The camping season here in the Yukon is well underway and, so far, under lots of warm weather and blue sky.
When we head out to the campgrounds, one of our favourite activities is to check out the various ways people choose to crash for the night.
You can find your pop tents that look like they have been in the family for generations. Often these tents are located under giant tarps, since their flys seem to be better at directing rain into the tents than steering it away.
You can find super high-tech tents that were originally designed for Everest climbs. You can generally tell these because there is not enough room in them to change your skivvies unless you are a Cirque du Soleil performer.
You can find giant tents with bedrooms, vestibules, hallways and (I am convinced) wine cellars.
Then you have the whole gamut of RVs, trailers and pickup campers. Of course, you don’t have to leave town to find those, you can check those out while picking up toilet paper and a litre of milk at the big box store down the street.
But, always on the lookout for the next big thing, we are predicting that, within five years, you will start to see campers in beer cans.
That’s right, beer cans. We have found a company called NewCom that makes portable camping units that, basically, are two-storey beer cans.
These little fellows are made in Norway and are 2.2 metres in diameter and a hefty 3.8 metres tall. Each beer can is decorated on the outside with the usual brand name information and on the inside with bubbly beer-looking wallpaper. There is an upper sleeping floor and a lower living room. And, of course, there is a moon roof.
It is unclear from the photos what the construction material is. You might think aluminum, but they would have to be pretty thick. And, they may get a tad uncomfortable in the sun. So, we would guess plastic.
It is also unclear as to the cost. Apparently, they are currently only sold in Europe and the manufacturer’s plan is to sell only in sixpacks in North America.
Now, wait just a minute, we say. Having a sixpack of beer can sleeping units might be a good idea if you are Budweiser or maybe even tiny Yukon Brewing. But, unless you have five like-minded friends, you are unlikely to see them popping up at Kusawa Lake any time soon.
Who would want six of them?
So, I guess we are probably wrong again, this is probably not the up-and-coming camping accessory as we predicted. Lost opportunity, NewCom, we think.
This column is courtesy of the Yukon Brewing Company, an organization that feels everyone should feel at home in the beverage of their choice.
