The Prez Says
I’d first like to give you a brief synopsis on how this chapter came
to be. I had tossed around anidea of putting together a chapter for
several months as I had been dealing quite a few bottles oneBay to both
BCCA members and non members. If you take a look on eBay under aluminum
bottles, there are a few hundred listed at any given time. Knowing there
was a collector’s base out
there I thought that it would be neat if we could get together and help
each other out with our collections. I mentioned it to a few friends,
but did nothing formerly to set anything up.
On Feb 24th of this year, our local Chapter (A-1) was having a show in
Scottsdale, AZ at PinnaclePeak Brewery, and the BCCA Board Meeting was
being held there in conjunction with it. Thisbrought in a lot of out of
town collectors and promised to be a very good show. I brought my
regular items, a few can-totes full of cans, some brewerania , as well
as several different aluminum
bottles. I had been collecting them since they hit the market a few
years back, so I had a decentselection.
Slowly but surely, people started making their rounds and I had a lot of
interest in the aluminumbottles. One of my fellow A-1 Chapter members,
Don Hicks stopped by and we talked in depthabout the latest fad to hit
the beer industry. He told me how he really liked these new bottles
andhow it reminded him of when he first started collecting. He also said
that he hadn’t really collected much of anything in years but how
excited he was about the bottles. I told him I knew whathe meant and
that I thought about starting up a new chapter for the BCCA just for the
aluminumbottles. Don’s eyes got all big and said “Funny you should say
that, as me and some of the out-oftowners were discussing that very
subject last night”. He called over Bruce Gregg and Joe Germino, and we
started discussing the idea. By the end of the show, we decided to press
forward instarting the new chapter.
We kept in touch via emails and put the plans together with much of the
credit going to Joe Germino for working the majority of issues with our
constitution and bylaws. Joe requested to take aback seat as an officer
while being involved in the offices of the national organization. With
beingone short in the officer corps, I decided to give a call to an old
friend, Brad Ambruso, to see if hewas up to the task of being our
newsletter editor. I don’t think he had to think twice. The rest they
say is history!