Live Long and Prosper (burp)

Twelve Mile Circle is all about geo-oddities although the author of the site has other interests too. Sometimes those topics collide. I’ve made no bones about my interest in craft beer and it creeps into 12MC from time to time. Today is one of those times.

I noticed a passing reference to Vulcan Beer in a brewery publications I follow. This will be the first in a series of officially licensed beers with a Star Trek theme produced by Delancey Direct. Slogans will include “Mind Melding Good” and “A logical choice for a palate pleasing libation.” I guess anything can be licensed today.

According to a press release, Harvest Moon Brewing Company of Belmont, Montana will contract-brew the beer, a 5.4% ABV Irish Red Ale. Each year Delancey Direct will issue another beer to represent a different season in the television series… Vulcan, then Klingon, and so on. So of course they’ve designed labeling with collectors in mind.


The Geographic Angle

What could this development possibly have to do with geography? Well, Vulcan is a town in Alberta (map).

Delancey Direct released Vulcan Beer to coincide with the centennial of Vulcan — the one in Canada — and timed for a May 2013 release. That would place it on liquor store shelves right before Vulcan’s 21st annual Spock Days celebration.

A Town on the Prairie

Starship in Vulcan, Alberta. Photo by Al Hunt; (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Vulcan of Alberta’s prairie existed long before any notions of Star Trek ever crossed Gene Roddenberry’s mind, or before he was even born for that matter. The town of Vulcan, in a county of the same name, began as a stop on the Kipp-Aldersyde line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad:

“Street and avenue names in Vulcan originally included Apollo, Atlas, Juno, Jupiter, Mars, Neptune and Vulcan. They were later changed to numbers, but the town readopted them in 1998 for Vulcan’s 85th anniversary.”

The founders envisioned Roman Gods rather than paying homage to intergalactic science fiction locales. Their choice became rather fortuitous for town residents several decades later. Imagine if they’d selected Vesta or Ceres or one of the other Dii Consentes (the 12 major deities in the Roman pantheon) instead of Vulcan.

Then Came the Trekkies

That allowed their descendants to play-up a tenuous Star Trek connection and earn a descent living in the process. Why not? Other rural towns have claimed fictional sons. It’s no different than Metropolis in the United States claiming Superman. Vulcan can select Mister Spock.

Vulcan wouldn’t have anything other than agriculture if it wasn’t for the Trekkies. That’s why a welcoming replica of the Starship Enterprise stands outside of Vulcan’s tourism station…

Sign in Vulcan. Photo by Peter; (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

… complete with greetings in Vulcan calligraphy (pictured) and Klingon.

Unfortunately the 2013 Spock Days happened last weekend so I missed my opportunity. Too bad I found out about this four days too late — pretending for a moment that I might actually have been able to travel to Alberta for a bottle of beer. No, I’m not the Weekend Roady.


Other Vulcan Towns Exist on Planet Earth

I found one example in Michigan, USA. Consulting GNIS, I discovered another dozen-or-so, including a couple of historical sites that no longer exist. I couldn’t uncover anything special about any of those poseur Vulcan settlements other than their physical locations. Residents have done little to attract Trekkie tourism as far as I could tell. They’re missing out on some solid business opportunities as Alberta can attest.

I also discovered the city of Vulcan in Hunedoara, Romania. Wikipedia says, “The city is named after the Vulcan Pass that connects the Jiu Valley to Oltenia, itself being derived from Slavic ‘vlk’, meaning ‘wolf’ (even if ‘vulcan’ means ‘volcano’ in Romanian).” This Vulcan serves as the largest example by far, with a population of 23,000. An additional, smaller Romanian Vulcan also existed. Could Romania become the next Star Trek center of the universe?

I’d drink a Vulcan beer if I could get my hands on one. Are there any 12MC readers in Alberta that might be able to snag me a bottle? I’d even take an empty just to put it on a shelf.


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10 responses to “Live Long and Prosper (burp)”

  1. John Deeth Avatar

    If you like Vulcan you’ll love Riverside Iowa’s Trek Fest, in just two weeks:

    http://www.trekfest.com/

    Based on one offhand line in the 1986 Trek film – “I’m from Iowa, I only work in outer space” – Riverside declared itself the “future birthplace of Captain Kirk” and the rest is history. Or will be.

