Ramblings

 Get Your Cider Scented Candles

We love craft beer. We drink a lot of craft beer. We have built our entire product line around the aroma of craft beer. We make craft beer candles.

Today, we have stepped into the world of Craft Ciders and Perrys.

I do have to admit, I didn’t think I could ever get behind a hard cider of any kind, shape, or form. Then, I visited my first Craft Cider Bar. I had taken a trip to Fort Collins, CO to deliver some Odell IPA candles. While I was there, I called upon and visited a few of the local breweries. In between brewery visits, I decided to check-out a local cidery because I had heard so many wonderful compliments about their ciders.

On the menu were ciders that touted flavors such as blueberry-lavender, strawberry-basil, and apple-streusel. I will admit, I was skeptical. Being a craft beer girl, I didn’t think I would appreciate something as sweet as a Craft Cider.

To Cider, Or Not To Cider

I ordered a few of their flagship Ciders “to-go.”  I asked my brother to join me for a Craft Cider tasting session. I was expecting some criticism on his part but to my surprise, he was very excited to join in! He told me that the blueberry lavender Craft Cider was amazing, not really sweet at all! We had our little Cider tasting session and that was all it took, I was hooked. The Craft Cider wasn’t sweet, it actually tasted more like a white wine with just a whisper of apple.

Craft Cider Candles Coming Soon

Our Colorado Cidery Line-Up

We are currently working on scent-matchings 6 ciders from 2 different Colorado Craft Cideries. One of them being the Colorado Cider Company. The Colorado Cider Company is Denver’s original Cidery, making award-winning fresh pressed ciders since 2011.

In my next Cidery series blog installment,  I will share my experience with four of the ciders offered on the Colorado Cider Company cider list. Three of those ciders are pictured in the image to the right.

The new Craft Cider candle collection will debut in late August at the Cider Circus in Frisco, CO at the Copper Mountain Resort.

How ’bout them apples?

In the meantime, check-out our vast collection of craft beer candles!

Cheers!

 

A Candle That Smells Like Beer?

The Beer Candle

Quite simply, it depends on who you ask and what you are looking for. Beer candles come in many different forms and styles. There are at least 10 notably different styles of beer candles available for you to choose from. All have great features, WHAT ‘beer candle’ means really depends on the maker.

If you google the phrase beer candle, you will find the following below, in no particular order. This is not a review of candles, it is simply intended as an FYI article.

5 Types of Beer Candles

1. Etsy Beer Candles – If you know anything about Etsy, you know it is an online market for crafters & makers. I have seen gel beer candles, more gag-like beer candles, rough-cut beer bottles, beer can candles, and more.  I would try to break-down every beer candle variety you find there but I simply do not have the time.
   Pros: You have many to choose from.
   Cons: You have many to choose from.

2. Beer CAN-dles – This is when the candlemaker pours the wax into an actual beer can. Most all of the Beer CAN-dle companies I have come across simply borrow the beer branding and give the buyer the option of choosing their own candle fragrance – most often being the most commonly recognized candle aromas. Choose from aromas such as vanilla, fruits, essential oils, florals, and kitchen aromas. Made with soy wax and hand-poured.
   Brands: Wax & Tin, M.A.D. Candle
   Pros: Choose your favorite scent. Cool art. Recycled.
   Cons: Narrow opening, hard to light when burned down further. You would have to have a BBQ grill lighter or some of the long fireplace matches. Some have very long wait times, up to 15 days.

3. The Beer Candle Trio: Just as the title implies, beer candle trios are sometimes sold as a set of three or you can choose one of three different craft beer styles usually being a Dark (Stout, Porter), Hopped (IPA, Pale Ale) or Amber (Wheat, Lager.) The descriptions from the makers do imply that the candles smell like beer. After reading reviews on Amazon, I was left thinking that the candles do smell fantastic but not like beer. One of the trio series is poured into a recycled 22oz glass beer bottle with smooth edges. The other, a clear glass vessel shaped like a beer can. Both are made with soy wax.
   Brands: Swag Brewery, Cool Material
   Pros: Long burn-time, smell great, nice packaging, aromatic.
   Cons: Don’t really smell like craft beer. Harder to light when burned down to  3/4.

