"I always say 'beer me.' It gets a laugh, like, a quarter of the time."

Today I have beer on the mind. I picked up a nice cold growler at lunch to take up to my sister's this weekend and then I went out for a beer with a coworker after work (plus the bar was doing a free appetizer buffet, score!). I came across this beer tonight and it seemed great for a post. First, because I enjoy the packaging. Second, because I love beer and third because it kind of goes along with the whole Earth Hour this past weekend.

I've talked about beer before but Cascade Green is a pretty interesting beer. Landor in Sydney apparently held the meeting at the zoo to get in the "green" mood which is awesome. Plus, they have made this a "green" beer by changing some of their processes and buying carbon offsets (which is another discussion for another time, since I don't fully agree with the offsets idea). None the less, I do applaud them for trying to make the beer in a more environmentally friendly way.

So, if you are in Australia, check out this beer and see what it is like. I know I will be enjoying my beer this weekend which happens to be my local breweries 100% certified organic beer.

Sidenote: I really hope you know the quote in the beginning of the post...

[pictures from the dieline]

Those of you that know me know I like meat, and those of you that know me well, know I love meat.

The weather is cold, and it makes me want to go to my favorite bbq joint here. When the weather warms up, I want bbq, middle of summer, bbq. Even if I tune into the BB King Blues channel on XM, I want bbq (nothing like craving some brisket at 9:30 a.m. on the way to work). See a trend here?

Hatch created these amazing hand pulled letterpress posters for 4505 Meats in the Bay area. Great color and imagery on them. If the price was a bit lower I would have picked some up for myself.

Check out the video of them being made here, and you can purchase them here. $26 each. Go get a hand pulled poster and then maybe a pulled pork.

[via the kitchn]

These are some great Stella ads from Lowe London. I can't find the work on their site anymore though.

Great color, texture, vintage feel. I especially like the bomb image. So simple and convey an important point, beer must always be saved. No matter what.

I often doodle on post it notes and send the photos to friends and have people doodle back to me. The internet is an amazing tool that allows us to do this. We could always do it the hard way and involve the USPS, but I am more about instant gratification. Plus, I really enjoy seeing what people coming up with right on the spot.

The other day a friend mentioned to me she was bored, so I randomly said "draw me a picture involving a campfire, a bear, and a caesar salad." This is what I got back a few minutes later. A big win in my book. So true, lettuce IS for losers!

Yesterday as I was browsing Grain Edit's SanFran Renegade Craft Fair post I stumbled across a link to a reader's Flickr page that had photos from the LA event. That is how I found these beauties. Luckily they had the website name with the photos, because I wanted to know more about them.

Welcome to Sweet Meats. The plushies come in both individual and family size servings, and I gotta say, I want them all. It could be because I am a carnivore, and I love meat, or it could just be that they are just plain awesome. 

I really enjoy the website design as well and that fact that you can have them gift wrapped in butcher paper. The pins are pretty cool too and once again makes me wish I had a button maker. I hope they make an appearance at the Chicago Renegade since I will be there (hopefully).

I would not mind picking up a Meat Medley of my own. I need to find their bizarro company though, onc with plushies of veggies since my wife is a vegetarian. Gotta balance it out.

Wine bottles for Meteor Wines designed by Osamu Akatsu. I went looking for the site for the actual vineyard to find more photos but I don't think they are in use yet.

Really elegant bottles that stray far far away from the normal boring bottle design (and also away from some of the newer styles which everyone was doing and therefore becoming boring as well). Great astrologically inspired line art combined with good color choices screened right on the bottle. I can't pass up a good design based up on space, stars, celestial bodies etc.

I think the first one is my favorite (the red one, but I think it is a white wine). It has so much energy and movement which is a bit uncharacteristic to see on most wine bottles.

Keep up the good work.

I said we'd get back to some beer posts, so here we are. Above is White Ale from Hitachino Nest from the Kiuchi Brewery In Japan.

It is a somewhat popular beer, made popular because of it's great labels and awesome owl character (who also is on the caps, best bottle cap design). I can't wait to try the other beers they make. However they are a bit pricey, so it may take awhile to collect them all. They have a lot of different kinds. 

The white ale was a really nice wheat beer. I had it after a long day at work yesterday yelling at some machines who weren't operating as they should... Great wheat flavor, golden color, was really smooth but had a lot of complex flavors for it as well. Some wheat beers are a one at a time kind of thing and often don't want more then one in a row. However, I wouldn't have minded another one after the first one at all.

The other photo is of the rest of the beers I have obtained lately. Some of them are from my in-laws that they got at a german store for me, and the others I picked up at Oliver T's in Michigan. They have over 700 kinds of beer, so these the the select few that made it home with me this time. Next on the list will be the Samurai Rice Ale (also love their packaging and their bottle caps are great as well), or the Orange Cream ale.

These are some Jam jars and packing done for Andreas Caminada by Remo Caminada. 

The packages have a nice simplistic image on them that is kind of a cross between pixelation and a group of tanagram shapes. My favorite is the top one with the fire. 

I like them a lot, but I think for me at least it would be stronger as a true pixelation. On some of the other packages shown on the link above, the addition of the diagonal shapes, etc doesn't do it for me as much.

I also like the black caps with the black label coming down to seal the jar. They definitely have a unique look and would stand out on the shelf.

I totally went to Whole Foods this weekend in search of 2 things: Japanese Hitachino Nest beer (which they did not carry, anyone in Indiana know where to find some?) and these boxes that were featured on NotCot. I am pretty mad at myself that I forgot to look. However, in my defense, I was tired and hungry. My wife and I just got done with a bike ride and we hadn't had dinner yet.

I would love to know who the illustrator(s) were for this, and would like to obtain some of them. Being a guy who used to work in the produce section of a grocery store, I know they just throw the boxes out, so next time I will have to ask for a couple before they go in the crusher. It would be a lot easier if our whole foods wasn't an hour away...

I may be that weird guy but I would hang these up on the wall, especially the Yeti, fantastic.

So lately I have beer on the brain, so there will be a few beer related posts over the next couple weeks. It could be partially because I love beer and could be considered a beer aficionado. It could also be that when I was up visiting my family for the 4th of July I went to Oliver T's in Michigan and they have over 700 beer in stock. I was like a kid in a candy store.

I find beer labels really interesting because they are all over the range of design. From horrible to amazing, standard to unique, simple to elaborate. The design of their labels really has a large power over me buying them as well. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover or a beer by it's label, however when you have over 700 to choose from, it helps you decide (along with price... can't afford a $20 bottle right now...) With new micro brews popping up all the time it is a huge market, and has great possibilities. 

I wouldn't mind taking a crack at designing a few, and I actually will a bit since I brew my own as well, but it would be cool to do a real one.

Now on to this particular beer. These images of Josefs have been around the block a few times but I couldn't resist putting them up as well. The redesign was done by Humberto Gregorio and although I haven't seen photos of the "Before" I love the "After." It has a great simple design that would be very distinguishable on the shelf among the other beers and clearly states what you're getting in the bottle (not always true on other brands, if I'm looking for a Pilsner, I don't want to have to look though all the Stouts as well...) Add in the use of swing top bottles, and the top label, and you've got a great bottle design.

The only downside is the web address on the label does not work and I would love to find out more on this beer, and when I might be able to find it. Anyone know? I would like to try just one of them, but wouldn't hurt to try them all...