Foamy Stories: A Walk for Life

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Collecting breweriana is a popular hobby across the world. Beerophiles collect beer labels, ads, bottles and glassware. They have their associations, organizations, fairs and markets. And just like in every other hobby group, there are some exceptionally engaged enthusiasts, for whom it is never enough, so they relentlessly continue to look for new items for their collections. Whether it is a new label, bottle or… a part of a bottling line in a historic brewery.

One of those people is Maciej Łukaszczyk, Poznań-based entrepreneur, who besides collecting beer accessories for years, also runs a specialist beer store and a private beer museum that everyone can visit.

Published on 19.05.2023

Photo credit: Marcin Sudak

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It came when I was a young boy, not yet interested in the content of a beer bottle, but already impressed with the colorful, shiny labels. One day, during a walk with my parents, near the brewery in a district of Ponań called Franowo, I found a dozen or so labels which started my collection. Since that day on, I have been looking for more. After a while, I also set my sights on glasses, bottle caps and various beer-related accessories. Over time, I have expanded my collection with pre-war glassware, crates, barrels, enameled pre-war and occupation-time beer ads. Currently, it encompasses about 300 ads, 500 pieces of glassware, 200 crates, thousands of porcelain caps, over a million labels and many diverse gadgets, including a pre-war Tyskie napkin holder or a pre-war Tyskie tap marking.

Building my collection, I visit flea markets, old breweries, beer bottling plants and fairs. It is like hunting for the unknown, but sometimes you can find real treasures. Beer-related gadgets and items travel around the world. Once, at a fair in Luxembourg, I got a few unique Polish mugs and Polish beer ads in Norway. Since I am quite known in the scene, people simply give me interesting things for my collection, and thus it encompasses a few fascinating pieces. The real gems include a cardboard beer ad from Grodzisk made by a Gliwice-based mannequin production plant with a little drawn figure drinking beer and a unique one-of-a-kind plaster ad for Tyskie from a Tyskie-based beerhouse. Every holiday or business trip is an opportunity to get new artefacts and connect with others with the purpose of expanding my collection.

The best thing about my beer passion is the fact that it will never end, because there is always something to get and discover. There are legends about many beer-related artefacts, many of them only exist in the imagination of beerophiles. But in fact, there are some beer treasures the existence of which is well documented. At the moment, I am dreaming about a huge, 3-meter-high pre-war ad poster for Tyskie, which is most probably the only one made. It is a unique piece that every beerophile would like to have in their collection.

My collection is housed in an adapter garage. It is hard to believe but it amounts to nearly 4 tons of beer equipment and gadgets. Besides that, there is loads of cardboard boxes with bottle caps and labels. However, there is one extremely well-organized section where I keep my “gems”. It is a small private beer museum that I managed to set up a few years back. It has illuminated showcases with exhibits that allow the visitors to see and feel the spirit of beer history. The museum is open to all beer lovers. To go back in time, they just have to climb the mysterious stairs in my store.

The “Piwa Świata” (Beers of the World) store is yet another side of my beer passion and a way to earn my living. It is worth mentioning that it was the first store of that type in Poland. Initially, it was a store with newspapers and souvenirs, but in order to fully commit to my passion, I turned it into a store selling beers from around the world. Now, my offer includes two thousand different beers from Polish and foreign breweries: popular lagers, IPA and wheat beer, unique monastery beers, freeze-distilled beers, barrel-aged beers and many others. The entire store offer is a result of a long-term cooperation with breweries, wholesalers and distributors. I do my best to stay up to date with novelties, although it becomes increasingly difficult considering the current scale of beer premieres. For a while, I had my own beer brand, created during the Polish craft beer wave and brewed with the use of my contacts. It offered a few styles, including IPA, Belgian ALE, Porter Bałtycki. Even though it did not last long, this experience has taught me a lot. And that is the story of how one walk taken many years ago allowed me to discover my beer passion and set the direction for my future life.