I found this odd little gadget while searching for an image this morning. It’s a Football Beer Caddy, apparently “handcrafted from recycled steel.” The 12-inch tall steel sculture is meant to hold your beer, though I can’t for the life of me understand why you’d do that. After pouring your bottle into a glass — you are doing that, right? — why would you need a caddy for the empty bottle?
According to the website, they’re “handcrafted by American and European artisans using recycled steel and copper that is bent, cut, welded and brushed resulting in original works of art for the perfect unique football gift idea or unusual home accent piece. The moment you hold an H & K metal sculpture, you will appreciate its craftsmanship, quality and value.” Maybe, but if you want your own, $81.99 is what you’ll need to plunk down to get one of these football beer caddies for your very own. Crazy.
I don’t know how I missed this last year, but Urban Outfitters carried exclusively a two-piece Santa Claus beer cozy. They don’t have it this year, it’s sold out now. And all the blogs featuring, like at Nerd Approved, are from last year, too. So while I would never use a beer cozy, it is hilarious.
Here’s a fun little item from Japan, albeit a little on the strange side. If you have a Pavlovian response to the sound of a beer can opening, you’re going to love this. It’s called “Mugen Beer,” which means “infinite beer,” presumably because you can open the can over and over again. Pop the cap and you’ll hear one of several sounds like the classic opening crack, pouring, bubbles, drinking sounds and even a “secret sound.”
You can get it in four different color schemes, including yellow, black, grey, white (or red and blue if you prefer a soda can).
You can order your very own online at the Japan Trend Shop, though it is a little pricey at $23 (plus $15 shipping). But can really put a price on that sound?
It is not known precisely where the mythical Gnome originated, or why, but their mythology spread throughout Europe. Eventually the more common garden gnome originated in Germany in the 1800s and by the 1840s had spread to England and other parts of Europe.
In Germany, the gnomes (or dwarfs as they are known there) were often portrayed as miners. There is a theory that miners, of small stature, came from the island of Crete around 1,500 BC to dig for gold and silver in parts of Europe, including southeast Germany, and they might have been the origin of the mining dwarf myth. Dwarfs often featured in German fairy tales, such as those told by the Brothers Grimm, and dwarf figurines were thought to bring good fortune to a home if placed in the house or garden which is why they were adopted by so many German homes. The familiar pointed red hat that we see on many garden gnomes today was originally a representation of the hat that was once worn by miners in the mountains of south-east Germany.
Now Gnomeland, a UK dealer in garden gnomes is offering a beer drinking garden gnome, perfect for your hop yard.
You can also customize the label on the beer bottle your garden gnome is holding on to, as shown in this Newcastle example.
Of course, at least one other beer variety exists, the gnomes created by Bas for his wife’s Urthel beer. Oh, and you want more gnomey puns — and who doesn’t? — check out Gnome Pun Intended.
