Sure, there are apps on your phone that allow you to record your beer tasting notes for a thousand different beers at locations all over the world, but remember before there was an app for that?

Enjoying a beer isn’t a digital experience, its a sensory one. Why sit there staring into the same little screen that you probably stare at all day anyway, when you could put the phone down and actually enjoy that beer? How about thinking about what you’re drinking and capturing those flavors and aromas on paper? With a pen? Now, you can!

Beer tasting notes you can fill out, with a pen! Or pencil! Or dull crayon supplied by the bartender!

Introducing custom Tasting Notes Books!

Put your phone away and go old school, writing down those flavors using real words, on paper! Forget trying to squeeze your description into 100 characters in an app – write it out, doodle it, make notes in the margins. Color outside the lines!

But how do I share my tasting notes with my friends?

Its easy! Using your hand, or otherwise similarly-enabled appendage, simply grasp your book and gently pass it to your friend, allowing he or she to peruse one or more pages of your reviews. This may be a good way to start up what used to be called a conversation, utilizing your vocal chords for something other than “Hey, Siri.”

Have more than one friend who is interested in your thoughts on the alcoholic beverages you enjoy? Now is the time to pull out your phone. Not at the bar, don’t be that guy. Or lady. Wait until you get home, or back to your office, and take a good picture of your notes under a decent light and post to your favorite social media site! Internet fame achieved!

Love a certain box design? Have your beer tasting notes custom wrapped in it!

Sounds great! What do you have on hand?

Currently, there are only a few beer tasting note books on hand, as most of the books get created on the fly as custom requests. So, have a favorite beer you’d like to use for your notebook? Maybe an ironic Natty Light box that can you can use to record your craft beer conquests? Simply start a conversation on Etsy or contact me over email to get your custom book started!

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Got the stash of tasting notebooks, journals and sketchbooks all set up!

Mother Road Brewing in Flagstaff, Arizona has been so cool! Not only did their rep Caliegh buy several books, but she also supplied me with a stack of boxes to use in the future! Thanks again, Mother Road!

I’m insanely excited to share that beginning with the install June 28, Three Sheets Books are available at Made Art Boutique! Starting with the July Phoenix First Friday, my books have the featured artists slot, on the front table right side the front door. You can’t miss ’em!

Since the Phoenix First Friday is basically an institution, I have a special focus on local Arizona breweries. Dragoon, Nimbus, Four Peaks, Grand Canyon, Mother Road – I went all out building up my Arizona collection of this event. As always, if there’s something specific you’re looking for, please don’t hesitate to ask, either at the event or through my Etsy shop!

Speaking of Phoenix First Friday

I know it’s hot, but I’ll be there for both July an August First Friday events, answering questions. If you’re in the Phoenix area, feel free to swing by and chat! Interested in a custom box special request? You could even bring it down and get the process started right there.

By the way, Made is chock full of other awesome locally-made artisan work too. Jewelry, distressed pallet signage, prints and paintings, ceramics, you name it, Made carries a constantly changing inventory of one-of-a-kind items made by more than 100 local artists!  If you’ve ever been to a Phoenix First Friday, you know that Made is a core player in the Roosevelt Row Arts District. Definitely worth your time! Pop into JoBot next door and get something cool to drink and get your First Friday started off right!

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When I get around to doing a larger run, I’ll probably go with StickerMule, since at high volumes the prices are comparable, and let’s face it, that’s where the cool kids get their stickers done, so they’re obviously doing something right, but for now, these will do just fine.

My beat up HydroFlask bottle in front of an outdoorsy photo in our conference room. Because we all like to pretend we’re not in cubicles on digital hamster wheels.

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It usually comes out as part of the whole “Oh, I don’t draw” conversation that people always ask about custom journals with lined paper, and up until June 1 it wasn’t something I even offered. Partly, this was to keep the books as green as possible by eliminating the need to print anything, which also helped keep production costs at a minimum. The main reason though, was because when I started making these books for myself, it was because I wanted something to draw in, and lines only got in my way.

All that said, I have heard your requests, and now offer you the choice when you check out at the Etsy shop: on all new books going into the shop you now get to choose, sketchbook paper, or lined notebook paper!

These unobtrusive dotted lines make handwriting easy, and yet won’t get in your way if you need to throw down a diagram or something. Pencil shown for scale.

Now, this is only on books that have been added to the store since June 1, and all books added to the store previous to June 1 will only contain the sketchbook paper. You’ll have to make the choice between paper stocks before adding the book to your cart. Just look for the Journal/Sketchbook section on the site. For example, here’s what’s there now:

Custom Journals

Next up

I’m making good progress on the Three Sheets Tasting Notes books, and hope to have those on the site soon!

