6 Design Observations from the Craft Beer Aisle

We were recently approached by the folks at Top Hat IMC, a Marketing and PR firm in Philadelphia, to write a guest blog post on craft beer label design. We happily obliged and welcomed the opportunity to explore, from a Nationwide perspective, the current design trends and best practices taking place in the craft beer industry.

For the full story click here.

Best Pumpkin Beer Packaging: Almanac Beer Company

Having a strong passion for design, evaluating branding and packaging design is always present in the way I look at new offerings in the craft beer market. The 24 beer Great Pumpkin Beer Challenge we conducted in October was no exception.

Many of the breweries take similar approaches to their pumpkin beer, using Halloween related illustrations on their labels. Some like Midnight Sun Brewing have a bit more fun bringing a stylized personality to their beers like T.R.E.A.T. and Trickster, but overall many pumpkin beers take a familiar and expected approach making it hard to stand out on shelf.

There was one package in particular that was such a stand out in the crowd from both a craftsmanship and differentiation perspective that we were compelled to find out more about their approach. That winner was San Francisco based Almanac Beer Company's Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine, part of their Farm To Barrel series.

We were fortunate to have a great conversation with Almanac Beer Company's CEO and designer extraordinaire, Damian Fagan. His background previous to Almanac was as a graphics and branding designer in the food and beverage industry for about 15 years. 

"I've been home brewing since 1992 and finally managed to marry two of my passions, beer and design a few years ago when we launched Almanac. We put as much thought and heart into the appearance of our beers as we do the beer itself."

The general theme of Almanac's branding is bringing together old world traditions with new world inspirations, which is how they make their beers; starting with classic, traditional beer styles and bringing their own 21st century, Northern California sensibility to them. 

"I love the classic, traditional feel that woodcut engravings evoke and combining them with bright colors and contemporary typography for an unusual juxtaposition." 

The Farm To Barrel lineup also references mid to late 19th century spirits packaging, where much of the labels are covered in ornate detail, which to Damian always lent a sense of sophistication to the presentation. 

"As the name implies, the Farm To Barrel beers are all aged in oak barrels for many months, so we wanted the appearance to reflect the time and care it took to create the beer."

For more information on Almanac Beer's offerings and where to find them on shelf be sure to visit www.almanacbeer.com

The Winner of The Great Pumpkin Beer Challenge Is...

It's All Hallow's Eve and the time has come to unveil the winner of The Great Pumpkin Beer Challenge. We have tasted through 24 pumpkin beers over the last three weeks, tracked down and traded from across the country. It was an interesting challenge to say the least - exploring a category defined by ingredient versus style. We found many very well made pumpkin beers, our preferences came down to the most balanced, drinkable choice.

And the award goes to....

Saint Arnold Brewing Company Pumpkinator Imperial Stout

What we loved about this beer: In short, everything. It was by far the most delicious pumpkin beer to touch our lips. Notes of cinnamon, chocolate and roastiness were prominent in the aroma. The full bodied stout, when served at the right temperature was smooth, hiding the alcohol well. This beer finishes dry with just the right balance of spice on the end.

Our Tier 3 winner, Steven's Point Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale made it all the way to the finals rising above some steep competition. As far as ales go, this was our favorite, remaining the most balanced and enjoyable for the style. We highly recommend picking some up while it lasts at Bottles & Cans.

The Great Pumpkin Beer - Recap

For those of you that haven’t been paying attention to The Great Pumpkin Beer Challenge here is a recap:

Hail to the Ale & CHAOS Brew Club's Ken Getty combined forces and cellars to put together 24 beers and divided them into three tiers of pumpkin domination. Three brackets that incorporated craft beer from across the country to determine Hail to the Ale’s The Great Pumpkin Beer of 2013
Tier 3 - New Jack O'Lantern City, Limited Distribution
Tier 2 - Patch Madness, Regional Breweries
Tier 1 - Pumpkin O.G.'s, the crew that's been doing pumpkin beers before Pumpkin Spice Latte had its own hashtag

 

The New Jack O'Lantern City tier of The Great Pumpkin Beer Challenge was dominated by 2012 GABF’s Gold Medal winner (a fact that we learned after…promise!) in the pumpkin category, Stevens Point Whole Hog Pumpkin Ale.  This beer has a great sweet malty backbone accompanied with a delicious pumpkin pie aroma that finished slightly dry. A very well balanced beer that we could have drank several more bottles from Bottles and Cans.

The Tier 2 bracket was true Patch Madness style pitting the different regional craft brewers of the United States against each other.  We were intrigued at the thought of adding a barleywine to this crowded field of various styles and Almanac Beer Co. delivered. Their Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine is a blend of brandy barrel aged and fresh barleywine that delivers big, boozy notes with huge brandy flavor that transition to pumpkin caramel sweetness. Almanac continuously stood out from the pack to narrowly defeat Lakefront’s crisp Pumpkin Lager.

The Pumpkin OG's Tier 1 bracket has two Opening Round matches before the Elite Eight pumpkin beers are decided. Shipyard’s Smashed Pumpkin battles Uinta’s Punk’n and Smuttynose’s Pumpkin Ale looks to upset Brooklyn’s Post Road Pumpkin. Opening round winners will be announced Monday, October 28^th 2013.