Drinking Made Easy

Talk about an early adopter: last weekend in a Binny’s I saw two different beverage promoters, Absolut and St. Germaine toting their products to thirsty customers.  The schism between the two and their target audiences was night and day: Absolut had an easily recognizable brand with a young crowd whereas St. Germaine was forgettable with an older crowd.

Absolut clearly had a cohesive and branded message: two young, attractive women dressed alike in black Absolut threads with modern give-aways.  The freebies were suited to a young or at least a mobile audience.  The physical give-away was a cell phone screen cleaner in the shape of the new Absolut Wild Tea Vodka with an adhesive so it could stick to the back of your phone.

To further the experience, one of the ladies whipped out an iPad to show us their digital give-away; a free app called “Drinkspiration”.  Everybody loves free stuff.  It used to be that a free t-shirt was enough to ply one’s customer base but the app is the new reusable, mobile, multi-function freebie.

Juggling

There is something kind of insane about being a college graduate, fresh off the campus.  I had two months of down-time while I looked for work, tried to catch up on the sleep I haven’t had for 22 years and figure out what to do with my life.  Now all of a sudden I’m juggling two internships, a night job and moving stuff out to my new apartment in Chicago when I find a free moment.  This is the long way of explaining why I haven’t been blogging so much.  But that’s not even the whole story.  In those two months of figuring out time, I wasn’t cooking and I’m still not cooking, nor do I have any interest in cooking right now.  I have not felt an ounce of inspiration for kooky jams or savory masterpieces.   Totally out of answers.

One project I’ve been working on is the visual conception or logo for A Hoppy Pipper thanks to a great friend, Kenyon alum and magician with spray paint.   His work outpaces others working in the medium: the concepts, the craftsmanship of his stencils and innovation with prints made him my number one pick.  Below are the first products of our collaboration to be updated when I get more material in.  I would love feedback from everyone!

Bestest

I have the best brother in the whole world.  Christmas started off with the proper glassware I needed for different styles of beer, since I’d been roughing it at school with a shaker, a double-handled mug and a sampling glass.  Without even remembering to ask for it, my wonderful brother had slipped an equally wonderful surprise into my stocking: my very own triple beer hydrometer.  This giant thermometer allows me to measure the weight of a liquid in relation to water (the gravity) and calculate the abv — essential to any homebrewer.

I woke up accidently way too early on Christmas day, which is never the case in my house, and so half way through presents I was melting down the armchair and pinned under wrapping paper and an assortment of gifts…all because I was too tired to move them to the floor.

By the time my brother gave me his last present to me, it was so heavy and situated directly under my chin I not only had trouble breathing but I couldn’t unwrap it.  This was the present, in more ways than one, that made me sit up and take notice.  The insides: Delirium Noël, Dogfish Head Burton Baton, Dogfish Head Theobroma, Dogfish Head World Wide Stout, my all time favorite Rochefort Trappistes 10, St. Bernardus Tripel and Southern Tier UnEarthly IPA.  Oh, and just for funsies and to share, he brought home a 750 of Dupont Avec les Bons Vouex, a Belgian saison to die for: pours a really beautiful hazy orange/amber with an enormous super-fluff off-white head. Laces a teeny bit at the beginning. Seems like a saison/geuze hybrid because of the nice yeastiness and white grapes but is balanced with a sweetness.

A treasure trove of craft beer!  What more could a girl ask for?!  Well, about a week later a dear friend brought me a beer I’ve been waiting to get my hands on for a long time.  Back from Chicago, he came armed with Three Floyds Behemoth Barleywine.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this brewery, start doing your homework because they have been giving the Midwest something of which to be truly proud and for the rest of the world to salivate over.