Local man 'worships' Canadian beer

VANCOUVER, BC. A local beer connoisseur has built a shrine to Molson Canadian on his new deck. The man, known only as Shoe, explained “I never told [my wife] Claudia this, but the whole reason I wanted to build the deck was so I could build a Canadian shrine on it,” he said, motioning toward the pile of beer cans in the corner of the deck. "The shrine consists of many of the Canadian memorabilia I collected from 18-bottle cases, 15-can summer paks, and 24-can fridge paks [of the cold, fermented malt beverage]."
“I've received a number of Canadian-themed birthday gifts over the years, like this solid chocolate bottle of Canadian,” said Shoe, noting that the chocolate was a constant temptation for his wife.
One sad note for Shoe was that he was not able to save his Bubba mini-keg of Canadian, a novelty item promoted by Molson in 2004-05, from being unwittingly recycled shortly after the promotion ended. “I couldn’t replace the mini-keg, but I do have this shirt-shaped bottle cozy,” said Shoe. He remembers the early days of his Canadian collecting when friends would just give him an ordinary can of beer, sometimes wrapped untidily in "girlish" wrapping paper, for his birthday. “I was overwhelmed at their thoughtfulness, but usually ended up so drunk those nights that I didn’t have the sense to save the cans,” lamented Shoe, referring to the special ‘gift cans’, which closely resembled ordinary cans. Shoe indicated he has had a number of ‘lost evenings’ and lost cans as a result of drinking the cold, refreshing lager which has an easy drinking taste. "Maybe it's the 220 years of brewing experience and easy drinking taste of this stuff, but I can't seem to resist it," he said while wiping his hands on his Canadian bar towel.
Once his reputation for collecting "Canadian-ware" spread, friends started giving him things like stolen Canadian coasters, and Canadian T-shirts and duffel bags they got for free in some barroom promotion. “Once I got a large 750 millilitre can as a party gift from a friend,” said Shoe, who works as a junior accountant during the day. “But, since Claudia and I moved in together a lot of my 'Canadian-abilia' has disappeared, so I don't know where it is now, it could be anywhere.”
MolsonCoors, the maker of Canadian, disavowed all knowledge of the shrine. “Mr. Shoe does not, and has never, worked for MolsonCoors as far as we know,” said a spokesperson.

Shoe may not have been paid by Molson, but he sounded like a walking commercial for the cold-filtered nectar made with choicest hops and finest barley. “I used to crack open the Canadian only on special occasions, like weddings and new year’s eve, but I realized some years ago that it’s clear, crisp taste can be enjoyed any time of year and in any environment,” said Shoe, while popping the top off a third ice-cold, frosty bottle of Canadian since the interview started.

The shrine did not make everyone happy, though. One neighbour, not recognizing the shrine, did complain about the monstrous pile of cans on the deck. After being told it's a shrine, he said "That's not a shrine, it's a dirty pile of cans!"
It's not clear yet whether the shrine represents the start of a backyard trend, or just one person's pile of cans. For Shoe, it's a life's work.

P.F.