Beer can pyramid

A Beer can pyramid, often called a beeramid (a portmanteau of "beer" and "pyramid") is a pyramid made from discarded beer cans.

Found in places frequented by drinkers, a large beer can pyramid was often a monument to the local party scene. Inspired by films such as National Lampoon's Animal House during the heyday of party culture, beer can pyramids were most frequently seen during the late 1970s, the 1980s, and the early '90s, and could often be found in fraternity houses, dorms, and other collegiate locations throughout the US, and other places where canned beer was consumed in volume. Beer can pyramids are rarely erected in commercial establishments, however, due to the potential impedance to service and possible liability of the owners. Although occasionally retailers stack beer packages in elaborate ways in an effort to gain consumer attention, these would not be considered normal beer can pyramids.

Beer can pyramids are built as empty beer cans became available, slowly growing as the night (or week or month) wears on. In most cases, though, it is a temporary structure, eventually giving way to the inevitable clean-up or accidental destruction. The impermanence of the structure lends itself to easily removing it from wherever it has grown; combined with the great ease of creating a structure of relatively impressive size, beer can pyramids remain popular today, especially when one considers it is often easier to contribute an empty beer can to the beeramid, than it is to deposit the can in the appropriate recycling receptacle.

A beer can pyramid was shown on the outside of Duff Gardens in "The Simpsons" episode 9F11 "Selma's Choice", in 1993. The pyramid, a pointed parody of Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World.cite book|editor=Cristina Degli-Esposti|author=David Weinstein|chapter=Of Mice and Bart: "The Simpsons" and the Postmodern|title=Postmodernism in the Cinema|date=1998|publisher=Berghahn Books|id=ISBN 1571811060|pages=68–69] While Bart is awed to be standing in the presence of the real thing, Lisa points out that "twenty-two immigrant laborers died in its construction.".

On 23 September 2000, the Malaysian Can team, consisting of 12 college students from the INTI College Subang Jaya, Malaysia built a free standing can pyramid created from 9,455 empty aluminium drink cans in 24 minutes at the Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It had a square base of 30 x 30 cans, measuring 1.98 m x 1.98m (6 ft 6 in x 6 ft 6 in). This feat made a successful entry into the Guinness World Record and to-date this record has yet to be broken. [cite web |url=http://www.intisj.edu.my/intisj/InfoAbout/GuinessWorldRecord.asp |title=Official World Record for Largest Beer Can Pyramid |accessdate=2008-04-01 |author=Inti College Subang Jaya, Malaysia]

Another attempt to break the world record Beer Can Pyramid was made with beer cans over 5 meters tall and contained 10,660 cans. [cite web |url=http://sobriquet.net/2005/10/07/beeramid/ |title=Worlds Largest Beer Can Pyramid |accessdate=2007-06-12 |author=Richard Rosalion] It was built by the Melbourne University Student Union in 2005, and was featured on Blokesworld and in mX. [citation |last=Barry |first=Evonne |author-link=Evonne Barry |title=Beer skittles old record |newspaper=mX |pages=7 |year=2005 |date=2005-10-7]

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