Christmas Gifts - Fouled Anchor Pale Ale

Greetings and Happy Holidays my fellow Brewmeisters,

Wanted to give a glance at this year's Christmas gift for a couple of lucky friends – hopefully they aren’t browsing this site or they will know what they are getting.

I brewed up a batch of American Pale Ale in October and split it among 750ml Belgian bottles and 12 oz stubbies (originally held Redhook IPA). Yield was 24 stubbies and 12 Belgians. The Belgians are for gifts. I call my APA Fouled Anchor Pale Ale, and my operation is Broadside Brewing Co. Obviously some Navy roots here.





Picked up some unfinished pine wine boxes from Amazon and stained them (staining experiments resulted in a variety of finishes). Note, the glue used for these boxes during manufacture was allowed to drip and splatter which results in stain not being absorbed into the wood where the glue is. Discovered that by using Polyshades (stain and polyurethane in a single product) the stain acts a little more like paint and sits on top of the wood…and glue spots.




The 750ml bottles fit perfect in these boxes with a little bit of faux straw.



Bought some wet-slide decal paper from ebay and printed out my label which allowed me to apply the label to the outside of the box for a relatively professional manufactured look.



Bought some Avery labels, printed front and back and applied labels to the bottles.





Next up: After scouring threads for the proper way to wax seal the bottle (for visual effect only), I bought some of the actual wax from Northern Brewer and tested it on a few empty bottles. It was a bit difficult to get off the bottle, so I gathered up some gold twisty ties and hot-glued one end to the cap and the other end, using a very small dot of glue, to the side of the bottle which will serve as a pull tab to help remove the wax…I’ll post some pics once complete.

Very nicely done. So pretty, you'll need to remind them that APA's are meant to be consumed young as they'll probably want to save them for special occasions and such.

That is epic. I've been looking for a way to present my barleywine to some special friends and this is pretty damn close. Do they make the boxes for smaller bottles? A bomber of barleywine sounds like a bad idea frankly.

Thanks for your responses. I'm about to post the final product. I don't think the boxes come any smaller as they are manufactured for the 750 ml bottles of wine - a 750 ml Belgian bomber just happens to fit almost perfectly. You could probably find a box that would fit a smaller bottle but it likely wouldn't have the little neck holder insert inside the box.

These turned out way better than I had hoped!

As mentioned in the previous post, I tried using a twisty tie to make it easier to remove the wax; however, after a few experiments, I discovered that the wire from the tie pulls through its own paper and the wax like an incision and the wax is still difficult to get off the bottle. Instead, through a few more experiments, I discovered the following: take a sliver of masking tape and tape the end of about 12 inches of twine to the neck of the bottle very close to the bottle cap. Wrap the twine around the base of the bottle cap twice and tape the twine again to the bottle, very close to first taping. Using a lighter, burn off the frayed bits of twine that stick out around the wrapping, it will help make the wax smoother in the end. Leave several inches of the twine hanging so you can get a good grip later when you open it.

The effect here is pretty cool and kind of goes well with the nautical theme of the labels.






Also added pouring instructions to the inside of the box…again, the effect is pretty cool! Pouring instructions read as follows (the "best by date" is arbitrary but early enough to keep in line with Aiptasia's suggestion in the post above. The 4 hours in the fridge is a guess, probably could have been shorter or longer, but I think 4 should do the trick to settle any sediment floating around):

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Best by 31 Jan 2012

Pouring Instructions

In keeping with the traditional brewing process for fine Ale, this beverage was naturally carbonated using a small amount of sugar and yeast. The carbonation process results in a small amount of yeast settling to the bottom of the bottle. While fully digestible and can help bring regularity to persons with irregular ailments, many prefer to use the pouring instructions below which will keep the yeast in the bottle and out of the glass. This isn’t hard, so just do it, and enjoy!

1. Allow the bottle to sit upright in the refrigerator at least 4 hours prior to opening.

2. Open the bottle with two chilled cups, mugs or glasses at the ready.

3. Tilt the glass to 45° and slowly pour the ale from the bottle into the glass.

4. Pour slowly enough to prevent agitation (gurgling) of the contents in the bottle.

5. Fill one glass, take a drink, sigh.

6. Do the same for the second glass, however, leave a small amount of ale in the bottom of the bottle (about a quarter inch) which will contain the yeast.
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I'll gladly be one of your lucky friends. Shall I pm you my address??