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The NABA Convention and The Cone Top Brewery Museum.

There is so much great stuff going on with your club! In fact, there was so much to show and tell you in this issue of the magazine that we had to extend it from the typical 80 pages to 96 pages!

The 2023 convention shattered previous attendance records by 25% and our club continues to grow—we have been adding new members at the rate of almost one per day. The convention was by all accounts a huge success—we hope you will enjoy reading about it in these pages and attending the next “NABA Family Reunion,” our 53rd annual convention, to be held in St. Louis, from July 29- August 3, 2024. At publication time, we sold nearly 1000 room nights and are approaching sellout at the hotel. We are far ahead of last year’s pace and it is likely to be another record breaker!

The amazing “Northern Lights”

You can read about many of the convention highlights in these pages, but you have to be there to truly experience and appreciate them. Perhaps the best example of this was the “Northern Lights” exhibit put on by NABA’s partner, the Cone Top Brewery Museum. A suburban hotel suite was magically transformed into a cozy Northwoods cabin thanks to the creativity and hard work of the Museum’s crew. It presented the perfect environment to display some of Cone Top’s classic, outdoorsy-themed breweriana from the 1940s–1960s that featured scenes of the popular pastimes of hunting, fishing, and camping.

NABA’s “Front Door”

You will continue to read more about the NABA/Cone Top partnership in these pages, as it continues to progress.

Ultimately, the Cone Top Museum will be an integral part of The Mill at Vicksburg, the huge, multi-purpose entertainment and hospitality complex under construction in Michigan, not far from Kalamazoo. Fittingly, The Mill also will house an Old Stove Brewery—similar to but different from the three Old Stove facilities that exist in Seattle—owned by The Mill’s developer, NABA member Chris Moore.

Chris envisions Cone Top as being “NABA’s Front Door,” which will enable our organization to have a physical, “brick and mortar” presence but without the corresponding costs that could impede a non-profit organization like NABA. Chris and his team envision a highly dynamic museum, with interactive and experiential displays that not only tell the story of the breweriana but bring it alive.

Importantly, there are plans in development for the Museum to feature displays that highlight the history of NABA and its founders as well as to provide opportunities for NABA members to display parts of their own collections on a rotating basis. A key goal for the Museum is to communicate and celebrate breweriana in an engaging way that will generate interest in both the hobby and NABA.

The “Northern Lights” exhibit is a taste of things to come from Cone Top, and another exciting exhibit is already in the works to develop in Vicksburg and bring to St. Louis. Just another reason to make sure you make it to the 2024 NABA convention

Highlights of the 52nd Annual National Association Breweriana Advertising (NABA) Convention in Schaumburg, Illinois (Chicago Area) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel from August 1st through August 5th, 2023. This Beer Show had many breweriana collectibles that you wouldn’t be able to find at a Flea Market or Garage Sale for your rec room, garage bar, man cave or tavern. Amazing Beer history that had Historic Brewery Antiques, Beer Signs, Beer Cans, Beer Bottles, other Breweriana Collectibles, and Old Advertising through Motion Beer Signs, Beer Lights, Neon Signs, Beer Trays, and more. Major Brands included Heileman’s Old Style, Budweiser, Bud Light, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Schlitz, Miller High Life, Leinenkugels, Blatz, Meister Brau, Strohs and so much more. Don't forget to Subscribe, Like, and Share. This shows me that you want to see more videos, so I will continue to put in the effort. Links Follow "The Beer Collector" Facebook Page for additional content. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... Share the “The Beer Collector” YouTube Channel    / @thebeercollector  

The NABA Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Dr. Scott Brown, of Phoenix, MD, has been unanimously elected by the Board as our newest member of the NABA Board of Directors.

Scott is highly regarded within our collecting community as an outstanding person and hobbyist, whose interest focuses on breweriana from his native state of New Jersey. Scott is a 40-year NABA member and frequent contributor to NABA’s Breweriana Collector magazine.

Professionally, Scott is a physician and chairman of the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. He also is a noted jazz historian, and a published author on that subject.

Please join us in congratulating Scott on his addition to the NABA Board. We are honored and fortunate to have him join our outstanding team!

Happy New Year!

Here is a quick update on some of the happenings of your club. Please note that we’ll be emailing a survey shortly to get your feedback on the direction of NABA.

