I live a double life. At the beginning of the week I am a sales assistant at Lush cosmetics. Flogging bath bombs, shower gels, shampoos and other nice smelling things, the other half of the week I am beerslinger at Yardhouse bottle shop in Tynemouth.
In these jobs I see the everyday gender roles we’ve been socialised into. At the Yardhouse many times I’ve been asked if we sell ‘girly beer’ and incredulous looks from some women at the suggestion they may be in the shop buying beer for themselves. At Lush I’ve seen young boys denied their choice of bathomb merely because it’s pink, I’ve seen men stand outside the shop whilst their partners look around (I’ll admit, sadly, I used to be that guy.)
Beer is for everyone, bathbombs are for everyone. So how do we break down these gendered preference some people have learned? Well how about we combine them! Yep, that’s right, I’m pairing beer and bathbombs!
Twilight and Tonkoko by Brew York
Twilight is a mainstay bathbomb at Lush. It’s pink on the outside but goes a light blue in the bath mirroring an actual twilight. It’s scented with lavender and tonka giving it a relaxing scent so helps you unwind, with sweet vanilla notes. Tonkoko is the perfect pair because it shares ingredient with twlilight: the tonka bean, the vanilla scent from twilight blends with the sweet, creamy vanilla flavour of Tonkoko. I’ve always preferred a darker beer as a nightcap and Tonkoko feels like a bedtime cocoa. These two will help you relax and unwind after a stressful day.
Dragons Egg and Hickey the Rake by Wylam
Dragon’s egg is unassuming on the surface but an absolute hoot once you let it loose in the bath. It has a sherbert lemon scent and popping candy and explodes in a kaleidoscope of colours. Hickey is the same, an unassuming pale ale, but when the first drop hits your tongue you’ll notice the limonata sharpness. Both bursting with citrus, both uplifting and fun.
Groovy Kind of Love and Believe by Almasty
Groovy Kind of Love was originally released to celebrate marriage equality, hence its rainbow pattern. This bursts into the bath before settling on a pale orange. It is chock full of citrus aroma for an uplifting and brightening bath. Believe is one of my favourite modern IPAs, low bitterness and full of grapefruit, mango and lime flavours dancing on your tongue. These two juice bombs just belong together.
4:20 and Jack the Devil by Cullercoats
4:20 is the CBD bathbomb from Lush, so it is the most relaxing bath bomb Lush do. Its great for relieving chronic pains, but also inducing a really chilled out state of mind. It is scented with the woody, herbal aromas that come with patchouli and sandalwood oils.
I’ve always found an English Bitter relaxing. It’s like a comfort blanket, its like home. And the woody, earth aromas from the traditional British hops used in Jack the Devil pair perfectly with the heady patchouli from 4:20.
Snow Fairy and Weiss Beer
Snow Fairy is the most popular Christmas scent from Lush. The bathbomb will transform your bath into a bright pink, glittery wonderland. The sweet scent evokes memories of candyfloss at the fair and bumblegum bought from scraped together change at the corner shop.
These fun, sweet scents pair perfectly with the phenolics from a good Weiss beer. The unique yeast used for Weiss beers imparts flavours of foamy bananas and that same distinctive bubblegum flavour.
The Mad Brewer's Notebook 