Freedom! (And a Sale): Coming July 1st

Get excited. Monday, July 1, 2013 will be a truly historic day in the United States. After way too many years of prohibition-esque inanity, all fifty states (yes, even you, Mississippi!) will have explicit laws on the books permitting homebrewing. Brewer activists in Alabama and Mississippi have been hard at work for years to de-demonize a hobby many in their states were pursuing anyway despite the illegal status. This legislative session, they finally met with success in both states.

To celebrate this watershed moment for our favorite avocation, BottleMark will have a One-Day Celebration Sale: 10% off orders of 50 custom caps or more on July 1. That's one cap in honor of each state! For we are about to become the Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brew.

Check back first thing on July 1 for the special coupon code.

I may disagree with your beer, but I will defend to the death your right to brew it.

2 Years and Growing

BottleMark officially turns two today!

And we're (ahem) pretty excited about it.

We're very busy printing caps and destroying cakes today, but we wanted to take the time out to invite you to celebrate with us. So we'll let you in on a little secret...

Yellow Labs: Coming Soon

SHHH! It's a secret to everybody.

Adam and Jodi's Save the Dates

While we hope not to get a lot of repeat business from them, brides and grooms love our custom bottle caps. For the wedding of Adam and Jodi at the Jester King Brewery (located in the nonpareil Texas Hill Country), nothing suited better than a bottle cap logo, and some bottle caps to go with it!

Here's their save-the-date magnet bottle caps alongside their invitation.

And here's the happy couple!

Nom.

Check out all of Adam and Jodi's gorgeous wedding porn in Jodi's "Tasty Touring" blog post here:
Tasty Touring: Our Texas Hill Country Wedding

You don't want to miss the sandwich collage. Trust me.

Blemished White Caps

We don't custom print on ugly caps, so over the last two years we've collected quite a number of rejects. Now we're passing their unique look and top-notch bottling qualities on to you!

If you're looking for a good deal and a perfect seal, these caps are for you. Available here (while supplies last!) for $0.01 each.

Sharon's 60th

You'd be surprised how many babies we print on bottle caps. It's becoming a thing. I'd bet lots of proud, new-crowned Dads are celebrating in the best way they know how: brewing!

But this baby here? She's not so new.

Like many saavy wives, Rhonda gifted her hubby Mike a beginner's homebrew set last Christmas. But unlike many wives, Rhonda loved homebrewing even more than her husband! After working together on a Winter Warmer Cherry Ale in January, they've now fallen into their respective positions of Brewer and Official Taster. She says, "I was hooked." And I'm sure Mike's not getting off with a bad deal either.

While discussing her new hobby with her long-time brewing brother-in-law, his wife Sharon piped up in enthusiastic ecstasy for the Seadog Riverdriver Hazelnut Porter brewed in Maine, which (like all the good craft brews) isn't widely available. Sharon's 60th birthday was coming up, and as Rhonda reports, "Now I had my mission, and it would not be impossible!!!"

Cue music.

With some awesome help from Annapolis Home Brew Gurus, Rhonda customized a standard porter recipe for hazelnuts. Being no ordinary beer and no ordinary birthday, it needed to be dressed to the nines.

Cue labels, carriers, and caps, of course!

Rhonda did some research with her mother-in-law and decided to order cute 5 month-old Sharon on a bottle cap. What better tribute on a birthday? And here's surprised Sharon:

My, how you've grown!

Needless to say, this homebrew was a hit. Why not cellar some, Sharon, for your 70th? (Say that three times fast). Happy belated birthday from BottleMark!

Bullard's Brew-gift

Every job comes with its perks: maybe it's a company car, cheap pitchers, or unsupervised reddit time. But here at BottleMark, the big company perk is our customers. Brewers are just the nicest people out there.

We recently made a homebrewer so happy, he insisted he share the love. So we got two of our custom caps back, but with the brews attached!

Our caps fulfill their destiny

Josh Bullard reports, "I get inspiration for my beers from experiences, crazy ideas, friends/people I meet, music, art...weather patterns." I lol'd. I'd like to see a whole brewery be weather patterned-themed.

For the first beer, Josh was dreaming of a heavy-hitting wheat when the song "Bombshell" by Operation Ivy played, and so this Imperial Wheat was born. He completed it with a punk-rock anarchy cap.

The second is a special brew made for Josh's friend Natalie. She's fond of honey beers but not so much of hoppy beers, and so with the help of some local honey, Josh created a nicely balanced Honey Pale Ale. Natalie got pride of place on the cap and christened it Bumble Brew.

And for the first time I can actually report back that "nicely balanced" isn't just Josh's claim: it's mine, too! We hoarded the gifts for a special occasion at the Cooper household...what better night than chicken fajita night! Here I am hamming it up with the Bumble Brew Honey Pale Ale.

Natalie's not the only one who can make quirky faces!

This beer had a forward honey-induced sweetness that the hops at the end kept from turning too sweet. And here's Cameron with some delicious fajitas and She's A Bombshell Imperial Wheat.

He grew those sideburns for a play, I swear!

The Imperial Wheat had a lovely nutty taste, wasn't super-wheaty, and was super-drinkable for 8% ABV.

And here's the brewer!

(on the right)

While BottleMark can't exactly accept payment in beer, we're certainly open to company donations. Thanks, Josh, for some great homebrew! What's next? A Cumulus Cloud Cream Ale, perhaps?

Bottle caps and Bardolatry

For those of you who know me in the real world, you know I've got one of the quirkiest combinations of passions. It's time to confess to you all: I make custom bottle caps for a living, and I do Shakespeare. Wait, what?

Forsooth, I speak the truth! In fact, Shakespeare got me into bottle caps: I met Cameron through Rice University's Baker Shakespeare program, and he even proposed dressed as Prospero at the end of a Tempest rehearsal with a Shakespearean line he said on stage to me two years before ("Will you have me, lady?"). Thankfully Shakespeare left me free to give my own answer that time. When you have the Bard to thank for both your living and your love, you call it Bardolatry.

For the last ten weeks, I've been hard at work every evening directing The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare's most controversial play, for Baker Shakespeare at Rice University. At this Saturday night's cast party, we're popping the top on these bad boys.

An ESB brewed with a vengeance.

An English Brown Ale: as beer as beer gets!

So if you're in Houston, TX this weekend, consider catching our last three performances of The Merchant of Venice!

In this most problematic of Shakespeare's comedies, Shylock the Jew seeks a pound of flesh from Antonio the Christian while three couples fall in (and out of) love. All that glisters is not gold in this equal parts funny and frightening production, set in all the opulence and prejudice of Renaissance Venice.

Remaining Performances: This weekend only!
March 14, 15, 16 @ 8pm
Baker Residential College, Rice University
6320 Main Street

Tickets:
$5 Students
$7 Alums/Faculty/Staff
$10 Public

LINKS
Show info with maps and parking: http://www.bakershake.org
Rice Thresher Review
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