Surly Cash Extra Special Bitter
Mar 03, 2011
It started in October on the weekend of my son’s baptism. My good friend John was in town, and we brewed a batch of beer as we had done many times before when I lived in Colorado. November passed; and, as I let it ferment, I eagerly anticipated the deliciousness that awaited me.
As Christmas approached, we at Happy Cog started planning our holiday party and, as we do every year, drew names for a secret santa gift exchange. I drew Chris Cashdollar. I was excited to draw his name, even though I had no idea what I would get him.
The last piece of this puzzle is Blue Beanie Day, a day every year in late November when everybody in the web design community dons blue hats to show their support for web standards. The day before, I shot photos of everybody in the Philly Happy Cog office all blue-beanied-up for the event.
As I was brainstorming ideas for Chris’ gift, it all clicked together. Of course! I have this beer that’s just about ready to drink, maybe I could do something with that?
I sent my dear friend Derek a message asking him if he wanted to collaborate on this project: A beer label with a custom illustration of Chris Cashdollar based on his blue beanie day photo. I sent him this photo of Chris to get the creative juices flowing:
![Chris, aka Surly Cash](https://begoodnotbad.com/media/pages/journal/surly-cash-extra-special-bitter/c3cb482b74-1629590690/surlycash-photo.jpg)
Derek didn’t hesitate. Minutes later he wrote back saying “I’m totally in!”. Just days later I had an amazing illustration to work with.
![Surly Cash Illustration by Derek Balmer](https://begoodnotbad.com/media/pages/journal/surly-cash-extra-special-bitter/7741e90d56-1629590690/surlycash-illo.jpg)
Derek made it very easy for me. I designed the label and glued it on the night before our secret santa party.
![A Bottle of Surly Cash Extra Special Bitter](https://begoodnotbad.com/media/pages/journal/surly-cash-extra-special-bitter/0b4539d444-1629590690/surlycash-bottle.jpg)
There are only five of these in existance. I’m pretty excited about how these turned out! The look on Chris’ face was pretty dang priceless.