- Sensory Branding. Brands can forge emotional associations in the customers’ minds by appealing to their senses.
- Craft Chat. Can you think of a better way to start up a dazzling conversation about your favorite brewery? With a brew candle, it’s always 5:00!
- Turn 12 oz. into 85 hours! Every time they light it up, they are reminded it’s time for a brew!
- Chicks dig em. Still trying to convince the lady in your life to join you at pint night? One whiff and might just become your newest brew buddy!
- Brand loyalty. Beer drinkers love their beer and their neighborhood brewery. If they love your brew, they will love your brew candle!
- Brewery candles are different. Looks good, smells amazing. A tasty change from the usual brewery swag.
- Man cave scent decorating (or scent covering.) Candles are one of the easiest things to decorate a room with. Even if you don’t light the candles, they look great in a room!
- More men are lighting up. So much so that someone has coined the phrase, “man-dle.” We promise never call our brewery candles, “brew-dles.” Totally lame.
- Impulse buy. Readily accessible and easy to buy. Candles are a very common impulse buy. Candles are used in 7 out of 10 U.S. households.
- “Unique gift for the craft beer lover.” One of the many online search phrases people use when searching for gifts for their brew-loving babe.
Ramblings
The Executioners Blend: Whisky & Sweet Tobacco Candle
The Executioner’s Blend: Cast Strength Whisky & Sweet Tobacco Candle
Barley & Hops Craft Candles is amping up the oak, spiced vanilla, caramel, tobacco and whisky to create a remarkable new whisky / tobacco blend candle.
The Executioner’s Blend: Whisky & Sweet Tobacco Candle will warm the soul, relax the mind and indulge the senses. Long and winding notes of caramel, oaky wood, toasted grains, vanilla and lingering notes of leather and toasted nuts that will explode across the room.
The creamy, apricot wax blend burns deeper, richer, rounder and more complex than any other Tobacco Candle you have ever experienced.
Cast Whisky + Complex Sweet Tobacco Aroma = A daily burn you won’t be able to resist.
Get yours now!
The Art of Beer Tasting
The Basics of “Nosing”
We are often asked how we choose the brews we use to scent our amazing beer candles. Just like wine tasting, your nose plays a very important part of the tasting process. The flavor of a beer is closely tied to its aroma. Identifying or articulating how one interprets the aroma of a brew is commonly referred to as “nosing.”
Let’s get started!
Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beer-Holder
If you have ever been to a wine tasting event, this should all sound very familiar to you. Before you start the sniffing, take your glass and give it a good look. Notice the color, the clarity, and overall appearance. Next, give it a gentle swirl. Little beer bubbles should form and rise to the top.
Let’s Get Nosey
The little beer bubbles carry the aroma to the surface. Put your nose to the top of the glass and breath in slowly. What do you smell? What does it remind you of?
Common Aroma’s Found in Craft Beer
- Roasty
- Coffee
- Floral
- Caramel
- Herbal
- Spicy
- Piney
- Buttery
- Cloves
- Fruity
Love of Beauty is Taste
The third and final step to beer tasting is, well – TASTING! The folks at Beerology have put together a killer beer evaluation sheet. The worksheet walks you through the entire beer tasting process and will really teach you how to properly taste, look for, and articulate when tasting a new beer.
Put your Beer Tasting to the Test
Throw a Beer Tasting Party
Now that you have a good idea how to start tasting and evaluating a craft brew, share your newly found knowledge with some friends! Beer always tastes better when enjoyed with good friends and family!
This is how the makers at Barley & Hops Craft Candles decide which beer scents would make the best candles! I’m not going to lie to you, some brews really just don’t really smell that great but end up tasting amazing. These are the brews we leave for drinking. Either way, we don’t complain. When drinking beer becomes part of our job descriptions….ah, yeah – WINNING!
2016 Top 10 Beer Gifts for Beer Lovers
2016 Gift Guide for the Beer Enthusiast
Shopping for the beer lover in your life should be easy, right? Just get them beer! That is a great idea for the LOCAL beer lover, but what about those who don’t live around the corner? Shop our top 10 beer gifts for the beer lover.
Barley & Hops Craft Candle’s has comprised a list of 10 unique beer gifts ideas that the beer lover in your life will love! These beer gifts ideas are in no particular order but most of them DO come from MY city . . . KANSAS CITY!
- Beer Biscuits Peanut Butter Treats for Dogs by Beer Paws – Peanut buttery beer biscuits for dogs made with recycled barley grain from craft beer makers.
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Ceramic Beer Growlers – Show Me Pottery Hand-Made Ceramic Growlers from Show Me Pottery – Designed using wheel-throwing techniques and re-engineered with 3D imaging software, our growlers are 64-ounce industry standard. Slip-cast in a mold, each growler is then assembled by hand. All glazes are food safe and non-toxic. What makes these Growers even cooler? Literally? The ceramic keeps your favorite brew cooler longer. These hand-made ceramic growlers are beautiful and functional but also look beautiful as home decor piece. A ceramic growler is the beer gift idea that keeps giving!
