This post is for the beer nerds or those in a relationship with a beer nerd. My valentine is a beer connoisseur. One of our first conversations was about a local brewery. I think I won his approval when he asked my favorite and I responded with "Monday Night Drafty Kilt." Who knows what would have happened had I said something non-craft. One of our first dates was at Wild Heaven in Decatur. I sometimes think of that as our first date because it was the first time he picked me up in a car at my house to take me on a date. Definitely old fashioned that way. The first time he told me that he loved me was after the annual "Brew Your Cask Off" event at Sweetwater.
Needless to say, beer.. er craft beer... is part of our story. Between Matt and I, we accumulate stuff. I love to purge, but I am also very sentimental. I couldn't part with the glasses we got on our first brewery date, or the hundreds of bottlecaps from nights together. What do you do with all this stuff though, other than becoming a hoarder?
One of the transitions you face in marriage is merging your styles (and stuff). It was important to me, as a designer, to make sure I didn't completely take over our home but also that it didn't look like I was living in a bachelor pad. Matt has a man-cave that holds a lot of his furniture and memorabilia, but I wanted him to feel at home throughout our home. So here are a few ways to blend your home and love on your beer lover.
Bottlecaps as vase filler. Simple enough, this is a way to use those key caps without having to attach them to a piece of furniture... which was my husband's first idea.
This Fall we traveled to Boston and Vermont for vacation but was ultimately later dubbed as a "beer-cation." We saw so many beautiful things and drank so many hazy new england style beers. It deserves its own post, but I will tell you we came home with approximately 150 lbs of checked beer and clothes. Don't want to brag but I am a very VERY skilled packer and was able to fit a lot of beer into our checked luggage to bring home. Cans seem to be all the rage now so less bottlecaps to save. So how do you preserve those memories? Instagram... or more portrait style images. Framebridge.com is a great resource for having memorabilia or photos framed. Here are some of our favorite beers from 2017, but Bright from Treehouse in Massachusetts was just so good. And look at those awesome graphics! Our favorite Athens brewery introduced a new england style IPA that was out of this world. Literally. This one is getting framed for one of Matt's valentines gifts. Shhh.. don't tell him. ;)
One of Matt's apartment moves, we ditched a lot of old brewery glasses. Until about a year ago, you could only purchase a tour/glass at breweries. Which was weird by itself, but then left you with a bunch of brewery glasses. So moving in once we got married, we had quite a collection. We have our standard glasses for nice occasions, but on a daily basis we use brewery glasses for everyday water, tea, and brews of course.
So cheers y'all. Hope you have a very hoppy valentines day. Ok, I am going to end this before I use anymore terrible puns.
