custom colored glass made in France has no greater value than the lowest quality material with which it is mixed. This is a problem BottleHood is earnestly trying to solve, and is the very reason they exist. Their focus is locally produced or sold wine, beer, soda, and liquor bottles made with high quality glass, in a unique shape, or with well-designed screen printed labels.

Cherry is quick to show off his most treasured transformations. He has colorful anecdotes for each original bottle and why it is worth saving. Take the beautiful vases and candle holders made from Fortaleza bottles. Since 1856, five generations of the Sauza family have been crafting Los Abuelos tequila (sold as Fortaleza in the U.S.) using old-world techniques, such as cooking agave in brick ovens and milling it by hand in a 135 year-old stone grinder. They bottle

their tequila in hand-blown glass vessels produced by two men in Tonala, Jalisco, Mexico. By saving the bottles, BottleHood not only saves the physical attributes and aesthetic beauty, but also passes along intangible human interest stories that wouldn’t normally have the same opportunity for exposure. They preserve and enhance untold stories of objects artfully crafted by real people.

Recently, as Father’s Day approached, Cherry was frantically rounding up any bottles with “dad” or “father” in the name or on the label - Dad’s Root Beer, Dad’s Cream Soda, Big Daddy IPA beer, Double Daddy IPA... you get the picture. He was hoping they would have the same thematic appeal that Arrogant Bastard Ale did at Valentine’s Day. “I couldn’t sell them fast enough,” he says. “Every woman has an arrogant bastard boyfriend in her life, right?”

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