• Breweriana Collector magazine: We are excited to be bringing you the 200^th issue of NABA’s magazine, marking 50 years of continuous publication. At 88 pages, it is a bit bigger than our usual 80-page quarterly, and has some great feature articles, including in-depth examinations of the once nationally famous Stroh and Ballantine breweries. More than 100 NABA members contributed to the magazine, which was delivered to the printer on January 10 and should arrive in your mailbox in early February. Why not until February? Our printer is experiencing “back-up” and also is changing over into new production equipment. We are in discussions with them about avoiding these kinds of delays in the future.
• Annual Auction: Our online auction is our most important fundraiser for the club’s increased operating expenses and it enables us to keep dues at just $35/$90 for 3 years. We want to ignore inflation and keep dues unchanged. We are fortunate to have Morean Auctions as our partner for our auction on July 30, 2023. Please consider consigning items you may want to sell that have a minimum value of $250. Please email Auction Chair Matthew Olszewski at Mattski323@gmail.com to arrange your consignments. Matt will be collecting consignments at the Blue & Gray Show at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport from February 16-19 and the Spring Thaw Show in Harrisburg PA from March 30-April 1.
• 2023 Convention in Chicago, Aug 1-5: We have some amazing plans for what will be yet another record-breaker in attendance. Our host hotel, the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg, IL, is sold out of rooms at the NABA rate. Because of incredible demand, we sold 40% more room nights than our previous all-time high in Pittsburgh in 2022. Rooms may still be available at the Hyatt Place hotel, which is next door to the Hyatt Regency. NABA does not have a contract with the Hyatt Place, but at last check, a AAA rate of $123 was available. If you’d like to get on the waitlist for the Hyatt Regency, please email Convention Chair Mike Michalik at therunningwaiter@yahoo.com. Please also email Mike if for any reason you must cancel an existing Hyatt Regency reservation, so that we can get in others from our waitlist.
• Convention Brewmaster’s dinner: NABA is proud to announce that this year's Brewmaster's Dinner at the Convention is on Wednesday evening, Aug 2^nd and will be hosted by Marty Nachel, the nationally-known beer expert and author of such books as "Beer for Dummies" and "Homebrewing for Dummies." Marty is also a professional beer judge and The Great American Beer Festival, The Festival of Barrel Aged Beers and The World Beer Cup are among the major competitions that he's judged. Marty has been teaching on the subject of beer for over 30 years.
• Convention Registration Form will be emailed to you as a PDF soon and in a separate communication. Those who register by April 30 will receive a FREE tin-over-cardboard sign commemorating the convention. More to come about this soon!
• Membership Survey is coming to you via email in the next week or so. Your opinions are critical toward determining the direction of the club, so please watch for the survey in your email and complete it right away.
• Membership in NABA continues to grow! We are on the march to 1500 members and have more members now than at any time in our 50+ year history. Importantly, we now have 53 local chapters and counting. Many thanks to Membership Chair Charlie Smith and all of you who serve as ambassadors for our organization!

Happy Collecting!

Your NABA Board of Directors

A Springfield man opens a restaurant in Chatham so he will have a place to exhibit his enormous collection of Illinois breweriana.

Hello Fellow NABA Members!

There has never been a better time to be a NABA member. That’s a pretty bold statement to make for an organization that’s 50 years old. But it’s absolutely true. Here are some reasons why:

Biggest membership numbers: Consider that NABA now has more members than at its previous peak in the early 1990s, when we were the beneficiary of the beer can collecting boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s. NABA is growing at an unprecedented pace thanks to the work of our members, local chapter partnerships, social media, and organization leadership.

Expanded magazine: We went from 48 pages per issue just a few years ago to varying from 64-80 pages. Every edition of this magazine has more than 100 members participating in its publication!

Largest convention attendance: We set a record last year for our 50th convention in Milwaukee and hotel bookings for this year in Pittsburgh are 50% above last year! The Pittsburgh convention has some amazing programming—there’s still time for you to register.

More local chapter affiliations: We now have 48 local chapter affiliates—more than twice as many as we had 5 years ago. The strength of our hobby is at the grassroots level and NABA is happy to help promote our chapters and their events.

Outstanding leadership team: I have the privilege of working with a truly dedicated and talented team that we’ve steadily assembled to drive NABA forward. This includes our Board members, Membership Committee, and magazine staff. Check out the names of this terrific group of people on page 1 of this issue. They are truly some of the finest people to work with on behalf of our club and hobby.

Strategic partnerships: This magazine has covered the news about our partnership with The Mill/Cone Top Brewery Museum, an incredible project in development in Vicksburg, MI. Our association with Cone Top will provide NABA with tremendous exposure and gives our members an opportunity to curate displays in a state-of-the-art museum—at no cost to our organization—when this amazing facility opens in 2026.

We are in the second year of our successful partnership with Morean Auctions, a leading breweriana auction company, to host our convention auction and reinvigorate it to the premier level it once enjoyed before the days of the Internet. This is NABA’s most important source of operating funds and allows us to do all the things mentioned above—without raising dues!

NABA also has sponsored the Trayman2.0 brewery tray capture project, which will provide a website of all known North American trays and will be packed with information—and available to all collectors at no cost.

And stay tuned…we are on the verge of announcing another major partnership that will hugely broaden NABA’s exposure, build membership, and offer our members an additional opportunity to create exhibits and displays of their breweriana.

Has there ever been a better time to be a NABA member? We don’t think so. And we are glad to have you as a member and grateful for your involvement and support!

See you in Pittsburgh!

The NABA Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Charlie Smith has been unanimously elected to the Board and will take leadership of NABA’s Membership Committee. A past president of the BCCA, Charlie is well known and highly regarded within our collecting community as an outstanding hobbyist.

Charlie, of Harrisburg, PA, is a longtime collector. During his tenure as an officer and president of the BCCA, collaborated on a number of joint marketing and informational initiatives with NABA to the benefit of the hobby overall.

Please join us in congratulating Charlie on his addition to the NABA Board. We are honored and fortunate to have him join our outstanding team!