Bubble Glam Glitter Beer
At Self Care, above all, we care about mental and emotional health. These two aspects of our health are usually overlooked in our society's never-ending quest for the unrealistic body images we see every day in the media. And unfortunately, those body images oftentimes do not actually equate to true physical health. And even more unfortunately, in our quest for these "ideal" bodies, we often neglect our mental and emotional well-being along the way. And then, when we are ultimately unable to achieve these unreachable goals, it can become detrimental to our mental and emotional health.
So we strongly believe that mental and emotional health should come first. And we also believe that if we can prioritize those two things, the physical health will generally follow suit.
But do you know what else we care about? Music. Music can heal us emotionally in ways that no prescribed miracle drug can. So when SMASH, a non-profit organization that provides health services and resources for working musicians, approached us about providing non-alcoholic beer for their annual benefit concert, we SMASHED that like button, and said, “oh, fuck yeah!”
SMASH 100% fits the values of Self Care. Being surrounded by artists our entire lives, and watching folx who can't afford mental healthcare self-medicate with drugs and alcohol, we created Self Care specifically as a tool to help creative folks foster a healthier relationship with alcohol. So, in other words, we were "all-in, baby".
And with the help of four of their performing artists who leant their likeness to us for the label, we brewed a beer that fit the theme of the night:
Bubble Glam took influence from the Michael Moebius David Bowie Bubble Gum print, and was brewed with bubble gum flavor (in moderation) and, in true glam-rock fashion, glitter (food grade, of course)!
And let's not forget about the show - it was freaking AMAZING. It was like karaoke night with friends, but featuring one of the most amazing house bands ever assembled, which was backing some of our favorite musicians, who were singing some of the most amazing songs ever written.
So we donated a bunch of beer for their merch table, for backstage, and for the after party. And now, a portion of the proceeds from each sale will also go directly to their organization:
$2.00 from every 4pack sold on our website will go directly to SMASH, and help to provide healthcare for working musicians!
IMPORTANT: for a FABULOUS drinking experience:
- Roll can gently before opening.
- Pour half the can into your glass.
- Swirl the beer that is left in the can.
- Pour remaining beer into glass.
Name: Bubble Glam
Style: Bubble Gum Glitter Beer
ABV: Less than 0.5% ABV
Quantity: 4pack/16oz. cans
Brewer's Notes: There were a lot of evolving thoughts and discussion when landing on what this beer would be. The photo the can art is based on, though, helped get us there. So where to start? Well, in classic hefeweizen, an accepted yeast flavor bubble gum. A lot of this comes from flavor the yeast can create using wheat and ferulic acid made during the mashing process, transforming during fermentation to free up other compounds (nerd alert, right??!!!). We also didn’t want that clove flavor, or to use a weisse yeast. Still, why should you take this remotely seriously? I mean, where the heck else has pink bubblegum been experienced in beer? Three Floyds Gumball Head beer. I’ve spent years trying to riff on this beer every so often. It just seems largely impossible to create what they did. Early releases of that beer ten years ago essentially had a supporting role of pink bubblegum woven in, with a balanced bitterness and smooth wheat profile. I’d put it as a game-changer beer for me in seeing how simply masterful brewers can be with pale beer.
(Programming note: the head brewer continues pontificating, read on if you must or have nothing else of importance to attend to.)
So, to approach a tribute to this, I picked a really clean pilsner malt (This would probably make this German maltster cringe). To balance out the wheat, I ran a 50/50 split with the fancy spelt malt. It almost has a smoother and more playful floral character than malted wheat. The beer was bittered with the new French variety Mistral. It produces a lot of floral and sweet soft fruit notes, and pairs well with light beers or fruity lagers. To keep it exciting, we did a dose of Mistral in the whirlpool with some Mosaic Incognito hop oil.
We then fermented out, withheld a dry hop and instead dosed in Pink Bubble gum natural flavors, and of course edible glitter. Just glittered the living crap out of it. That wasn’t enough for Nate, so we glittered it again. Nate still said that wasn’t enough, so we told him we glittered it a third time. We didn’t though, it's a difficult process all done for the fun of it. We promise you're not drinking bougie hand soap.
Beer can be fun and indulgent and make a difference for an organization like SMASH; it shouldn’t all be silly nonsense though. It should have some backbone behind it that keeps it rooted in beer flavors. Our marketing guy Tim kept saying, "But this can't suck. Like, it has to taste good." We hope we have accomplished this without the "Selling Out slushy", smoothie and all that other garbage that exists in beer but isn’t difficult to brew.
