Bottle and Can designs

Beer Talk
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Does anyone else feel like the homemade art style that is featured on almost all new microbrew cans and some bottles makes it hard to pick a beer?

I’ll be honest, even if it didn’t make every single beer look like all the others, the art is grotesque and is accompanied by an unreadable font to label the beer.

At least in the old days, there was some design distinction and you knew what country and what style you were getting from the package design.

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I think I’d need some examples.

I have the same problem, but I feel it’s the opposite - too much “good” can art. This can art is also too similar can to can. Often using very basic colors and patterns. Lots of art that is or vaguely looks like fractal art.

Art is so subjective we may be talking about the same exact art style, haha!

Distinction is definitely something that I can agree on. 10-15 years ago it was really easy to identify a beer from a distance. I hardly know what half the beers are without having to inspect the cans these days.

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Well partly because there were a lot fewer breweries and beers :slight_smile:

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Next time I go to ABC or Total Wine I will upload a picture of what I mean.

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Not in a way that impacts what I am talking about.

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I like to know what I’m looking at within a second or two of looking at a can/bottle.

I also like more straightforward beer names that may hold a clue as to what sort of beer it is. ‘Billy’s Dinner Down the Weltschmertz Cafe in Ashton-under-Lyme in October 2005’ doesn’t do it for me.

So thank you Kernel. Cloudwater… you’ve been hanging out with Verdant too long.

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My biggest complaint is that they often hide in small print in a random location what the beer actually is. Which means I need to pick up and handle each can to find out if it’s something I’m interested in. In the age of pandemic that is more than a little squicky.

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Just don’t lick your fingers!
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4
" COVID-19 rarely spreads through surfaces. So why are we still deep cleaning?"

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I guess you’re referring to the cans with full artwork and no words or logo, except at the back of the can. Once upon a time those brewers had their own style which meant you recognised them immediately (Mikkeller, Omnipollo). The beer was also something distinctive, brewed more than once.

Now it seems the default label design for new brewers. Artwork, with details hidden behind. And no originality with the beer, except the varying combination of hops with the same flavour profile.

Morgandagon in Sweden is bad for detail. They make fantastic fruit sours, but often have no list of fruit included, with really odd artwork.

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