Cool Beer Labels

The Best Art & Design from Breweries Around the World

Daniel Bellon

• Publisher: Print
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781440335204
• eBook ISBN: 9781440335242
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Design General

Cheers to beer design!

The days of boring, mass-produced yellow fizz-water are all but over. These days, independent beer makers are creating a wide variety of interesting beers that exhibit a vast range of depth and flavor. Beer is more than a beverage--it's an artisan craft championed by talented people devoted to quality and good taste. And as craft beer and home brewing continue to grow by leaps and bounds, the culture of beer has made the shift from big business to an industry filled with people who truly care about what they make. And that attention to detail goes for the art and packaging as well as the brews themselves.

Cool Beer Labels explores the art and design of beer culture from labels to cans to growlers and more. Inside you'll find:

• More than 400 full color examples of beer labels from craft and small breweries around the world
• Case studies from working designers
• Interviews with brewery owners and master brewers
• An exploration of breweries by region
• And more

Whether you are a visual creative looking for packaging design inspiration or simply part of the growing community of people who enjoy home brewing, craft beers and beer culture, you're sure to enjoy cracking open a cold one and settling back to enjoy this art-filled celebration of beer.

Chapter One

The West

BLINDTIGER Design

Seattle, Washington

Oceania Eagan, founder of BLINDTIGER Design, was born on Orcas Island, about one hundred miles north of Seattle. Her mother was a designer, so Eagan grew up around commercial art. “From a very early age, I was sitting at the other end of our kitchen table mimicking her. When she was designing a restaurant menu, I was designing a restaurant menu; when she was laying out ads for the newspaper, I was sitting there making my own pretend ads.” Her path to becoming a designer, however, was far from straight. Eagan went to college for math, but dropped out and moved to Mexico. “I joined a Mexican circus and performed as a trapeze artist for four months or so.” After considering circus school, she decided to go to Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and graduated with a degree in illustration.

A few years after graduating and working for various design agencies, Eagan got into the beer industry. “My husband found a Craigslist posting that said something along the lines of ‘Do You Like Beer? Do You Like To Draw?’” The job was for a tap handle company appropriately named Taphandles. They were trying to morph into a design-focused company, rather than a purely manufacturing one. “I started working full-time as their sole designer. I was doing everything from making labels to going into the garage and creating a wooden handle with a lathe and a bandsaw.”

Reuben’s Brews

Seattle, Washington

ReubensBrews.com

Design By BLINDTIGER Design

Seattle, Washington

BlindtigerDesign.com

“[Taphandles] really transformed the market: A tap handle began as a functional item that someone needed to pour beer, but it became the number one marketing piece needed to sell the beer at the bar. People would request a beer based on its tap handle. Alaskan’s sculpted orca tap handle prompted requests for the ‘whale beer.’ Tap handles began to function like billboards for what they were pouring. Tap handles became advertising, but unlike most advertising, it was the kind that people actively sought out rather than avoided. Awesome tap handles were simply selling more beer. It’s a compelling example of the selling power of design.”

The craft beer industry was just beginning to grow into what it is today, and Eagan had a front row seat to the revolution. “Craft beer was booming. Many, many breweries were entering the market. It was organic that as the market was growing—and as competition grew—breweries needed more marketing support. All of a sudden, having your ‘friend’s-brother’s-cousin who took an art class once in college’ making your logo wasn’t enough. Eventually, we developed an entire branding division within the company. If a brewery came to us without a strong existing brand, we could build one for them from the ground up.”

As the market grew, so did Taphandles and with i...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• A Beer Geek’s Journey
• Chapter One: The West
• Chapter Two: The Middle
• Chapter Three: The East
• Chapter Four: The South
• Chapter Five: The Americas
• Chapter Six: The United Kingdom
• Chapter Seven: Europe
• Chapter Eight: Asia & Oceania
• Chapter Nine: Home Brewers
• About the Authors
• Dan’s Acknowledgments
• Steve’s Acknowledgments
• Copyright