It’s time to ruin our surprise Christmas gift. Well, for some people. We were able to give out most of them, but not yet all of them. If you haven’t received yours yet and I have now ruined the surprise: I’m sorry, but it’s cause we don’t see you enough!
So we did it! We made (what I think is) an awesome christmas gift! Home-brewed, hand bottled, awesomely designed beer: Marlowe’s Imperial Aftermath. We decided on a carob flavor because we had never seen a carob flavored beer before and it would give it a chocolate-y-ness without being too sweet. After deciding on the style and flavor we brewed and bottled the beer with the help of my brother. Eric made labels and I made personalized tags. And tadaaa… awesome Christmas gift named after babycakes!
Here’s how we did it:
We started brewing a few weeks ago. Marlowe and I were a bit under the weather but luckily it was a super nice day out to take in some fresh air!
The dogs didn’t help much.
It was super exciting!
(No, not really)
I started making and remaking tags:
I had about 24 names I had to stamp by hand, tags I had to cut, and decorations I had to string!
Eric designed two options of labels for us to apply:
I wanted the stinking poop option.
We went back to Marks a little over a week later to bottle the beer:
We had a little assembly line going: Sanitized the bottles, bottling, capped the tops.
Us with our first batch of bottled beer:
Marlowe looks like an angry beer-guarding troll. It’s awesome, I know.
The night before Christmas Eve Eric glued on labels while I finished making tags.
And that’s it!
Some friends and beer:
(I forgot to take a lot of pictures while giving them out. Oops.)
We still have a few beers to give out and I still have photos to take. We also have yet to try to the finished product! We tried it before any carbonation was added and it seemed pretty good at that point. One more week or so until it’s fully carbonated! Another note: We labeled it 9.25% in honor of Marlowe’s birthday, but it will most likely be more around a 7%. And yes, we will be saving a bottle as a Marlowe keepsake 🙂
Thanks! Hope you enjoyed our gift!
7 Comments
AWESOME!!!!!
@antoinette… I ate all my mashed potatoes and forgot to add tahini. I messed up.
@Antoinette- This is weird. I like your posts and your wit, but this is weird. But I will try it since I do have an open can of tahini in my fridge. But, like you, I LOVE mashed potatoes, so if you have ruined my meal I will be very upset. <3 Drea
@lil muse lily- I think that a Marlowe's Aftermath giveaway is a pretty good ida, but I'm not sure about shipping beer, and not only beer, but 22 ounce bottles home-brewed beer. Next time I will have to make big and small bottles and send out a smaller bottle!
@Fabian- !!!!!
@likespacecake- The hardest thing abotu homebrewing (esp large batches) is the start up equipment. We were lucky to use my brothers. Other than that is nice to sit outside and do it (esp in this florida weather) 🙂
I'm totally jealous. Kris and I have been wanting to brew beer for awhile. It looks good and such a cute idea. I love the label.
I cant wait to drink this…Im sure it will be awesome
that is sooooooooooo awesome! what a great idea. looks like everyone was super happy with their Marlowe's imperial aftermath. just an idea? you should do a giveaway with some of the leftovers? i know i would love a chance to win one. 😉
i just thought i would share this with you as i know you are vegan. I love mashed potato-LOVE IT. i make a dairy free version as i am sure you do too, i accidently just put too much soy in, firstly i panicked, then once calm looked in my fridge for a remedy, i found tahini-OMG!, you need to try it….