Beer Couture

Who said beer inspired products had to be cheesy, sleazy and cheapo?  Out with macro brand chatzkys and in with Craft!

Ideas about designer beer inspired products have been flying around my head for a couple of years.   Beer is the priority, so we've been funneling all our resources towards stainless steel.  You can imagine just how big my eyes got when I ran into zazzle?   I'm in complete fascination and wasted no time in opening my very own online "Brewery Boutique".  What is one to do at 3:56 a.m. when one can't sleep? Design a new product! This mini messenger bag was inspired by my painting "Hop Medley".  I've been fixated on painting hops for some time.  Part of the reason is because hops are so symbolic of beer.  It's been difficult to find hop images I love and even harder to create them.  This particular piece was the result of my playing around with henna design.  I incorporated curves and swirls to the cones and leaves.

While most of my free time is currently consumed with learning web design and building out the Shades of Pale website, I'm sure I'll come back to zazzle to build out a designer beer collection.  Could this be a new genera of products?  I suppose we could consider it Beer Couture!

Cheers

Hop Obsession Part I

I must admit that as of late I have become obsessed with painting hops. This strikes me as rather strange since I don't particularly like hoppy beers. Hops are not particularly beautiful to look at and most difficult to paint. The fascination really is with beer. Since hops are an ingredient that is almost solely used in beer making, it's symbolic of this most revered drink.

My painting obsession began not too long after I took over graphic design for the brewery. My husband and I started Shades of Pale Brewing in Park City, Utah. Though it may sound like a grand endeavor, it was actually a nano operation started on a shoestring budget. We both had day jobs and worked on the business week ends and evenings. In those early days I affectionately called myself the CSM, Chief Scrub Master. I suppose I could have given myself a glorious title, but the truth of it is that there was an awful lot of cleaning involved. The hop addition was a particularly a messy affair.

We began recipe development on a Sabco System. For those of you not yet indoctrinated into the world of brewing, a Sabco is a glorified brew at home set up. Picture 3 fifteen gallon metal buckets that sit side by side over gas burners. The whole system sits on a metal frame and reminds me of a gas grill with big pots on top of the grill.

Hops are typically added to the boil, or as a hop addition at fermentation. The brewing process vaguely resembles making tea. Grains, just like tea, are steeped in water. The result is sugar water which is boiled for a certain amount of time, flash cooled, and moved to fermenters where yeast converts those sugars into alcohol. Hops, a bitter flower, are added to the beer to balance the sweetness of the malts and provide aromas that tantalize the palate.

Continued on: Hop Obsession Part II.

Alexandra's Print on Fine Art Amerca
Shades of Pale Brewing
Barley's Angels Utah