How did the Love of Brewery Sticker Collecting begin

For the founders of Moonlyte Brewing Co., our brewery sticker love story kicked off at one of our favorite local breweries. Love at first sip, you might say!

One day, we decided to take the scenic route from Chisholm, MN, back to our home in Maplewood, MN.

This detour led us through Moose Lake, MN, where we spotted a sign that read "Moose Lake Brewery coming soon." Our curiosity was pinged, and our taste buds were tingling!

So, naturally, we made it our weekly mission to cruise through Moose Lake, whether we were heading north or south. Any excuse for the day we could make it a pit stop!

This went on for a while until one fateful day when one of the owners put up a little sign saying, "Come on in." So, we did, and voilà, a new favorite hangout was born!

We became such regulars that when they started serving food, our little Chyna, the barstool princess, became quite the topic of conversation. Turns out, breweries that serve food, aren't too keen on four-legged patrons due to state regulations.

Now, let's dive into why we collect stickers.

Have you ever gone somewhere and returned with glasses, t-shirts, and other trinkets? We were pros at that game. But soon, our house looked like a souvenir shop, and storage became our best friend.

During one of our visits, Jeff was perched on a barstool while Chyna lounged on her throne (a.k.a. her favorite stool), and I stood guard. It was a bustling evening, and a gentleman approached the bar to order a beer. Naturally, we struck up a conversation. Funny enough, breweries have this magical power to turn introverts like me into social butterflies. Jeff jokes that if someone is within five feet of me at a brewery, I'm already chatting them up. He's not wrong!

Our chat revolved around collecting things. This gentleman and his lovely wife had started collecting stickers and coasters. He slapped stickers on his beer fridge, and when I asked what he'd do if the fridge crapped the bed, he said he'd hang it on the wall. (I did clean up his language a bit, LOL.) His wife kept her coasters in a basket on the coffee table.

We swapped emails because he promised to send me his brewery list. They were fellow brewery enthusiasts, after all!

This sparked my creative juices during our two-hour drive. I couldn't sleep once we got home, so the next day, I set out to create "My Brewery Sticker Book." I sent them the first one I made.

It was a meant to be friendship - we have surprisingly run into each other since that day and if you know Minnesota there are a few breweries and when they live 5 hours away south of you to randomly run into each other is a sign.

Moose Lake Brewery bought and sold some of my books, and Rapids Brewery did a batch for me too. I love bringing them along on our brewery adventures. I've sold many and gifted some to those who touch my heart.

So, while Moose Lake Brewery wasn't our first brewery, it was our first Brewery Sticker.

To date, we've visited approximately 275 breweries, collecting stickers, coasters, or, if we missed it, working on getting a sticker.