What happened? Was I sleeping when the terrorists invaded and replaced my swing-top Grolsch bottles with these regular ones equipped with crown caps? Was I too busy pressing my nose against the laptop trying to finish a project, or maybe I was hustling to make a buck or two? What else have I missed?

Sometimes it takes a sudden change like this for us to wake up and realize what’s really important in life. No, I don’t mean family, friends, human companionship, religion, duck pate, feeling small while looking at the stars or anything like that. I mean swing-top caps. They are a relic of a by-gone age, first abandoned with the invention of the cheaper, disposable crown cap and now gone for good, it seems.

Thanks, Grolsch, for holding on to this sign of the past for as long as you did. It was good while it lasted but nothing can go on forever.

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs

Carl Weaver

Carl Weaver is a writer and brewer for RealHomebrew.com and has been making beer and wine for more than 20 years. He is also an avid photographer and writer and just finished his first book, about a trip he took to Thailand to live in Buddhist monasteries. He considers himself the last of the Renaissance men and the luckiest darned guy in the world. Follow him on Twitter.