The world's rarest beer... on eBay!

Ah, it's a warm summer Friday afternoon and, as the weekend beckons, a (not-so-)young man's fancy turns lightly to thoughts of beer. I'm sure many of us are going to enjoy a brewski or two in the company of friends and family this weekend -- nothing like a couple of cold ones on a hot summer day. Well, they don't come colder than this bottle of Allsopp's Arctic Ale, which went on an Arctic expedition led by Sir Edward Belcher. (What a magnificent name for a beer drinker!).

And they don't come any older than this bottle either. Back when Sir Ted was sinking pints (and no doubt living up to his name soon afterwards), the year was 1852. That makes this the oldest, rarest bottle of beer in the world. I have that on authority from the Brookston Beer Bulletin, a rigorous, scientific, peer-reviewed (and beer-reviewed) publication whose focus seems to be coverage of beer-related news around the world. (And a nobler occupation would be hard to find.)

Naturally, the world's rarest bottle of beer was sold on eBay, home to the world's most avid collectors, whether it's beer or any of our other many Collectibles categories. The winning bid -- and I can only hope it wasn't the bidding equivalent of drunk-dialing -- was a whopping $503,300!

It's an amount many of us may ponder on as we stagger out of beer-dispensing establishments late on Saturday night with the urgent desire to eat pizza with lots of cheese, hug the nearest lamp-post, or look on complete strangers as our best friends.