Beer + Jewelry = Brewelry

Photo courtesy of Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project.

Beer and jewelry are two of my favorite things in the world, and now they’ve collided in the most awesome way possible. This year’s Best of Boston winner for locally made beer — Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project — just launched a wee collection of jewelry oh-so-appropriately dubbed “brewelry.” Owners Dann and Martha Paquette teamed up with Somerville jewelry artist Emily Scott, of E. Scott Originals, to craft necklaces and wristbands out of leather and upcycled steel from broken kegs that the brewers couldn’t reuse.

Doug Ruuska, a Boston-based photographer who has an engineering background and is a friend of the couple (“He’s the type of guy who probably has built robots in the past,” quips Dann), hacks up the kegs into smaller pieces that Scott can work with, a feat that Martha calls a “bitch to do.”

Scott explains that each piece requires anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes to complete. The beer bottle openers take the longest to make, because cutting the steel (which is much harder than silver) into the right shape is tedious work. “It’s pretty cool to take a keg and turn it into jewelry; I like the upcycling aspect of it, so this project is right up my alley,” says Scott. She hand-etches each piece with one of two designs: the brewery’s shield logo or the words “Stay Pretty,” which are part of the company’s mantra, “Stay pretty and drink real beer.”

Thanks to these rugged beauties, we shouldn’t have a problem doing either of those things.

$30-$50, available at prettythingsbeertoday.com.