The Visual Art of Craft Beer Part 1 – My Top 5
There has been quite a few stories in the beer press lately that have really got me thinking about beer artwork. There’s the new look of Red Hook (check out this post on Washington Beer blog), a new label design for one of my favorite beers of all time – Stone Imperial Russian Stout (see this post at beernews.org), the North Coast Brewing logo upgrade (the old logo has always been a favorite of mine) and most notably the new Upright Brewing Four Play label that has been subject to much controversy (please check out this article on Beervana).
When I first started thinking about it I was leaning toward the fact that there really aren’t that many labels/logos out there that are especially noteworthy. There’s a few that really jumped out at me right way, but for the most part…far too many exist that fail to catch my attention. But, the more I thought about it, the more I discussed it with friends, the more epiphanies I had and the more I realized just how wrong I was.
There’s actually a lot of breweries out there that are putting serious attention toward their image. Clearly, this isn’t surprising. Anyone possessing even the slightest bit of entrepreneurial savvy knows how important branding can be to creating a successful business. Here, in my Visual Art of Craft Beer Series, I plan to discuss some of my favorites. Hopefully, in doing so, I will open up the floor for debate. I’m sure there are a bunch out there that I either don’t know about or have simply overlooked. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to present them all in this initial article, so the debate just may have to wait. Start thinking about your choices now and see if I end up agreeing with you.
The following is my top 5. This is not limited to logo alone. I feel that if it were, the scope of this exercise would be drastically diminished. This includes not only the straight forward logo of a brewery but the labels of all, most, or some of their bottles/cans/mini-kegs/what-have-you.
5) Three Floyds Brewing – FFF does not mess around. They make some of the most unique beers in the country and their labels follow suit. In may ways, they remind me of Garbage Pail Kids. All have a comic book/cartoon like quality. Some are lighthearted and humorous, others are dark and disturbing, all are well designed and fun to look at. I’m not sure whether I like the Clockwork Orange themed Moloko Stout, Zombie Dust, or the Dark Lord (above) the best. No matter how you look at it, they are all undeniably bad ass.
4) Southern Tier Brewing – The logo above isn’t very glamorous, and it by no means is the sole reason why I have put STB in the number 4 position, but I must say that I’m a very big fan of it. I find it to be very slick, clean and simple, yet highly effective. The tools of the trade encircled by the ingredients of the trade. Classic. I’ve often thought of having a variation of that logo tattooed on myself. Good logo aside, the continuity and simplicity of all of STB’s label designs is so well done that I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised to find them being celebrated in HOW Magazine (or something similar).
3) New Belgium Brewing Lips of Faith Series – Take a minute to gaze upon the above image. Tell me you wouldn’t want a full size print of that framed and mounted in your living room. It’s beautiful…and it’s just a beer label. I could have posted a picture of almost any LoF label and it would be equally stunning. Whomever is behind this is really doing fabulous work. Give them a raise.
2) Stone Brewing Co. – This logo is absolutely unmistakable. It may not be number one on my list but it’s very possibly the number one most recognizable beer logo in craft brewing. It’s bold, like Stone beers and the attitude of the owners/brewers. If you’ve ever taken the time to read the lengthy, screen printed text on any of Stone’s 22oz bottles, you know just what I mean. Stone is hard fucking core and their dark, devious mascot exemplifies that to the t.
1) Flying Dog Brewery – Can someone please explain to me how FDB got Ralph Steadman to illustrate all of their imagery?!?! Whether you like his style or not, this has to be the most lauded, continual collaborative effort between a brewery and a world-famous artist of all time.
Yeah, I guess I do sort of get how FDB pulled this off. Supposedly the owners of the brewery were friends with Hunter S. Thompson. It’s quite clear that his influence is felt throughout much of FDB’s advertising and marketing campaign. Since Ralph Steadman is most famous for his work with Hunter S. Thompson, in lies the connection. God knows how much money they must dish out for his work, but I for one thing it’s worth every penny.
Rate this:
Related
Leave a comment Cancel reply
Recent Posts
Top Posts
Pick a Topic
21st Amendment Allagash Avenue Pub Avery Brewing Avery Brewing Co. beer blotter Beer law Bell's Brewery Big Al Brewing Big Wood Black Raven Black Raven Brewing Boundary Bay Brewdog Brewery Ommegang Brooklyn Brewery Brouwer's Cafe Cantillon deschutes Deschutes Brewery Dogfish Head Dogfish Head Brewery Double IPA Elysian Brewing Elysian Brewing Company Firestone Walker Founders Brewing Founders Brewing Co. Fremont Brewing Goose Island Great Divide Brewery Great Lakes Brewery Hair of the Dog Hales Brewery Imperial IPA Imperial Stout IPA Jolly Pumpkin Lagunitas lazy boy brewing Lost Abbey Mikkeller Naked City New Belgium New Belgium Brewing New Old Lompoc Ninkasi Nogne O Notes of a Beer Nerd Pliny the Younger Port Brewing Ratebeer.com Rattle N Hum Russian River Russian River Brewing San Diego Beer Week Schooner Exact seattle beer seattle beer events Seattle Beer News Seattle Beer Week Sierra Nevada Southern Tier Southern Tier Brewing Co Stone Brewing Stone Brewing Co The Bruery The Hop Brief Timperial Stout Troegs Two Beers Brewing Victory Brewing Victory Brewing Co washington beer blog WeyerbacherBlogroll
- Beer Around Town pdx beer guide.
