Eric's previous email... Oct. 2, 2000
I was a huge Pfeiffer fan during my days at Carleton College in Minnesota (1982-86) and wondered what had happened. No greater beer was ever made that sold regularly for $4.99 for 24 12-ounce bottles (plus deposit) and occasionally could be found on sale for as little as three cases for $10. With Hauenstein and Wisconsin Premium, they were the troika of collegiate beers.  I can almost taste a cold one right now..... (this is what it is all about...  - ed)

I was just surfing around and found your page. Your passion for a favorite beer is admirable and I'll have a Grain Belt in honor of Pfeiffer Beer.  After all, Grain Belt is brewed where Pfeiffer used to be, at the Schmidt plant here in St. Paul. I vividly remember a tour I took in 86 when Heileman had it and case after case of Pfeiffer flew over my head.

Some of my fondest college memories (84-90) involve Pfeiffer. I don't share your passion for it, but god it was cheap. 12 oz. returnables at the liquor store next door for $4.99 a case. You couldn't beat it when money was tight.

Thanks for the great site!
Jeff Lehtinen, St. Paul, MN, Dec. 2, 1999

I tried to draw attention to some details that are largely unknown with my web page, and so far the response to that transitional Pfeiffer can has been monumental. Seems like everybody wants to know about it! I just about dropped that one in the trash after the dumping trip I found it on, thinking it was just another common variation.

As luck would have it, I noticed something was amiss while actually dangling it over the trash can! The collecting gods were looking over my shoulder that day. Since then, Chris Taylor, Dan Bora and myself have revisited that dump and pulled out a few more, but all are either so badly faded or otherwise beat up it's pretty tough to tell the difference! The biggest thing that gives them away is the presence of the concentric C logo of the Continental Can Company to the lower left of the seam. The other Continental Pfeiffer (without Keglined by the seam) didn't even have a manufacturer's logo on it. So, If you ever scrape up a dumper that has the CCC logo, that should be the right can.
Dave Wheaton of "Essential Michi-Cans", Dec. 1, 1999

Well, I have never had Pfeiffer before, but I did work at the infamous Dunworth Pool, where just the name Pfeiffer and its number "32" had strange effects on people. I heard a story once, of these guys who went through the trouble to make a huge stenciled 32 with the intent to paint...

They painted this giant 32 on the Chimney of Jack Dunworth Memorial Pool in big white numbers, I heard they even used the pool's own spray paint. Anyway, the next day on the way to the pool, I saw this art work from the other side of Telegraph, which is about a 1/4 mile away!!! Sam, the manager at the time, was furious, running around trying to figure out who did it, and who he was going to prosecute. Joy, the assistant manager, suggested that the next time someone wants to do something like this they should paint on a sheet and hang it there so it can be taken down easily. Sam had someone paint over it. Who would accept such and order? I don't know....

Anyway now these guys are known as the 32 crew, they painted it again this summer. The best part of this summer's job was the timing. They did it before the Dearborn Recreation Dolphins Swim meet, so thousands of people from all over the state saw the big 32, but again someone painted over it...

I don't know who these guys are, but they are doing a great thing, I also heard the 32 crew was planning another attack, this time in black paint.

Only time will tell.
Denny Reiner, Nov. 17, 1999

I do have other Pfeiffer's beer bottles, no more than 4 or 5. ... (If anyone is interested in purchasing these bottles, email me and I will put you in contact with Marty.) All are from the 1950's. Since you like history, I will tell you how I got these bottles:

Back in 1984 my parents remodeled their bathroom. Their house was built in the 1950's. When they knocked out one of the walls they found a bunch of Pfeiffer beer bottles! They only knocked out one wall. I'm sure the builders drank more than 6 bottles of beer and the walls are full of empty bottles!
Marty Sanborn, Nov. 16, 1999

Hi Brad, I saw your late 1800's / early1900's bottle. Nice bottle! You would have liked to have been with me last summer when a friend of mine and I went can dumping. It was a good day. First we stopped at old vacant house in the country and found a Pfeiffer sign and a Pfeiffer cooler in the basement!

Then, we stopped at a second house about a mile down the street.. It was a spooky looking 1860's type house that was also vacant. We go into the basement and we find a little door on the basement wall. We open it up and it leads to a crawl space under house.. Shine in the flashlight and the first thing I see is an old 1918 vintage, wooden Pfeiffer box full of vintage bottles just like the one you have pictured on site!