  2. Daniel Harper Avatar

    I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there exists a “Romulan Ale” from Guatemala, blue-colored and from all accounts disgusting (I haven’t tried it). My understanding is that it’s an adjunct lager with blue food coloring added, which makes me unlikely to ever seek it out.

    It was briefly available in my corner of Michigan, but I never bothered to buy it and the distributor has since dropped the product. Really a novelty purchase, anyway. (If I could still get it I’d happily mail you a bottle.)

    With regards to all things Vulcan, Birmingham, AL (the city of my birth) has a giant statue of the Greek god, with connection to the steel industry, which helped build the city. I don’t think they’ve ever done anything Trek related, but it’s a city landmark for sure.

    1. Twelve Mile Circle Avatar

      I was actually thinking about your Beyond the Pour series of podcasts as I wrote the article. Romulan Ale sounds pretty terrifying although Vulcan Ale seems as if it might hold some promise — would love to hear your review if you ever get your hands on it. Geographically, it may happen sooner for you than I.

      1. Daniel Harper Avatar

        Glad to hear you’re listening; I don’t get a lot of email feedback or comments so it’s hard to tell sometimes if anyone cares when I put them out. I’ve been busy with classes and such for the last year, but hopefully I’ll get back into a more regular production schedule.

        I’ll keep my eyes open for the Vulcan Ale, but it looks like a one-off kind of release for the Alberta area. We don’t get any Canadian micros here in MI, except for Unibroue, so it’s unlikely it’ll show up here.

  3. Bill Harris Avatar
    Bill Harris

    In a related vein, Riverside, Iowa lays claim to being the future home of Captain James Tiberius Kirk:

    http://www.cityofriversideiowa.com

    It’s still not too late for their annual celebration:

    http://www.trekfest.com

    No mention of craft beers, though.

    1. John Deeth Avatar

      We have a lot of good local beer here in Iowa City, 15 minutes up the road.

      Trek Fest is an odd mix of Get A Life trekkie convention and regular old Iowa small down festival. You see Klingons with funnel cakes.

      Several of the Trek TOS stars – George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig – were here in 2009, but the meet & greet was out of our price range. See for yourself if it was worth $150 a head:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orBV1obxzT8

      William Shatner himself has never been at Trek Fest proper but did film the spoof “Invasion Iowa” in Riverside. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_Iowa

      In any case Riverside’s main claim to fame these days is less Trek and more casino and events center. A good place to see an aging classic rock act and/or leave your money with us natives.

  4. Calgully Avatar
    Calgully

    There is a MUCH bigger example of potential

    The Australian city of Melbourne, with a population of 4 million was very nearly named not after Lord Melbourne, but rather after its founder, John Batman.

    In the early 19th century Batman’s name meant nothing more unearthly than a personal assistant.

    Even today, the good citizens of Melbourne are surrounded by reminders of their superhero heritage:

    Batman Street http://goo.gl/maps/PMVs1
    Batman Avenue http://goo.gl/maps/npTSO
    Batman station http://goo.gl/maps/3Obdi
    Batman’s Hill Hotel http://goo.gl/maps/GQ8uu
    Batman Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Park
    A different Batman Park http://goo.gl/maps/rXRqh
    The Member for Batman http://www.martinferguson.com.au/page14949/Home.aspx
    These lucky kids get a great start in life http://www.bpk.org.au/
    The man himself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Batman

    Surely Melbourne could follow the lead of Vulcan Alberta and capitalise on its co-incidental name history. Many would say that apart from its name, there is more than a passing physical and cultural resemblance between Melbourne and Gotham City!

    1. January First-of-May Avatar
      January First-of-May

      That’s, of course, assuming that they won’t get outcompeted by the city of Batman in Turkey 😉
      As far as places with the “same” names as sci-fi planets go, my personal favorite is Tataouine, a village in Algiers. I distinctly remember reading somewhere that the famous planet was actually named after that village 🙂 (admittedly with a slightly different spelling).

  5. weekendroady Avatar

    Hah, this is great. I visited Vulcan, Alberta many years ago on a family trip to Banff. My dad went a bit out of his way to visit the town (much like I do these days) and get a postmark for his collection. I definitely remember the monument to the Enterprise…

  6. Pluto's Moon Beer Co. Avatar

    We thank everyone for their interest! We have several “Empty” bottles following the 2013 @yegbeerfest that was held this weekend!

    Live Long & Prosper!

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