4. Brewery Beer Candles: These candles are also poured in recycled 22oz beer bottles and have smooth edges. The biggest difference between these beer candles and all of the rest on the list is that they are endorsed by the breweries shown on the labels and carried in the breweries swag shop. The stickers aren’t recycled from an old bottle, they are provided from the brewery upon approval of the aroma. The candles do have more of a craft beer essence and come the closest to smelling like the brewer’s description of the brew – playing mostly upon the top-notes of the brew. Each scent is custom blended and hand-poured. The wax is an apricot wax. It is the cleanest form of wax available.
   Brands: Barley & Hops Craft Candles
   Pros: Long burn-time, brewery endorsed, a wider selection of scents, cleanest wax, very aromatic.
   Cons: Harder to light when burned down to  3/4.

5. Beer Candle Tin: The beer candle tins are very much in the mandle category. The aromas are unapologetic and claim to smell like 100 beers or a fraternity house floor.
   Brands: Hotwicks, MandleCo
   Pros: Smells like beer.
   Cons: Smells like an American Lager such as Budweiser, Coors, Bush.

Hopefully, this helps you when you are shopping for the world’s oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink in wax form. Each of the candles listed above are fantastic in their own right, it really just depends on what you are looking for!

Happy beer candle hopping!

Instructions for a Barley & Hops Craft Candles Beer Tasting Party

This is how we do it!

Yes, you are at the right place. This is a tutorial all about how to throw a killer craft beer tasting party. It is true we do make craft beer candles but we have beer tasting parties to learn more about all of the amazing brew varieties our great nation has to offer.

Cheers & happy tasting!

 How to Throw a Craft Beer Tasting Party

Beer Tasting Party Supply List

• Tasting Glasses – Best size is 5 oz beer tasting glasses (flight glasses). These work great!
• Craft Beer Score Cards – I have attached the custom beer score cards we use for our beer tasting parties. It is printable and FREE! Please feel free to use! (Download FREE printable beer tasting score card.)
• Snacks –  Pretzels, Cheese Tray, Crackers, Mixed Nuts
• Craft Beer – Everyone brings a 22oz’er & a 6 pack of microbrews to share. Make sure it goes directly into a cooler or refrigerator to keep it cold.
• Bottled Water – You will need something to clear the palette.
• Dump Bowl – Some of your guests might not want to actually “drink” each sample. They might just want to “sample.” You will need something for them to dump any remaining beer into. We always use a big mixing bowl.
• Water Cooler – You aren’t going to want to get a new glass for each new pour. Having a water cooler filled with water can be used to rinse out glasses between tastings.

Beer Tasting Party Steps

1. Decide on a time and place. 
2. Set-up your beer tasting area. Have enough seating for all of your guests at a single table. Put a 5oz glass, some bottled water, and some Beer Tasting Score Cards – one for every sample.
3. Pour the beer. Don’t fill the glasses. They only need enough to sample. Make sure there is enough in the glass so your guest can get their nose in the glass to smell the brew.
4. Ask each taster to write down the following observations based on:
   1. Look. The color of the brew.
   2. Smell. Aroma is extremely important with craft beer. You taste with your nose before you taste with your mouth. When you get the head on the beer and the bubbles are actually popping, that’s putting off a lot of aromas. This is the best time to “nose” the beer. Swirling the beer will help revive the bubbling.
   3. Taste. Take small sips and let the beer linger on your tongue and top of the throat.  Take some time to register the flavors. Exhale, releasing the air in your mouth through your nose, and swallow.
   4. Reflect. For any of my fellow art majors out there, this will be easy. Discuss your experience with your fellow beer tasters.
5. Snack-time. Do some light snacking and water drinking between every beer tasting. This will clear the palette, keep your guests hydrated, and slightly sober.
6. Catalog your scorecards. This will help you the next time you head to your local brewpub or liquor store. I like to snap pictures of my scorecards at the end of a tasting.

Happy tasting!

Download your FREE Craft Beer Score Sheet Printable HERE!

Why do candlemaker’s love craft beer tasting parties? Check-out our beer candles here! You’ll get it.