I'm Gil Davis, from Albuquerque, NM. ABA, BCCA, CBCC, New Rusty Bunch Member, and webmaster for beercoast.com.
ABA Historian of the year for 2018.
I started beercoast.com in 2015 for beer coaster collectors. Many of you probably knew George Barone, who ran Coastermania.
George passed his website on to me before he passed away. I converted it to an online coaster guide with text and brewer search, large detailed images of coasters and many more features. Since that initial conversion I have added Bob Kay's entire library of images he published in his eight volume set of US labels before 1950. This is not the tiny thumbnails you see if you buy the books, but the original wide scans that Bob Kay saved on his PC to document his personal collection. I have also added the labels from John Phillips Microlabels website. Both of these were done with permission.
Since beercoast.com was started I have expanded the website to include a number of features for collectors:
- Expanded beercoast.com to support all ALL BREWERIANA TYPES, including coasters, labels, stickers, growlers, matchbooks, and yes Virginia...... CANS.
- introduced online submissions by members.
- Upload your cap, coaster, can or label submission and other members can view and comment on it before addition to the guide.
- online processing and approval of new items by assigned subject matter experts
- online inventory of your collection. beercoast.com keeps track of whether you 'own' an item or not and how many you have available for trade.
- complete visibility for members - who has this item? Who has it available for sale or trade?
- items only need to be added to the guide once, then everyone can see them and inventory.
- It's ALL online! No software to download. All you need is a web browser.
- want list comparison - once inventory is entered, the system will compare your collection to all the other members, in a few seconds.
- the want list program will let you know who has what items you need that are available for trade, and vice versa (what you have that THEY need.
- online statistics for count of items (how many labels are there on file?)
- now accepting CAN submissions! (as well as labels, coasters, stickers, coozies, glasses, growlers, taps, tackers, you name it.....)
- sorry, we didn't add urinal screens as a brewreriana item. I've only seen one and haven't met any collectors......
- roster of top submitters and daily top submitters
- search by brewer, text on the item, or item code
- Want to submit an item, and the brewer isn't on file? One click to a form to add the brewer to the database. (6,945 brewers on file).
- add the brewer - submit your item - inventory it, and you're done in 5 minutes. Brewer already on file? Submit an item in 5 minutes.
- standardized, well defined item coding system that is consistent, and tells you the state, breweriana type, brewer code and item number.
- beercoast.com codes are used by many auction houses and other breweriana purveyors, especially coaster codes.
- Most complete Canadian and US Coaster catalog - over 64,000 coasters and 69,000 labels on file (US and Canada)
- 146,871 breweriana items on file as I type this.
- Members can be assigned as an administrator to make changes to a brewer or item in their state
- Members can also be assigned as a 'processor' to move new items into the guide after a three day wait for comments.
- members have recorded inventory for 748,825 items in their collections.
- click the thumbnail of an item and see all the members who have recorded inventory for the item and who has it available for trade.
- lots of info on the FAQ pages about how items are catalogued, image management, how to scan/capture, and much more:
- Frequently asked questions: https://beercoast.com/index.php?p=faq
- Anyone can visit the site and browse thumbnail images. Members can log in and view wide detailed images, record inventory and much more.
- membership is $25 per year. Fill out an application and get a free month of membership. Test drive beercoast.com for a free month with all member privileges.
- The membership application has a quick test to see if you can identify the brewer on a coaster.
- beercoast.com is written in php, mysql and a little java. I do all the development myself. So if you want to discuss a new feature, just ASK. The development committee (me) is always welcome to new suggestions to help the member community.
Membership Application: https://beercoast.com/index.php?p=member_app
Rusty Bunch Members - include your rusty bunch membership number in the application comments and I'll give you THREE free months of membership.
Thanks for reading!
and... Cheers!
Gil Davis
Albuquerque, NM
hotairline@hotmail.com
https://www.beercoast.com
