Looking at David Miller's intoxicating collection, you're reminded of the renowned children travelogue song "99 Bottles of Beer" -
only Miller has over 2,000 (empty) bottles of beer on his wall, and he's definitely not taking any down.
For years, Miller has collected beer bottles from around the country, and around the globe -- at press time, the collection included 1,332 domestic bottles from just about every state and 829 foreign bottles, with every continent, save Antarctica, represented.
While a few friends who know of Miller's "beer bottle museum," as he affectionately refers to it, will scout out bottles during their travels, the vast majority of the bottles are ones Miller has had the pleasure of emptying.
Originally, Miller collected coasters from the various pubs he visited while living in Europe, since the cardboard keepsakes were easier to tote than glass bottles. And before the bottle collection went up in Miller's home after he and his wife had an addition built, an enthusiastic friend kept the collection.
"At first they were really housed at my friend's house, because he wasn't married and it was truly a bachelor pad. He had them around the tops of the ceiling, all around his bedroom, living room, everywhere," Miller said. "And then once we had the addition done, about three and a half years ago, then I had a place to put them. Although my wife designated the attic."
Miller relies on local and regional craft beer stores with exotic and thorough selections, such as Liquor Barn and Beer Trappe in Lexington and Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati, to find new additions for his collection. And, looking at his refrigerator, which has a healthy variety of single bottles, it's evident that his attic will soon be overflowing.
"Eventually I'm going to take over my son's room, now that he's moved out," Miller said.