Sipping on some suds... (Shutterstock)

HOUSTON, Texas — The old song 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall certainly comes to mind while visiting an unusual, tiny house in an older section of this sprawling southwestern city.

But when you start counting the flattened tins and ribbons of pull-tabs at the “Beer Can House,” the single-minded result of John Milkovisch’s love of brew — and unusual home decorating — someone obviously didn’t stop at 99.

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Just seeing the ropes of beer can tops hanging like garlands of garlic on the front porch gives you a taste for the years of suds-enjoying that went into his project.

“Some people say this is sculpture but I didn’t go to no expensive school to get these crazy notions,” Milkovisch (who was born in 1912 an died in 1988), said in one of many interviews with print and TV journalists.

His late wife, Mary, put her husband’s hobby more simply: “He didn’t think anybody would ever be interested in it. He just loved drinking his beer and just loved being outside and cutting up the beer cans.”

When you first arrive, if the wind is blowing, there is strange music in the air. Well, perhaps not music, but definitely a sound like no other.

Milkovisch, the son of Austrian immigrants, was an upholsterer who worked for the Louisiana and Texas Line Railroad, later the Southern Pacific. After retiring, he began inlaying thousands of marbles, rocks, and metal pieces from industrial washing machines into concrete and redwood on his front lawn in 1968.

Ron Milkovisch admitted some people thought his dad crazy, “but he wasn’t ... just a little strange.”

After covering the entire front and back yards, Milkovisch Sr. had a simpler, honest explanation: “I got sick of mowing the grass.”

With that project over and time on his hands, he began an 18-year project — covering the outside of the couple’s home with an unusual type of aluminum siding.

You guessed it. Flattened beer cans.

Ripley’s Believe It or Not estimated more than 50,000 went into the project, a legacy of recycling and clever insulating, which reduced the heating bills noticeably. In more ways than one.

“It tickles me to watch people screech to a halt,” Milkovisch once said. “They get embarrassed.

“Sometimes they drive around the block a couple of times,” he chuckled. “Later they come back with a car-load of friends.”

Asked what prompted his dad, his son said “he just liked drinking his beer and flattening the cans. It was something to do.”

Some suggest John Milkovisch’s favourite beer was Texas Pride, cheap then at $1 for a six-pack, but he kept his options open: “Whatever’s on special.”

As you leave this unusual icon, here’s a last thought, which he borrowed from Will Rogers, the famed late American cowboy, comedian and sage: “They say every man should leave something to be remembered by. At least I accomplished that goal.”

He certainly did.

To snap a cap of ale and toast him seemed appropriate but, alas, there was no bar in his home.

Somewhere in Houston, however ....

Cheers, John.

ian.robertson@sunmedia.ca

GETTING THERE

Owned and maintained by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, the Beer Can House, at 222 Malone St. between Memorial Dr.. and Washington Ave., is open from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Grounds admission is just $1, guided tours with an exhibition that includes a video theatre showing several televised reports and interviews with John and Mary Milkovisch, plus relatives, is $5.

TRAVEL TIP

For more information on Texas and a free copy of the state travel guide, Canadians can contact Texas Tourism at traveltex.com or 1-800-888-8839.