Craft Beer is the New Punk Rock

For me anyway...but, I don't think I'm alone.

Although I'm 32 years old, I still consider myself a punk. I've been listening to punk rock since I was 12 years old and going to punk rock shows since I was about 16 years old. I would drive all over New England attending shows, mostly in Boston. I played in bands growing up playing all kinds of venues.

It used to be that I would go to a show, hit the floor to get as close to the stage as possible - or in the case of Goldfinger shows at Lupo's in Providence to get on stage and sing with the band (it happened all the time) - and after the show I would hit the merch table to see what they had for sale. Typically, if I didn't have a CD from the band, I'd pick one up. Most of the time though, I would be there for a T-shirt.

Each subsequent show I'd attend, or even play, I would sport a different shirt. I probably had one for every day of the month, or what felt like so many shirts. These days though, 95% of these shirts have been replaced by craft beer tshirts.

Sarah and I go to a lot of breweries, and support many craft brewing companies. It's almost without fail that I purchase a new shirt every time I'm at a brewery. It's possibly gotten to the point where I have lost all track of what craft beer shirts I have.

I have so many shirts. From Slumbrew, Backlash Beer Co., Haverhill Brewery, Dogfish Head, Earth Eagle Brewings, Jack's Abby Brewing Co, Berkshire Brewing Co., Night Shift Brewing, Mayflower, Rising Tide Brewing Co, to Portsmouth Brewery, Shipyard, Ipswich Ale, Cody Brewing, Longtrail, to Allagash, Samuel Adams, Cape Ann, and Harpoon Brewery. I have hoodies for Baxter Brewing Co, Longtrail, and Harpoon and long sleeve shirts from several others. I even have a Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project baseball style hat.

 

Just a few of the shirts I've recently been spotted wearing!

I mean, this shit is pretty crazy!! But, I'm sure I had as many, if not more, band T-shirts as a teenager and early 20-something year old. I have been thinking about this post for a while. I went to see the band Rancid earlier this year and saw a young guy wearing a Cape Ann Brewing Co. hoodie, which was a bit of inspiration for this post.

I have to admit though, I've probably lost track of many of them. I probably wear only 4 of them. But, I'm making a conscious effort to wear more of them. Some are incredible designs and all of them are awesome and they help support some great breweries and small business owners.