Friday, May 27, 2011

One good cap deserves another


A couple of years ago, I was at a street festival/event in downtown Greer. The weather was pleasant (but bordering on hot) and I was thirsty. I decided to visit the beer garden and have myself a brew. Thomas Creek Brewery was at the event and I tried one of their beers. As I was leaving, one of the servers handed me a bottle cap. It was pre-flattened and had a magnet on the back (for easy display purposes.) This concept sparked my interest. At my house, we enjoy a wide range of beer (import and domestic) and try new ones as often as possible. I decided to start with the Thomas Creek cap and add to the collection as we went along.
I'm proud to say I now have around 50 caps from various breweries. Some companies, like Woodchuck, Sam Adams and Guinness have different caps for different varieties of beer/cider. I purchased a Beer of the Month Club subscription for Scott this past Christmas. Some of these beers had unique caps while others had standard gold ones. And not all of them are beer, BTW. I made sure my daughter was included by adding soda caps from Nehi, Coca-Cola, A&W Root Beer, etc. (They are nicely displayed along the top).
This has proven to be quite an adventure. As a graphic designer, it's nice to see when a brewery is concerned with the entire packaging of their product. (Let's just say...I know which companies have graphic designers and which do not.) Three examples of this are Magic Hat, New Belgium and Smaltz Brewing Companies.

New Belgium - The color combination and the innovative shape of the label on the back get an A+ from me.

Smaltz (He'Brew) - The labels are beautiful and the side has a whole story for each beer. (Can you say copywriter?)
The front of the bottle says Kosher Certified/ Rabi Approved and here he is at the top of the neck. 


I don't have an example to show for the Magic Hat Brewing Co, but go check out their website - it's interactive. The bottle caps have clever/wacky sayings under each one. They must be having a lot of fun on the job!

As the collection grows, I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, I have a lot of caps waiting to be made into cool crafts. If you have any ideas or if you want to trade some caps - let me know.

Until next time - Happy Memorial Day weekend! Be safe while enjoying your beverages.
You know where I'll be...at the bistro table (which has 2 more chairs added, btw).

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