided to recall shirts they sold with that quote incorrectly attributed to good ole Ben. That's an interesting gesture on the part of the brewery, though it might just serve to turn the non-returned shirts into collector's items.
A shirt from Weeping Radish Brewery has the following prayer:
He Who Drinks Beer Sleeps Well,
He Who Sleeps Well Cannot Sin,
He Who Cannot Sin Goes to Heaven.
Amen
The prayer is attributed to a "16th Century Monk". Do I believe that? Not at all. I've also seen a variation referenced as an "Irish Proverb". That doesn't make the shirt any less fun to wear and talk about though.
What are some of your favorite brewery tees?
I like my "Finish your beer, there are sober kids in India" shirt or my Thirstybear brewery shirt.
ReplyDeleteGot a shirt while living in Australia for Little Creatures Pale Ale. On the front it says "Drink a Little". Always gets comments. Some witty...some not.
ReplyDeleteHi David,
ReplyDeleteProbably my favorite was a shirt that I bought up at the old, and fondly remembered, Catamount Brewing in Vermont...pictured a fellow sitting on a stool at the bar looking down a some poor bastard laid out on the floor and telling the bartender "I'll have what the guy on the floor is having.
When you were at the OBX Brewing did you see the one about the wind turbine and its reference to 'erection'. I know Cathy wouldn't let me out of the house with that one.
Best.
Roy, I did see that shirt. It wouldn't have gone over well.
ReplyDeleteRoy that is funny. I volunteered at a brewery in Pensacola, Florida and their barleywine was dubbed, "I'll have what the gentlemen on the floor is having".
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say my Duck-Rabbit shirt is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteThough I have been offered $50 for my Otter Creek shirt off my back. I admit, the otter happily holding a pint glass full of beer on the back is totally awesome.
Here's a few of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI had a shirt from Great American Beer Fest that said,
"Filled with mingled cream and amber;
I will drain that glass again.
Most peculiar visions clamber
through the chamber of my brain.
Quaintest thoughts, queerest fancies,
come to life, and fade away.
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.
-- Edgar Allan Poe, 'Lines on Ale'"
Also at GABF, a shirt with this Benjamin Franklin quote:
"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
I suppose that would have to be living ales :-). I also like this one, which I had on a pint glass. I don't remember who said it (it has since washed off the glass)
"Most people don't like beer... at first. It is however a prejudice that many have learn to overcome."
And finally, the other day at the grocery store I saw a rather large gentleman with a craft beer shirt that said on the front "Abs of Ale" and the back "Buns of Bock". I don't remember the company, but it had a craft brew logo on the back too. I didn't get a chance to talk to him about ale though.
I like my NOLA Brewing Company T-Shirt. Since they haven't even opened the brewery yet not many people have their shirt.
ReplyDelete"Think Globally, Drink Locally" - Bloomington Brewing Company
ReplyDelete"Beer is Food" - Bluegrass Brewing Company
"Refresh" with bottle on front. "Recycle" with flower in empty bottle on back. - Great Lakes Brewing
And I actually have that Elevator shirt...
Pyramid: "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of hoppiness."
ReplyDeleteBen Franklin wished he had said that.
A little late on this comment but mine is actually not from a brewery but Crazy Shirts (http://www.crazyshirts.com). Their beer dyed shirts are cool. I have one on the front that says Dad's Old Time Brewing Co. On the back it reads one sip and stories begin..."When I was your age...In my day...I Remember When"
ReplyDeleteThe Toronado Pub in San Francisco had a great one, "The Liver is EVIL"
ReplyDelete