Thanks for reading,

Aaron

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Budweiser broke the Internet – at least the craft beer portion of it

Remember last week, when Anheuser-Busch announced they were changing the name of Budweiser to “America”? After the initial belief it this was a joke wore off, and the internet exploded with “The [insert your number here] Beers More American Than Budweiser” lists, all I could think about was what if those other beer labels changed their names to “America” too? You can’t copyright “Freedom”, right?

Then, Bon Appétit came out with their list of 10 beers that *should* be renamed America this morning, so I felt like this had to be done:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

The craft beer that started the movement.

Anchor Steam Beer

Yuengling Lager

Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale

Russian River Pliny the Elder

Hill Farmstead Everett

The Alchemist Heady Topper

Victory Prima Pils

Allagash White

Of course, if they renamed it to America, they couldn’t just keep calling it ‘White’, too. You have to use all three colors.

Deschutes The Abyss

Fortunately, I created a Budweiser sketchbook/journal before the “America” ridiculousness began, and you can grab it from my Etsy shop.

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That said, coming from the world of designers, photographers, artists and other creatives, where there seems to be a little different attitude — more competitive, perhaps — one thing I can say so far, that beer people are cool. Rather than replying on Instagram or Twitter with a perfectly-legal “Hey, you can’t use our stuff anymore,” most of the interactions I’ve had have been incredibly positive.

While I get a lot of “likes” from the brewers I tag in Instagram photos or tweets, some of the social media folks go out of their way to interact with you.

Even though my desk job is in a large company that has a dedicated social media person, I tend to forget that at the end of the day, craft beer brewers’ social media accounts are staffed with regular people too, or, depending on the size of the shop, perhaps the owners themselves.

And these normal people probably appreciate not having to do damage control or customer service for someone who didn’t like their product over social media once in a while. And let me say, it’s so cool to open up your phone and get a “@UintaBrewing is now following you” type message, especially when they weren’t the most recently tagged photo you uploaded.

Pro tip:

Don’t surf through the #craftbeer hashtag from your cubicle or boring meeting; the photos of rocky mountains or campers or even just the behind-the-scenes-chair-races-around-the-brewery photos will make your job seem a lot less fun by comparison.

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As it was a hot day after a disastrously-windy setup, I had a ton of foot traffic into my booth, and it was people recognized the labels of their favorite craft beer. Somewhat disappointed that I wasn’t offering the cool liquid refreshment usually associated with that image, most stayed to chit chat about the books, replaying their mental beer history with me.

Eventually, they would pick up a book, thumb through it, and look at me with a “why are these are blank?” stare, and I would reply with “They’re sketchbooks. Or journals. Or you can take them to meetings and take notes…” and inevitably I was interrupted:

“Oh, I can’t draw.”

Children don’t think they can’t draw. This vampire was done by a boy who took me up on the offer to draw in the community book.

This was tough for me, as one of the things I would like to do with these books is reinforce the fact that yes, you can draw. And craft beer boxes seemed like an approachable way to encourage people. Everyone can draw. Remember when you were a kid and a box of crayons and a stack of blank paper was all you needed to occupy an afternoon? Or how your fridge growing up was covered with drawings the contents of which were known only by you?

Yes, yes, yes! You can draw. Not everybody is going to be a great artist, but I can attest, if you sketch or doodle at least a little every day, you will improve.

Even if you have to use a post-it notes or bar napkins, if you want to get better at drawing, just put pencil or pen to paper every day. Practice makes perfect, as they day. Oh, and don’t give up if your vampire ends up with a triangle head and three mouths.

Can we get back to the craft beer boxes?

This isn’t a tirade post about people thinking they can’t draw, it’s about the art and craft  show. Which was great. The other vendors were terrific, there wasn’t any sense of competition, and I made all kinds of new contacts and friends.

Definitely check out JoshuaByOak’s work. So cool.

Since it was my first show, I didn’t feel like I had enough product to fill a whole booth, so I went in on splitting a booth with a terrific local artist. Debbie runs Joshua By Oak and does lino block prints on pillows, bags, note cards, etc., . Having to spend two full days in a hot 10X10 foot square booth with someone the very first time you meet them could have felt like a jail sentence, but it was a great time.

All in all, it was a great experience. I learned a ton about the whole art show experience, how to set realistic expectations, and just how much work goes into those shows. I never realized just how much effort was required to basically set up a storefront one day and man it for two days. Not to mention the work required to then take it down and haul it home.

I may do another show in the future, but hopefully be better prepared for it, and Mother Nature will cooperate the next time around.

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