Last week, our team of creative experts (and beer-lovers) dished out their favorite beer branding examples. Now, Paperkite’s expert illustrator, Kevin House, shares his top illustrative picks, specifically from the West Coast, where many of the nation’s best craft beer brands can be found.
“Out on the West Coast, we are blessed with an awesome local craft brewery tradition going back to the mid 80s,” explains House. “Unfortunately though the branding and design work is not often on par with the excellent beers on offer.”
Here are Kevin’s favorite beer brands along with a display gallery:
- One exception is a local brewery called Driftwood Brewery. Their design goes head to head with the excellent varieties of beer they brew. Fat Tug IPA is a really hoppy IPA that definitely doesn’t disappoint in the visual sense as well.
- A similar highly illustrated brand is the Sooke Oceanside Brewery. I haven’t tried any of these but definitely would just based on the label designs.
- Both of these are pretty illustration-centric but more than that I think they are really setting a tone for a rich new direction that says we do things different here.
- Other great examples come from other craft breweries that aren’t local, such as Vocation Brewery, Troegs Independent Brewing, Odell Brewing Company, Twisted Pine Brewing Company and more. I like the updated “traditional” direction of some of these and also the very type-centric examples.
- The last examples are some of mine developed for Wolf Brewery, a local brewery. The project was cancelled so, unfortunately, none of these options were adopted.
From coast to coast, beer brands are increasingly getting more creative with their branding and design. What craft beer brands are your top picks?
