Jesse Darley and Steve Latham are your typical Madison guys. They both work as mechanical engineers at Design Concepts. Between them, they have a few kids. At the end of the day, they enjoy kicking back with a bottle of Warped Speed or Fat Squirrel. And they happen to be co-founders of a company that’s been in existence only since Dec. 1 yet has already been featured on BuzzFeed and on the Playboy website.
Beer Cap Maps is an ingenious way to display beer bottle caps that would otherwise be destined for the trash. The wooden maps are cut in the shape of an area (Wisconsin or any of the other states, the U.S. — even Canada, Germany, the British Isles or New Zealand) and drilled with holes that hold the decorative bottle caps.
Beer caps are beautiful! Collect ’em all.
As Darley says, “The beer matters, but the cap matters, too. These are little pieces of art.”
It all started when Darley’s 6-year-old son, Jasper, started collecting bottle caps at picnics and family get-togethers. Darley noticed that the caps just sat in plastic bags, so he created his first map to show off Jasper’s collection. Darley posted a photo of the map on Facebook, and the consensus from friends and family was, “You have to sell those.”
Production has now moved from Darley’s and Latham’s basements to a manufacturer in Milwaukee. After the plug from Playboy, the maps, priced from $39 to $75, really started to move and are currently back-ordered two to four weeks.
Latham thinks that the maps are “a cool way to challenge yourself to find new local beers. Sometimes you can forget how many hundreds of beers are right within 10 or 15 miles. It’s a nice way to keep yourself going toward new beers.” Beer caps can be placed near their home breweries on the map, or collectors can take a more free-form approach. There are no rules.
Beer Cap Maps has turned customers into die-hard fans in a very short time. People are invited to submit photos of their maps to be featured on social media.
For some, it’s the allure of creating your own artwork from something as simple as bottle caps. For others, it’s a game to keep track of the various microbrews they’ve had.
Jim Stiener has purchased three maps. “To me, the local craft beer market is a source of great pride,” says Stiener, who’s still working on filling the maps. “It’s now a thing when I go out. I’m constantly scanning the beer cases and chatting with bartenders about where specific beers are from.”
Darley echoes the sentiment.
“I really think that for Wisconsin, the beer culture is wonderful. The folks are friendly, and they really support each other. Making that community as vibrant as possible is great.”