Also, there were two other old, wooden boxes full of bottles. I still have the Pfeiffer's box here at home. There were so many bottles under that house that I still left a bunch back there. I have to go back for the other two boxes and the bottles before they tear house down and put up a shopping center or something! Thought you might like this story..
Leon Hampton, Oct. 31, 1999

We sat around that summer working for the pools talking of things that had no significance, but made us view the world a little differently than ever before. Brad was always creating some crazyass Macguyver-style gadgets and Aaron always added his own signature pieces to it. None of the inventions ever flew or did anything really, they just looked as though they could. And of course there was me amazed by their latest visual creation. Just wishing that I too could be as ingenious, I decided to work on a few projects of my own, ones that would really work.

Well the first one was a total flop since I bought wood glue instead of crazy glue which can adhere a work helmet to a steel rafter instantaneously. I was going through this whole trial and error process only to find that I could never make any of my inventions work. The mechanical diaper changer was a flop as well as the pistol handbag. All you had to do was push a small button that opened a hole in the side big enough for the barrel to push through, but the button got stuck one time and let's just say that there were a few people that weren't too happy to be found hugging the ground for dear life. And as I was being arrested while proclaiming my innocence, I figured that this would be the final invention, after all what would my parents say?!

I do think my dad was proud in a way, his sweet little girl supporting the right to bear arms. We won't mention how the button got stuck while I was admiring the most handsome boy from across the street. His hair was raven with a shaggy rock star style to it, he was about 6'5", his eyes were blue, his skin fair, he was as skinny as a rail and in his left hand he held a Pfeiffer Beer. I knew it was true love! Just as I was thinking up a good invention to steal away his Pfeif, I tripped over the curb, landed on my purse which in turn set off the button and forced a round of bullets out the barrel. All I could say was "bin of sitch" just like my 4 year old nephew does when he gets upset about something. A group of people fell to the ground screaming and I just lay there wishing I could have but one sip of Pfeif before they locked me up.

As the police officers cuffed me, I realized that this would have been my 32nd invention. I then realized that hiding behind a tree were both Brad and Aaron laughing their asses off. Who did they think they were fooling? I knew that they had something to do with all of this! I'd be back, and when I got out I'd invent a device that made them pee their pants at parties in front of pretty girls and their friends. Boy would that be funny! The really handsome boy whom I thought would have been long gone by now seemed to be pretty interested in all the chaos. As he got closer, I realized that all along it was the Spaceman! I smiled at him and he lifted his bottle up to my lips and tipped it back. Ah, what a dream come true! He never said a word, he just turned away and seemed to fade into the business of the city so slowly. :)
Lori Siwarski - Oct. 13, 1999

AS YOU MAY KNOW, PFEIFFER BEER HAS MANY NAMES UNTO WHICH IT MAYBE REFEREED, "Q" THE MOST FAMOUS TO MY RECOLLECTION. "32," "P," OR "JUST GIMME A FUCKN' BEER BEEEOTCH!" WHEN I THINK OF THIS DESIRED BREW, I THINK NOT OF THE TIMELY PROCESS IN WHICH IT HAS BEEN MADE AVAILABLE TO ME AND MY BEER GUZZLIN' FRIENDS, THE BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS THAT WHERE SHED TO DEVELOP THIS "CULT CLASSIC BREW!" NO!, I THINK OF A HOT SUMMER NIGHT IN THE CITY OF DEARBORN, MICHIGAN. SOMEWHERE AROUND THE JACK DUNWORTH MEMORIAL POOL OR MORE COMMONLY KNOW SIMPLY AS "LEVEGOOD." IT WOULD ALSO STRIKE A CERTAIN TIMELINE WITH ME PERSONALLY, THE SUMMER OF 1995! THE SUMMER THAT I LEFT THE BEEOTCH OF THE CENTURY IN CALIFORNIA, WHICH BRINGS UP A THORN IN MY ASSHOLE EVEN TO THIS DAY, THAT @&*# WHORE!!!! SORRY EVERYONE (HAD TO VENT THERE!:)

