call me superstitious but it always seems to be if my first holiday production run goes well, it kinda sets the tone for the rest of the season. i am happy to announce, everything is going great! didnt get to my entire list, but, everything i got to went without issue and that is good enough for me!
got a new guy in town... the cowboy coffee beer soap. and i dont know what kind of luck was on my side but i swear this is the best beer soap ive ever made. i used a porter for this one, which, porter and stouts are hands down my favorite beers and this porter was just amazing. ( i saved myself one that went not in the soap ;) its made by the brew kettle which just so happens to be an ohio brewer so thats always cool.
i followed their flavor profile with my essential notes and dont think i could have done any better. heres what you can expect:
from their website: " flavor : rich coffee, hint of molasses, cocoa, dates, sweet tobacco." sounds good right? so translate that to essential oil soap and it looks like " coffee, vanilla, vetiver, black sugar, ground coffee, black cocoa" mhm... thats whats in the bar.
top of the bar was made to look like offroad tire tracks, haha.. not that each individual bar will look that way, but overall thats what worked for me. the whole bar has to come together just right for me to feel good about it and this one certainly did.
and wow... did this bar ever exceed my expectations. i knew when i made it that it all went well, but after cutting- it was clear it went better than well. this bar smells so freaking good, and the blend compliments the beer so well. beer soaps all tend to have their own unique kind of scent and not everything smells good in them... but these are literally perfect.
since im not making the whiskey bar this holiday season ( because it was just released for fathers day) this bar has a very similar scent blend. it would be a great choice for a sweet/masculine scent. notes of leather, coffee, cocoa and rich madagascar vanilla... with the addition of that unique note that only beer can provide.
i was going to make the whole bar scrubby with coffee grounds throughout - and at the very last second i changed my mind, and im glad i did because i love the way this turned out so much better. the whole bottom of the bar is a thin layer of black cocoa, swirled in the bottom half is sumatra coffee and black cocoa, and the top half of the bar has cocoa blended in the whole batch ( hence the darker shade). its been a long time since ive made a porter soap, too long, and im super excited to have one coming out!
next up: farmhouse
this bar is always a favorite, and although earlier this year i planned to NOT release it this year and give it a little break, as the fall production got closer i couldnt help but to think this bar is just such a perfect bar to carry us from summer into fall. its earthy-sweet from tansy and clean from lavender, fresh from lemon and sweet from vanilla. it came out really nice this year. good colors, good lines, and i upped the tansy amount which i think the original blend needed. however not good for the cost of making the bar, but definitely good for the quality. 
unfortunately i didnt get to the apple cider bar which was in my plans, just had too many interruptions and not enough time. frustrating for sure. but i did manage to get about 400 liploves a batch of laundry soap, some unscented stain sticks, some mini laundry soap travel tabs, and a batch of whats poppin made.
liploves will be released this week in pistachio and blueberry cheesecake. we still have yet to get the blueberry labels on those ones but once theyre done theyll be available on store and online. many more to make, but i thought these two flavors are also still summery-yet good ones to lead into fall. ahhhhh. wait till you see the flavors coming for fall!!!
the whats poppin batch was whipped up on the fly since i ran out of time to do apple cider bar, i decided to use up some of my citrus oils in this round. definitely goes well with the end pieces as most of them are from recently making citrus and earthy bars. surrounding batch is orange, petitgrain, tangerine, grapefruit. its a nice change, the others i believe all have mostly lavender at the base.
hoping to get to some whips in the next week or so, but those will only be made if i get my soap made. i have a schedule for the soap, soap always has to take the front burner this time of year and running out of things like sprays or pucks is the least of my worries.
even still, might have to look for a do not disturb sign for my door ;) the closer we to get to fall, the more i realize how behind i am!
hope youre all getting excited for whats to come!
until next,
-heidi