In one of the strangest but loving odes to craft beer yet, Garbage Pail Kids (GPK) collectors cards has released a limited edition craft brewer collection called ‘Taste Buds.’ Twenty different U.S. and European brewers get the illustrated treatment in Taste Buds volume 1, released today 5/5/2022, which also marks the first time the GPK series has been allowed to feature alcohol.

Who knew that Garbage Pail Kids were still around? They were probably before most of our times, these trading card stickers were designed to parody the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls that were so popular in the 80’s. First released in 1985 by the Topps baseball card company, the Garbage Pail Kids were crude and almost sadistic, yet playful, MAD Magazine style farcicul images featuring malformed kids in sometimes grotesque but PG-13 imagery. GPK was actually the brainchild of famed author/cartoonist Art Spiegelman who won the Pulitzer-prize for his graphic novel Maus. The GPK was such a sensation that they got their own movie in 1987, and became a staple of 80’s and early 90’s culture. It’s unclear when they were discontinued, but in 2003 the Topps trading card company resuscitated the brand with annual limited edition releases, including sub-sets that parody off of retro or current pop culture touchstones.

Mikkeller Brewing art director Keith Shore was tapped to curate the ‘Taste Buds’ series which will feature 40 of his favorite brewers/breweries over 2 releases. Taste Buds volume 1 has illustrations from Joe Simko, Brent Engstrom, David Gross, Joe McWilliams, and Neil Camera.

The featured breweries in volume 1 of Taste Buds:

• The Alchemist

• De Dolle Brouwers

• Half Acre Beer

• Oxbow Brewing

• Sante Adairius Rustic Ales

• Jester King Brewery

• Other Half Brewing

• Foam Brewers

• Firestone Walker Brewing

• Grimm Brothers Brewhouse

• Omnipollo

• Keeping Together

• Bottle Logic Brewing

• Saint Mars of the Desert

• Crooked Stave Artisan Beer

• Forest & Main Brewing

• Fox Farm Brewery

• Toppling Goliath Brewing

• Mikkeller

• Stillwater Artisanal

Garbage Pail Kids ‘Taste Buds’ volume 1 is on sale now, and I have a feeling they might disappear quickly.