last update 25 -11-2004
THE CHANGING IMAGE OF CROWN
CAPS
last update 25 -11-2004
Logo's are very important for the recognition of brands. If you change them too often they don't look familiar anymore to the consumers . Therefore many companies don't change their image very often. Fortunately some brands change the prints on the caps for several reasons without changing the basic image of the product. This is what makes collecting over a longer periods so interesting. One of the most clear shift in prints occurs when products are linked to the year of production. It's not like in wine where you have good and bad years but year to year changes of the caps are appreciated by collectors. In other cases, years are not indicated but changes occur to modernize the brand's image.
Bigfoot
One
of the most wanted cap time-series is the bigfoot series. This series is from
the bigfoot beer produced every year by the Sierra Nevada brewery. A strong
barley-wine like ale with a wonderful taste. I was told me that this series started
in 1987 and recently I heard that the bigfoot 1988 and 1996 were not produced (thanks to
Mark Woodward and Dennis Smith)
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Belle-vue Kriek Primeur
A very characteristic beer from Belgium comes with a new caps every year.
It's the belle-vue kriek lambic primeur. It's a beer made with cherries; it's
very good to drink at the first nice sunny days in spring, sitting at a cozy terrace in one of the
Belgium cities. It comes on the market at the end of March
and it's worth trying.
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the cherries vanished in 2001 a new design came in 2002 |
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Wiibroe Årgangsöl.
Do you like strong beer ? You should try the Årgangsöl from the Wiibroe
Bryggeri from Denmark. It's beer which comes on the market in December and
is good for new year's eve. Every year the beer is 0.1% stronger than the year
before. The 2001 version (I don't have the caps yet) will be 10.6 % !
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Molson Oktoberfest
October Beerfestivals not only celebrated in southern Germany, but as many
German brew and beer traditions passed the ocean, you have them also in Canada
and the United States.
Sometimes they come with nice caps like the Molson series from last years. Enjoy
them !
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Chimay Speciale
Back again to Belgium, the country of the trappist beers. Monks from the
Abbaye de Scourmont, a monastery in the South-Eastern part of Belgium brew the
very good Chimay beers. In the eighties a Chimay Speciale was brewed each year
and got a distinctive cap. If you find an old bottle, just try it. You will be surprised
its still good and has a special madeira like taste.
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| 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1980 |
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| 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 |
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| 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 |
PIVEX
Pivex and Vinex are exhibitions for beer and wine in the Czech Republic which
are organized each year. Mostly some special cap is released for this occasion.
In 1996 there is a combined cap for the Pivex and Vinex show, where from other
years I only have the Pivex caps. Who can help with 1997 and 1998 ?
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Heineken bokbier
Having dealt with the kriek-primeur in spring and the argangsol in winter, of
course we should not forget the traditional autumn beers, the Bock beers. There
are several breweries in the Netherlands which make bock beers. Below you see
Heineken which has changed the bock beer caps many time since they started
brewing it.
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| 1985 | 1987 | 1989 | |
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| 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 |
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| 1996 | 1998 | 2000 |
Si-Si
As you may know Heineken also owns many soft drink factories. In Holland the
soft-drinks division
Vrumona Quality Drinks dominates the Dutch soda market. The company's name stems
from Vruchtenlimonade (fruit lemonade) and apart from bottling
Pepsi, 7-UP, Royal Club and Sourcy, one of the oldest typical Dutch soft drinks
produced is SiSi, an orange soda which came on the market in the early fifties.
The design of the cap changed several times and fortunately SiSi still comes in
small bottles. All children know it. Have a look at the change of caps.
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| 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | |
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| 1962 | 1982 | 1993 | |
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| 1996 | 1998 | 2000 |
Coca-Cola
The most widespread soft-drink brand in thw world surely is Coca-Cola. Even
though in general coca-cola caps are quite boring you may find exceptions. The
most biggest but also most boring coca-cola set come from Germany. If you
realize they started to print the expiry year on the cap from 1984 to 1998,
whereas 0.33 L and 0.25 L bottles were available and as in addition
bottling companies (at least 15 different) were indicated on the cap, this
series should include at least 450 differently printed caps. I miss many,
especially form before 1990.
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