Beer Soaps

I've talked about them for ages now, it seems, and I know everyone's waiting for a peek.  They are the beer soaps.  I first debuted them at Onslow Oktoberfest, held in Jacksonville a few weeks ago.  They didn't sell great, I'll confess.  We only sold three bars of them , but considering how slow traffic was that day, I can be satisfied with that.  Peter had made up a batch of soap using Guinness beer and scented with Green Irish Tweed, a delicious, totally yummy Creed dupe that smells like sexy man.  The soap was supposed to be cream with 2-tone green and bronze swirls, but it never went completely cream, instead fading out just to tan.  With the great scent and the unintentionally camo-inspired colors, I just knew that one would sell the best.  I even told Peter that when he fretted over the colors not turning out quite right.  Two of those three bars were of that soap.

While we were at Oktoberfest, people would see the sign for my beer soaps and laugh or turn their noses up.  "Ewww, who'd want to smell like beer?" they'd ask.  Well, one guy did; he specifically asked me if I carry beer-scented soaps.  Then those who'd get hooked by their own curiosity would head towards the display and pick one up to sniff.  Inevitably, they'd go straight for the Patchouli.  Patchouli is a "love it or hate it" fragrance, and the majority of people fall into that latter category.  Of course, from there they'd turn their noses up, put the soap back on the display, then walk on.  Those who dared to sniff the rest of my soaps would get hooked.  As I mentioned before, I sold two of the Green Irish Tweed and one of the Starry Night soaps (Starry Night is the blue one in the picture).

So what's the deal about the beer soaps?  First of all, they don't smell like beer.  By the time they get to usable bar form, all the beer smell is gone, leaving behind just the delicious fragrance I add to it.  So, what's the point?  The hops commonly used to give beer its distinctive flavor are used in herbalism for skin and hair care.  Infusions and extracts of hops help clear up dry skin and acne-prone skin.  In hair care, that same moisturizing property helps reduce the appearance of dandruff.  Bottom line, these soaps are fabulous!

Those soaps have a new, temporary home down in Southport.  There's a specialty shop down there called The Grape and Ale which specializes in wines and beer.  They offer wine tastings and themed arts by local artisans.  And currently, some of those themed arts include a soap display of my beer soaps.  Keep an eye on this blog for a picture of my display.