I’ll humbly admit that the first thing to draw me into the wonderful world of craft beer wasn’t the flavors and variety. My discovery of my new-found beverage of choice had nothing to do with hop varieties, malt complexities or surly bearded brewers in plaid shirts…it was bottle labels. Yeah, I am a sucker for a good label. There have been a zillion studies on how graphic design affects consumer behavior, and I’m grouped into the “will buy things that look good” segment—a marketer’s dream.
As a craft beer newb, I regularly visited the local bottle shop to stare gapingly at the hundreds of bottles in the fridge. The old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” played like an annoying broken record until I started recognizing styles and breweries that I had tried and liked. Having matured a bit in my craft beer journey, I don’t solely judge the beer by label—but it certainly doesn’t hurt the decision making process.
If you too appreciate a good lookin’ bottle and great tasting beer, check out Half Acre Beer Company’s blog. The blog features the labels and description of Half Acre’s releases. Their most recent release is this year’s version of Big Hugs Imperial Coffee Stout. The brewery uses Chicago’s Dark Matter Coffee for this stout, which was released Sunday, Dec. 15.
“Five years ago we knew it was time to brew a threatening stout emblazoned with a pretty kitten. We decided on a coffee impregnated imperial stout, and that we’d name this unknowing kitten Big Hugs.”
The label features a giant orange kitten hugging terrified dinosaurs. Read more about Big Hugs on the Half Acre Blog.
Claire Chastain is a lifelong North Carolinian who relocated to Boulder, Colo., to become the Craft Beer Program intern. When she’s not checking out local taprooms, you can find her on the Ultimate frisbee field or hiking with her dog.
CraftBeer.com is fully dedicated to small and independent U.S. breweries. We are published by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade group dedicated to promoting and protecting America’s small and independent craft brewers. Stories and opinions shared on CraftBeer.com do not imply endorsement by or positions taken by the Brewers Association or its members.
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