Rich Ordy, 82, of Butler stands with some of the 1,100 beer cans he keeps in his basement.

Rich Ordy owns more than 1,100 beer cans, but he never drinks.

“I tried it one time when I was in the Army,” Ordy said. “But the taste, ugh, I didn't like it.”

Ordy wants to rid himself of his collection, which spans shelves throughout his garage, his basement and a space under his stairs. He's finally ready to see the cans go, and his wife, JoAnn, smiled and said she wouldn't mind it either.

It isn't just the Ordys looking to kick their cans out: Beer can collecting, a niche hobby similar to gathering stamps and coins, appears to be in decline, even as small breweries in America are growing more common in recent years.

Ordy, 82, of Butler did nearly all of his collecting in the 1970s and 1980s. He said he hasn't added to his collection in about 15 years.

Not being a drinker means Ordy relied on others for his collection. He received many as gifts from friends, and several came from companions on golf courses. He got his daughter, Susan Balog, in on the can gathering so he could find even more, and he traded at collector meet-ups to further expand his stash.

“I just thought it was a great hobby,” he said.

Ordy spent years as a mailman for Butler's post office, and he said a few cans came from their annual steak fry.

But no, he never took in abandoned cans while on his mail route.

“No way I was going to put them in my truck,” Ordy said. “If somebody found me with empty beer cans, they'd think I was drinking on the job.”

Can collecting, Ordy reckons, isn't today what it once was.

“I think the hobby has just about died off,” he said.

Standing in his basement, Ordy thumbed through an old 1982 roster booklet of the Beer Can Collectors of America, or BCCA. Under Butler, PA, eight names were listed, including his own.

Walt Wimer Jr., 79, of Butler disagrees with Ordy's prognosis of their mutual hobby. Wimer's name appears by Ordy's, but his collection of 2,600 beer cans is still going strong and occasionally grows. He said the hobby is still thriving.

“The more expensive cans are still going up in price,” Wimer said. “Some of the rare ones go for thousands.”

Still, Wimer himself had to downsize from about 5,000 cans when he moved.He has attended national can conventions, called Canventions, that are held by the BCCA.“It's wild,” Wimer said. “You've got hundreds of collectors from all over the country together.”The BCCA's one and only employee, Kevin Kious, agreed that the hobby appears to be stagnating. Kious's title is office manager, and he works out of BCCA's headquarters in Fenton, Mo., just outside of St. Louis.“I would not say it's growing,” Kious said. “It's holding on.”Kious said that members tend to be of similar ages to Wimer and Ordy, rather than fresh-faced 21-year-olds.“Our membership is aging,” Kious said. “Kids aren't collecting beer cans like they were in the 1970s and 1980s.”Membership numbers provided by Kious, as compared to figures in Ordy's 1982 roster book, appear to show that decline. Kious said the BCCA, which despite its name is an international organization, currently has 3,250 members. Ordy's 1982 book lists about 6,000 names of members.Meanwhile, craft brewing is booming. An in-depth analysis of the beer brewing industry published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics last year shows that the number of breweries in the country in 2016 — 2,843 — was seven times the number in 2001. The country reached 500 breweries in 2010 for the first time ever.Kious said that people who like beer tend to be the ones collecting beer cans. But, he said, they offer their own appeal.“They're little 12-ounce works of art,” Kious said.And beer flavor haters like Ordy suggest that collectors eye the cans for more than their contents.“I just thought it was an interesting little hobby,” Ordy said.

Rich Ordy thinks his oldest might be this Duquesne can, but most of its features are rusted off.