First Label: Palin Porter

Hey y'all. I was brewing a porter during the last election and thought I'd call it Palin Porter (clever I know). After lurking around here I downloaded Inkscape and tried to make a label. Having never used an image program it took me a few awhile to come up with something.

Below is my first attempt that I thought I'd share. It still needs some work but I think it is kind of cool. Next I need to brew a Baracktoberfest in the spirit of bipartisanship.

Looks nice. I might suggest you don't need both your logo and the "brewed by the Monticello Brewing Company" at the bottom. I think one or the other would convey the idea, so both aren't needed.

If you could come up with some kind of slogan for the bottom, it could improve the label a bit. But again, just an idea.

that is a good suggestion and i appreciate the feedback. i added the "Monticello" above the name as an after thought since it was kind of barren up there.

i think i will remove the "brewed by" and put a slogan there. Here are some quick ones I came up with:

"One hot governor, one cool beer."

"Helping you see Russian from your house since 2007" - per Tina Fay

"The beer preferred by mavericks."

thoughts?

Why not put a little more info about the beer down there? Bottled on date, location of your brewery, ingredients used i.e. 'Proudly handcrafted using 2-row, Chocolate, and Caramel 80L malts with additions of Chinook and Willatette hops.' or something of that nature.

I will try that too and see which looks better. I would like to have the brewed on and bottled on dates on the label.

After looking at the label again this morning I decided to try another one, here is what I came up with.



and a little different take on the same one with other leaves:



and one last one with a bunch of leaves:



I was happy I learned how to curve text on this one. Thoughts? I like it better than the Palin one. Any feedback is appreciated.

BlackCoffeeandBourbon said:

that is a good suggestion and i appreciate the feedback. i added the "Monticello" above the name as an after thought since it was kind of barren up there.

i think i will remove the "brewed by" and put a slogan there. Here are some quick ones I came up with:

"One hot governor, one cool beer."

"Helping you see Russian from your house since 2007" - per Tina Fay

"The beer preferred by mavericks."

thoughts?

Click to expand...

As an Alaskan girl from the same town as the Governor, I like the maverick references. Maybe something like "being mavericky since 2007". The hot governor is just getting too old, we've been hearing it here for years. I do like the hot/cool contrast though.

She did beat down the old boys club here in Alaska, maybe something referencing that

Cool, thanks for the imput. Since I cannot decide which one to use (Palin or Harvest labels) I think I will use some of both. Why not right?

There ya go! Superficial diversity, it's the American way.

I also enjoy the hot-cool contrast.

I've gotten myself into brewing presidential beers as well, but mine's a barlewine. I need to be biligerent (sp?) to deal with this crap next time.

BlackCoffeeandBourbon said:

After looking at the label again this morning I decided to try another one, here is what I came up with.

and a little different take on the same one with other leaves:

and one last one with a bunch of leaves:

I was happy I learned how to curve text on this one. Thoughts? I like it better than the Palin one. Any feedback is appreciated.

Click to expand...

I like the leaves on the first label. Also, I would remove the 'and' between the brewed on and bottled on lines. IMO, this:


would look less cluttered, maybe decrease the font size a bit. My $0.02.

@ Bob: Thanks for the suggestions! For the latest version of my Harvest Porter label (Sounds nicer than Palin Porter IMHO) I delected the "and" between the brewed on and bottled on lines. I also decreased the font size and moved the entire image into the middle so I could put some other text on each size of the label.

The latest version is on my blog. (Can't post photos at work, boo.)

Thoughts?

I liked the original Palin Porter concept since this was brewed as the election drew to a close. Depending on your recipe and hop additions the BJCP might have had to classify your brew as the beginning of a new style, The Bering Porter - a hoppier, lower alcohol porter.

I like the Harvest Porter label on your blog, but I think the moon picture could be downsized a bit as it makes the Mulberry Street Brewery name seem like crazy ribbons of hair off the moon's head. Just my take though. Otherwise excellent job on he label.

Good call Birch. I think I will downsize the moon a bit. The letters kind of do look like hair! Ha.

I still plan on printing up some of the Palin Porter labels too, just for fun. A Bering Porter? Maybe, I'll have to post the recipe I used for review.

new byline: "The Official Beer of the Country of Africa!"

Do you use a label making program? If so, what do you use?

Eastside

@Evan: That would be a funny tagline! HA.

@ Eastside Brewer: I used Inkscape to draw all of the above labels. It was kind of hard to use at first but there are a ton of help sites on the net to help you out.

Sometimes what I say is just funny within my own head. Since BJCP lists Baltic Porter as a "traditional beer of the countries bordering the Baltic Sea" and "having a increased complexity and alcohol content (7-8.5%ABV). I figured maybe a Bering Porter, since Gov. Palin is from Alaska which borders the Bering Sea and Russia, would not be as complex, have an increased bitterness, and have a lower ABV. Really just going for the funny, nothing against your recipe.

From your blog posts your beer sounds delicious and your description reminds me of The Devil Made Me Do It from Tyranena Brewing Co. in Wisconsin, which is probably my favorite porter-like beer. Also congratulations on your future brewing partner!

Birch: I am kind of slow sometimes.... Bering Porter, clever.

And thanks for the congrats! I am looking forward to brewing with him someday. I think that would be a pretty cool father/son activity.