- 12 oz. Ceramic Beer Mug from Fiber & Clay Shop – These stylish and handsome mugs look as good as they feel when filled with your favorite craft brew. The story behind this bad boy will make you chuckle while you sip.
- Gift Certificate from Brew Lab KC – Although this place is located in KC and you might not want to send your beer lover to us in Kansas City for the holidays, a gift certificate to a brew lab near YOU is a crazy awesome beer gift for the beer lover in your life. If your neighborhood brew school is half as cool as OUR brew school….your beer lover will love the fact that he / she can learn to brew their own beer from the pros!
- KC Ale Trail from Pete Dulin – Just when you thought Kansas City couldn’t POSSIBLY get any cooler! Here are 20+established craft breweries in greater Kansas City, Springfield, Lawrence, Topeka, and Manhattan. NICE!
- Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine by Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine 😉 – 4x a year subscription to a magazine that is all about craft beer. Beer reviews, beer recipes, beer gadgets, beer, Beer, BEER!
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Son of a Sailor – Spiced Amber Ale Beer Candle Beer Candles by Barley & Hops Craft Candles – An artisan craft beer candle that men and women LOVE! These beautiful and unique candles are a beer lover’s idea of first-class home decor! Be careful where you light these babies….we have heard stories from beer lovers that swear their beer candles grow little beer candle legs and walk from room to room. (We think they are just being stolen by jealous family members…you be the judge.)
- Untapped App by Untapped – Not really a gift, just something that the beer lover in your life will LOVE! Untapped encourages beer lovers to log, track and share their craft beer and brewery experiences!
- Snake Bite Keychain Beer Opener by Snake Bite Co. – Stainless steel bottle opener not only easily opens bottles it also vents the back of aluminum cans for an amazing pour every time. Take our word for it….it is an amazing gift for the beer lover in your life!
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Wine Punts 4 Piece Set – $24 Recycled Wine Bottle Glasses (Set of 4) by Wine Punts – Barley & Hops Craft Candles (#7) uses these as their beer candle vessels! You can either buy the 4 piece set from Wine Punts for $24, or you can buy four 12 oz beer candles from Barley & Hops Craft Candles and get the whole set.
First Private Labeled Brewery Candle is Here!
KC’s Very Own, Torn Label Brewing Company Beer Candle
“House Brew” in Wax …. Smells INTOXICATINGLY Good
Now you have the option to “sniff local” after you “drink local” in Kansas City! We will be unveiling the Torn Label Brewing Company “House Brew” candle this first Friday, LIVE at the Pop-Up Maker Mart hosted by Torn Label.
A Roasty & Toasty Full Bodied Beer Candle Story
What does Torn Label Brewing Company say about their popular “House Brew?”
6.5% ABV; 25 IBU; Thou Mayest Sumatra Toddy. House Brew is a coffee wheat stout brewed with Sumatran Toddy from our friends at Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters.
I have not just tasted this brew. I have dramatically and emphatically inhaled the roasty & toasty aroma of this yummy, full-bodied brew.
This is what we, the Barley & Hops Craft Candle maker’s, have to say about its waxy doppelganger, and it’s makers.
The fella’s at the Kansas City Torn Label Brewing Company are all about good people, great beer, and their community. All of the proof you will need can be found in the back story of this bold and unique, “in-your-face,” kick-butt brew candle.
We have never questioned our talent nor ability when it comes to craft beer candle making, but the act of calling upon an actual, real-life KC brewery was challenging. Just as we take the art of scent-matching and candlemaking very seriously, so do the brewmasters when it comes to the brewing process.
If you don’t know much about craft beer, and what it takes to make it, the entire brewing process is really quite extraordinary. The process requires knowledge, experience, practice, trial and error, emotion, strength, patience, passion, creativity, and love. Lots of love.
Now imagine the courage it might take to ask a brewery founder or brewmaster how they felt about getting a candle made to smell like (or compliment) one of their beloved brews?
From day one, we knew the guys at Torn Label Brewing Company were pretty laid-back and open-minded. Almost without hesitation, founders Rafi Chaudry and Travis Moore were ready to give us a go! We were invited to visit the brewery and sample some brews. As we discussed our visions, intentions, and goals, we sipped on and sniffed a flight of their year-round brews.
The longer we visited, the more inspired we became. These guys were so supportive and enthusiastic, not just to us but to many others in the Kansas City community. They loved collaborating, supporting and “the bringing together” of other maker’s.
At the end of the meeting, it was decided we would be scent-matching their “House Brew.” The selection was very appropriate in our eyes. This amazing brew was roasted with Sumatran Toddy from Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters of Kansas City. They agreed it was a great way to showcase ANOTHER great KC local business!
Upon our 2nd meeting, we were invited to participate, along with 3 other KC local makers, in their first annual Pop-Up Maker Mart happening August 5th at 6pm this Friday!
If you don’t totally dig these guys yet…stop by their place this Friday, we promise you will.