- Beer Cartel
- Beer Cook
- Beer Retard
- Beer Trips
- Beervana Very good snapshot of whats up in the OR beer scene.
- Bottle Battle: Exploring the world of beer, two bottles at a time.
- Boundary Bay: Bellingham Beer Blog ye ole faithful.
- Emerald City Supertasters
- It's Pub Night A PDX blog from Bill Night.
- NW Beer Guide
- Seattle Beer Examiner
- Seattle Beer News The Seattle beer grind from Geoff Kaiser
- Washington Beer Blog Kendall and Kim Jones have all updates on WA beer.
Brewers & Beer
- 21st Amendment Brewery
- Beer Mapping Project
- Beer NW
- Bells Brewery michigan classic.
- Chuckanut Blog the champ of GABF 09
- Cigar City Brewing tampa has beer. really really good beer.
- Dark Horse Brewery
- Deschutes need i say more.
- Diamond Knot 3 locations in WA. all have beer.
- Elysian Brewing
- Firestone Walker
- Founders Brewing
- Fremont Brewing Blog heck of a startup.
- Gilligan's Brewing Company left the burke-gilman. mulling its return.
- Great Lakes Brewing remember this: christmas ale.
- Hoppin Frog almost as good as the Black Keys – Akron’s 2nd best act.
- Hopworks Urban Pub did you have their imperial ipa? we did. a lot.
- Iron Horse Brewery ellensburg, washington’s own.
- Jolly Pumpkin Ales michigan. again.
- Laughing Dog very good fresh hops from this ID favorite.
- Lazy Boy Brewing who’s the new keg boy?
- Lucky Labrador pdx has three pubs. get super dog. delicious.
- Midnight Sun Brewing alaska’s best.
- Mikkeller do you speak dutch?
- New Old Lompoc lsd. its beer.
- Ninkasi Brewing
- NOLA Brewing best in NOLA. actually – only in NOLA.
- Pelican Brewery go to this place. right on beach at the point.
- RateBeer review master – none better.
- Russian River Brewing chances are if you read this site – you’ve met pliny.
- Seattle Beer Week the inaugural 09 run was incredible. lets hope for a re-run.
- Southern Tier Brewing
- Thirsty Dog Brewing
- Three Floyds Brewing perpetually the best in the US
- Two Brothers Brewing
- Washington Beer Commission
- Water Street Brewing – R.I.P. RIP for the time being. Hoping for a resurrection.
Grog Spots
- 3 Pubs: Latona, Hopvine, and Fiddler's Inn
- Alibi Room: Vancouver if you go to vancouver. go here for at least 12 hours.
- Avenue Pub
- Bar Great Harry brooklyn’s finest tap selection.
- Beveridge Place Pub the west side beer connection.
- Blind Tiger
- Bottleworks: Seattle buy your beer here.
- Brouwer's Cafe almighty beer bar – hands down.
- Coopers Alehouse roughly 20 beers and the best in Seattle wings
- Horse Brass pdx king.
- Lucky Labrador pdx has three pubs. get super dog. delicious.
- Naked City Taphouse greenwood, seattle favorite.
- Park Pub giving the dray a run for phinney’s best.
- Quinn's Pub very good food and booze. get the marrow bone.
- Rattle N Hum NYC beertacular.
- Stumbling Monk wonderful euro selection. wish they had a website.
- The Dray pretzels and beer. and soccer if you like it.
- The Map Room chicago’s finest tap selection
- The Publican chicago beer and pork.
- Toronado san diego and san fran spot for a tap brew.
- Uber Tavern seattle beer stop
Beer Stores
- 99 Bottles
- Binny's Beer Shop its like a supermarket of booze. chicago, you are lucky.
- Bottleworks: Seattle buy your beer here.
- By the Bottle
- Full Throttle Bottle
- Rozi's Wine House midwest beer store – they ship.
Got to say that Hair of the Dog has the best logo. So classic, unmistakable and crest-like. Plus, it has a character. How about the Speakeasy eyes? They are different, creative and very recognizable. Cant wait to see which labels you picked.
nice collection of logos here, abstract but creative..