6. Theft at 30,000 feet
In October 2009, an Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Fort McMurray, Alberta had to make a emergency landing when a disturbance was caused by a 23-year-old man who stole a number of beers from a drink trolley.
Police said the thief tried to cover up his crime by flushing the empty cans down the toilet of the small jet. The man faces serious charges of causing a disturbance on an aircraft.
5. The label nerd
In August 1994, the world's top beer label expert was jailed for 18 months after his label-obsession led him to steal up to 28 labels from England's national archives in London. He was working at the archives as a label expert when the rare and unique labels dated between 1884 and 1925 went missing. A respected member of the community, published author on Beer Labology and founder of the Labologist Society he had been a collector of labels for over 30 years and was in possession of over 30,000 labels valued at around 50,000 pounds.
4. Naked hula thief
In August 2007, three men in DeSoto, Missouri (the "show-me" state) stole some beer from a local convenience store. They had a good plan. One friend distracted the store clerk, one friend stole the beer and the other was the getaway driver. What was the distraction you may ask ... it was some good old fashioned naked hula dancing.
The entire act was caught on tape and the three men, ranging in age from 19 to 23, were arrested days later. They face theft and indecency charges.
3. Forget the beer steal the kegs
In 2007, global metal prices were on the rise and the price of strap stainless steel sky-rocketed. According to the American Beer Institute, beer makers lost up to 50 million dollars that year because the number of customers who failed to return their used kegs suddenly jumped. The problem was that the average deposit for kegs was $10 to $30 dollars and scrap prices for the kegs jumped as high as $55. It costs brewers as much as $150 to replace lost kegs.
Restaurants and bars all over the country reported spikes in the numbers of kegs stolen from their premises. Bars regularly leave used kegs unsecured in back alleyways. With an estimated 10.7 million kegs in circulation in the United States with a scrap metal value of up to $588 million dollars keg recycling became a major criminal enterprise.
2. Guinness lovers
In December 2007, Irish cops busted two guys for stealing 450 kegs of Guinness and other brands from the landmark Guinness Brewery in Dublin. Police said a lone man drove a truck into the brewery, hitched it up to the beer trailer and crashed through the main gate into rush-hour traffic. Two men were eventually charged with the crime but most of the beer was not recovered. The value of the theft was estimated at $235,000.
1. The stolen Spanish batch of Moosehead
In August 2004, a truck driver driving 60,000 cans of Moosehead beer to Mexico disappeared with the beer. Days later the empty transport truck was discovered in a parking lot located in Grand Falls, New Brunswick.
Moosehead asked for help from the public to find the lost beer that had a retail value of over $100,000 dollars. The beer was easy to identify because it had Spanish labels.
Over the next year the beer started showing up all over the province of New Brunswick. The first were two empty cans in Fredericton followed by two empty cans in the north of the province. It almost seemed like the thieves were taunting the police and the Canadian national media started closely following the story. Police found and arrested the driver in Ontario but he gave them no new information about the location of the lost beer. World media started picking up the story as the drama continued. Over 8,000 damaged cans were recovered from a truck that went off the road on a New Brunswick highway. Beer started showing up in woodland areas and the public joined police in the search. Much of the stolen beer ended up being recovered.
The final cans were found as a result of a drug bust on a marijuana growing operation. About 200 cans were found. However, many of the cans looked like a bear had been at them. The marijuana growers had abandoned their camp and left the beers in the open. Bears consumed at least six cans of the stolen brew. All the publicity around the story ended up boasting Moosehead sales around the world.
More more information check out:
beer culture guide
10 weirdest beer ads
Canadian beer guide
Moosehead beer guide
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