These requests from abroad, Vol. 11: "I love beer for the fact that with every breath of the world is getting better."

Lviv has a beer, and an "official" brewing museum, too. 

If you own or work for a brewery, you've probably fielded numerous e-mail inquiries from overseas asking for beer labels, crown caps and the like, as destined to become the cherished keepsakes of private collectors from just about anywhere -- although it seems that most of them live somewhere around eastern and central Europe.

To me, there is something compelling and yet haunting about these foreign requests, places of longtime personal interest to me both historically and geographically. I've been in or near many of them. They speak vividly to my inner melancholic. Lately, I've been pasting their addresses into Google Map and seeing what their places of residence look like.

After all, they can look at my business, and it seems only fair for me to see where they live, so very far away. Especially coming from European locales, these are images that speak powerfully to me, conjuring memories of places I've been, people I've met ... and beers I've consumed.

Michael is a resident of Lviv, Ukraine, which is one of the few remaining "bucket list" cities in Europe for me. 

Wikipedia quoted verbatim strikes me as the best way to introduce the city of Lviv.

Lviv (Ukrainian: Львів L’viv, IPA: [lʲvʲiu̯] ( listen); Russian: Львов L’vov, IPA: [lʲvof], Polish:Lwów, IPA: [lvuf] ( listen),^[2] German: Lemberg, Latin: Leopolis, the city of the lion) is a city in western Ukraine that was once a major population centre of the Halych-Volyn Principality, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, the Habsburg Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, and later the capital of Lwów Voivodeship during the Second Polish Republic.

Formerly capital of the historical region of Galicia, Lviv is now regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine. The historical heart of Lviv with its old buildings and cobblestone streets has survived Soviet and Nazi occupation during World War IIlargely unscathed. The city has many industries and institutions of higher education such as Lviv University and Lviv Polytechnic. Lviv is also a home to many world-class cultural institutions, including a philharmonic orchestra and the famous Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet. The historic city centre is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Lviv celebrated its 750th anniversary with a son et lumière in the city centre in September 2006.

To know me is to grasp the centrality of the Habsburg dynasty and the Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) empire as situated within an overall love of European history. As the map shows, Lviv lies at the center of Eastern/Central Europe.

Some day ...

To date, Michael's request for swag is the most light-hearted and colorful. It deserves to be quoted in its entirety.

My name is Michael Khomik, I am a passionate fan of beer. I collect beer Labels, Caps and beer mats. I love beer for the fact that with every breath of the world is getting better. I have a beer with no borders, except for age. eer - it's one of the few things that can unite people of different views and speak different languages. Even for that it is love. It is the oldest drink - drink of the Gods. It works wonders, and only having drunk it before the end bottles, can become an angel or a demon. Beer for connoisseurs Men and real Women. I decorate my kitchen with beer labels, beer mats, caps, and various attributes of the beer. This is my mini-museum. If this does not contradict the rules of your company, please send me promotional material of your company ( you have a very nice label, and beer coasters are beautiful.) What would I and my guests, who will be coming to visit me, admired them, praising your company and your City. What would everyone know about your wonderful beer brewery, and your, as well as about the wonderful people that make a beer from the heart and with Love! Please send me, Labels, Beer mats, Caps, and other attribute in my collection. Front, rear and top label produced today, and made in the past or are no longer available. Please make an exception and send for Free!!! , I'm on my mini - Museum. I hope that your company is not difficult.

Happy New Year to you and all your friendly staff

P.S "advertisement motor trade and collector distributor of advertising."

With respect and hope for Michael.

Not unexpectedly for a city of 730,000, Michael lives fairly far outside the historic town center. Look behind the smaller vertically arranged buildings, to the apartment block running horizontally behind them.

Here.

I think Michael will be getting a package soon.