Whether for a party at the beach, an impromptu get-together at home or a fireside gathering with friends, the beer ball was the perfect answer to keeping crowds happy without having to deal with all the empty cans afterward.

Gone But Not Forgotten is an Observer-Dispatch series looking at places, things and businesses from our past – shared memories that bring us back to a time when life was more simple.

Whether for a party at the beach, an impromptu get-together at home or a fireside gathering with friends, the beer ball was the perfect answer to keeping crowds happy without having to deal with all the empty cans afterward.

This unique container held slightly more than 5 gallons of beer, and was an innovative alternative to purchasing cases or renting a quarter- or half-keg of beer. It quickly became the vessel of choice for the parties my friends and I attended (and hosted) in the 1980s and ’90s.

And we were not alone.

Party hosts could easily pick one up at the local grocery store without leaving a deposit and the cardboard packaging surrounding the beer ball became the perfect ice holder to keep the beer cold.

Introduced to the area by the F.X Matt Brewing Co. in 1977, beer balls became so popular that the brewery took steps in May 1982 to become the first brewery in the nation to produce beer ball containers in-plant, which was a big cost-cutting measure according to “Utica Beer – A history of Brewing in the Mohawk Valley” by Daniel Shumway (The History Press, $24.99).

The book, which covers breweries that have graced the area since 1801, has a chapter on the West End Brewing Company. It cites many facts about the beer ball such as:

- Matt’s brewery was the first in the nation to use the container in 1977 and shipped in empty beer balls to be filled until 1982. At that point, Matt’s started creating the containers at the brewery.

- When produced in-plant, a tube about 12 inches long was heated, then expanded with a blast of air to create the ball.

- The containers were nonpolluting when burned.

They truly were party favorites, with only one drawback that we experienced over the years — the short lives of the beer taps that were designed for use with the beer ball and sold separately. While I never owned one that lasted more than four or five taps, one friend bucked that trend. He carried a tap in the back of his 1986 Olds Cutlass until he sold the car in the late 1990s.

While the beer balls were convenient, the most memorable part came after the beer was gone. The empty containers often turned into props for stories, such as space helmets, boxing gloves or instant beer guts when placed under the shirt. Their durability also made them perfect as outdoor lampshades, fish bowls, buoys and, of course, soccer balls.

Over the years, our once-frequent parties became fewer and fewer, and by the time the last beer ball produced at the brewery was tapped, Matt’s had moved on and so did we.

But in a North Utica field, I recently stumbled upon one last remnant of that era. A lone semi-crushed amber ball serves as a reminder of a party long forgotten.

Ron Johns is the executive editor for the Observer-Dispatch.

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