BACK TO THE SUBJECT AT HAND-THE ALMIGHTY PFEIFFER BEER!!! MANY OF US: BRAD, ANDY, DON, JUSTIN, DENNIS, JOHN, FISH, BILLY Z, THE GUY WHO HUNG AROUND BILLY Z IN THE VAN, A LOT OF THE UNDER-AGED SO CALLED LIFEGUARDS/JR. BOOZE HOUNDS, AND PROBABLY MORE THAT I JUST CANNOT RECALL.. ALL HAD ONE THING IN COMMON THE UNIQUE HIGH OF HAVING A PORTLY BROWN BOTTLE OF PFEIFFER BEER IN THEIR CHUBBY LITTLE ASS SCRATCHER! THEN THE ALMIGHTY HIGH OF HAVING ONE OR FOUR TOO MANY "32's". ALL THAT I CAN SAY TO THAT IS "AWE YEEEEAAAAHHHH!" THEN THE VIVID IMAGE OF HOT NAKED FEMALE LIFEGUARDS OF THE CITY OF DEARBORN BEARING ALL THAT WAS NATURAL AFTER HOURS IN A DRUNKEN' (BY PFEIFFER BEER BABY!!) SKINNY DIPPN' FREE-FOR-ALL. IT WAS COMPLETE BLISS---ADOLPHUS BUSCH WAS BORN ON JULY 10.1839, HE WAS SECOND YOUNGEST OF 22 KIDS- HIS MOM-BARBARA BUSCH- JUST A LITTLE TIDBIT OF INFO.

THAT SUMMER I HAD A GREAT TIME, NOT ANY ONE PARTICULAR THING REALLY STICKS OUT, BECAUSE OF PFEIFFER. I OPENED THE FIRST ONE AROUND THE 26TH OF MAY 1995(DONS B'DAY) AND THE REST IS A PORTLY BROWN BOTTLE HAZE OF ENJOYMENT WITH THE PEOPLE, FAMILY AND FRIENDS THAT ENJOYED THOSE TIMES TOGETHER. I THANK ALL OF YOU GUYS AND GALS FOR THOSE BLISSFUL MEMORIES, THAT WE ALL WILL REMEMBER-BUT ALWAYS TRY TO RELIVE!

TO THE SUMMER OF 1995 AND GIANT 32 SPRAY PAINTED IN FRONT OF BRADS HOUSE!
GEORGE MIKO - Oct. 12, 1999

To Whom This Concerns,
The Pfeiffer has become a legend in the City of Dearborn. The first time I was introduced to a Pfeiffer was about 7 years ago when I was working as a lifeguard for the city. It all began with a couple of maintenance guys, that found a beer that came in 32 ounce bottle, was cheap, and tasted good (editor's note: it was great not good!). Then all of a sudden the Pfeiffer became THE beer of Dunworth Pool. It went to all the parties and the 32 became a symbol. I can honestly say that I have a Pfeiffer label which was given to me from a faithful Pfeiffer lover. One morning, I went to punch in for work and there it was a Pfeiffer label attached to the back of my time card. I asked why I was so lucky to receive the label and I was told I received it because my card was in the 32nd time slot. So that night, I took my label home and place it on my James Dean Picture.
Audrey Carey - Oct. 12, 1999

Pfeiffer beer was actually the first beer I ever drank. I was at my first lifeguard party ever my sister gave some to me (Greg's suspension party - that night's list was "Bitching about Carol). I guess that is not too exciting, but when you think about it, it kinda is. Think about your first word, the first time you take a step, the first time you ride your bike, your first kiss, your first paycheck. These are all pretty memorable moments in life. I believe my first beer belongs on a list of personal growth and triumph. Now the most remarkable thing about this was that Pfeiffer beer was with me for this right of passage. When Pfeiffer came to its untimely death, I felt cheated and hurt, like when you see your first love making out with someone else at the movies. Most of the pain and sorrow are gone now, I drink and enjoy many beers (editor's note: beer hussy!), but I will always have a certain affection for the first beer I ever drank.
Karen Travis - Oct. 11, 1999

The night I drank 5, 32 oz. Pfeiffers at a pool party (my personal best) (editor's note: 1.25 gallons! World record?) , then drove my jeep with the top down over some guys lawn on Denwood, picked up a girl while puking at Andoni's, took her back to the guard shack and got me some, and still punched in by 8:00 a.m. to have coffee and donuts with Sam and Carol. True story.
Dennis Kucharczyk - Oct. 11, 1999