In my day, I have made fun of the ubiquitous cornhole you see a brewery taprooms and a time festivals but I also love creativity, so Drakes gets a thumbs up for their imaginative use of their six-pack holder…
Mini Cornhole
The Gift of Arrow Lodge
Take a look at these numbers:
Spend $20 and get $25
Spend $40 and get $50
Spend $60 and get $75
Spend $80 and get $100
That’s the deal with the new Arrow Lodge gift cards. You can sweeten the deal by driving the birthday (or other celebration) person to the brewery and back.
Spent Grain BBQ
Wow, this is a cool upcycling article. Considering that the sheer amount of cows are considered a “tiny” bit of our ecosystem problems having an alternative way to use spent grain will become much needed and to use it in new ways like this will become increasingly important as our brewery count still has a bit of upwards trajectory to it. Makes you wonder what other uses can be found.
Beer or Fruit Loops
I don’t know about you but the art of aromatic candles lives on the edge. Too much aroma and you are stuck in a potpourri hell that you cannot escape. Too little and you wonder why a candle was tagged as “birthday cake” or “fruit loops” if it just smells of well, wax.
Maybe these Four Points Trading candles are different. Maybe one does smell of bacon and another of beer. I would like to live in a world that, at least, smelled better.
DuveL.A.
Do I need another piece of glassware? My wife and Goodwill would probably say no. But the artist Gabriel Pulpo has a new one that looks pretty cool. He “describes his Duvel Glass design as an abstraction of wings inspired by the name Los Angeles: the city of angels. As an artist who specializes in artworks using geometry and lines, his design takes the form of an abstract optical effect that depicts L.A.’s dynamic energy and constantly evolving creative landscape – a city in constant movement.”
The glass drops next year.
Cocktail Pods
On an April Fools past, there was mention of beer in capsule form. This year, The Glenlivet unveiled a one-off cocktail capsule….
…as you can imagine, the social media quickly split down the middle, Tide Pods were re-meme’d and the word snob got tossed out like a firecracker. One of the benefits of Beer Search Party not posting everything immediately is that I can watch the reactions play out and make a more informed decision about the product.
I can imagine a similar reaction if any brewery attempted to market beer pods even if just for a limited time or as part of a beer pairing dinner. I think it would be great fun, for say a Single Hop beer pod series or say one beer aged in different types of barrels and then pod-ified. It could be useful as an education tool or as something fun at a festival. Maybe a brave brewery will give it a try but they better be prepared for snide responses because you can bet that the 1/2 of the interwebs that gleefully shoots down ideas will be taking aim.
New Teku Taster
You may be seeing some new fancy multi-purpose taster glasses at festivals in the future…
The Teku goblet has been transformed into the stubby, de-stemmed version called the Teku Taster. The “tapered chimney” design holds in the aromas while allowing for swirling to release more nuance. Not only can it be used for craft beer but also spirits (neat), wine, cider and mead.
Clean ReUse
I have seen Ecover products in multiple stores but I have not seen this new cleaner from the Belgian company. It is a “washing up liquid” that is “partly made from beer waste.”
Those waste ingredients are water and ethanol and plus, the bottle is made of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic and plus-plus the cap is made of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic too.
I will be looking for this on shelves.
Needed or Not? – Non-Tipping Can Cooler
Maybe I am not active enough. Why am I not multi-tasking? No place would be off limits to the latest hazy IPA if I had the Toadfish Non-Tipping Can Cooler. Labeled as the “un-spillable beverage cooler” it uses that modern suction cup technology to stick a can anywhere there is a smooth surface. Oh and it will keep that beer cold too.
Now in the video it is mostly water based activities. So salt water is getting into your Gose while you surf or boat and at one point the koozie is on the roof of a car. Gotta think the police would love that idea.
Needed? Not. You can wait until you reach a non-rocking place to have your Bourbon Barrel Aged pastry stout or you can hold the can until you are finished. What percentage of beer is actually being lost to slippery surfaces? Gotta be a real niche inside a Russian Nesting Doll of niches.
OK or Not
Kinda sad that this is needed….
…but thankfully Carla Jean Lauter has made this fun and it can be easily used. You can get one for yourself, right HERE.