Talking about beer labels on a podcast

As I chronicled on my other blog, I was the guest on a local podcast earlier in the week, wherein we talked about beer labels. My friend Brian, who produces the ‘cast, basically asked the question, "Does beer label art make a difference?" You can listen to it (short, just under eight minutes) here.

I think I was mostly intelligible, and mentioned two breweries by name who commission artists for (some of) their labels, Deschutes Brewery and Dogfish Head. At the time, I had in mind Dogfish’s Chateau Jiahu, because I know they commissioned art from Tara McPherson (though I didn’t name either the beer or the artist by name, unfortunately). But I thought it was interesting and oddly apropos to see this Dogfish article get highlighted (by Wörtwurst) this same week: Husband & Wife Team Create Art for Dogfish Labels.

Not only are those labels very cool (they remind me of paintings by the Dutch masters), but the beer they were commissioned for sounds pretty good too.

So yes, I’d have to say that beer label art definitely makes a difference.

One comment

  1. Listened to the podcast, and I definitely agree that label art makes a difference. Contrary to popular belief, decent beer is not THAT hard to make. Granted, it’s easy to mess up, but there is plenty of good beer out there. Even if people don’t admit it, labels are often the only thing they have to go on when making purchasing decisions – part of the reason that crappy beers become popular. Like other products, drinking beer is a holistic experience, and it’s nearly impossible to separate the product itself from the marketing around the product.

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