Review – Beer Soap from Swag Brewery


If I wasn’t a beer blogger, I just might write about soap. There are parallels to make it less weird than it sounds at first.

Both can be expensive and twee. Both can be artisanal or mass produced. Both can have wonderful aroma.

So when the fine folks at Swag Brewery (who also sell candles and other fun beer related gifts) offered to send me three beer soaps, I jumped at the chance to test out a real shower beer.

Shortly thereafter, I received a box with Breakfast Stout, Tropical Lager and Hard Cider soaps in the shape of a hockey puck. My brother-in-law has brewed both beer and cider so, immediately, I knew that I would be sending the Cider accented soap to him. My beer buddy Richard had just returned from Hawaii, so another obvious gifting opportunity was right there.

That left me with the preferred Breakfast Stout soap to scrub with. Truth be told, I did smell the soap and I was not transported to the floor of a brewery. The pitch black soap smelled very manly. Leather and a bit of chocolate and vanilla. I particularly liked the little abrasive touch that the texture gave.

These are fun and useful gifts that show that a person is thinking beyond your next beer.

Later, I will try these hot sauces. Will my tender palate survive Roasted Chipotle?

Advent All Year

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Well, I don’t quite know what else to call this cool gift idea for the beer geek in your life from the Case For Beer. It literally is like an advent calendar but in the shape of a box built for beer bottles. Open one a day or invite 23 people over and let them all (plus you) pick a number and see what everyone gets.

The moniker Flight Pack is cool and I like the aeronautic theme but who is going to compare and contrast 24 beers? And in this beer litigious age, won’t Hangar 24 sue?

My second question is, how expensive a gift is this? If you got 24 $5.00 bottles that is $120.00. Even at $3.00 it is $72.00. I know I am worthy of that (on a good year) but is Uncle Phil deserving? And doesn’t it encourage over drinking a bit?

I would like to see boxes with less slots. Make a 7-pack for a week of beer gift. Or a canned version that can hold 4 different 16oz cans.

2 Excellent Beer gifts

I just had to share two of the best Christmas gifts (Beer related category) that I received this year…

So what you see is MALTed milk balls, a rabbit that is HOPping, some wheat and a packet of yeast. All of the ingredients in beer! A clever sister-in-law I have.

I have had great help in chasing my 50 Beers / 50 States goal but this wins a big prize. My wife found a friend who was traveling in the vicinity of some of my missing states and enlisted her to help me. And did she ever. She got beer from 5 states! Thanks to Ayn for single-handedly knocking 10% of my list away! Unbelievable!