I have always been involved in crafty and artsy projects, and love to entertain at home. I had never considered earning money off either hobby until 2012. An aquiantance asked for my help creating a very large banner for her husband's outdoor birthday party. As party of my inspiration search I stumbled across a site called "ETSY" and realized that there were people out there doing what I was doing and making money off of it! And so my Etsy shop was born.
I ambitiously called it "Boston Paper Company" and focused on paper party decorations and supplies. I soon found myself doing lots of children's birthday party decor, which was fun but also time intensive and repetitive. Nearly every project was custom because of personalizing with names, etc.
I started to wonder how I could incorporate more grown-up party supplies onto my site - the kind of parties that I would want to attend or throw for others! Soon I was making blind wine tasting kits and traditional wine tasting kits.
One day, a friend casually mentioned that she would love it if there were a tasting kit for beer. The thought had never occured to me because my personal taste runs more toward wine. After some investigation, I quickly discovered that there are already a lot of resources for those interested in wine, and not so many resources for beer lovers. Shortly after I started offering a beer tasting kit, I was contacted by a specialty bottle shop about selling wholesale for retail!
While I'm very proud of my product, the packaging and product presentation on these early versions leaves a lot to be desired - and I'm not just talking about my product photography on Etsy (where I struggle to make the images look crisp and professional).
My next step is to design sleek and fun packaging and move from a handmade product to an actual manufactured kit that can be sold widely to beer and wine shops across the country!
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This craft beer tasting kit is designed to help you throw a fun dinner party or event where the focus is tasting and learning about beer! Not mass-produced swill found at any corner store, but interesting and unique craft beers and microbrews. The kit facilitates a tasting of up to 6 different varieties of beers for up to 12 guests.
But gathering different beers is not enough! If you don’t rank the beers or talk about them, it isn't really a tasting party… it is just a party! The kit comes with a helpful guide to preparing for your party, recommendations about pairing beer and food, 6 bottle tags to identify the tasting order of beers, 12 scoring cards and 12 pencils.
The kit will contain: