I was reading the Vancouver Sun today and learned that I am not the only oddity in the world…well, I know there are lots of oddities, but I always figured I was probably the only person carting a stubby of beer in the fridge that has been around since…well…when were stubbies ended…?? I’m pretty sure it’s significantly older than that. A quick check on Wikipedia says that stubbies…….
“were used almost exclusively in Canada from 1962 to 1986 as part of a standardization effort intended to reduce breakage, and the cost of sorting bottles when they were returned by customers. Due to their nostalgic value, stubbies were reintroduced by a number of Canadian craft brewers in the early 2000s.”
Well our stubby is an original…but it wasn’t always ours, we inherited it….or we “acquired it” and moved it to its new home in Vancouver about 10 or 15 years ago.
My grandparents always had a second fridge in the basement… cookies…beer…. it was always my favourite fridge in the house…. and at some point…the stubby became a fixture. beer went in and beer came out…but no one ever opened the stubby. It became some weird unwritten rule “Thou Shalt Not Disturb The Stubby”
Then Granny moved into Pioneer Lodge and the house stood empty for several years. It was used by any of us traveling through town for a visit…but still the stubby stayed on.
Until the house was to be sold. I went up to help with the clean up and my brother and I discussed the stubby. It turned out there were more stubbies tucked away in a corner of the cold room. I think he took one too… but there was quite a conversation around those stubbies. I adopted the stubby in the fridge and carefully wrapped it for transport to its new West Coast home. Dad told me later that he figured there was something special about that beer, like fine aged wine…he had a shock when he opened one and drank it…said it tasted awful! Well, what do you expect? There is a reason that the First Stubby Commandment was put in place!
And so the stubby has greeted us every day that we open our fridge. I’m quite sure that stubby is over 30 years old now. It’s a fine proud Labatts Blue stubby. Even though I can’t stand Labatts Blue, I still love that stubby.
And then today, what do I behold in the newspaper but the following:
This beer has staying power
By Robert Parsons, Special to the Sun July 17, 2009
In 1965 I gave my wife, Carol, an unusual gift for her 21st birthday — her first bottle of beer.
It was Carling’s Black Label packaged in the little stubby-style bottle.
My expenses were constrained by a very limited student budget. Thus, the gift was more characterized by humour than something substantive.
Carol said that she would save the beer and then stored it in the refrigerator.
Over the years (now 44) that little, unassuming bottle, parked in the back corner of the refrigerator, worked its way from a bit of a joke to something that both of us dearly cherish and consider priceless.
The little bottle has been with us always, as we moved from apartment to apartment, then to a house, providing an instant flashback to our starting years together. Like a perfect relationship, it is being more and more appreciated with time.
I am sure that in the event of a house fire, with only seconds to escape, Carol would yell, “Save the dog and I will get the beer.”
Good old stubby, you are not alone!!!
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