Tag: label art

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Best Label?

Hop Culture, the allied beer writing arm of Untappd, came out with their best beer labels of 2023, which you can check out right HERE.

With a few exceptions, I was not in agreement with picks because there was a certain gothic swirly tattoo darkness to a lot of labels plus Humble Sea whose labels for sure stand out but are not for me.

But enough of my side eye, I want to point out that two of my favorites from SoCal were on the list. Brouwerij West and Everywhere Beer Co. A tip of the hat to them.

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The Firkin for January 2024

Seems like IP un-aithorization has roared back into use again. For a while, labels that I saw on the interwebs seemed to have actual thought out designs but lately, that whole piggyback on someone else’s work is back like a cold you can’t shake.

I know that punners gonna pun and that not all artistry will be to my particular liking. There are some breweries whose labels just do not speak to me but I am at the very least, on board with breweries who at least try to be original.

But there are soooo many lazy beer labels that look like children’s cereal boxes or sodas or candy bars that I have to believe that they sell enough to make a brewery take that step into outright identity theft. Me, I would looking over my shoulder for a Cease and Desist letter.

This, at a time, when you can probably find many artists to create a look for your new pastry stout or candy sour that actually tells the story of your brand and not a secondhand tale with missing pages that is more attached to the original IP than your beer.

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More Replicants

Replicant, the super fun contract brewery from a Shell gas station in Pasadena has another new beer on the way.  But before, I show the label, do plan a visit to get the current Replicant beers.  They have cool Sci-Fi art and are fan fiction beers in the best possible sense.

Coffee IPA is a cool sub-style that, at least for me, has more hits than misses, as opposed to a Black IPA.

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Waze and Ways

Fieldwork Brewing has a really good design sense. Which is bad, in a way, because now I expect more from them and a new label exceeds even that (with a cool beer name helping as well).

I like the old-timey quality of the map as well as the splashes of green and blue and the stripe of yellow. It is a design that practically forces you to look more closely. A feat many labels cannot achieve. And despite that aged look, we all know from using Google maps what that grid pattern means.

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Can Art, Literally

Readers of the blog know that I truly appreciate the art of beer labels, well, El Segundo Brewing is going to both the past and Future with their new DIPA.

Here is more info from the brewery, “To be Post-Future, means being a minimum of one step ahead of what is considered the accepted state of the world in the years to come. This type of vision is best seen through a multi-dimensional kaleidoscope and it is this perspective that made John Van Hamersveld the artist he is. Known for The Endless Summer poster, Exile on Main Street and Magical Mystery Tour album covers (to name a couple) and the Water Tank in El Segundo, John is now adding an El Segundo Brewing Co. beer label to his storied portfolio!

For this beer, in celebration of the legendary artist and El Segundo native’s 80th birthday, John created a label in his signature colorful style, splashed with pop art nods to El Segundo.

Inspired by John’s vision, we created a West Coast Double IPA that honors the past and gives a glimpse of where we see the IPA in the years to come. Simply stated, a trailblazing classic is never out of style, it only becomes more renowned.”

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111

Yup, Gigantic Brewing of Portland is up to art piece 111…

Brad Delay added the pizazz to the new Hazy IPA, Smackdab with a fun assortment of cartoon characters that had a sticker / tattoo look to it.

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Medusa


If you have visited Boomtown Brewery then you have seen the art work of mural artist Richard Arthur. He designed both the Roxy Musicand David Bowie murals at the entrance.

Now Arthur’s label art will grace a new Boomtown beer, Medusa. On the 23rd you will be able to taste the hazy IPA on draft and in a can while Arthur creates live art. Also at the taproom will be an art gallery and music all day.

The artistry on and in cans is really setting L.A. apart from other brewing towns.